Notice of Intent to Sole Source: Attocube Three Axis Laser Fiber Interferometer

Announcement Type:

Special Notice Classification Code:

6695 Announcement Number: NB684070-24-02660 (NOI)

Subject: Notice of Intent to Noncompetitively Acquire an Attocube Laser Fiber Interferometer Notice of Intent to Noncompetitively Acquire One (1) Attocube Three Axis Laser Fiber Interferometer The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Mass and Force Group, has a need to obtain one (1) Attocube Three Axis Laser Fiber Interferometer for a liquid dispensing electrostatic force balance to disseminate mass less than 1 gram and force less than 10 millinewtons.

The purchase is required for the TrueBq IMS project’s final year and is necessary to meet near term project deliverables for uncertainty in liquid mass. This notice is not a request for a quotation. A solicitation document will not be issued, and quotations will not be requested. This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) via FAR 13.106-1(b). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing.

The purpose of this solicitation is to obtain one (1) Attocube Laser Fiber Interferometer for the TrueBq IMS project. The Mass and Force Group requires a 3-axis fiber interferometer for the next generation NIST Electrostatic Force Balance (EFB), in order to measure the mass of liquid samples for the TrueBq IMS project, which focuses on developing Decay Energy Spectrometery (DES) of quantitatively prepared sources using ultra-sensitive, cryogenic, Transition Edge Sensors (TESs).

The current interferometer is lacking key capabilities (analog output and vibrometry capabilities) which are required, in addition to overall the capability of the currently used interferometer. After thorough evaluation, it has been determined that a new 3-axis fiber interferometer from the manufacturer, Attocube Systems AG, is essential for several reasons:

1. Compatibility and Continuity: The new hardware must be compatible with the existing custom Electrostatic Force Balance (EFB) control hardware necessary to read signals from an interferometer digitally and instantiate a position control loop for measurement protocols developed for the existing prototype instrument to provide traceability to small mass and force measurements using established methods. This requires both an AquadB and High-Speed Serial (HSSL) displacement encoding.

The vendor (Attocube, Inc.) has proprietary hardware for the HSSL encoder that is required for direct compatibility with the established measurement protocols. Because the vendor's hardware has been verified to provide SI-Traceability for mass measurement, switching to a different interferometer system would require redesign, refabrication and reprogramming of software for the existing EFB, the SI-Tracebility of which would then have to be re-verified.

This would be extremely costly to the Government, with an estimate of more than $300,000.00 and require the work of a minimum of one (1) FTE and delay the current project deliverables past the project end timeframe, which would be detrimental to NIST’s mission. NIST conducted market research in May 2024 by internet searches, discussions with sources, and sources sought posting. Sources sought NB684070-24-02660 was posted from July 3, 2024 to July 17, 2024 with no responses. The results of that market research revealed that only Attocube Systems AG, EGLFINGER WEG 2, HAAR, 85540 DEU;

UEI: GUM6Q15FDTG4 appears to be capable of meeting NIST’s requirements. However, any sources that believe they are capable of meeting NIST’s minimum requirements are encouraged to respond to this notice by the response date to provide the following information at a minimum: Company Unique Entity Identifier number in https://sam.gov; details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements; whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization; and any other information that can help NIST determine whether this requirement may be competitively satisfied.