The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106-1(b).

ERDC-CRREL’s Force Projection & Sustainment Branch in Hanover, NH seeks to procure one (1) Thermo Electron HAAKE MARS 60 Rheometer system with low temperature capability which must conform to the following specification:

Requirements for the HAAKE MARS 60 are as follows:

1. Dual column, H-frame design composed of cast aluminum to ensure optimized force balance;
2. Air bearing with torque range 2 nNm (oscillatory)/10 nNm (rotation) up to 200 mNm, with no external cooling required and a torque resolution of 0.1 nNm;
3. Standardized quick fit connections and plug and play modules that are automatically recognized by the software;
4. Serrated parallel plate attachments (with both plates serrated);
5. Lower plate for parallel plate geometries must be independently removable from Peltier module and base;
6. Concentric cylinder attachment (with serrated interior);
7. Peltier temperature module for cone and plate geometries (with associated power supply);
8. Peltier temperature module for cylinder geometries (with associated power supply);
9. Rotors for upper plates and vanes must have ceramic shafts and automatic software recognition (e.g., connect assist);
10. Insulated sample hood with integrated solvent trap and all necessary accessories (e.g. holder for guide bar) to integrate with measuring head;
11. Standard filter unit for air supply for the rheometer;
12. Software with rheological methods including temperature ramps, allows for automatized methods such as measurement, evaluation and result presentation, and easy export of data; and
13. Installation at ERDC-CRREL in Hanover, NH

ERDC-CRREL requires the aforementioned Thermo Electron HAAKE MARS 60 Rheometer with low temperature capability to support a variety of research and development projects that focus on ice materials science. The rheometer has both parallel plate and concentric cylinder set ups with active cooling modules for each. Specifically, Thermo Electron’s HAAKE MARS 60 rheometer is the only model found that has a dual column design, which optimizes force balance on the samples during measurements, and has air bearings, which ensures long term durability of the rotor.  Other models were found to be unacceptable due to having single column designs mechanical bearings. As such, Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH is the only provider capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334513, which has a size standard of 750 employees.

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 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.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 12:00 PM CST, 9 December 2020 to [email protected]

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.