66 -- Laboratory Equipment for the IRS National Forensic Laboratory.

The IRS intends to award a sole source contract to ChemImage Corp. (Pittsburgh, PA) for the acquisition of one (1) CONDOR Macro Fluorescence/Visible and Near-Infrared Reflectance Chemical Imaging System for the IRS National Forensic Laboratory to analyze and examine questioned documentation submitted to the Lab. The Ink and Paper Chemistry Section of the Lab routinely analyzes writing inks on paper to determine whether two (2) or more inks are of the same or different formulation and to determine whether the ink was in existence when a suspected fraudulent document was purportedly prepared. The current procedure in use is a chemical technique to differentiate and identify writing inks and is a destrictive one. Writing inks have different chemical compositions, which have different absorption/reflectance properties. These differences are easily visualized in a chemical image and are characterized with the spectral information of the image. Chemical imaging is a non-destructive technique which separates an image into its component colors in a quantitative manner at many different wavelengths. This allows for the non-destructive differentiation of the components contained in writing inks. Chemical imaging allows the chemical information of material to be displayed in images, as well as spectra, making the results of technical information easier to illustrate to a lay juror. The CONDOR Macro Fluorescence/Visible and Near-Infrared Reflectance Chemical Imaging System meets the requirements of the Lab and will allow it to remain technologically current with advances in the forensic science field. Interested firms may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement IN WRITING ONLY. NO TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL BE ACCEPTED, ONLY WRITTEN REQUESTS. See Numbered Note 22.