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NB685010-24-02664 6640 / 334516 Title:? Custom Potassium Heat Pipe Dual Furnaces BACKGROUND The NIST Thermodynamic Metrology Group maintains and develops national standards of temperature (in the rang... NB685010-24-02664 6640 / 334516 Title:? Custom Potassium Heat Pipe Dual Furnaces BACKGROUND The NIST Thermodynamic Metrology Group maintains and develops national standards of temperature (in the range 0.65 K to 2011 K), and supports calibration of all types of contact thermometers up to 2370 K. The Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometer Calibration Laboratory (SPRTCL) provides critical national and international stakeholders with SI traceability to the kelvin. Government, military, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and high-level industrial calibration laboratories depend on the low uncertainties and direct SI traceability provided by the SPRTCL. As part of the realization of the ITS-90 temperature scale, the zinc (Zn) and aluminum (Al) fixed points require high-temperature heat pipe furnaces. In order for NIST to offer services for the calibration of standard platinum resistance thermometers (SPRT) at high temperatures, NIST requires high performance metrology furnaces to maintain NIST specific Zn and Al cells at their respective freezing points. Due to the age and unreliability of the current high temperature furnaces, NIST must procure additional furnaces should additional hardware failures render the current furnaces inoperable. The replacement furnaces must be easily integrated into the existing measurement service infrastructure. It is important that the furnaces properly accommodate NIST fixed-point cells to optimize the heat exchange between the furnace and the cells, allowing for the realization of the ITS-90 temperature scale with state-of-the-art accuracy. Two vertical potassium heat pipe furnaces are required to realize the high temperature fixed points of the ITS-90 for SPRT calibrations. Potassium heat pipes are necessary to achieve the high temperatures of the Zn and Al freeze points. The new furnaces must be easily integrated into the existing measurement service infrastructure and provide temperature stability and uniformity comparable to the current MIST metrology furnace systems. These furnaces are needed to enable calibrations of SPRTs at the Zn fixed point and above, which is essential for the realization and dissemination of the Kelvin at NIST. NIST has a need for two (2) vertical potassium heat pipe furnaces that meet or exceed the following draft minimum specifications: Line Item 0001: Description: Potassium heat pipe furnaces Quantity: Two (2) Technical Specifications. Custom design to accommodate NIST specific fixed-point cells Heat pipe cavity depth must be deep enough to accommodate NIST cells: 530 ±1.52 mm Heat pipe cavity diameter between 53.20 mm and 54.75 mm. Dimensional drawings of the heat pipe must be included Operating temperature range: 400 °C to 1000 °C Potassium heat pipe furnace liner to reduce thermal gradients Dual furnace to enable pre-heating and cooling of SPRTs in the same apparatus Realization of the Zn and Al fixed points with uncertainties below 1 mK Temperature stability: temperatures inside the fixed point cell well shall not vary in excess of ±0.05 °C during a 12 hour period, as measured by an SPRT inside a frozen fixed point cell kept in the furnace. Long-term temperature stability: furnace temperature must not drift by more than 0.25 °C during a period of one week Temperature uniformity: temperature, as measured by a PRT immersed in a frozen fixed-point cell, shall remain uniform to within ±0.05 °C, along the entire length of the fixed point cell crucible Resolution of temperature control: 0.1 °C HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response. Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice. Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI). Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements. Whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization. Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why. Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses. For the NAICS code Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business. See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information. If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information. Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section. Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement. Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section. QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on August 5, 2024. Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline. IMPORTANT NOTES The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations. No award will be made as a result of this notice. NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate. Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.