Contracting Office Address

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Acquisition Management Division,

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640

Sources Sought Notice NIST-MML-25-SS22

Title:  UV-Vis Spectrometer System

This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY.  Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response. 

This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information.  This Notice will also assist the Government in determining if there are any domestic manufactured end product sources for the project title.

NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.

NIST is seeking information from vendors potentially capable of providing a UV-Vis Spectrometer System.

SPECIFIC CAPABILITIES:

Performance Requirements:

• Spectrometer with multiple lamp sources (such as a halogen lamp and deuterium lamp) covering a wavelength range of at least 185 nm to 1800 nm; double-beam instrument and double monochromator system, including a PMT and a InGaAs detector.
  • It needs to be designed to facilitate N2 purging around the sample compartment and optics including of standard 10 mm quartz cuvettes; a tunable spectral bandwidth; wavelength reproducibility and achieve stray light rejection in the UV.
  • The spectrometer’s manufacturer must also support a product line of accessories enabling other configurations, including, integrating spheres for diffuse reflectance measurements, variable angle reflectance and transmission measurements, and polarizers.
• In Situ Catalysis Equipment must include a diffuse reflectance accessory that couples directly to the spectrometer via an entrance and exit port on opposite sides while it uses mirrors appropriate for the UV-Vis to redirect the beam so that it can measure the powder samples.
  • Current research requires a mirror configuration that permits collection of the diffusely reflected signal and be in a geometry that facilitates rejection of the specularly reflected beam is needed.
  • The diffuse reflectance accessory needs a port for purging and an accessory with appropriate mirrors for aligning the incoming beam with powder samples and the diffuse reflectance accessory shall be capable of fine height adjustments to facilitate this alignment.
  • Due to the current research being performed the reaction chamber must operate up to at least 800 ° C and pressures from 200 µPa to 1 MPa.  The reaction chamber will need to be made of a chemically resistant material such as or equal to 316 stainless steel.
• Desktop PC to control spectrophotometer with a minimum of Windows 11 with trusted execution technology; necessary software to operate the spectrophotometer; analyze data collected using the  spectrophotometer as well as include monitor, mouse, and keyboard. The instrument control computer shall support all necessary software for instrument operation and data analysis.
• General Requirements that all equipment is new non-refurbished unit; not listed as a discontinued product, sold and supported by its manufacturer with voltage compatible with USA standards.
• Either in electronic and/or hard-copy format, an operations and maintenance manual covering proper operation, routine maintenance, and troubleshooting for the instrument and controlling software.
• Installation on site.
• Certified training provided.
• Warranty’s length and coverage for the full system and computer.

Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the commodities described above. NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in the fourth quarter of 2025 and awarding a contract within the same period.

NIST Is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516 is 1,000 employees. Please include the company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. Companies that can provide such item are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to [email protected] no later than the response date for this Sources Sought Notice.

The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this source sought notice:

1. Name, Address, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, CAGE code, and point of contact information of your company.
2. Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable.
3. Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the item described in this notice.
4. A description of your company’s previous experience providing the item described in this notice.
5. Indication of whether the item described in this notice are currently offered via your company’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.
6. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.
7. Pricing information of current cost for organic chemicals available for purchase from the list provided.
8. Place of Manufacture: Is more than 55% of item manufactured domestically, if not where is it manufactured?

Responses are limited to a total of twelve (12) pages. The responses must be in MS Word format.  Pages shall be 8½-inch x 11-inch, using Times New Roman 11 Point Font. Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.