Liquid Scintillation Counter

BACKGROUND

NIST is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing services that meets or exceeds the following draft minimum specifications:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Radiation Safety Division (RSD) is responsible for radiation protection and regulatory compliance matters for NIST’s radioactive materials license at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus.  As part of managing the radiation safety program, RSD is obligated to identify and quantify small radioactive sources and samples containing alpha, beta, and gamma emitting nuclides.  Identification and quantification is required to comply with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulatory requirements, Department of Transportation (DOT) shipping requirements and for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disposal requirements. In order to ensure functional and calibrated instruments are available for the Source Users to conduct their surveys, GRSD needs to procure a replacement liquid scintillation counter for our current aging instrument to accurately detect low energy beta radiation in samples.

SPECIFICATIONS

The requirements are for a brand name Hidex 300 SL automatic liquid scintillation counting system or equal.

1.         Instrument design: The instruments shall be able to count at least 40 samples of 20ml vials. The instrument shall have at a minimum: have 70 mm internal Pb shielding design for low background; an electrostatic controller; spectral analysis and sample replay capability; high sensitivity, low-level count mode; automatic color, chemical and luminescence (quenching) detection and correction; direct measurement of efficiency and DPM by triple-to-double coincidence ratio (TDCR); alpha/beta discrimination capability; Instrument Performance Assessment (IPA) capability.

2.         System operation and user interface: The instrument shall be controlled primarily through a connected computer using an automated software system. The computer program shall allow the setup and storage of multiple preset counting protocols that are easily selectable. The software shall allow for the user to automatically calibrate the instrument. The software shall be able to generate reports for the samples counts (dpm or cpm), triple label dpm counts, background trends, and calibration summaries. The software shall provide the ability to track quality assurance parameters in the form of Instrument Performance Assessment (IPA).

3.         Detection specifications: Detection of beta and alpha radiation by liquid scintillation counting (beta emitters up to 2,000 keV; alpha emitters up to 10,000 keV). Three low background PMTs  to allow TDCR counting.  The instrument efficiency for H-3 must be equal to or greater than 60% and the efficiency for C-14 must be equal to or greater than 90%.

4.         Physical specification:

a)         The unit shall have a maximum weight of not to exceed 250 kg.

b)         The units shall be operational with ambient temperature in the range of 60F to 85F.

c)         The units shall be operational with an ambient relative humidity range of 10 to 90 percent.

d)         The units shall be operable with a nominal power supply of 110-240 VAC,50/ 60 Hz.

5.         Computer specifications: The supplied computer workstation shall work under a Windows 11 operating system. The processor shall be at least equivalent to an Intel Core i7. The hard drive shall have a minimum of 500 GB of storage. With the computer, the vendor shall supply a keyboard and mouse.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORRMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to Marisha Curtis at marisha.curtis@nist.gov as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

• Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

• Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

• For NAICS code: 334519 – Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing

• Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.
• If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. 

• If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

• Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the services described in Background section.

• Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

• Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the services described in the Background section. 

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to Marisha Curtis.  Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 8th, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

The NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

The NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!