Contracting Office Address
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Acquisition Management Division,
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640
This is a Sources Sought Notice Only. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response. This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NOST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper.
NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.
Requirement
The NIST Facility for Adsorbent Characterization and Testing (FACT) Lab in the Chemical Sciences Division within the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) aims to serve the sorbent materials research community as an impartial service source for testing and characterization of sorbent materials, and by establishing reference materials and testing procedures. The FACT Lab seeks to contribute to gas separation efforts by developing standard measurement procedures and reference data using reference materials for dynamic adsorption measurements.
A breakthrough instrument allows for the evaluation of differential adsorption properties of a porous material under dynamic conditions. Dynamic breakthrough data are especially useful for evaluating and selecting industrial sorbents by monitoring the uptake of multiple gases, including water vapor, which often competes with the adsorption of common gases. The FACT Lab requires a breakthrough analyzer (BTA) for measurement intercomparison with existing FACT Lab infrastructure and externally with stakeholders.
NIST is seeking information on vendors who could potentially provide the following:
Sealing materials: compatible with nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and water;
Pressure range: ambient and up to 30 bars;
Maximum temperature: at least 1050 C for outgassing and breakthrough measurement;
Number of gas ports: 3 gas inlets 3 mass flow controllers;
Vapor capability: capable of performing measurements with at least 1 vapor (e.g. water), including bubbler (50 ml), MFC, blending valve and installations;
Sample column: 0.495 cm x 30 cm and can accommodate 100 mg to 2 g samples;
Vacuum pump: vacuum pump to achieve vacuum level of at least 3 x 10-3 mbar able to perform in-situ sample activation with vacuum pump, dedicated automatic valve, and installation and integration into software;
Mass spectrometer (MS): detector sensitivity: 1-200 amu, at least 100 ppb sensitivity;
IR-based water sensor: fully integrated into system and fully calibrated, Humidity probe Vaisala HMP7 (up to 10 bar, up to 150 oC), which allows online measurement of H2O concentration in the gas product (0-100% RH). Installation and integration in Process@ software.
Other features:
- quasi-zero dead-volume blend valves to ensure accurate and consistent mixtures (including vapors)
- internal thermostatted enclosure to prevent condensation in blend valves, gas lines, sample furnace, and sample column. All measurement critical components blend valves, connecting lines, sample column, etc fully enclosed in this continuous, isothermal zone which can be heated up to at least 150 C.
- Novel pressure control system, which uses servo (active computer) controlled valves with a range to 30 bar and a novel stepper-motor that controls the valve to more than 2800 unique positions for high-precision and stability (no pulsation) for single or multi-phase systems. The valve works simultaneously at high temperatures and pressures.
- Integration with other additional sensors (e.g.IR-based CO2 sensor) possible in future.
Other measurement capabilities: In addition to breakthrough experiments with multiple gases and at least one vapor, able to perform pressure swing adsorption and temperature swing adsorption experiments.
PC compatible with instrument and accessories and all software installed and ready to use. PC included. Software, the ability to display and process data (i.e. breakthrough curve, determine adsorbed gas amount from breakthrough curve), fully integrated with mass spectrometer, vacuum pump, and temperature and pressure controllers.
Providing manuals, installation, training, and a warranty.
Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the item described above. NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in third quarter of FY2025 and awarding a contract no later than fourth quarter FY2025.
NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516, is 1000 employees. Please include your company's size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.
After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. Companies that can provide such items are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to Donald.graham@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.
The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:
- Name, Address, Unique Entity ID #, and point of contact information of your company.
- Any information on the company's small business certifications, if applicable.
- Description of your company's capabilities as they relate to the item described in this notice.
- A description of your company's previous experience providing the item described in this notice.
- Indication of whether the item described in this notice are currently offered via your company's GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.
- Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.
Responses are limited to a total of twelve (12) pages. The responses must be in MS Word format. Pages shall be 81 2-inch x 11-inch, using Times New Roman 11 Point Font. Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.
