Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, Boulder, CO Sources Sought for Commercial Item Purchase - Upgrade to CMW 500 Wideband Communication Tester. Upgra... National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, Boulder, CO Sources Sought for Commercial Item Purchase - Upgrade to CMW 500 Wideband Communication Tester. Upgrade current communication tester to provide more power in the links, wider measurement bandwidths, higher frequencies (up to 6 GHz for initial testing and eventual upgrade to mmWave protocols), and faster internal communications to process the increased data rates. Specifications/Requirements EQUIPMENT: The Over-the-Air (OTA) Metrology Project at NIST is purchasing an upgrade to an existing NIST-owned communication tester to allow next generation (5G) over-the-air (OTA) testing as well as narrow-band-internet-of-things (NB-IoT) research. Background: NIST is developing test methods, best-practice guidelines, and uncertainties for the cellular wireless community in both reverberation chambers and anechoic environments. Our research utilizes a Rohde & Schwarz CMW 500 wideband communication tester for establishing a communication link to a wireless device and measuring parameters of that link including bit-error-rate and transmitted power. Our communication tester has a serial number of 1201.0002K50-155996-Fk. New communications standards have been developed for machine-to-machine communications called NB-IoT, as well as very wide bandwidth next-generation communication protocols. In order to continue OTA research in these new areas, we need to upgrade our current communication tester to provide more power in the links, wider measurement bandwidths, higher frequencies (up to 6 GHz for initial testing and eventual upgrade to mmWave protocols), and faster internal communications to process the increased data rates. Objectives: We require an upgrade to our current Rohde & Schwarz communication tester to allow wider measurement bandwidths, higher power, and faster data rate communication testing. The system must support expansion to 5G, sub-6GHz protocols as well as run NB-IoT protocols. Additionally, the hardware must be expandable to mmWave protocols. Finally, a warranty period of a minimum of 3 years for this upgrade is required. The parts required for the upgrade must come from Rohde & Schwarz since this is an upgrade to a Rohde & Schwarz instrument. The upgrade can either be made in the form of additions to an existing chassis, or in the form of an additional chassis. Therefore, the upgrade parts can be delivered to NIST without sending back our current instrument. Additionally, the parts specified for the upgrade are shown in Line Item 1 below. Delivery: Delivery of all components shall be less than 4 weeks. Line Item 1: Upgrade to CMW 500 Wideband Communication Tester Upgrades: 1. Chassis upgrade for 70 MHz to 3.3. GHz (extendable to 6 GHz and future mmWave upgrades) 2. Advanced measurement unit with arbitrary waveform generator 3. Baseband interconnection for extendibility 4. RF converter with 160 MHz bandwidth 5. Advanced functionality RF front end 6. Upgraded front panel 7. Solid State Drive 8. Advanced signaling unit 9. Digital IQ interface 10. Multi-CMW PCIe enabler 11. Extra RF Converter with 160 MHz bandwidth (MIMO testing) 12. Extra advanced functionality RF front end 13. DVI output 14. Option carrier (expandable protocol options) 15. Ethernet switch (faster internal communication) 16. High stability oven stabilized crystal oscillator (OCXO) 17. 6 GHz flat rate for extended frequencies up to 6 GHz on 4 RF converters 18. Upgraded data application unit 19. Upgrade data acquisition unit 20. NB-IOT Release 13 and 14 signaling, network emulation 21. NB-IOT Release 13 and 14 TX measurement, uplink 22. Software licenses for IP data interface 23. NB-IOT software tools Calibration, Warranty, Technical Support, Shipping An extended warranty period for the wideband radio communication tester for a minimum of 3 years is required. Basic Technical Support for 1 year Shipping of all parts FOB Destination This announcement is not a Request for Proposals (RFP) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future. No solicitation is available at this time. The purpose of this synopsis is to identify small businesses with the requisite qualifications to meet the requirements of the item stated herein. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and compared with NIST's minimum requirement (see Technical Specifications above), NIST may conduct a small business set-aside competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. If at least two qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, then this acquisition will be solicited as a small business set aside. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible small business sources (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB and VOSB). This requirement is assigned a NAICS code of 334220 (Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing), Size Standard 1250 employees. The specific purpose of this Sources Sought Announcement is to determine if there are small businesses, within the parameters identified above, that can provide the product/service identified. Interested small business organizations that believe they can meet the requirement should submit electronic copies of their capability statement. Please limit responses to three (3) pages or less. Responses should include the following information: 1. Name of company that will provide product. 2. Name of company that will manufacture the product. 3. Spec sheets and examples of products that meet the specifications. 4. Typical lead time to deliver the product after receipt of order. 5. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing our minimum specifications and finalizing our market research. Any proprietary information should be clearly marked. The written capability statement should be received by the Contract Specialist no later than 2:00 pm MST April 9, 2019. The capability statement shall identify the business status of the organization. Only electronic statements will be accepted. Faxes will not be accepted. Send emails and any inquiries to Michael Fredericks, Contracting Officer, at michael.fredericks@nist.gov Place of Contract Performance: Contractor's facility