Notice of Intent o Sole Source for Upgrade of Existing Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (RSoXS) End Station

Notice of Intent to Noncompetitively acquire upgrade the existing resonant soft x-ray scattering through station.

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

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing which has a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Materials Measurement Lab (MML) is upgrading the resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) end station at NSLS-II at the Brookhaven National Laboratory facility as part of a project in the CHIPS Metrology program. The through station is used for measuring the microstructure and local chemistry of a variety of soft matter systems including those used in photolithography, organic electronics, water membranes, and biological systems. The through station is operated as part of the general user program at NSLS-II and is available for use through a proposal review system. The through station is situated on the SST1 beamline (https://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/beamlines/beamline.php?r=7-ID-1).

The RSoXS through station is being upgraded to allow soft X-ray reflectivity and a method called resonant critical dimension small angle scattering (res-CDSAXS). These measurements will enhance the ability of the through station to characterize new materials for photolithography. This requirement necessitates a system with the sample and the detector on a 2-circle goniometer in the vacuum chamber. The upgrade will also add a high throughput sample exchange system to increase the sample throughput of the through station.

The upgrade must be integrated into a large amount of existing instrumentation, software, and controllers. The modified chamber must fit in the current straight section of the SST1 beamline within the allowable footprint defined by neighboring instrumentation and facilities. The equipment must fit in and not compromise any part of an existing design envelope under previous NIST contract SB134114CN0042 awarded to FMB-Oxford (now XDS Oxford). XDS Oxford has the proprietary knowledge of the original design that is necessary for proper modification of the existing equipment.

NIST conducted market research in November 2024 to February 2025 to determine what sources could potentially meet NIST’s minimum requirements. This included searches on GSA; SAM; surveying vendor websites; and issuance of a Sources Sought Notice on SAM.gov. Market research identified a few manufacturers that produce make synchrotron end stations and/or components, but only one can meet the requirement to fit within the existing equipment because only they have the access to proprietary designs and components required. The results of market research revealed that only XDS Oxford Limited (UEI: RQEDB5HN31L5) appears to be capable of meeting NIST’s requirements.

However, any sources that believe they are capable of meeting NIST’s minimum requirements are encouraged to respond to this notice by the response date to provide the following information at a minimum: Company Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number in https://sam.gov; details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements; whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization; and any other information that can help NIST determine whether this requirement may be competitively satisfied.

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 be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Only responses received by the offers due date and time of this notice will be considered by the government. Responses shall be submitted via email to nina.lin@nist.gov.