Procurement of Litz Wire

The purpose of this modification is to publicly answer questions presented to the Government about the specifications listed herein.

Question 1: Please specify how many strands and AWG size the customer is looking for?

Answer 1: As for the number of strands and AWG size, those details are left to the designers. NIST specification (which determines those values within whatever engineering tolerances are desired by the manufacturer) is the maximum frequency (at least 2.8 MHz) and the current carrying capacity (10V for the low current wire with the manufacturer to specify the maximum current carrying capacity and 7A for the high current version).

Question 2: would you need this to be served or unserved?

Answer 2: After review, NIST believes that "serve" means an additional insulation wrap around the whole Litz wire, in addition to the individual strands. If the understanding is correct, NIST has no requirement beyond what is already specified for the insulating material (and in the case of the low current version of the wire, the outer diameter). The manufacturer should simply specify if it is served or not and with what material.

In response to these questions, the due date for submission is hereby extended until 1:00pm Tuesday, Sept 3rd 2019.

No additional changes have been made.
This Synopsis is hereby amended to extend the due date for quotation. The new due date for quotation is 1:00pm EST Friday Sept 6th, 2019.
No additonal changes have been made.
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The purpose of this modification is to publicly answer questions presented to the Government about the specifications listed herein.

Question 1: Please specify how many strands and AWG size the customer is looking for?

Answer 1: As for the number of strands and AWG size, those details are left to the designers. NIST specification (which determines those values within whatever engineering tolerances are desired by the manufacturer) is the maximum frequency (at least 2.8 MHz) and the current carrying capacity (10V for the low current wire with the manufacturer to specify the maximum current carrying capacity and 7A for the high current version).

Question 2: would you need this to be served or unserved?

Answer 2: After review, NIST believes that "serve" means an additional insulation wrap around the whole Litz wire, in addition to the individual strands. If the understanding is correct, NIST has no requirement beyond what is already specified for the insulating material (and in the case of the low current version of the wire, the outer diameter). The manufacturer should simply specify if it is served or not and with what material.

In response to these questions, the due date for submission is hereby extended until 1:00pm Tuesday, Sept 3rd 2019.

No additional changes have been made.
.

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION
Procurement of Litz Wire

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 - Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested, and a separate written solicitation document will not be issued. This solicitation is being issued under the authority of FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures.
This solicitation is a Request for Quotations (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2019-05 effective August 13, 2019.
The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 331491- Nonferrous Metal (except Copper and Aluminum) Rolling, Drawing and Extruding with a small business size standard of 750 Employees. This acquisition is being procured as a Full and Open unrestricted competition.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Materials Science and Engineering Division (MSED) is developing "Thermal MagIC", an SI-traceable method for 3D thermal magnetic imaging and control. As part of our work, we are developing the characterization methods for all parts of the system, from the magnetic nano-objects to the imaging instrumentation, which requires sensitive instrumentation for measuring the magnetic properties as a function of applied magnetic field and temperature. Specifically, the purpose of this procurement is to acquire high purity Litz wire that can operate at high frequencies (>2.8 MHz) for development of quantitative instrumentation.

Responsible quoters shall provide pricing for the following Line Item:
Line Item 0001: Low current, high purity, high frequency Litz wire meeting all of the minimum specifications within the attached Requirements document.
Line Item 0002: High current, high purity, high frequency Litz wire meeting all of the minimum specifications within the attached Requirements document.

DELIVERY
Delivery shall be within 6 months of the date of award.

The items shall be shipped F.O.B. Destination to:

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg MD 20899-0001

FOB DESTINATION MEANS: The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery.

ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA AND PAYMENT
Government Acceptance: Acceptance will occur after the Government Technical Point of Contact has confirmed that all minimum requirements in this document have been met.
Payment: Advance payment is not authorized. Partial Payments are not authorized. The contractor may submit and invoice after Government acceptance has occurred.

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD
The Government intends to award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible quoter whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, is the lowest price, technically acceptable quotation.

Technically acceptable means that the Contractor's ability to provide Litz wire that meets minimum requirements in the requirements document.

Price will be evaluated for all quoters whose quotations are determined technically acceptable. Price will be evaluated to determine that total price is consistent with the technical portion of the quotation and is a fair and reasonable overall price to the Government.

REQUIRED SUBMISSIONS
All Contractors shall submit the following:
1. For the purpose of evaluation of Technical Acceptability:
Quoters shall provide documentation that demonstrates the quoted product's ability to meet or exceed the minimum specifications in accordance with the requirements document.
For the purpose of Price:
Quoters shall provide firm-fixed price quotations for both Line Items

2. Quoters shall include a completed copy of all required solicitation provisions contained in the attached Applicable Provisions/Clauses document (required provisions are highlighted)

3. Any award resulting from this solicitation will contain the following statement: "The Government's terms and conditions, identified herein, shall be the prevailing terms and conditions governing this award. In the event of a conflict between the Government's and contractor's terms and conditions, the Government's terms and conditions take precedence." If the Contractor objects to any of the terms and conditions contained in this solicitation, the contractor shall state "The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:" [Contractor shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)]. It is the sole responsibility of the Contractor to identify in their quote any exceptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation. If the contractor does not include such a statement, the submission of a quotation in response to this solicitation will be regarded as the Contractor's acceptance of the Government's terms and conditions for inclusion into the resultant purchase order as prevailing.

4. Quoters shall provide an active DUNS # for the System for Award Management (SAM) registration. Quoters must have an active registration at www.SAM.Gov in order to be technically evaluated.

5. Offerors may propose another item but must include with their proposal documentation that demonstrates that it meets the specifications. Documentation must include drawings, diagrams, brochures or other literature that demonstrates these minimum requirements. Failure to provide documentation will cause the proposal to be unacceptable.

Please note that this procurement IS NOT being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If a contractor submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price. However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the contractor's FSS or GWAC contract, and the statement required above shall be included in the quotation;

PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES:
The clauses and provisions applicable to this solicitation can be found under Applicable Clauses & Provisions. The full text of a FAR provision or clause may be accessed electronically at https://farsite.hill.af.mil or www.acquisition.gov/far. The full text of a CAR provision or clause may be accessed electronically at https://farsite.hill.af.mil or http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/acquistion_management/policy/.

ATTACHMENTS:
The following attachments apply to this solicitation:
1. The Requirements Document
2. Applicable Clauses & Provisions

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