Preparation and Bottling of Bituminous Coal

The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) seeks contractors that are capable of reducing a lot of bulk coal to 212 - m size (-70 mesh), blending the resulting material with negligible heterogeneity, and bottling it into nominal 55 g units. This material will be used by NIST as a Standard Reference Material. This announcement is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP/RFQ) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future. The information contained in this notice is a DRAFT only and, as such, is subject to change prior to issuance of a solicitation. No solicitation is available at this time. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive or non-competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. If at least two qualified small business sources are identified during this market research stage, this acquisition may be solicited as a small business set aside. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUB Zone, SDVOSB and VOSB). This requirement is assigned a NAICS code of 541690 with a Small Business Size Standard of $15M in annual receipts. This notice seeks to identify any contractors that may be capable of processing and bottling coal to the stated requirements. Interested business organizations that believe they may be capable of meeting NIST's requirements detailed below should respond to this notice with a narrative demonstrating their ability to meet NIST's requirements. Contractors may provide supplemental information at their discretion. NIST's potential requirements are described below: The NIST Inorganic Measurement Science Group (646.01) coordinates production and analysis of a wide range of reference materials, including coal. NIST desires to have 4 drums of bulk bituminous coal crushed, pulverized, screened, and blended into sublots which will be sampled to determine the degree of homogeneity of the range of sublots. These sublots will be divided into two portions. One portion will be packaged under argon into units sealed in aluminized (Mylar) bags. The other portion will be recombined and blended into sublots. The material in the sublots will be distributed into bottles containing nominally 55 g. The material in these bottles will be sampled to determine the degree of homogeneity over the range of bottles. The bottled material will be shipped to NIST. The material will be provided to the contractor as 4 drums containing nominally 500 kg (1100 lb.) of bulk coal, with properties nominally similar to SRM 2693 Bituminous Coal (Nominal Mass Fraction 0.5 % Sulfur). The coal is expected to have nominal mass fractions as follows: ash 10 %, moisture 1 %, and sulfur 0.35 %. Specific requirements for the processing and bottling of the coal include: 1. The contractor is able to document a recent history of processing and bottling of coal. 2. The bulk coal will be shipped to the contractor from NIST within one week of the contract being awarded. 3. It is preferred that processing of the coal be started by the contractor within three weeks of receipt of the coal by the contractor. 4. All processing will be done in-house in a manner such that the coal is not contaminated by other materials. 5. Bulk coal will be air-dried, crushed, pulverized, and screened to 212 - m size (-70 mesh). 6. The resulting material will be blended into 6 to 12 (preferably 8) nominally equal mass sublots in a manner that minimizes heterogeneity. 7. Grab samples from each sublot will be analyzed for moisture, ash, and sulfur in-house or by a qualified subcontractor using ASTM International standard methods or similar methods. a. Ash will be determined to a resolution of 0.01 % (e.g., 9.57 %) or better. b. Moisture and sulfur will be determined to a resolution of 0.001 % (e.g., 0.497 %), or better. 8. The analytical results will be sent electronically to NIST and evaluated to determine if there is a sufficient degree of homogeneity. 9. Once it is decided that there is sufficient homogeneity, the material will be divided into two portions. a. Portion 1 (nominally 40 % of the material) will be packaged under argon into nominally 10 kg to 20 kg (20 lb. to 30 lb.) units sealed in aluminized (Mylar) bags. b. Portion 2 will be recombined, blended into sublots, and bottled. 10. The sublots of portion 2 (nominally 250 kg total) will be spin-riffled into nominally 4500 bottles, each containing nominally 55 g of coal. Clean bottles and caps will be provided by NIST. 11. Each individual bottle will be tracked and the sublot number and order of bottling within the sublot will be recorded. 12. For each individual bottle, the bottle mass empty and full, and the net mass of coal will be recorded to a resolution of 0.1 g. 13. Two or more bottles from each sublot will be removed for analysis to the same requirements listed for the analysis of the initial sublots. 14. The analytical results for the bottles will be sent electronically to NIST and evaluated to determine if there is a sufficient degree of homogeneity. 15. Once it is decided that there is sufficient homogeneity, NIST will provide the contractor instructions for selecting bottles for a separate shipment that is noted below. 16. Two subsets of the bottles will be packaged separately and shipped separately to NIST and another location. 17. All remaining bottles, the material packaged for portion 1, and all residual material will be shipped to NIST. 18. NIST anticipates that all of its decisions on the suitability of the material (i.e., sufficient homogeneity) and selection of bottles for shipping will require a total of no more than 12 business days. 19. A response is desired that states the amount of time required for processing and shipment of the bottles, starting from the date that the contractor receives the bottles and ending with the date that the contractor ships the two subsets of separately packaged bottles. Although NIST desires that this period be no more than 15 weeks, a longer time period might be considered.