Gemini 8-M Telescopes Project, Aura, 950 N. Cherry Ave, PO Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85719

41 -- PORTABLE CLEAN ROOM SOL N980291 DUE 050198 POC Andrew Flach, Contracts Manager, 520-318-8537 WEB: General information about the Gemini 8m Telescopes Project, http://www.gemini.edu. E-MAIL: Click here to submit letter of interest by email., aflach@gemini.edu. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) is seeking qualified vendors to submit quotes to provide a clean room for the Gemini 8m Telescopes Project. AURA requires a portable, Class 10,000 clean room, which will be used for the final washing and drying of an 8 meter diameter glass mirror at the Gemini Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The clean room will functionally consist of a freestanding, portable HEPA filter and fan ventilation system and a portable tent approximately 36 ft wide x 36 ft deep x 25 ft tall. The clean room will require two doors on opposite sides of the tent for the passage of the large mirror; each door will be approximately 30 ft wide x 10 ft high. The clean room will be used infrequently; approximately once per year for 4 hours. When needed, the clean room would be erected by AURA staff in the lower level of the Gemini Observatory, which is located at 14,000 ft elevation. This part of the observatory is a relatively dirty environment. This area has ceiling beams approximately 40 ft overhead. The tent would hang from the ceiling beams from 14 points deployed with ropes and pulleys. The tent material should be lightweight and transparent. When not in use, the clean room would be disassembled for off-site storage. The Gemini 8m Telescopes Project is an international collaboration to build two 8 meter telescopes, one to be located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the other to be located on Cerro Pachon in Chile. The Gemini project partners include the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The Gemini project is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under contract to the National Science Foundation. Companies that are interested in receiving Request for Proposal No. N980291 for this procurement should fax a letter of interest (not a full proposal or quote) by no later than 1 May, 1998, to the Gemini 8m Telescopes Project, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85719, Attn: Contracts Manager, Request for Proposal No. N980291. Facsimile 520-318-8590. (0111)

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