34 -- Machined Housing for a Co-Conical Field Generation System

This request for Proposal has been postponed till FY 05. A new release date for the solicitation will be announced. The National Institute Of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for a commercially machined Co-Conical Field Generation System (CFGS) housing, prepared in accordance with the format in FAR subpart 12.6-streamlined procedures for evaluation and solicitation for commercial items-as supplemented with additional information included in this notice and in accordance with far part 13. The solicitation number is RA1341-04-RP-4032 and is issued as a Request For Proposal (RFP). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through federal acquisition circular 2001-24. The NAICS code is 332721, and the small business size standard is 500 employees. The Co-Conical Field Generation System (CFGS) is a set of expanding cones. This machining contract will include the building a pair of cones, access doors, support structures, and alignment guides to test electromagnetic field and hazard probes. The smaller (inner) cone will mount inside the larger (outer) cone with the alignment of the support structure then meet at the narrow tip in a microwave 2.92mm connector (specifically an Anritsu K-104F). This system will be guiding RF energy from 10 MHz to 40 GHz. The drawings shall be broken down into five major areas of design: The Outer cone, (consisting of 8 major sub assemblies), the Inner cone (consisting of 5 major sub-assemblies), Outer Cone 2 and Door Assemblies, the CFGS Support, and the Inner Cone Support. These drawings were designed using AutoCAD’s Inventor 8 – to get full usage of design requirements Inventor 8 must be used to view the design. The use of non-ferrous materials is absolutely critical in the inner surface of the Outer-Cones (Skin parts of Outer Cones 6, 7, 8, and 9) and the outer surfaces of the Inner Cones. The required blends of aluminum must be adhered to. Critical machining issues: Outer-Cone: The inner surfaces of the Outer-Cones and mating surfaces between Outer-Cone sections a must conform to the surface finish requirements, parallel restraints and flatness in the drawings. The lack of a clean, machined finish will incur electro-magnetic losses and cause the system to be unstable. 1) Required Lathe – a vertical lathe with a minimum of 60” of travel will be required to perform the final finish cut on the outer cone. Adjacent sections must be finished together to ensure a smooth transition between sections. For the final passes the doors will be mounted in “outer cone 2” and need to be machined so the inner surfaces of the doors are flush with the inner surface of “outer cone 2”. 2) Inner-Cone: The outer surfaces of the Inner-Cones and mating surfaces between Inner-Cone sections a must conform to the surface finish requirements, parallel restraints and flatness in the drawings. The lack of a clean, machined finish will incur electro-magnetic losses and cause the system to be unstable. 3) Outer-Cones 6, 7, 8 and 9: The inner-surface profile is critical to making a smooth transition between a standard RF-microwave connector and the rest of the CFGS. The AUTOCAD INVENTOR (*.idw) drawings in cfgs\outter cone\bessel cones have a defined profile that will be required during the machining process (not identified in the PDF version of the drawings). This profile will be delivered in standard Machine-tool, CNC formatting in the distribution of the drawings – NIST will consult with contractor to determine actual format needed for the file to interface with the contractor’s available CNC equipment. 4) Mating between sections: the mating between sections of both the Inner and Outer Cone sections is critical. Specification of the actual diameter of each section is less critical than the smoothness of the critical surfaces between sections. Matched machining is required between sections to minimize this problem. Adjoining sections must be mated together and final finish passes must be made together so these critical surfaces are smooth (the actual angle of the cones is not as important as the smoothness of the surface). 5) Doors: the inner surface of the doors must match the inner surface of the Outer-Cone 2. The mating specification on the top and bottom edges of the doors with the inner surface of Outer-Cone must be adhered to maintain RF performance. 6) Note the dimensional tolerances on all drawings – These must be adhered to - surface finish and section mating are critical to system performance. 7) All bids must contain detailed processes on how the machining will be performed. Bids will describe how tolerances will be held (with special notes on the mating of the door sections to “cone 2” and cone section to cone section interfaces). Machine tools to be used must be listed, with accuracy specifications, to verify ability of the bidder to construct the system. Details of machining and construction of the skin sections for outer cones 1 through 5 must be described to determine suitability for use in electromagnetic energy propagation (see design considerations). Design considerations: 1) Skin construction: NIST suggests using the appropriate thickness of aluminum plate then bend the skin sections into rough shape, weld together with upper and lower rings and perform finish machining on the interior surfaces and ring ends, but the design of the skin sections shall be left to the contractor. Other methods will be acceptable to complete the outer cones including machining out of solid stock and casting if tolerances can be held. Electromagnetic energy propagation will be adversely affected by seams and gaps between the skin sections. Efforts to minimize voids or gaps in the welding will result in better performance of the system. Final machining of the outer and inner cone sections must not expose gaps between the skin sections or voids in the welds. 