The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intends to negotiate a one-time sole source contract with Thermo Scientific for associated equipment that will be integrated with FBI-owned scanning electron microscopes.
The FBI currently owns JEOL Scanning Electron Microscopes. To accomplish the task of analyzing improvised explosives to assist in determining their safety properties these microscopes will be fabricated with a Thermo Scientific electron backscatter diffraction detector and a Thermo Scientific Noran UltraDry electron dispersive spectrometry (EDS) detector integrated into Thermo Scientifics’ NORAN System 7 Microanalysis System.
This system is configured to support completely integrated EDAS, EBSD, wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS), and forescatter detectors.
This will give the FBI the capability to prove that a certain chemical synthesis methodology has yielded the correct crystal structure and chemical composition for the desired end-product explosive.
Thermo Scientific is the only vendor who meets the strict technical requirements of the equipment needed that will be integrated with the FBI owned SEM’s. Furthermore, the accessories must completely and seamlessly integrate into the Thermo Scientific NORAN System 7 X-ray microanalysis system that will be installed on the FBI owned JEOL JSM-IT300LV SEM. Thermo Scientific is the sole-manufacturer and supplier of this equipment and is the only vendor that can satisfy the requirements of the FBI.
Source: FBO.gov