High-Precision Timing Infrastructure

Introduction

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) intend to negotiate a firm-fixed priced purchase order on a sole source basis with Safran Trusted 4D Inc. (UEI: XL6BFS5UDQJ5), located at 45 Becker Road, West Henrietta, NY 14586. The purchase order will specifically procure a programmable timing control system that can interoperate with an existing White Rabbit Precision Time Protocol (WR-PTP).

Authority

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR Subpart 12.102(a) allowing the Contracting Officer (CO) to solicit from one source. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334111 – Electronic Computer Manufacturing with a small business size standard of 1,250 Employees.

Description

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) utilizes a White Rabbit Precision Time Protocol (WR-PTP) to enable absolute time synchronization to sub-nanosecond precision between sites at NIST Gaithersburg laboratories, the University of Maryland JQI, and other DC-QNet partners. ITL is in need of two low-jitter time distribution switches for remote synchronization across remote sites, and a programmable quantum instrumentation control system that can interoperate with an existing White Rabbit high-precision time distribution infrastructure.

Sole Source Determination

The sole source determination is based on the following:

The WR-PTP is intended to integrate low-latency programmable control capabilities of test and measurement equipment in the metropolitan-scale quantum network testbed. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) system enables programmability and code executions at the tens of nanoseconds level for faster more precise control to synchronize test and measurements at multiple laboratories in the metropolitan-scale testbed. While there are other vendors selling QICK, only Safran Trusted 4D, Inc. (Safran) provides WR-PTP time synchronization for the QICK system, which requires licensing of the IP core and FPGA development.

QICK is conceived and developed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a Department of Energy national laboratory for high-energy particle physics. Fermilab created and developed the original open-source QICK system. Safran integrates WR-PTP and QICK and provides a commercial product. Safran is the only vendor for the open-source Fermilab QICK system and a White Rabbit Switch that would be compatible with the QICK system. The QICK system will allow us to implement experimental control systems based on high precision synchronized timing and is available for custom-build.

The HATI license provides licensing of the WR-PTP intellectual property (IP) core into the QICK FPGA onboard the ZCU216 RF System on Chip. FPGA programmability is needed to integrate research-grade learning and predictive models along with high precision timing for data acquisition and control. The HATI license is required to synchronize the time between the WR-Z16 and QICK.

The three interdependent items collectively function as a unified solution, removal or substitution of any component will compromise system functionality. The only available source for all three requirements is through Safran.

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 Collin Randall, Contract Specialist, at Collin.Randall@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted via email to Collin.Randall@nist.gov so that they are received no later than March 20, 2026, at 10:00 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 SAM Universal Entity Identifier (UEI)


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 have an active registration in www.SAM.gov.


5. Capability Statement