ParaView/VTK Software Enhancement Support Services

This is a notice of intent, not a request for a quotation. A solicitation document will not be issued, and quotations will not be requested.

Purpose

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to negotiate a firm-fixed priced purchase order on a sole source basis with Kitware, Inc. located at 1712 Route 9, Suite 300, Clifton Park, NY 12065-3104. The purchase order will be for follow-on contractor support services to improve ParaView software’s virtual reality capability in relation to NIST’s high performance computing and visualization research and to move ParaView towards the OpenXR standard. The purchase order will be for a 6-month period of performance.

Authority

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106(b)(1) allowing the Contracting Officer (CO) to solicit from one source. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541511 – Custom Computer Programming Services with a size standard of $34 Million.

Description

The High-Performance Computing and Visualization Group (HPCVG) in the NIST Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) develops innovative tools and techniques for immersive scientific visualization and high-performance computing to advance measurement science. To take advantage of recent advances in visualization hardware, the HPCVG is moving the Immersive Visualization Environment (IVE) to the fully open-source software environment, ParaView.

The purpose of this requirement is to further improve the capabilities and interface to the plugin such that a wider base of users can more easily take advantage of the immersive features of ParaView. To further enhance the usability of the immersive interface of ParaView, the contractor shall:

• Add the ability to assign different “pvservers” to different trackers, such that the head movement of two (or more) separate users can be used to affect the perspective rendering for different screens. (This will allow NIST to make full use of our newly acquired direct-view LED CAVE system.)


• Add the ability to control which “pvserver” will render particular 2D elements of a visualization scene such as color legends.


• Finalize the collaboration feature such that it works more seamlessly with the HMD collaboration feature.


• Consolidate the existing C++ interaction styles to remove redundancy, and increase consistency between the styles, and thus reduce the friction of adoption for more users.
  
  


• Enhance the CAVE-Interaction plugin control panel such that the inter-ocular eye distance and the “tracker-transform” can be controlled within the panel. Also, add a “world-scale” input that adds a scaling factor to the entire visualization scene. Plus any other issues as they arise – for example allowing a more flexible input for naming VR connections (allowing dashes and underscores).

Sole Source Determination

The sole source determination is based on the following:

The NIST Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) High-Performance Computing and Visualization Group operates a fully Immersive Visualization Environment (IVE) and has developed high end visualization software that runs this environment. The HPCVG is moving their IVE and custom software to the fully open-source software environment ParaView. The HPCVG therefore requires contractor support to integrate and enhance ParaView virtual reality capabilities with NIST's IVE. This requirement is a follow-on to contract 1333ND23PNB770475 with Kitware, Inc. which implemented Phase II of the Modifications and Enhancements to the ParaView/VTK Software for Immersive Scientific Visualization. The purpose of this requirement is to perform Phase III Modifications and Enhancements to the ParaView/VTK Software for Immersive Scientific Visualization of the planned integration and enhancement prepared under the prior awards. This work is necessary for on-going and future research efforts with the HPCVG.

ParaView is an open-source software that is housed on the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) Library. The VTK Library was written and is managed by Kitware, Inc. Kitware, Inc. must review and approve all software incorporated into the open source library. Accordingly, only Kitware, Inc. can guarantee code it develops will be acceptable and approved for incorporation. Software for research must be fully repeatable and precise and therefore only Kitware, Inc., the ParaView and VTK software manager, can provide the surety necessary for confidence in the research software integration, enhancement, and transition process.

As this requirement is a logical follow-on to a previous requirement with Kitware, Inc. to prepare plans for integrating and enhancing a complex software transition, and because the software is also managed by Kitware, Inc., Kitware, Inc. is the only contractor capable of meeting the Government's needs. Given KitWare, Inc.'s unique work on this specialized project, no other contractor has the necessary technical understanding of the ongoing research or the ability to provide continuity of scientific research for this effort. Inability to continue the ParaView integration, enhancement, and transition effort to completion with the contractor that supported the work from inception would substantially jeopardize the schedule and efforts associated with continuity of scientific research. Kitware, Inc. is the only capable contractor for this need.

Information for Interested Parties

Interested parties that believe they could satisfy the requirements listed above for NIST may clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing by or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is not a solicitation.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to Hing Pan Wong, Contract Specialist, at hnw6@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted via email to hnw6@nist.gov so that they are received no later than April 24, 2025 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.

Each response should include the following Business Information:

1. Contractor Name, Address,


2. Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and Email address


3. Contractor DUNS


4. Contractor Business Classification (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, hubZone, veteran owned, etc.) as validated in System for Award Management (SAM). All offerors must register in the SAM located at http://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1


5. Capability Statement