The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to procure a high speed electrostatic shutter and camera upgrade for the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology's (CNST) existing Gatan GIF Quantum SE energy filter, which is used for the materials and chemical analysis of nanometer scale structures. The GIF Quantum SE is sited and used on the CNST NanoFab's FEI Titan analytical transmission electron microscope (TEM) as a shared resource accessible to researchers from industry, academia, NIST, and other government agencies.

The proposed Gatan GIF Quantum SE upgrade will significantly improve the energy filter tuning speed and accuracy, as the response time between the Gatan Microscopy Suite (GMS) software and the GIF shuttering during the tuning routine will be much faster. This upgrade requires adding an electrostatic shutter to the existing energy filter, enabling the high speed camera option to the existing US100XP/FT camera system, and updating the "online" GMS 2.12 software license to allow the software to interface with the upgraded hardware.

In order for TEM users to process the electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) data after acquisition, the NIST NanoFab currently has two "EELS Analysis Offline Suite" plugin licenses for the offline Windows XP version of Gatan's GMS 1.8 software. Since NIST has updated their computers to Windows 7 x64, we need to upgrade these two "EELS Analysis Offline Suite" licenses for the off-line Windows 7 x64 version of Gatan's GMS 2.x software. Due to demand for the analysis software, we also need to purchase 3 additional "EELS Analysis Offline Suite" licenses.

Currently we do not have any licenses for the "EFTEM Analysis Offline Suite" plugin for the GMS software. Energy-filtered TEM (EFTEM) maps must be analyzed with the Online version of the software. To allow users to process their EFTEM data offline, CNST has a need to purchase one 5x license for the "EFTEM Analysis Offline Suite x64" software.

The NIST CNST NanoFab also has need to purchase one license of the EELS Advisor Offline Suite for Windows 7, 64 bit software to allow users to simulate electron energy loss spectra to determine the best conditions for acquiring their EELS and EFTEM experimental data.

The Gatan GIF Quantum SE energy filter and the supporting software are designed, manufactured, and sold by Gatan. This upgrade requires Gatan proprietary design and manufacturing expertise and knowledge, as well as Gatan trained and authorized service engineers for the installation and training. This upgrade can only be purchased from Gatan. The proprietary nature of the product and only one commercial provider makes this a sole-source procurement.

The sole vendor that manufactures the required upgrade capability for the high speed camera and shutter for GIF Quantum SE Energy and the required software and hardware which is 100% compatible with the hardware and software and devices currently in use at NIST is Gatan, Inc.

Gatan, Inc is the only contractor who can provide the required upgrades that meets NIST's requirements. Therefore, Gatan, Inc is uniquely qualified to provide the required upgrades.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, and the size standard is 500 employees.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 12:00 p.m. (Eastern) on August 15, 2015. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected]. No telephone requests will be honored.

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.