THERMODYNAMICS RESEARCH CENTER (TRC) METAL-BASED SYSTEMS DATA CAPTURE SERVICES

***Amendment 0001***

The purpose of this modification is to respond to questions received during the Q&A period.

Q1. Doing that, I noticed an inconsistency between the tasks described in the SOW and the second paragraph of the solicitation description.
It reads: " This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for maintenance of multiple Agilent Instruments."
while no instrument maintenance is mentioned in the SOW.

A1. The typo in the RFQ has been corrected.

Q2. The regular business hours for NIST Boulder are 6am to 7pm. The SOW states them in "2) REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS" as 6am to 6pm.

Is this on purpose or should I assume that the typical time from 6am to 7pm applies?

A2. The hours listed in the SOW are to be adhered to.

Q3. The SOW does not include any reference to travel or representation at scientific conferences. Under "Price Quotation - The price quotation shall include" the solicitation description requires to quote "4. Any proposed travel or other direct costs (ODCs) with supporting rationale."

Please clarify to which level of detail this position should or can be quoted. The fact that scientific conferences and their locations are not announced 4-5 years in advance makes it impossible to produce exact quotes for travel in the option years of this solicitation.

A3. At this time there is not a known travel requirement for this solicitation.  No proposed travel is required.  The RFQ has been revised to reflect this change.

Q4. Is there any incumbent/recompete or this is a brand-new project? If yes, could you please provide us with their award number or even if the customer bought similar services in the past.

A4. This is a re-compete of contract #1333ND20PNB640185.  

***End of Amendment***

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 – Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested, and a separate written solicitation document will not be issued. This solicitation is being issued under the authority of FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for Thermodynamics Research Center (TRC) metal-based systems data capture services. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisitions Circular (FAC) 2025-05, effective 08/07/2025.

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541690 – Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services with a size standard of $19M. This acquisition is being procured as a 100% Total Small Business Set-Aside.

Quoters must possess an ACTIVE registration in the System for Award Management system, www.SAM.gov, when submitting a quotation. They shall continue to be registered until the time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. Upon receipt of the quotation, the Contracting Officer will confirm that quoters have an “active” registration at the www.sam.gov website. If the SAM.gov registration is inactive, the quotation will not be considered for award.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Material Measurement Laboratory (MML), Applied Chemicals and Materials Division, requires Thermodynamics Research Center (TRC) metal-based systems data capture services in accordance with the attached Statement of Work (SOW).

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASES FOR AWARD:

The Government intends to award a single purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Contractor whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, will provide the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered.

The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations:

1. Technical Approach
2. Prior Experience
3. Key Personnel Qualifications
4. Past Performance
5. Price

In determining best value, each of the factors are equal in importance to each other. Price is less important than the non-priced evaluation factors.

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Factor I – Technical Approach

NIST will evaluate the degree to which the Offeror’s proposal demonstrates a clear, comprehensive, and feasible approach to meeting all requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW), Sec. III – SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS. Evaluation will include, but is not limited to:

• Understanding of data capture workflow refinement using NIST’s Guided Data Capture (GDC) software (current version of GDC available upon request).
• Understanding what thermophysical property data is in scope for the NIST Alloy’s Database, including an understanding of necessary metadata to define alloy systems.
• Approach to identifying relevant published data including the approach to determine which data is original experimental data and whether or not that data is in scope for this project.
• Approach to developing and refining the alloys database schema consistent with NIST/TRC SOURCE standards.
• Plan for further development and improvement of the web-based interface and data access API.
• Methodology for managing and quality-assuring C++ object library development.
• Approach to meet the required deliverables (monthly and final reports, minimum 400 GDC files (including foreign language sources))
• Plan for providing training to NIST students, including adequacy of materials, technical depth, and knowledge transfer methods.

