U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, FMOD, BA, Contracting Section, Bldg. 003, Room 329, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, Md. 20705

66 -- PLASMA SCREEN UPGRADE, S-OPTION UPGRADE AND INSTALLATION SOL 37-3K47-96 DUE 082796 POC Donna Hardy, Procurement Analyst, (301) 504-5073, FAX (301) 504-5009. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the solicitation only; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number 36-3K47-96, is issued as a request for proposal and incorporates provisions and clauses that are in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 90-38. The standard industrial classification code is 3826, with a small business standard of 500 employees. This acquisition will be procured unrestricted basis. Delivery is required on or about January 3, 1997, or within 120 days. Delivery is F.O.B Destination to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland. The RFP is due on August 27, 1996 at 2:00 p.m. Responses will be evaluated to determine the ability to meet the to meet the capabilities below. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsive/responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other related factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: (1) technical capabilities (2) past performance and (3) price. The offerors shall identify where the offered item meets or does not meet each of the Governments functional and performance minimum specification listed herein. Responses shall include literature, brochures, and other such information corresponding to the required items which demonstrates the capabilities of the offeror's equipment. The following FAR clauses and provisions apply: FAR 52.212-1, Instruction to Offerors - Commercial Items, FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items: with the following evaluation criteria; awarded to a technically acceptable offeror at a fair and reasonable price, FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representatives and Certification - Commercial Items. The following FAR clauses in paragraph (b) of FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions - required to implement statues or executive orders - commercial items, will apply to the resultant contract: 52.203-6, 52.203-10, 52.225-3 and 52.225-21. All offerors must include a completed copy of FAR 52.212-3 with their responses. Because this is a commercial item, FAR 12-603(c)(ii) will be used for establishing the solicitation response time rather than the time established in Note 22, which in this instance, is not applicable to this commercial acquisition. The Government intends to negotiate with Fisons Instruments to upgrade existing inductively - coupled plasma - mass spectromenter manufactured by Fisons. The intent is to purchase one plasma screen upgrade, one s-option upgrade and installation. The intent of the plasma screen upgrade is to reduce the background, argon and argon-based molecular ion interferences enhancing the detection of elements such as iron, calcium and potassium. Required performance levels are: 2-4 mHz/ppm at colbalt, with detection limits of (50 ppt for potassium and calicum, and (10 ppt for iron or better. S-option Upgrade - enhances sensitivity and reduces background, and is necessary with the plasma screen upgrade to recover the reduced sensitivity caused by that option. Includes high-performance interface between the plasma torch and mass spectrometer, as well as increased pumping capacity. Performance levels required are: 5-fold increase in counts from cobalt to uranium, with a limit of about 150 Mcps/ppm for indium or beter; interference-free background of (10 cps or beter; and short term stability of (2% over 10 minutes or beter. Installation for the plasma screen shall not exceed 1 day. Installation for the S-Option shall not exceed 4 days (two days for instrument evaluation and one day for installation and one day for training. (0220)

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