SAP PURCHASE REQUISITION: 4200276076 PURCHASE OF TWO PAIRS OF CUSTOM-MADE CALCIUM FLUORIDE ASPHERIC LENSES…

Public award description

SAP PURCHASE REQUISITION: 4200276076 PURCHASE OF TWO PAIRS OF CUSTOM-MADE CALCIUM FLUORIDE ASPHERIC LENSES TO BE USED AS PHASE INDUCED AMPLITUDE APODIZERS IN THE AMES CORONAGRAPH EXPERIMENT TESTBED. THE ASPHERIC LENS SETS THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS PROCUREMENT ARE UNIQUE TO THIS APPLICATION. THE LENS DESIGN DOES NOT USE CONIC SECTIONS OR ANY OTHER ANALYTICAL SHAPES THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED WITH CLOSED-FORM EQUATIONS. THESE DESIGNS ARE TRULY GENERALIZED ASPHERES THAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED IN NUMERICAL TABLES. THESE PROPERTIES SEVERELY LIMIT THE NUMBER OF VENDORS CAPABLE OF MAKING THE LENSES. WE HAVE CONDUCTED EXTENSIVE MARKET RESEARCH, CALLING ON EXPERTS IN THE FIELD OF ADAPTIVE OPTICS TO IDENTIFY ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR THE PREVIOUS, IDENTICAL PROCUREMENT NNA08BA25P, AWARDED JANUARY 29, 2008. SIXTEEN FIRMS WERE CONTACTED, AND ONLY TWO QUOTES DEEMED TO BE RESPONSIVE WERE RECEIVED. OF THE TWO QUOTES, AXSYS IS LESS EXPENSIVE BY NEARLY A FACTOR OF TWO. THE HIGH PERCENTAGE OF `NO-BIDS REINFORCEE OUR CONCLUSION THAT THE UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS PROCUREMENT RESULT IN A VERY LIMITED NUMBER OF CAPABLE VENDORS. WHILE AXSYS IS NOT STRICTLY THE SOLE VENDOR CAPABLE OF SUPPLYING THIS ITEM, THEIR QUOTED PRICE AND THEIR PROVEN TRACK RECORD AS WELL AS THEIR SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF NNA08BA25P MAKE THEM THE ONLY CHOICE WORTH CONSIDERING FOR THIS PURCHASE.