Inactive

Contracting Office Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640 Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640 This is a Sources Sought... Contracting Office Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640 Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640 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 of 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 NISTs use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces, equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME. Requirement: The Nanomaterials Research Group (NRG), within the MMSD, develops and disseminates measurement science, standards, and technology pertaining to the measurement of physico-chemical properties of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs); determines, compiles, evaluates, and disseminates key data needed to establish relationships between the performance, degradation, and risks associated with MNPs and the material sources. NISTs existing analytical facility relies heavily on traditional Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy methods coupled hyphenated to flow field flow fractionation (A4F) for online separation, characterization, and sample preparation for the spectroscopic investigations of size-dependent identification and quantification of MNPs. The required optical photothermal IR (OPTIR) microscope will provide improved capabilities in particle detection for sub 20 µm particles in both spectroscopy and imaging modes, lower uncertainty for identification through improved spatial resolution, and ultimately provide better quantification estimates of MNPs in complex matrices to meet the needs of our industrial and regulatory stakeholders. Accurate determination of particle size distributions and chemical composition are important metrics for determining size and morphology-dependent risk assessments of plastics for environmental and human health. Improved detection and identification accuracy are necessary to develop MNP materials and methods that can support life cycle design, life cycle analysis, and provide need inputs for assessing different plastic classes’ fate and risk to environmental and human health. NIST is seeking information on vendors who can provide the following: An Optical Photothermal Infrared (OPTIR) Microscope to address the need for improved sensitivity, spatial resolution, and throughput of isolated fractions of plastics collected from the hyphenated AF4 system. Ability to provide previously inaccessible data for MNP samples that will be necessary for the development of new test methods for current and emerging issues related to environmental and health risk assessment. Ablity to provide benchmarking data for transferrable method development using the traditional FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopy tools that are ubiquitous in regulatory and industrial workflows for plastic detection, identification, and degradation evaluation. Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the requirement described above. NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in second quarter of FY23 and awarding a contract in the third quarter of FY23. 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 items are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to Sadaf.Afkhami@nist.gov 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 sources sought notice: Name, Address, Unique Entity Identifier (issued by SAM.gov), CAGE code, and point of contact information of your company. Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable. Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the item described in this notice. A description of your company’s previous experience providing the item described in this notice. 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. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research. 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.