NOTICE OF INTENT-Oil-free Helium Recirculating Compressor

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division intends to negotiate with Coldedge Technologies, Inc., located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106-1(b), soliciting from a single source, for two Oil-free Helium Recirculating Compressors suitable for recirculating high-pressure ultra-pure helium gas in a closed-cycle flow cryostat system. Specific Requirements are as follows:

Output pressure >110 psig Flow rate > 25 slpm (standard liters per minute) at output pressure 110 psig Water cooled with < 1 gpm flow rate Gas tightness to maximum 5 * 10^-5 mbar liters per second leak rate No oil of any kind used in pumping mechanism, mechanical (e.g. diaphragm) compression only No oil or outgassing materials inside process gas (helium) portion of compressor Supplied with inline Supelco helium gas purifier and adsorber Mechanical footprint equivalent to Sumitomo HC-4E compressor Input and output for helium gas flow equivalent to Sumitomo HC-4E compressor (Aeroquip #8 male fittings) Electrical power requirement not to exceed 2 kW, 3 phase 208 V. Prior demonstration of successful operation of this compressor with a ColdEdge Stinger recirculating helium cryogenic system.

NAICS Code is 334516 –Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a Size Standard of 1,000 employees. NIST anticipates negotiating and awarding a firm-fixed-price purchase order to Coldedge Technologies, Inc. for this requirement. Interested parties that can demonstrate they could satisfy the requirement listed above for NIST must clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing on or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is not a solicitation.

Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether competitive procedures could be used for this acquisition. If competitive procedures are not used it is estimated that an award will be issued by 12/15/2024. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to angela.hitt@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted to angela.hitt@nist.gov no later than the date and time provided herein this posting.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AN OPEN COMPETITION: The Stinger, manufactured by ColdEdge Technologies, currently uses an oil-based compressor to pressurize and recirculate helium gas. However, we and the manufacturer have found that small amounts of contamination associated with the oil-based compressor cause reliability and cold-hold-time issues for the Stinger system, necessitating frequent warmups and cleaning/replacement of compressors and the recirculating helium gas.

ColdEdge has now developed a customized oil-free compressor system suitable for recirculating the helium in the Stinger system, which does not suffer from the same contamination issues and thus enables much more reliable long-term operation of the system with lower maintenance cost.

Because the properties of the compressor need to be tuned specifically to the application of recirculating helium in the Stinger system, it is essential that any oil-free compressor system used for recirculating helium gas in the Stinger have been tested and proven to work with the Stinger. It is not sufficient to simply purchase a compressor, even if the specifications may appear similar, because of the complex thermal and gas flow feedback mechanisms inherent in the Stinger system design.

Failure to purchase a tested, verified compressor will likely result in purchase of a compressor that does not work properly, or requires extensive testing and modification (at substantial cost in time and money) to perform the required tasks.