The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Toptica Photonics, Inc located in Farmington, NY for the following item; .DLC CTL 1550, Continuously Tunable Laser Complete System.  The proposed award is being issued in accordance with FAR 13.106-1 (b) under simplified acquisition procedures and conducted under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516 – Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, and the size standard is 1,000 employees.

Justification: The Material Measurement Laboratory's Chemical Sciences Division Optical Measurements group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) located in Gaithersburg, MD has multiple ongoing projects that involve high resolution laser spectroscopy of atmospheric gases, such as water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane. The group typically employs cavity ringdown spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy in order to produce high quality spectral data products. In order to advance the measurement goals of the group, a high resolution, continuously and widely tunable laser source in the 1.55 m wavelength region is required.  The system must have the following specifications:

1.A tuning range of at least 1530 nm to 1630nm , 2. Continuous, mode-hop free motored tuning over the entire tuning range, 3. Laser linewidth <100 kHz at 5 μs, 4. Output power in fiber of >12 mW between 1550 nm and 1620 nm, 5. Optical isolation: >30 dB, 6. Fast current modulation (AC and DC coupled), 7. Included fiber collimator with >50% coupling efficiency, 8. Attached fiber optic must be a PANDA PM fiber with narrow key FC/APC connectors with the slow axis aligned with the key, 9. Integrated locking system with visual display, allowing top-of-fringe or side of fringe locking, 10. Ability to tune laser and operate locking from front panel, 11.Piezo step size of 5 kHz of less in optical frequency, 12. USB or serial interface to PC and 13. Continuous wave (CW) output

Market research conducted determined only the suggested item meets the above specifications and therefore the aforementioned vendor is the only known source able to meet agency’s need.

No solicitation package will be issued.  This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all responsible sources interested may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement.

The Government will consider responses received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern on September 02, 2020. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected] . No telephone requests will be honored.  

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.