Call for Proposals ”LOFAR LOW-COST DESIGN HIGH BAND ANTENNA - MECHANICAL”

Hereby we publish a new Call for Proposals, ”LOFAR LOW-COST DESIGN HIGH BAND ANTENNA - MECHANICAL”. In this Call for Proposals the development of a design of a High Band antenna tile will be presented for which you are invited to make a submission.

LOFAR will be a wide-area sensor network for astronomy, geophysics and precision agriculture. The LOFAR infrastructure will consist of a collection of seventy-seven sensor fields (also referred to as "stations"). Thirty-two sensor fields will be concentrated in a central area; the others will be distributed over a larger area. A dedicated supercomputer, called the Central Processor will combine and process the sensor data. Data will be transported over optical fiber connections from the sensor fields to the Central Processor. The sensor fields amongst other hardware, will contain 96 High Band Antenna-tiles covering the electromagnetic spectrum from approx. 120 to 240 MHz. Each Tile will consist of 16 HBA-elements and a ground plane.

LOFAR will require a design for a High Band Antenna (HBA) tile which has to be developed for the programme. ASTRON/LOFAR already executed concept studies to these antenna tiles. But before going to tender for production LOFAR needs to know that a tile that meets the requirements for an acceptable cost is achievable. For now, it is intended to place a research and initial development contract, whose purpose is to develop a design of an HBA tile that meets the technical requirements and also the cost restraints. The design must be suited to an existing production/manufacturing environment or a dedicated but realistic and cost-effective one. The purpose of the present Call for Proposals is to select a partner to perform this design phase. Parties interested in bidding are required to note the following:

1) The present Call for Proposals does not fall within the scope of the European Procurement Directives. ASTRON is a contracting authority and some elements of the LOFAR project will be procured under the terms of the Directives. For purposes of consistency and good procurement practice this present Call for Proposals follows, as far as practical, the standards and procedures of a European competitive procurement.

2) This Call for Proposals is issued by the "Stichting Astronomisch Onderzoek in Nederland" (ASTRON) on behalf of the LOFAR consortium. The final contracts resulting of this Call will be formally placed by the "LOFAR CV", which will be established in 2006. The terms and conditions presented in the Call for Proposals will not change. By submitting a proposal, a bidder indicates its agreement that he is prepared to enter into a contract with the "LOFAR CV" on the same terms and conditions.

3) Proposals must be submitted not later than July 5th, 14:00 Netherlands local time. Proposals submitted after the closing date and time will not be accepted for evaluation.

4) By submitting a proposal a bidder certifies that he has not entered into any agreement with any other party for the purpose of persuading any party not to submit a bid, or otherwise to avoid competition.

5) All questions or other communication with ASTRON concerning this Call for Proposals must be directed in writing (including email) to the project leader of this Call, Ronald Halfwerk (halfwerk@astron.nl). Any communication or attempt to communicate in connection with this Call with any member of ASTRON personnel may results in exclusion from the evaluation.

THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS IS CLOSED NOW

The entire Call for Proposals can be obtained by downloading the Adobe PDF file from www.lofar.nl or www.lofar.org. Additional information about the LOFAR project also can be found on these locations.

Documents:
1) Cover letter
2) Call for proposals

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