SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- ATOMIC SCALE NANOINDENTATION SIMULATIONS RESEARCH
- Notice Date
- 4/12/2010
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1640
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- SB134110RQ0294
- Archive Date
- 5/4/2010
- Point of Contact
- Cheryl A. Coxen, Phone: 301-975-8838
- E-Mail Address
-
cheryl.coxen@nist.gov
(cheryl.coxen@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- Subject: Atomic Scale Nanoindentation Simulations Research Solicitation No: SB1341-10-RQ-0244 DUE: APRIL 19, 2010; 4:00PM, EST 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. FAR Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, are being utilized for this acquisition. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-40. Offerors will be responsible for obtaining related amendments to this solicitation, if any, from the NIST Acquisitions page, http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/contract.htm. It is the responsibility of each potential offeror to monitor http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/contract.htm for any amendments or other information related to this solicitation. Any communications regarding this acquisition must be made in writing and forwarded via email to Cheryl Coxen at cheryl.coxen@nis.gov and shall identify the solicitation number, company name, company address, as well as point of contact email address and phone number. 1352.215-73 INQUIRIES (MAR 2000) Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing to the Contracting Officer. They must be received no later than seven (7) calendar days after the date of this solicitation. All responses to the questions will be made in writing and included in an amendment to the solicitation. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541712 - with a size standard of 500 employees. THIS PROCUREMENT IS A 100% SMALL BUSINESS SET ASIDE. APPLICABLE PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES FOR THIS SOLICITATION: The Following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation:52.204-7; 52.204-9, 52.223-6, 52.227-17, 42.237-2, 52.243-1 III, 52.245-1, FAR 52.212-1; FAR 52.212-3; FAR 52.212-4; FAR 52.212-5, including 52.222-50, 52.233-3 and 52.233-4 in paragraph (a) (1), and the following fill-ins in paragraph (b): 52.219-6; 52.219-28; 52.222-3; 52.222-19; 52.222-21; 52.222-26; 52.222-36; 52.225-13; and 52.232-33. All provisions and clauses viewed at http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html. ********STATEMENT OF WORK******** Atomic-Scale Nanoindentation Simulations Research 1.Background The NIST director’s office is funding a new (FY2010 start) Innovations in Measurement Science project titled “Building Metrological Foundations for Nanomechanics”. A key component of this research is to combine world leading nanoindentation and material characterization measurements with atomistic simulations. Although the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory (MSEL) has staff with general expertise with atomistic simulations, they have no direct experience with atomic-scale nanoindentation simulations. To remain on track with the other critical measurement and modeling components of this project, this expertise must be acquired rapidly. 2. General Requirements • Confidentiality and Proprietary Data. Not applicable. • Safety. The Contractor shall comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) safety requirements for building 223. • Patent rights. The government retains government use license to all inventions emerging from this work. 3. Scope of Work • The Contractor shall complete the following tasks: i. The Contractor shall work with NIST staff to develop techniques for coupling finite element analysis (FEA) models of nanoindentation with multi-million atom simulations using classical potentials. The algorithms used for this coupling must be approved by the Technical Information Contact (TIC). ii.Using the above coupling techniques, the Contractor shall conduct atomistic simulations (using approximately 4 million atoms/simulation) of nanoindentation using sample and indenter tip boundary conditions obtained from FEA simulations. Suggested potentials are the embedded atom method or the modified embedded atom method, although other potentials of similar or greater accuracy are acceptable. The potentials should include the capability of simulating a diamond tip (carbon) indenting a metal surface (such as Ni). The FEA boundary conditions will be provided by NIST staff. Specific conditions that need to be modeled include the role of vacancies and rough sample surfaces on dislocation nucleation. Specific work plans for these simulations will be developed by the Contractor and must be approved in advance by the TIC. iii. Using the results of the above atomistic simulations, the Contractor shall develop models describing how the dislocation nucleation process depends upon the presence of vacancies and rough sample surfaces. iv.The Contractor shall attend scheduled on-site project team meetings at least once each month unless excused by the project leader. 4.Deliverables and Deliverable Due Dates •The Contractor shall provide the following: i.An archive of all computer programs and significant simulation results and provide an oral report on these at the end of the contract period. ii.A technical white paper summarizing the research results at the end of the contract period. iii.Monthly verbal updates of progress made shall be given at each project team meeting. Standards for Acceptance of Deliverables: The TIC will provide comments on each deliverable within 10 calendars days from receipt of a given deliverable. The Contractor shall make any needed changes to the deliverables within 10 calendar days from receipt of electronic or written comments from the TIC. 5.Period of Performance and Place of Performance •Twelve months from the effective date of award of this order. •Work location will be NIST at Gaithersburg, Maryland. Contractor shall work between the hours of 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; approximately 15 hours every week, not to exceed 780 hours for the contract period. Note that overtime pay is not authorized under this personal services contract. 