Manufacturer upgrade to add AutoStage hardware module to bench-top indentation plastometer for automated property testing for materials characterization.

Mississippi State University
Notice of Proposed Sole Source Purchase
267-037
Mississippi State University anticipates purchasing the item(s) listed below as a
sole source purchase. Anyone objecting to this purchase shall follow the
procedures outlined below.
1. Commodity or commodities to be purchased (make, model, description):
Manufacturer upgrade to add AutoStage hardware module to bench-top indentation
plastometer for automated property testing for materials characterization.
2. Explanation of the need to be fulfilled by this item(s), how is it unique from all other
options, and why it is the only one that can meet the specific needs of the
department:
The Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) at Mississippi State University
possesses a bench-top indentation plastometer produced by Plastometrex
This first-of-its-kind system uses Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP) to
obtain material properties from very small amounts of material relative to conventional
mechanical testing . Additionally, the plastometer at MSU is capable of conducting high-
temperature property measurements and, at the time of installation, was only the 5th
system in the world with this capability. Benefits of the PIP system were previously
summarized in MSU Sole Source Notice 223-38 for purchase of the system from
Plastometrex in 2022 and are summarized below for reference.
CAVS has a strong track record in developing new cutting-edge materials as well as
manufacturing processes. These novel materials must be tested in order to measure their
mechanical properties (e.g. strength, ductility, toughness) and determine the effectiveness
of the manufacturing process. Such testing conventionally requires producing a large
amount of material, careful sample extraction, and lengthy preparation prior to testing
each sample individually. This process can be labor-intensive, error-prone, financially
expensive, and highly time-consuming. Through the PIP method, the system at CAVS
allows for the measurement of a large number of samples with significantly lower
material, financial, and time costs. The addition of a high-temperature stage further
extends these capabilities to also include temperature-dependent data.
CAVS is currently involved in multiple projects funded through the Department of
Defense (DoD), particularly the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Surface

Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD), U.S. Army Engineer Research and
Development Center (ERDC), and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), with
these agencies displaying keen interest in the development and testing of new materials
and manufacturing processes. There is now an increasing emphasis on the use of
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the development of such novel
materials. These approaches are heavily data driven and hence require a large volume of
tested data for training in order to properly serve their function as design tools.
Generation of the requisite large amounts of data through individual tests is often
prohibitive and becomes a hurdle in the development process. The bench-top indentation
plastometer upgrade would enable CAVS to deliver the necessary amounts of testing data
from a very large number of samples within a very short turnaround time.
The small amount of material required for PIP analysis extends our material testing
capabilities on two key fronts. First, certain new manufacturing processes are meant for
production of small amounts of material (such as high-strength protective coatings or
small machine components), rendering the extraction of large individual samples for
conventional testing completely impossible. Second is the ability to better test
functionally graded materials, wherein different locations within the same piece of
material are designed to have different material properties. As such, testing larger
samples would be inaccurate and non-representative due to the fact that different points
within a single larger sample can have significantly different properties. The bench-top
PIP system can provide reliable data using less than 1/32nd inch worth of material,
opening the possibility for measuring thinner materials as well as probing multiple spots
for local behavior within functionally graded materials to capture property variations
within a single sample.
The subjective and manual nature of the current PIP procedure presents a significant
bottleneck in materials characterization, which the requested upgrade would address by
allowing automated testing of multiple locations as well as multiple samples
simultaneously. In addition to greatly enhancing productivity, the proposed AutoStage
functionality is crucial for providing high-throughput material characterization, which is
instrumental for project outcomes.

3. Name of company/individual selling the item and why that source is the only
possible source that can provide the required item(s):
Company Information:
Name: Plastometrex
Address: 204 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire, CB4 0GZ, England
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 744 400 1329
Website: plastometrex.com
Plastometrex is the only source for the hardware that is used to operate the bench-top
indentation plastometer they produce. The plastometer is a novel system for which a
patent was granted on 25th of August 2021 (patent# GB 1908656.0). Thus, there are
currently no other products on the market that perform the same function as this system.
4. Estimated cost of item(s) and an explanation why the amount to be expended is
considered reasonable:
The upgrades will include the necessary hardware needed for automated positioning,
testing, and property mapping, with a quoted cost of $43,599.00. Installing this upgrade is
less than half the price of a new system with AutoStage capability, even after deep
academic discounts.
The quoted price also includes an academic discount of $15,319.00 on the listed price of
$58,918.00.
5. Explanation of the efforts taken by the department to determine this is the only
source and the efforts used to obtain the best possible price:
Given that the patent for the technology used in the plastometer system was granted in
August 2021 to Plastometrex, there are no other vendors that offer testing systems that
are capable of providing the same results, rendering Plastometrex the only source for
such systems. Plastometrex are the only providers of hardware upgrades for their
plastometer system.
The subtotal for the upgrade is $58,918.00. After conferring with the manufacturer for
discounts, the quoted price of $37,909.00 includes an academic discount of $15,319.00,
which is a discount of 26%.
(For a breakdown of the specific item prices, please see attached quote,
Reference Number: 20260818-152453730).

Any person or entity that objects and proposes that the commodity listed is not sole source and
can be provided by another person or entity shall submit a written notice to:
Don Buffum, CPPO
Director of Procurement & Contracts
dbuffum@procurement.msstate.edu
Subject Line must read "Sole Source Objection"
The notice shall contain a detailed explanation of why the commodity is not a sole source
procurement. Appropriate documentation shall also be submitted if applicable.
If after a review of the submitted notice and documents, MSU determines that the commodity in
the proposed sole source request can be provided by another person or entity, then MSU will
withdraw the sole source request publication from the procurement portal website and submit the
procurement of the commodity to an advertised competitive bid or selection process.
If MSU determines after review that there is only one (1) source for the required commodity,
then MSU will appeal to the Public Procurement Review Board. MSU will have the burden of
proving that the commodity is only provided by one (1) source.
.