Montana Instruments Cryostation

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action under the FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This notice is for information only; a solicitation will not be issued. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334516 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The Government requires procurement of a Cryostation and related components/accessories, as follows:

• 4420-500 – Cryostation S200
• 4400-510-07 – Vacuum Module - Turbo
• 4400-520-20 – Water-cooled Helium Compressor
• 4100-3453 – Helium Hose and Cable Kit, 60 FT
• 4105-500-02 - Agile Temperature Sample Mount (ATSM) – Exchange Boss
• 4118-560-00 – Standard S200 Vacuum Housing – 76mm
• 4118-570-00 – Lid – Standard Cryostation S200 – 50/30
• 4107-150-04 – Side Panel – Quad RF (four cables)
• 4100-1577 – Side Panel – Quad-Fiber FC/APC
• 4100-1537 – RF-8 Mount
• 4117-708-00 – System Controller Cable
• 4200-674 – Triple ATSM TO TCM 10hz Cable
• OO-03 – 30mm Fused Silica Window, AR Coated for use from 400-1000nm, 3mm Thick
• OO-13 – Window – 50d/4t mm – Fused Silica/AR
• 4106-241 – Horizontal Style Side Panel Doubler
• 4100-1570-01 – Dual MDR-26 Side panel with 14” Wiring Harness for Cryostation S200 Unterminated External Cable
• 4400-588-01 – Flat Plate Sample Mount
• 4400-588-05 – R2D12 – RF & DC Mount
• 4400-588-04 – CC16 – DC Mount
• 4400-588-02 – Transmission Mount – 4mm Aperture
• 4100-648 – R-4 – Quad RF Mount
• 4100-1138-02 – RF Flexible Coax – 8” (20cm)
• Install-A – Cryostation Installation Service

Following are the minimum specifications/salient characteristics required to meet the Government’s need, and satisfied by the identified Montana Instruments Cryostation:

Specification                                                         Required value

• Cooling method                                         Closed cycle, free of liquid helium and liquid                                                                                            nitrogen
• Base temperature                                        ≤ 3.6 K
• Cooldown time                                          ≤ 10 hours
• Temperature stability                                  ≤ 20 mK
• Cooling power at 3.6 K                               ≥ 75 mW
• Rapid thermal cycling                                 Sample mounts with heating/cooling rate of 300                                                                                        K/5 min
• Sample space diameter                               ≥ 200 mm
• Sample chamber access                              Removable lid with O-ring
• Vibration level                                           ≤ 15 nm peak-to-peak
• Optical fiber access                                    ≥ 8 FC/APC fiber connectors, reconfigurable                                                                                            side panel access
• RF electrical access                                    ≥ 8 connections, side panel access
• DC electrical access                                   ≥ 25 connections, side panel access
• Free-space optical access                            8 side windows + 1 top window
• Compressor hose length                              ≥ 50 feet
• User interface                                            Touch-screen tablet or laptop push-button                                                                                                   control,remote control and scripting
• Automation                                                Automated processes for cooldown, stabilization,                                                                                      warmup, and venting
• Can mount on imperial optical table            Yes
• Cryostat weight                                          ≤ 80 pounds

 The Government intends to negotiate a sole source contract with:   

Montana Instruments Corp

            101 Evergreen Drive

            Bozeman, MT 59715-2445

The Government has determined that other companies’ products do not meet or cannot be modified to meet the Government’s needs. Montana Instruments is the only known vendor that provides a commercial Cyrostation which satisfies the needs/minimum specifications of the Government as detailed above.

This is a notice of proposed contract action and not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or proposal, which shall be considered by the agency. All inquiries should be sent by email to larry.barto.1@us.af.mil. Responses must be submitted by the date/time listed on the notice. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government in future procurements.

Responses received will be evaluated; however a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government anticipates an award date on or before 31 May 2023.

A Sole Source Justification will be attached to the subsequent Notice of Award in accordance with applicable regulation.