Intent to Award - Laser Scintillometer

The USDA, ARS, WBSC, College Station, Texas intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) with Scintec Corporation, 197 South 104th Street, Suite B, Louisville, CO for a Laser Scintillometer. This procurement is being conducted under Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) - Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency's requirement. USDA, ARS, Conservation & Production Research Laboratory, Bushland, TX require the capability for accurate estimation of ET, we need accurate measurements of inner scale length (lo), structural parameter of refractive index of air (Cn2), and friction velocity (U*). Laser scintillometer provides accurate measurements of inner scale (lo) using displaced-beam technique. It cannot be measured with either large aperture scintillometer (LAS) as it aperture larger than size of smallest eddies present over crop surfaces or eddy covariance (EC) systems. Further, their path length (50 - 250 m) range is suitable for installation within the large agricultural fields. On the other hand, LAS provides accurate measurements of Cn2 and EC provides accurate measurements of U*. Therefore, the use of all three instruments simultaneously is expected to provide accurate estimates of ET while providing insights into how the energy balance closure errors are distributed among terms in the energy balance equation. Specifications/Minimum requirements: 1. Optical wavelength: 670 mm 2. Mean output power: 1 mW (Laser safety class 2M (IIIa)) 3. Beam divergence: 3 x 8 mrad 4. Path length: 50 - 250 m 5. Integration time: 1 s to 60 min 6. Supply voltage and current: 12 V, 15 W (transmitter, receiver, SPU) 7. Data output: Ethernet, RS232 8. Operating temperature: -20 to +50 - C (-5 to +120 - F) 9. Structure constant Cn2: 1 x 10-16 to 3 x 10-12 m-2/3 10. Inner scale l0: 2 to 16 mm 11. Structure constant CT2: 1 x 10-4 to 3 K2 m-2/3 12. Kinetic-energy dissipation rate ?: 2 x 10-4 to 1 m2 s-3 13. Sensible heat flux: 2 to 600 Wm-2 and -2 to -120 Wm-2 14. Momentum flux: -4 x 10-3 to -1.2 Nm-2 15. Wind speed: 0.01 to 10 m s-1 The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact above not later than 3:00pm CST on September 14, 2012. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. No RFQ will be issued based upon this Notice of Intent. Interested parties may submit any information for consideration by the Government to Michael Douglas, Contract Specialist at the email address listed above with the solicitation number referenced in the subject line.