Factor II – Prior Experience

NIST will evaluate the extent and relevance of the Offeror’s prior experience performing work of similar size, scope, and complexity, particularly in:

• Capture and management of thermophysical/thermochemical data.
• Use of GDC and ThermoData Engine software.
• Database schema development and API implementation for scientific data.
• Training of undergraduate/graduate students in technical research environments.
• Translation of German-language scientific journal publications for data capture and analysis.

Factor III – Key Personnel Qualifications

NIST will evaluate the qualifications of proposed key personnel against the SOW, Sec. III – CONTRACTORS MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS, including:

• Ph.D. in thermodynamics of metal-based systems or equivalent documented expertise.
• Demonstrated experience with GDC and TDE software.
• Knowledge of technical German.
• Experience teaching or training undergraduate students.
• Experience in database schema development and API/web integration.
• Communication skills (oral and written).

Factor IV – Past Performance

Evaluation of this factor will be based on the Offeror’s past performance relating to management and successful performance of requirements of comparable size and complexity. Past performance will be evaluated using information obtained from references provided in the quotes and may also include any other relevant information that is available to the Government, including information on contracts with Federal, State, and Local Governments and Commercial sources.

Factor V – Price

The proposed price will be evaluated for price reasonableness based on the total price. The total price will be calculated as follows:

Total Price = Price of Base CLIN + Price of all Option CLIN(s)

The proposed price must be fully consistent with the technical proposal and accurately reflect the proposed technical approach and scope of work.

The Government will evaluate quotations for award inclusive of all optional line items. The Government may determine that a quotation is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options does not obligate the Government to exercise the options.

NIST intends to evaluate quotes and issue a contract based on the initial quotes received. Therefore, the Contractor’s initial quote should contain the contain the Contractor’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. NIST reserves the right to request revised quotes from, or negotiate final contract terms with, one or more, but not all, Contractors if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary.

REQUIRED SUBMISSIONS:

Contractors shall submit the following:

Completed Solicitation Provisions:

A completed version of all required solicitation provisions (see attached provisions/clauses document – required submissions highlighted in blue).

Quotation Preparation Instructions:

Each quotation shall consist of three (3) separate electronic files:

(1) Technical Approach, Prior Experience, Key Personnel Qualifications and Past Performance

(2) Pricing Quotation

(3) Completed Provisions and Clauses document

1. Technical Approach

Offerors shall provide a narrative describing their approach to fulfilling all requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW), Sec. III – SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS., including:

• Methodology for data capture workflow refinement using GDC software.
• Approach to developing and refining the alloys database schema consistent with NIST/TRC standards.
• Plan for development/refinement of the web-based interface and API.
• Approach to managing and quality-assuring C++ object library development.
• Plan to capture GDC files, including non-English sources.
• Training plan for undergraduate/graduate students, including draft training materials and syllabus outline.

Submission requirement: Maximum 25 pages (excluding attachments).

2. Prior Experience

Offerors shall describe their prior relevant experience, including:

• At least three (3) examples of projects/contracts of similar size, scope, and complexity.
• Description of tasks performed, technologies used, and relevance to this requirement.
• Explanation of the Offeror’s role (prime or subcontractor).
• Outcomes achieved and customer references (with point of contact name, title, phone, and email).

Submission requirement: Maximum 6 pages, plus reference list.

3. Key Personnel Qualifications

Offerors shall identify all proposed key personnel and provide:

• Names, titles, and roles on this contract.
• Resumes demonstrating compliance with minimum qualifications in the SOW Sec. III – CONTRACTOR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
• Letters of commitment for all key personnel.
• Organization chart showing lines of responsibility and communication.

Submission requirement: Resumes limited to 5 pages each; org chart no page limit.

4. Past Performance

• Documentation that confirms past performance on relevant public or private sector contracts for the past two years. Documentation should describe contracts of similar type and scope. Documentation shall detail all relationships (partnerships, teaming, and subcontracting) formed with other firms for the performance of such contracts. Include relevant contact information of the client.