6.Government-Furnished Property, Data, and Information •All material provided by the Government in the performance of this task remains the property of the Government and shall be surrendered to the government upon completion or termination of this requirement. •MSEL computer facilities will be made available for the Contractor to use in the performance of his research. These facilities will be available upon the commencement of this contract. •Any additional non-computer equipment required for the completion of this project will be provided by MSEL. These facilities will be available upon the commencement of this contract. •All materials provided by the Government in the performance of this task remain the property of the Government and must be surrendered to the government upon completion or termination of this requirement. 7. Risk Assessment The HSPD-12 Security Risk Level assigned to this contract is low risk. 8.Exhibits and Attachments None 9. Travel Any travel shall be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel regulations. 10. Contractor’s Minimum Qualifications The Contractor shall have a PhD degree or higher in chemistry, physics, or a related field, with a dissertation topic involving atomistic simulation. The Contractor shall also have at least 5 years of postgraduate experience in atomistic simulation with at least one published, peer-reviewed journal article on atomistic simulation of nanoindentation. *********END OF STATEMENT OF WORK******** ADDENDUM TO PROVISION 52.212-1 - QUOTATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (a) Submission of quotations. Submit signed and dated quotations to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. At a minimum, quotations must include— (1) The solicitation number; (2) The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror; (3) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers; (4) Technical description of the services being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with requirements in the solicitation. The quotation must explicitly demonstrate the offeror’s capabilities with regards to the specific tasks, as stated in the above Statement of Work. Capability statements must adhere to the Statement of Work. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary; (5) Documentation demonstrating the subject product’s compliance with the applicable Section 508 standards in the form of a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). This template can be found at www.section508.gov. (6) Terms of any expressed warranty; (7) Price and discount terms; (8) A statement identifying the size of the business under the specified NAICS code 813910. (9) Acknowledgement of any solicitation amendment; (10) FOB Destination based firm-fixed-price for each contract line item number, and any discount terms for those prices; (11) A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Quotations that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration. (c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation. (e) Multiple offers. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers presenting alternative terms and conditions or commercial items for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. Each offer submitted will be evaluated separately. (f) Late submissions, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers. (1) Offerors are responsible for submitting offers, and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that offers or revisions are due. (2)(i) Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is “late” and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and— (A) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of offers; or (B) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government’s control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or (C) If this solicitation is a request for proposals, it was the only proposal received. (ii) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful offer, that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted. (3) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the offer wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel. (4) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that offers cannot be received at the Government office designated for receipt of offers by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation or other notice of an extension of the closing date, the time specified for receipt of offers will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume. 1) Quotation Content: Each quotation shall consist of two (2) separate electronic files: (a) Technical Quotation and (b) Price. a) Quotations shall be submitted electronically by email to cheryl.coxen@nist.gov in MSWord or Adobe Acrobat pdf format by 4:00 pm EDT on APRIL 19, 2010. It is the responsibility of the offeror to ensure delivery of the quotation is on time and to confirm receipt of quotation delivery date and time. b) Any questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing via email to cheryl.coxen@nist.gov by APRIL 14, 2010. The Government will only respond to written questions. 