The Utah Procurement Code provides that a procurement may be made without competition when the University determines that there is only one source that can reasonably meet the University’s need for the required supply or service, as described in Utah Code Ann. § 63G-6a-802.
The Purchasing Department has received the following request for sole source procurement
Current date: 20241222
Product and/or Service to be purchased: Optical Cryostat with closed-cycle refrigerator
Sole Source Supplier: CRYO INDUSTRIES
Earliest Proposed Purchase Date: December 30, 2024
Buyer Name: Kayla McMullen
Sole Source Justification:
| This purchase is for equipment capable of low-temperature optical measurements, in this case liquid helium temperatures. This cryostat is a Gifford-McMahon (GM) Cryocooler. The major components in the cooling system are the cold head (Sumitomo), the compressor and high-pressure lines. They form the basis of a sealed circuit containing helium gas which is used as the cooling medium. The cold head is where the Gifford-McMahon refrigeration cycle takes place. It is connected to a compressor by two gas lines and an electrical power cable. One of the gas lines supplies high pressure helium gas to the cold head, the other gas line returns low pressure helium gas to the compressor. The compressor provides the necessary helium gas flow rate at the high and low pressure for the cold head to convert into the desired cooling power at the first and second stages of the cold head. This product is only available from a single supplier because the Cryo Industries of America, Inc (CIA)’s cryostat offers a cooling power of 1.0W at 4.2 K. This Cryo Industries cryostat will take 60 minutes to cool to Stage 2 to 4.2 K. In comparison, the closest competitor will take 150 minutes to cool to the same 4.2 K. This is not feasible given that we have many samples to measure.
This cryostat is very sophisticated since it has optical windows surrounding the cold head which is cooled by this liquid helium refrigerator that is powered by a 208V compressor. It is composed of tightly machined parts which are designed such that it will fit into our two JASCO spectrometers and Cary 5000 spectrometer. Combined, these spectrometers cost $250K at the time of purchase. |