UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO - NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SINGLE SOURCE CONTRACT: #20-024
The University of Waterloo (UW) intends to award a single source contract to Keysight Technologies of Mississauga, Ontario, for a time- and frequency-domain characterization system consisting of: 1) upgrade of an existing 4-port Keysight PNB vector network analyzer (VNA) via four frequency extender test heads to a single-sweep, 10MHz-110GHz 4-port VNA (further upgradeable in future to 500Hz-110GHz single-sweep at all 4 ports); 2) 10MHz-26.5GHz 4-port spectrum analysis capability (further upgradeable to 10MHz-110GHz bandwidth spectrum analysis with a software license); and, 3) a 2-channel, DC-75GHz bandwidth sampling oscilloscope that is further upgradeable to 110GHz bandwidth with a software license.
This is an advanced Notice indicating to the supplier community that UW intends to award a contract for these goods to the pre-identified supplier. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date of this notice, a statement of qualifications that can satisfy the stated requirements set out in this Notice, the competitive requirements of the University are considered to have been met. Following notification to any suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their statement of qualifications meets the requirements set out in this Notice, the contract may then be awarded to the pre-identified supplier.
If other potential suppliers submit statements of qualifications during the twenty-five calendar day posting period, and meet the requirements set out in this Notice, UW will proceed to a Request for Proposal process, in order to award the contract.
DESCRIPTION:
The University of Waterloo has an opportunity to acquire new time- and frequency- domain test and measurement capabilities by purchasing: 1) a Keysight Technologies N5292A-400 millimetre-wave test set and four N5293AX52 110-GHz frequency extender heads with pulsed bias-Ts; 2) a S930902B spectrum analysis license for the upgraded VNA to 26.5GHz; 3) a N100A DCA-X wide-bandwidth oscilloscope with N1046A-72F 75-GHz, 2-channel remote heads and low-jitter timebase and pattern-lock trigger hardware. A full warranty on all hardware items is included in this offering. This is an exceptionally advantageous offer that the University is not aware that other suppliers can match.
SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION:
No Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) other than Keysight offers a 4-port vector network analyzer (VNA) frequency extender upgrade with 10MHz-110GHz single sweep capability that is capable of greater than 115-dB dynamic range, 0-dBm (min.) port power at 110GHz, and 6ms (min.) sweep time for 201 data points. Accurate leveled power can be applied to the test device, providing the ability to sweep port power, as required by the University’s research. The 4-port VNA upgrade to be purchased has other unique capabilities: it includes software options for spectrum analysis (10MHz to 26.5GHz; upgradable to 110MHz max.), and noise figure measurement (to 50GHz, extendable to beyond 110GHz with external mixers). Other software options included in this package are time domain, intermodulation distortion, and gain compression analysis, and the capability for true phase sweeping across the entire 10MHz to 110GHz sweep range. Software licenses are available as temporary or permanent licenses. Permanent licenses are either node-locked or transportable. The 4-port test set controller is compatible with other manufacturers millimetre-wave test heads (e.g., VDI and OML).
No OEM other than Keysight offers a wide-bandwidth N1000A DCA-X sampling oscilloscope mainframe and two N1046A remote sampling heads with a per channel bandwidth of 75GHz and sampler noise as low as 275uV. The N1000A-PTB internal precision and N1000A-LOJ low-jitter timebase options realize timing jitter as low as 50fs. The N1000A-PLK pattern-lock trigger hardware operates between 50MHz and 32GHz and enables a pattern lock length from 1 to 223 (8,388,608) symbols. Sample rates up to 250 kSa/s are possible, and the N1000A DCA-X mainframe supports up to 16 channels for future expansion. The oscilloscope may also be further customized with plug-in modules for optical and/or time-domain reflectometry (TDR) analysis. The unit can be upgraded without trade-in to enable measurement of 2 independent waveforms at a measurement bandwidth above 110GHz (i.e., via a temporary or permanent software licence), as required by the University.
Process:
Suppliers who can provide the functionality and provide a solution for compatibility with the existing equipment within budget may submit a statement of qualifications, in writing, to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date of this Notice.
The budget for this acquisition is less than $700,000 CAD, not including GST/HST.
Date of Issue: Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Closing Date: Monday, April 13, 2020, at 2:30 P.M. EDT (local time)
Christine Wagner, CPPB, CSCP
Procurement Specialist, Research
Procurement and Contract Services
University of Waterloo
Email – cpwagner@uwaterloo.ca , or, procure@uwaterloo.ca
