RECOVERY- Announcement of Opportunity for a Primary Mirror Assembly for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope Project

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), on behalf of the National Solar Observatory, is soliciting proposals for the M1 Primary Mirror Assembly fabrication for the proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), which will be located at the project site at Haleakala Observatory, Maui, Hawai’i. The selected firm(s) will provide the following services; transport, generate, polish and test the ATST provided meniscus primary mirror blank. The selected firm(s) shall also design, fabricate, test and transport the primary mirror assembly consisting of figure control, thermal control and handling systems. AURA encourages submissions from firms collaborating to provide optimal technical proposals for these diverse tasks. AURA is seeking to pre-qualify firms who are interested in submitting a proposal for either the ATST M1 polishing, M1 Assembly fabrication effort or both. Parties interested in receiving the Request for Proposal documentation for these procurements must first complete and submit the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire and Appendices A, B, and C to Harvey S. Bass, Contracts Officer, AURA-ATST Project by either fax (520-318-8500) or email ([email protected]) not later than 3:00 PM MST, Friday April 30, 2010. The Questionnaire can be accessed at http://atst.nso.edu/contracts. Accompanying the Questionnaire shall be a one page letter of interest referencing Announcement of Opportunity No. R125991. The letter shall include the physical mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email address for a contact person. Qualified parties will be provided access to the RFP documentation. AURA and the ATST Project are constructing this 4-meter solar telescope on Haleakala in Hawaii under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.