Ultra-Low Mechanical Vibration Milli-Kelvin Cryogenic System

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has a requirement for a milli-Kelvin Cryogenic System. NASA/GSFC intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire this product from Bluefors Oy, under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, - Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Bluefors Oy shall provide for the construction and test of a full cryogenic system with <10mK base temperature in an ultra-low mechanical vibration environment. This system will be used for the development of cryogenic superconducting detectors that sense far-infrared astronomical radiation. After commissioning, the system will be outfitted with cabling and cryogenic circuitry to read out up to 2000 arrayed detectors. This capability is essential for high throughput characterization of state-of-the-art low noise detectors. This throughput will be used for upgrading the detectors on the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC+) that is operating on NASA's air-borne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) is justified, because Bluefors Oy is the only organization qualified to perform the requirements based on the following: Bluefors Oy is the only known source that can provide cryogenic system that is a dilution-based refrigerator with < 10mK base temperature that provides an ultra-low mechanical vibration environment at its coldest stage. Bluefors Oy has developed two essential sub-system components to significantly reduce the sources and coupling of mechanical vibrations to the cryogenics parts, which are a Helium 4 tank that allows the dilution refrigerator to operate up to 2 hours with the mechanical cooler switched off, and a passive mechanical isolator to reject mechanical vibrations from the laboratory floor to the system. In addition, the system has a large sample space at the Mixing Chamber plate, which is necessary for testing large-format superconducting detector arrays with associated cryogenic readout circuitry and optical sources. Bluefors Oy is providing a highly specialized equipment that enables unique capabilities in testing sensitive superconducting detectors. Other systems based on dilution refrigeration achieve similar base temperatures and cryogenic performance, however, they do not have low-vibration solutions with large sample space. The estimated period of performance for this Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract will be for seven months from date of award. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item per FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may electronically submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort via email to Stefan Flessa at stefan.d.flessa@nasa.gov no later than 4:30 EST January 24, 2022. Such capabilities and qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this acquisition on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this acquisition on a full and open competition basis, based upon the responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html.