2) For illustrative purposes – there is a directory \pdf which contains PDF version of the drawings for initial analysis and review by the bidders it mirrors the directory structure of the actual drawings. The AUTOCAD INVENTOR drawings (*.idw) in the \cfgs directory are the drawings which will be used as the baseline for determination of compliance with the specifications. The contractor should consider purchase of an AUTOCAD INVENTOR license to ensure that they can correctly implement all the drawings contained on the CD attachment to the solicitation. Design DIRECTORY: cfgs\ Main Drawing Co-Con assembly cocon assembly.idw DIRECTORY: cfgs\outer cone OUTER CONE drawings Drawings for: Outer Cone 1 Outer Cone 1 - Sub Assembly Cone 1 sub.idw Outer Cone 1 - Weldment Cone 1 weldment.idw Outer Cone 1 - Upper Ring Cone 1 upper ring.idw Outer Cone 1 - Lower Ring Cone 1 lower ring.idw Outer Cone 1 - Skin Cone 1 skin.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 2 Outer Cone 2 - Sub Assembly Cone 2.idw Outer Cone 2 - Weldment Cone 2 weldment.idw Outer Cone 2 - Upper Ring Cone 2 upper ring.idw Outer Cone 2 - Lower Ring Cone 2 lower ring.idw Outer Cone 2 - Skin Cone 2 skin.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 3 Outer Cone 3 - Sub Assembly Cone 3 sub.idw Outer Cone 3- Weldment Cone 3 weldment.idw Outer Cone 3 - Upper Ring Cone 3 upper ring.idw Outer Cone 3 - Lower Ring Cone 3 lower ring.idw Outer Cone 3 - Skin Cone 3 skin.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 4 Outer Cone 4 - Sub Assembly Cone 4 sub.idw Outer Cone 4 - Weldment Cone 4 weldment.idw Outer Cone 4 - Upper Ring Cone 4 upper ring.idw Outer Cone 4 - Lower Ring Cone 4 lower ring.idw Outer Cone 4 - Skin Cone 4 skin.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 5 drawings Outer Cone 5 - Sub Assembly Cone 5 sub.idw Outer Cone 5 - Weldment Cone 5 weldment.idw Outer Cone 5 - Upper Ring Cone 5 upper ring.idw Outer Cone 5 - Lower Ring Cone 5 lower ring.idw Outer Cone 5 - Skin Cone 5 skin.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 6 Cone 6 sub.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 7 Cone 7.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 8 Cone 8.idw Drawings for: Outer Cone 9 Cone 9.idw DIRECTORY: cfgs\inner cone Inner Cone drawings Inside cone Assembly inside cone assembly.idw Inner Cone 1 Inner Cone 1 sub.idw Inner Cone Exploded Sub Assembly InnerCone1Explode.idw Inner Cone 1 Adapters C1 1-te Adapter.idw Inner Cone 2 Inner Cone 2.idw Inner Cone Exploded Sub Assembly InnerCone2Explode.idw Inner Cone 2 Adapters C2 AdapterA.idw Inner Cone 3 Inner Cone 3.idw Inner Cone Exploded Sub Assembly InnerCone3Explode.idw Inner Cone 3 Adapters C3 2-3adapter.idw Inside Cone Tip inside cone tip.idw DIRECTORY: cfgs\inner cone Inner Cone Support - located in inner cone directory Inner Cone Support Inner cone support.idw Inner Cone Support Ring Sub inner cone support ring sub.idw Inner Cone Support weldment inner cone support weldment.idw Inner Cone Center Support inner cone support ring center.idw Inner cone support components inner components.idw Inner cone support parts inner cone centering support.idw Inner cone support ring horizontal leg Inner cone support ring horizontal leg.idw Inner cone support ring base Inner cone support ring base.idw G-10 Screw Assembly g-10 screw assembly.idw G-10 Screw Assembly Components g-10 screw assembly components.idw DIRECTORY: cfgs\support CFGS Support cfgs support cfgs support.idw cfgs support-1 cfgs support-1.idw upper support ring cfgs support ring upper.idw mid ring cfgs support mid ring.idw support leg cfgs support leg.idw Mounting Flange Cfgs floor mounting flange.idw mid ring weldment cfgs weld mid ring.idw leg weldmend drawing cfgs weld leg support.idw DIRECTORY: cfgs\door Door sections cone 2 assembly cone 2 assembly.idw door 1 assembly door1 assembly.idw door 1 door1 sheet 1.idw door 1 door1 sheet 2.idw door mount door mount 1.idw door 1 frame Door 1 frame.idw straight insert straight 4 inch top insert.idw straight bottom insert straight 4 inch bottom insert.idw door 2 assembly door2 assembly.idw door 2 sheet 1/2 door2 sheet 1.idw door 2 sheet 2/2 door2 sheet 2.idw door mount 2 door mount 2.idw angled insert angled 4 inch top insert.idw angled insert bottom angled4 inch bottom insert.idw door 2 frame door slide assem 2 frame.idw door parts for both doors door locking hardware door lock stop.idw door mount left door mount left.idw door mount right door mount right.idw door plugs door plug.idw motor mounts horizontal motor mount.idw motor mounts motor mount supports.idw probe sleeves probe sleeves .idw door supports side support right.idw door supports side supports.idw bolt to hold rails local.ANSI.90.1100.idw swing bolt assemblies swing bolt assembly.idw Any amendment(s) hereto will only be published in the FedBizOpps. The Evaluation Factors for this solicitation are: (A) TECHNICAL, (B) PAST PERFORMANCE, and (C) PRICE. Evaluation factors are listed above in their order of importance. Technical and past performances, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Technical proposals shall include identification of compliance with the specifications and drawings (machine shop performance, finish and tolerances, assembly, and quality). Offerors shall also provide product information sheet(s) for their system. For the evaluation of Past Performance, the offeror shall provide at least three references, along with their respective addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Note that the Government may also contact references other than those identified by the offeror and use the information obtained in the evaluation of the offeror's past performance. In order that the Technical proposal may be evaluated strictly on the merit of the material submitted, no contractual price information is to be included. A separate business proposal shall be provided that includes the following: (1) a price proposal and (2) a completed FAR 52.212-3 (provision) offeror’s Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items, all referencing solicitation number RA1341-04-RP-4033. Forms and clauses stipulated herein may be downloaded via the internet at the following address: http://www.masc.noaa.gov/masc/amd/prc_cont.html. Award will be made to the offeror presenting the best overall value to the Government, including technical and past performance. For further information, please contact Jacqueline Wright at 303-497-5282.