Provide Scientific, Technical, and Engineering Support Services for NIST Sites

January 11, 2024

Amendment A002 has been posted to incorporate a change to a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause. 

The due date and time for proposals remains unchanged. 

   END OF UPDATE

JANUARY 8, 2024

Amendment A001 has been posted to respond to questions submitted. 

The due date and time for proposals remains unchanged. 

        END OF UPDATE

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Request for Proposal Number 1333ND23RNB630023 has been posted. 

            END OF UPDATE            

Founded in 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non- regulatory federal agency within the United States Department of Commerce (U.S. DOC). The mission of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

The NIST laboratories that support the NIST mission are:

1. Physical Measurement Laboratory
2. Material Measurement Laboratory
3. Engineering Laboratory
4. Information Technology Laboratory
5. Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology
6. Center for Neutron Research
7. Communications Technology Laboratory

 Additionally, NIST carries out its mission through the following cooperative programs:

1. The Baldrige National Quality Program
2. The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership

NIST has sites that are located in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado. NIST also has partners in:

a.  JILA, formerly called Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), a partnership with the University of Colorado;

b.  The Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a partnership with the University of Maryland;

c.  The Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), a partnership with NOAA's National Ocean Service, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the College of Charleston, and the Medical University of South Carolina;

d.  The Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research (IBBR), a partnership with the University of Maryland;

e.  The Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology (JIMB), a partnership with Stanford University, Stanford, California;

f.   National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS II), a partnership with the Department of Energy, Upton, New York; and

g.  NIST U.S. Pacific Islands Program, support of the Marine Specimen Bank Program.

The Government has a requirement to establish a single indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide scientific, technical, and engineering support services for on-going programs, which range from basic scientific requirements to in-depth and complex scientific requirements, to enable NIST to continue to advance measurement science, standards, and technology through specific research. Scientific, technical, and engineering support services shall be provided in accordance with task orders that would be issued on a firm fixed price basis.

The Contractor must have extensive project management capabilities as well as technical knowledge and judgment in scientific, technical and engineering fields, with proficiency in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, measurement science, nuclear science, forensic science, environmental science, modeling, and scientific principles and practices to be able perform and manage multiple, concurrent task orders.

The anticipated contract would primarily service NIST sites in Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder, CO, but may also service the partner sites listed above. The number of task orders is expected to exceed 300 over the life of the contract. Task orders will be awarded and performed concurrently.

The types of services procured will be directly relevant to one or more of the following areas of expertise:  Engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, measurement science, nuclear science, forensic science, and/or environmental science. Below are services representative of those that may be required under the contract:

-Work in measurement science pertaining to the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions in metrology in scientific and engineering specialized fields of study.

-Design or modification of scientific measurement instrumentation and methods. Includes design and testing of new scientific instrumentation or modification of existing instrumentation to improve the state-of-the-art measurement in a given scientific/engineering field of study, and/or implementing machine learning systems and algorithms.

-Optimization and advancement of existing measurement instrumentation and methods pertaining to improving an existing instrument and/or method in accordance with NIST-provided performance standards. Examples of optimization include lower detection limit, reduced bias and/or imprecision, and better specificity.

-Mathematical and statistical analyses and modeling of data pertaining to an evaluation of existing databases in accordance with NIST-provided performance standards. Examples include modeling in smart manufacturing, advanced materials, low gate voltage transistors, wireless networking, and greenhouse gas impact on the environment.

-Writing of technical reports compliant with NIST-provided performance standards. The performance standards may include content, format, compliance with a style guide or Editorial Review Board (ERB) requirements.

-Presentation of report and/or project findings during conference calls, meetings, conferences, and/or trade shows.

-Calculation or measurement of chemical and physical properties including measuring chemical and physical properties and conducting measurements identified by NIST. This effort may include improving existing formulas for calculating a chemical and physical property in order to obtain a more accurate and/or repeatable result.

-Development of applications of measurement science to the biosciences pertaining to use of recent research results and methods for applications in related or diverse areas of measurement science to the biosciences.

-Developing and/or writing a model or data base that requires software to implement the analysis. While software development shall not be a primary task and software or code shall not be a primary deliverable under any given task order, the development of science may require software to support and/or implement the science.

-Conducting field investigations on disasters and structural failures to include collecting pertinent data on the event and analyzing the data for potential causes. The Contractor may be required to write reports to document results to help to minimize future risk and increase safety through improved codes, standards and practices.

-Working independently to develop solutions for difficult scientific/technical/engineering problems; Generating concepts as evidenced by product or process improvement; and use scientific/engineering tools to integrate requirements and solve technical problems.

-Forensic and biometric analytics.

The period of performance will be a base period of one year with four one-year option periods.

The NAICS code for this requirement is 541690 with a small business size standard of $19.0 million.  Contracting by Negotiation shall be utilized under the authority of FAR Parts 12 and 15. This requirement is 100% set-aside for firms that are certified 8(a) Small Business Development Program firms.

The competitive Request for Proposal (RFP), amendments, and all questions and answers related to this procurement shall be made available via the Internet at the System for Award Management website (www.SAM.Gov) under RFP number 1333ND23RNB630023.

Potential Offerors shall be responsible for downloading the solicitation and amendments, if any, from www.sam.gov after the solicitation has been posted.  It is, and will continue to be, the responsibility of each potential offeror to monitor www.sam.gov for any amendments or other information related to the solicitation. 

Any communications regarding this acquisition must be made in writing and forwarded via email to carol.wood@nist.gov, and shall identify the solicitation number, company name, company address, as well as point of contact email address and phone number.

NIST anticipates posting the solicitation approximately seven days after the date of publication of this notice.

The solicitation document will include information on the existing contract and identify the incumbent Contractor.