Building 215 Clean Room HEPA Filter Replacement

SOURCES SOUGHT

Project#19-43 – B215 Clean Room HEPA Filter Replacement

Disclaimer

This announcement is not a Request for Proposals (RFP) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future.  No solicitation is available currently. The purpose of this sources sought is to identify organizations with the requisite qualifications to provide the services stated herein. Based on capability statements received in response to this Sources Sought Announcement this acquisition may be solicited as a 100% small business set aside.  All small business organizations (SB SDB, WOSB, HUBZone, and VOSB and SDVOSB) are encouraged to respond to this notice.  

Requirement

The NIST Gaithersburg Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML) was completed and occupied in 2005.  It is one of the most advanced laboratories of its type in the world.  Building 215 is the cleanroom facility within the AML complex, housing an 1800 square meter cleanroom, of which 750 square meters is Class 100.  More information is available at: https://www.nist.gov/cnst

A Contractor will perform a series of task that consists of evaluating and adjusting airflows within the Building 215 cleanroom. The tasks to be performed include:

1. Perform Pre-demolition testing of mechanical equipment.
2. Replace ~70 variable air volume terminal units.
3. Repair and perform diagnostics of existing control systems to confirm operation of existing dampers, valves and sensors.
4. Replace ~54 existing airflow monitors.
5. Install ~32 new exhaust air valves to control exhaust branch ductwork airflows.
6. Repair or modify existing exhaust or supply ductwork.
7. Replace all ~1200 existing terminal supply HEPA filters, repair supply connections, balance and certification new HEPA filter.
8. Rebalance air handling units, exhaust fans, exhaust tools to airflows.
   1. Perform rebalance of cleanroom to maintain proper room pressurization.
9. Perform recertification of cleanroom.
10. Verify and repair/replace capped ducts as needed.

The specific purpose of this sources sought announcement is to determine if there are any small businesses, within the parameters identified above, that can provide the services identified.

Specific criteria being sought are:

1. The ability to meet the 10 tasks listed above
2. Relevant and recent experience completing tasks similar to these
3. The ability to work 24/7 starting Friday evenings, through the weekend, and onward until outages of cleanrooms are brought back online (maximum 9 calendar days per outage).  Liquidated Damages to be applied to work that extends beyond 9 calendar days due to lost research time.
4. The ability to schedule, plan, and contain cleanroom bays from adjacent spaces to limit outages.  The Cleanroom facility comprises 14 individual Cleanroom bays, each connected via equipment galleys, corridors, gowning areas, and other support spaces. NIST requires that each Cleanroom Bay be isolated and shut down individually during each phase of construction, allowing the remaining bays to remain operational. This phased approach will continue until construction is completed in all Cleanroom areas.  Sample phasing plan and HEPA Filter counts attached.

5. Confirm the ability to meet the work schedule requirements based on the number of HEPA filters per phase to work 24/7 starting Friday evenings, through the weekend, and onward until outages of cleanrooms are brought back online (maximum 9 calendar days per outage).  

6. The ability to protect and work around irreplaceable, existing tools and equipment to prevent damage.  Information on existing equipment is available at: https://www.nist.gov/cnst/equipment The contractor will maintain adequate insurance for repair, replacement, and manufacturer recertification of any damaged equipment and Liquidated Damages to be applied to equipment downtime due to lost research time at rates established by CNST.  Current (December 2020) rates are currently available at: https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/12/15/NanoFab_Rates_Dec_2020.pdf
7. The ability to manage specialty trades while teaming closely with the Owner to deliver project requirements

Baseline Progression and Assumptions for Filter replacements include:

1. Setup scaffolding, laboratory equipment protection, and temporary partitions
2. HEPA filter & housing replacement:
   1. Construction crew(s) will be assigned to remove the HEPA devices
   2. Construction crew(s) will be assigned to remove the gel gasketing, clean the construction space, and do miscellaneous tasks
   3. Construction crew(s) will be assigned to install the new HEPA devices.
3. Balancing:
   1. Rebalance AHUs
   2. Rebalance HEPA devices and room pressurization
4. HEPA certification
5. Remove scaffolding, laboratory equipment protection, and temporary partitions
6. Final cleaning of space
7. Area of work cleanroom certification

Requested Information

Interested, capable contractors (parties) shall submit a capability statement in response to this Sources Sought Notice, including at a minimum the following:

1. Technical discussion of Contractor ability to perform the type of services described above;
2. Name of Company, Company Address, Company Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Number, and Company point of contact including name, telephone number, and email address.
3. Business Socioeconomic Status (i.e. Large, Small, Small Disadvantaged, Woman Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, 8(a), Hubzone Small Business) based upon NAICS Code 236210 Industrial Building Construction and/or 236220 Commercial and Institutional Building Construction;
4. Describe project experiences and past performance with similar types of requirements of similar scope and magnitude per the criteria noted in above. Project experience shall include projects greater than $1.5M which were completed within the last 60 months.

The total number of pages to reply to this source sought shall not exceed 15 pages.

Please submit Capabilities Statements electronically via e-mail to Richard.Stevens@nist.gov using the subject line Response to RFI Number NB195000-26-00181 by no later than 1/30/2026 at 4:00 p.m. EST.

Summary

Once the results of this market research are obtained and analyzed for NIST's minimum requirements, NIST may solicit a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide Clean Room maintenance and repair.

The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.  NIST has not made a commitment to procure any of the services discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought.  All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.