MINICAM Replacement Parts

MINICAMS are a fully automated, continuous, near-real-time air monitoring system. It was designed primarily for use in the U.S. Army's Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program as an automated chemical-vapor alarm system for monitoring of workplace air and other potentially contaminated in-plant zones, e.g., stack exhausts, ducts, filter banks, etc. It also works well for support of materials-penetration and permeation studies and many other laboratory or on-site test efforts involving a need to detect and quantify chemical vapors automatically and continuously. It provides audible, visible, and electrical alarm responses to toxic military chemical agent vapors, e.g., GB, VX, HD, etc., and to many other substances at any of a variety of regulatory threshold concentrations, e.g., TWA, MDL, PEL, etc. It also provides accurate vapor concentration readings at concentrations in the general vicinity of the preset alarm threshold. It was specifically designed to detect and accurately quantify the chemical agents and other volatile and semi-volatile compounds at far lower concentrations than most other chemical vapor monitors. MINICAMS is a readily transportable system that is designed to be set up and operated at fixed indoor locations or (under mild conditions) at sheltered outdoor monitoring stations, although instances of successful use in vehicles and other mobile platforms have occurred. It requires one or more compressed gases and a source of 117VAC electrical power for its operation. The Chemical Test Division (CTD) has over 300 MINICAMS and the items listed about will be used to replace and repair obsolete instruments and ensure sufficient instrumentation is operational to support safety air monitoring and to support test referee requirements. If this requirement is not procured it will impact Government's ability to be in compliance with safety regulations and to referee ongoing and future test of record programs. CMS Field Products is the MINICAMS manufacturer and is the only vender that produces such Gas Chromatograph (GC) instrumentation. MINICAMS fulfill two requirements for the CTD. Primary they function as safety air monitors, a mandated requirement for chemical agent testing. They also function as field referee systems to collect test data. MINICAMS units are robust and portable by a single individual. They possess the resolution to differentiate between compounds,and quantity them accurately. They can monitor the very low quantities for both safety and field referee purposes. Technicians without a scientific background can be trained to operate them. MINICAMS units can be retrofitted with varying sample collection components and analyzers to fit different requirements. They work with existing Army software and network infrastructure. If the government did not replace its expiring units with additional MINICAMS, then the current workforce would need to be trained across two systems. The two systems would interface differently with test equipment, provide different data samples, and mandate that technicians maintain certification on their instruments by demonstrated capability. This would require them to double the effort needed to maintain this requirement if a second system were introduced. Existing DPG IT personnel would be required to develop a new network and database for new equipment, or would have to hire a contract to provide the services. If four contractors were hired full-time (40 hrs/week) to develop a network and database, and billed $100/hr each, they would bill the government $16,000 per week together, or $64,000 per month. A six-month labor-only effort would cost nearly $384,000, with hardware being an additional cost. Replace expiring MINICAMS units with new units gives the government the advantage of: not needing a new training program; maintaining the availability of existing technical skill; not needed a new network or database; interoperability between old and new hardware; meeting mandated safety requirements; and meeting customer test quality requirements.