1. Technical Quotation- Volume I: No pricing information shall be included in the technical quotation. The technical quotation shall include the following: (1) Technical Capability The offeror shall demonstrate its understanding of the requirements and provide a concise, detailed, and thorough discussion of its technical approach to successfully providing the required services. (2) Key Personnel Offerors shall include resumes along with a description of the experience and capability for its key personnel. Description shall address such items as the individual’s background, education, work experience, and accomplishments, including evidence of published articles in peer-reviewed journals related to atomistic simulations of: nanoindentation, dislocation nucleation, and vacancies in metals. In addition, it will demonstrate the knowledge that key personnel have gained through completed and ongoing efforts that are similar in nature to this effort. (3) Past Performance. The offeror shall provide past performance information regarding all relevant contracts for the PAST 3 YEARS with federal, state or local governments and commercial customers. The information shall describe contracts of similar type and scope as the current requirement. If the offeror intends to subcontract with another/other firm(s) for part of this requirement, that firm’s past performance information shall also be provided. If the offeror has no relevant past performance, it shall include a statement to that effect in its quotation. The government reserves the right to consider data obtained from sources other than those described by the offeror in its quotations. The description of each contract described in this section shall not exceed one-page in length. For each of the above listed contracts, the offeror shall provide the following information: •Contract number •Price •Description and relevance to solicitation requirements •Period of Performance- indicate by month and year the state and completion (or “ongoing”) dates for the contract •Name and address of the client with current telephone number and email address of a point of contact of the client responsible for the contract •Contracting Office – If a Government contract (federal or state), identify the procuring contracting officer (PCO), administrative contracting officer (ACO) and contracting officer’s representative (COR), and their names, current telephone numbers and email addresses •Contract performance- a brief summary of performance provided The offeror shall include information regarding any problems encountered on the contracts described above and corrective actions taken to resolve those problems. 4. VOLUME II- PRICE Offerors shall provide a Firm-fixed-price (FOB Destination) for the following: Line item 0001- Services for Atomic Simulations of Nanoindentation Using Classical Potentials with Finite Element Derived Boundary Conditions as outlined in the Statement of Work. - Travel, if applicable, to Gaithersburg,MD to be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations.   FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION – COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JAN 1999) (ADDENDUM) a. The Government intends to make a single award from this request for quotation. The Government reserves the right to make an award without discussions based solely upon initial quotations. b.The Government reserves the right to award this order based on initial quotations without holding discussions. Therefore, Offerors should ensure that their initial quote constitutes their best offer in terms of both price and non-price. c.Award will be made, if at all to the offeror whose quote conforms to the request for quotation requirements; who is determined responsible in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) by possessing the financial and other capabilities to fulfill the requirements of the order and provides the overall best value to the Government, price and non-price factors considered. Relative weight of evaluation factors. The evaluation factors are listed in descending order of importance. Together, all non-price factors are significantly more important than price. The importance of price in the evaluation will increase with the degree of equality among quotations of the non-price factors. (1)Technical Capability The Government will evaluate the offeror’s technical capability to determine the extent to which the technical approach demonstrates an understanding of the requirement; the extent to which the offeror will ensure successful performance of the required services; and any risks associated with the offeror’s demonstrated technical capability. (2) Key Personnel Key personnel will be evaluated to determine the extent to which their background, education, work experience, and accomplishments demonstrate their ability to effectively perform the required services. (3)Past Performance: The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s and, if appropriate, its proposed subcontractors’ past performance information to determine its relevance to the current requirements and the extent to which it demonstrates that the offeror has successfully completed relevant contracts in the past three years. In assessing the offeror’s past performance, NIST will evaluate the quality, timeliness, and ability to control cost and schedule of the past work. The Government will assign a neutral rating to offerors with no relevant past performance. (4) Price will be evaluated for reasonableness in consistency with the technical quote. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed costs are realistic, complete and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/SB134110RQ0294/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Bldg 301 MS 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899, United States
- Zip Code: 20899
- Zip Code: 20899
- Record
- SN02119081-W 20100414/100412234610-8b55608945f6c1b16d311dd1a05d43e1 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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