The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors capable of providing precious metals to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), NIST's nanotechnology user facility to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), NIST's nanotechnology user facility. The precious metals will be evaporated using electron beam evaporation or sputtered using argon gas. After the results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and specifications are developed that can meet NIST's minimum requirements, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a Purchase Order. If at least two qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, then any competitive procurement that resulted would be conducted as a small business set-aside.
The precious metals will need to meet the following NIST preliminary requirements:
1. Materials
The materials sought include but are not limited to:
• Gold
• Platinum
• Silver
• Palladium
2. Purity
• Gold: 99.999%
• Platinum: 99.99%
• Silver: 99.999%
• Palladium: 99.99%
3. Shape and size
• Disk (sputtering target): 3.0" diameter, 1/8" and ¼" thick
• Pellet (for evaporation): small cylinder, sphere or oval-shaped, typically a few mm in any dimensions, up to a maximum of ¼"
4. Yearly quantity (typical)
• Disks: 1-2 of each material
• Pellets
 Gold: 2,000 grams
 Platinum: 200 grams
 Silver: 250 grams
 Palladium: 100grams
5. Certificate of Analysis (C of A)
A C of A shall be provided with each shipment clearly indicating lot number and elemental chemical analysis results.
6. Precious metal reclaim
A system of reclaim is sought by which used disks can be sent back to the vendor for credit toward future purchase.
7. Delivery suggestion
The gold pellets can be delivered according to a preset schedule (like "so many grams" per month). All the other materials shall be on-demand. Other proposed methods will be considered as well.
NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large, foreign, and small businesses. Small businesses are defined under the associated NAICS code for this effort, 331410, as those domestic sources having 750 employees or less. Please include your company's size classification in any response to this notice.

Companies that can provide the materials listed above are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to [email protected] no later than the response date for this sources sought notice. The report should include achievable specifications and any other information relevant to your product or capabilities. Also, the following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice: 1. Name of the company that manufactures the system components for which specifications are provided. 2. Name of company(ies) that are authorized to sell the system components, their addresses, and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address). 3. Indication of number of days, after receipt of order that is typical for delivery of such systems. 4. Indication of whether each instrument for which specifications are sent to [email protected] are currently on one or more GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts and, if so, the GSA FSS contract number(s). 5. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research.
Point of Contact
Forest Crumpler, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 975-6753, Email [email protected]

Bid Protests Not Available