The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, intends to negotiate with Rakon Limited. (Cage: E0188), located in Auckland, New Zealand on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106(b), soliciting from a single source, to purchase a 5 MHz Quartz Oscillator.

NIST’s Cesium Fountain Project Division requires an upgrade to their cesium fountains. The performance is currently limited and in need of improvement to the fountain’s sensitivity which will enable the Division to make faster and better measurements to characterize the primary frequency standards. See the attached Requirements and Specifications document for further details.

The NAICS Code is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Equipment Manufacturing, with a small business standard of 1,000 employees. NIST anticipates negotiating and awarding a firm-fixed-price contract to Rakon Limited 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 by July 21, 2023.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted via email to the Contract Specialist at lisa.stevens@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted to the Contract Specialist at lisa.stevens@nist.gov no later than the submission deadline of this notice.