NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE EDAX PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE

This sole source requirement is for Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) EDAX, LLC. (EBSD) and supporting hardware and software annual preventative maintenance (not replacement) of two detectors: an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and an electron backscatter diffractometer (EBSD) and supporting hardware and software. The EDS, EBSD detectors, and supporting hardware and software are manufactured by companies such as Bruker, Oxford Instruments, and EDAX.

The instruments, however, are not compatible with each other in terms of hardware and software. The EDAX detectors are proprietary, this is both the instruments themselves as well as the communications boards that go into the support computer and the software used to control the detectors. A qualified EDAX technician is required to install software updates and to perform the calibrations required during annual servicing of the detectors.

Technicians from Bruker and Oxford, though proficient, would not have the adequate experience with EDAX hardware and software to complete the necessary calibrations. No other vendor other than EDAX is capable of fulfilling this requirement in a manner that would ensure operational functions. The purchase of inadequate service would risk research and damage to the existing equipment which directly supports student and staff development.