The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, intends to negotiate with Formfactor, Inc (Cage: 7PFN1), located in Livermore, CA, on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106(b), soliciting from a single source to purchase a custom commercial high-speed cryogenic probe card with 40 ground signal pairs, in support of NIST’s Physical Measurements Laboratory.

NIST’s Spin Electronics Group requires a cryogenic compatible (room temperature down to 4 Kelvin) high-speed (DC to 20 GHz) probe card that fits within the existing cryostat. The existing cryostat is a FormFactor HD Kilimanjaro 122. The probe card must be non-magnetic and operate in a high vacuum environment. The probe card must have 40 ground signal pairs that connect with 40 GPPO connectors and the pins must match the pin/pad layout with a signal and ground 400 micrometer pitch for a 5 mm x 5 mm device under test/chip. The probe card must be smaller than 3 inches by 3 inches and have an opening of at least 3.5 mm x 3.5 mm and a maximum height from the device under test to the top of the probe card of less than 3.5 mm. The specialized nature of this system requires that the manufacturer have at least 2 years of experience designing and manufacturing probe cards for scientific and engineering R&D. The manufacturer ideally will have delivered at least 5 similar probe cards in the past 2 years.

The NAICS Code is 334515, Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals, with a small business standard of 750 employees. NIST anticipates negotiating and awarding a firm-fixed-price contract to Formfactor, Inc for this requirement.

Interested parties that can demonstrate they could satisfy the requirement listed above for NIST must clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing on or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is not a solicitation. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether competitive procedures could be used for this acquisition. If competitive procedures are not used, it is estimated that an award will be issued in the second quarter fiscal year 2023.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to ian.robinson@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted to ian.robinson@nist.gov no later than December 27, 2022 at 10 a.m. MST.