NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER: In accordance with FAR subpart 13.106-1(b) the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) intends to issue a sole source purchase order to Bruker AXS Microanalysis. The purchase order is for the following: 1) Quantax 400 System, Qty.-1; and 2) Installation & Training. The following is a list of mandatory minimum performance requirements for an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer system which is to be interfaced to an Hitachi Model 4800 scanning electron microscope (or a similar commercially available electron microscope.) The system shall be installed at NIOSH Morgantown and provided with a minimum of a one-year warranty. Furthermore, maintenance contracts for the system shall be available after the initial warranty period expires. The energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry system shall meet or exceed the following specifications: 1) The system shall include all mounting and interfacing hardware to attach to a commercial FE-SEM (i.e. an Hitachi 4800); 2) The system shall include a computer system with monitor, disk drives, network hardware, and usual peripherals; 3) The system shall include all power supplies, cooling systems, cables, cords, etc. necessary to operate and to connect to a the computer system; 4) The system shall be computer operated with the user interface software running under the Windows or Vista operating system.; 5) The system shall be capable of acquiring, x-ray spectra from 0 to 30 keV, in a variety of user selectable ranges; 6) The system shall be capable of quantitative and qualitative x-ray analysis; 7) The system shall be capable of taking control of an FE-SEM, acquiring an image and performing automatic and manual brightness, contrast and gamma correction, and analyzing the image for topological or compositional features; 8) The system shall be capable of controlling the microscope electron beam so that it is directed at the features that it or the operator have identified and then collecting individual x-ray spectra of them; 9) The system software shall include phi-rho-z, ZAF, and Cliff-Lorimer quantitative analysis capabilities, (or equivalent), both with and without standards; 10) The system software shall be capable of performing automatic baseline correction and automatic element identification; 11) The system software shall provide automatic and manual correction for specimen tilt, primary beam energy and sample charging; 12) The system software shall enable the operator to custom generate spectral evaluation methods; 13) The system software shall be capable of automatically recording microscope parameters with spectra; 14) The system shall be capable of quantitative elemental mapping; 15) The system shall be capable of Digital Image Processing including length, area, and angle measurements; 16) The system shall be capable of Quantitative evaluation of line scan spectra in a data base with de-convolution and matrix correction; 17) The system shall allow the operator to record an SEM image, compare it to an imported file image and use the imported image to navigate over the specimen and obtain x-ray spectra of individual features identified by the operator; 18) The detector working distance shall be adjustable, either manually or by motorized control; 19) The detector shall be a silicon drift detector, and shall have a 10 mm2 or larger active area, and shall not require cryogenic liquid cooling; 20) The system detector shall be sensitive to x-rays from elements of atomic number 5 (boron) and higher; 21) The system shall have the ability to automatically control the microscope?s motorized stages; 22) The system shall have the ability to acquire position tagged spectra; 23) The cost shall include installation and on-site operator training, and one year warranty with telephone and e-mail technical support; 24) The system shall have automatic and manual correction for specimen tilt, primary beam energy and sample charging; 25) The system shall provide the user a choice of interactive and automatic tools for element identification, background subtraction, deconvolution, quantification and results presentation; 26) The system hardware and software must be capable of very high count rates, in excess of 275,000 counts per second; 27) The hardware and software must be capable of an energy resolution of 133ev or less at count rates from 1 to 100,000 counts per second or more; 28) The system hardware and software must be capable of spectral imaging simultaneously with high resolution at an acquisition speed of 1 microsecond per pixel; and 29) The system software must have the ability to read and process data from Princeton Gamma Tech Inc. legacy hardware and software, i.e. from EDS SUN-IMIX and PC-IMIX based systems currently on site. Of the products reviewed, the Bruker AXS Quantax 400 System is the only system that meets the following four key specifications: 1) The system hardware and software must be capable of very high count rates, in excess of 175,000 counts per second. 2) Hardware and software must be capable of an energy resolution of 133ev or less at count rates from 1 to 100,000 counts per second or more. 3) The system hardware and software must be capable of spectral imaging simultaneously with high resolution at an acquisition speed of 1 microsec per pixel. 4) The system software must have the ability to read and process data from PGT EDS IMIX and PC based systems currently on site. Therefore, CDC believes that Bruker AXS Microanalysis is the only responsible source able to provide these supplies and services. Responsible sources that believe they possess the expertise and capabilities identified above are encouraged to submit to the Contracting Officer within 15 days from the posting date of this notice their capabilities statement and supporting information in the format they choose, not to exceed 10 pages. Please forward capabilities and supporting information to: Kim Groves, Reference 2007-Q-09532, DHHS/PHS/CDC/NIOSH, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505,
contact@example.gov . The government will review any/all capabilities statements and supporting information submitted and determine if other qualified sources do exist that could provide the requirement. Information received in response to this notice will be used solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. All vendors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) prior to award of a federal contract. Vendors may register at www.ccr.gov.
