Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Analysis

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106(b). The ERDC-CRREL Signature Physics Branch has a requirement for measurements of unfrozen water content in frozen soil samples as a function of temperature, using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instrumentation. University of Alaska Fairbanks has the technical expertise, experience, and in-house system for performing NMR measurements on frozen soils. Professor Margaret Darrow of the Dept. of Mining and Geological Engineering at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has developed a unique system for performing NMR measurements on frozen soils, as described in her group's recent paper by Kruse et al, "Improvements in Measuring Unfrozen Water in Frozen Soils Using the Pulsed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Method," Journal of Cold Regions Engineering, 2018, 32(1): 04017016. The NMR method commonly used to determine unfrozen water content in frozen soils is calculated by using the first return data from the free induction decay (FID) signal intensity (SI); however, these data often contain both ice and liquid water responses, thus overestimating unfrozen water. UAF's approach is to use a normalization method for calculating unfrozen water by refining the NMR testing system for greater temperature control which improves accuracy by up to 3.3 times greater. The custom NMR system is uniquely capable of providing the results critical to accomplishing the scope of work required for CRREL's on-going research project. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541380, which has a size standard of $15M. This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement that specifically addresses their capability relative to the Government's requirement, to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy. Please provide responses to this notice NLT 12:00 PM EST, 30 January 2018 to: contact@example.gov Telephone responses will not be accepted. Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.