• If the Contractor has no relevant past performance, a statement to that effect shall be included in the quote. 

Price Quotation:

The price quotation shall include:

1. All Offerors shall submit a firm fixed price quotation for Contract Line Items 0001 -0005. Contractors shall provide a Firm-Fixed Price to complete the required services of the SOW for each of the items contained in the SOW (i.e., the total Firm Fixed Price quote must be broken down by individual item).
2. Completed pricing tables showing labor categories, labor hours, fully burdened labor rates, and total proposed price for the base and all option periods.
3. Narrative explaining the basis of estimate, including rationale for labor hours, skill mix, and any subcontractor support.

CONTRACT LINE ITEMS:

Line Item 0001, Firm Fixed Price (BASE CLIN): Firm-Fixed price Metal-Based Systems Data Capture services in accordance with the requirements set forth in the SOW. 

$__________________total firm-fixed price;

OPTIONAL LINE ITEMS:

Line Item 0002, Firm Fixed Price (OPT. I): Firm-Fixed price Metal-Based Systems Data Capture services in accordance with the requirements set forth in the SOW. 

$__________________total firm-fixed price;

Line Item 0003, Firm Fixed Price (OPT. II): Firm-Fixed price Metal-Based Systems Data Capture services in accordance with the requirements set forth in the SOW. 

$__________________total firm-fixed price;

Line Item 0004, Firm Fixed Price (OPT. III): Firm-Fixed price Metal-Based Systems Data Capture services in accordance with the requirements set forth in the SOW. 

$__________________total firm-fixed price;

Line Item 0005, Firm Fixed Price (OPT. IV): Firm-Fixed price Metal-Based Systems Data Capture services in accordance with the requirements set forth in the SOW. 

$__________________total firm-fixed price;

The price quotation shall include a cover page with the following information:

1. The solicitation number 1333ND25QNB640417;

2.The name and address of the Quoter;

3. The name, phone number, and email address of the Quoter’s point of contact;

4. Government Unique Entity ID (UEI) number for Quoter’s active SAM.gov registration.

5. Any applicable discount terms.

6. A statement that the Contractor agrees to all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. If the Contractor objects to any of the terms and conditions contained in this solicitation, the Contractor shall state, “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:” [Contractor shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)].  It is the Contractor's sole responsibility to identify any exceptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation in their quote. 

7. A statement that the quotation is valid for a minimum of 60 days from the response deadline of this solicitation.

8. Signed amendments to the solicitation, if any are issued

Please note that this procurement IS NOT being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC).  If a contractor submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price.  However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the contractor’s FSS or GWAC contract, and the statement required under paragraph (vi) above shall be included in the quotation.

DUE DATE FOR QUOTATIONS:

All quotations must be submitted via e-mail to Rudolph Spencer, Contract Specialist, at rudolph.spencer@nist.gov with a carbon copy to Donald Graham, Contracting Officer, at donald.graham@nist.gov. Submissions must be received no later than 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on September 10, 2025. Fax quotations will not be accepted.  Quoters must reference the RFQ number in the subject line of the e-mail submission.   Quotes shall not be deemed received by the Government until the quotation has entered the e-mail inbox of the individuals set forth above.

Questions: All questions regarding this notice must be submitted via e-mail to rudolph.spencer@nist.gov with a carbon copy to Donald Graham, Contracting Officer, at donald.graham@nist.gov, no later than 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on September 5, 2025. Questions submitted after this date may not be addressed by the Government prior to the quotation submission deadline.

PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES:

The clauses and provisions applicable to this solicitation can be found under Applicable Clauses & Provisions. The full text of a FAR provision or clause may be accessed electronically at www.acquisition.gov/far or https://www.acquisition.gov/car.

ATTACHMENTS:

The following attachments apply to this solicitation:

1. The SOW; and
2. Applicable Clauses & Provisions