Attachment A - Statement of Work_Final.pdf

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STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Title: Quantum Networks Entanglement Layer Research

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The transformational network and services group in the Smart and Connected Systems division, Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) develops foundational quantum networking and measurement science to support industrial transformations. This program develops new measurement science, networking standards and best practices to enable industry and government agencies to gain confidence in this disruptive quantum network technologies. We focus on technologies that have the potentials to become the new engines to power our increasing quality of life and economic competitiveness by fundamentally increasing the capabilities or changing the directions of future communications. Quantum Optical Networking has the potential to fundamentally change network security and increase network and compute capacity. This technology has a sparkled-growing interest in academia, industry, and national security communities. Building scalable quantum-secured communication networks is one of the most important technological goals of the 21st century. Entangled photons’ stability and their distribution are fundamental steps for quantum networking to succeed. Today, entanglement is fragile and easily degraded during its transmission, processing, or storage. The quantum networking program research will address the core problem of entanglement distribution and stability by developing efficient and resilient protocols stacks to identify, distribute, manage and manipulate entangled photons and propose solutions that overcome environment-induced optical and quantum impairments such as destruction of their coherence.

II. PURPOSE

The purpose of this requirement is to develop essential networking protocols, measurement techniques and measurement tools for quantum networking.

Place of Performance The place of performance shall be at the NIST Gaithersburg Campus, Building 222, Room B218, from 8:00am to 5:00pm Eastern Time, excluding Federal holidays and NIST closures.

Work may also be performed offsite in order to continue work during times when NIST is closed, or access is restricted. Offsite work may also be permitted whenever the Government determines it is advantageous to the Government for progress or performance of the work.

Period of Performance The period of performance shall be a base period of twelve (12) months plus one (1) 12-month option period. The estimated start date is August 29, 2025.

III. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Task 1: Design a quantum network optimizer (Base Period Only)

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The Contractor shall:

• Develop initial learning models and algorithms for identifying errors and predicting drift patterns in quantum channel telemetry data.

• Develop an initial adaptive optimizer to actively compensate for changes in quantum channels based on in-situ telemetry data from faint-light probes, including polarization control and phase stabilization and time synchronization.

• Evaluate models and algorithms on simulated and experimental data and NIST’s testbeds.

Task 1.2 Entanglement distribution protocols (Base Period Only)

• Develop an initial entanglement capacity model for quantum repeater chains to examine how entanglement generation, swapping and purification operations affect the end-to-end (E2E) entanglement distribution in terms of throughput and fidelity.

• Design initial algorithms for efficiently optimizing entanglement generation, swapping and purification protocols to maximize the E2E entanglement throughput while satisfying fidelity and resource constraints.

• Provide theoretical analyses and numerical evaluations of the models and algorithms.

Task 1.3: Entanglement routing models for quantum networks (Base Period Only)

• Analyze limitations of current entanglement routing techniques and metrics for near-term quantum networks.

• Develop new algorithms for dynamic entanglement routing between multiple concurrent source-destination pairs via untrusted repeater nodes using models and protocols developed in Tasks 1-2 above.

• Provide theoretical analyses and numerical evaluations of the algorithms.

Task 2: Design quantum network optimizer (Option Period)

• Enhance the learning models and algorithms developed for more advanced capabilities of identifying errors and predicting drift patterns in quantum channel telemetry data.

• Enhance the adaptive optimizer developed to better compensate for changes in quantum channels based on in-situ telemetry data from faint-light probes, including polarization control and phase stabilization and time synchronization.

Task 2.2: Entanglement distribution protocols (Option Period)

• Enhance the entanglement capacity models for quantum repeater chains developed under the base period to examine how entanglement generation, swapping and purification

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• Enhance the algorithms for efficiently optimizing entanglement generation, swapping and purification protocols developed to achieve higher E2E entanglement throughput while satisfying fidelity and resource constraints.

Task 2.3: Entanglement routing models for quantum networks (Option Period)

• Extend the analysis on the limitations of current entanglement routing techniques and metrics for near-term quantum networks to include more practical networking conditions.

• Enhance the new algorithms developed for dynamic entanglement routing between multiple concurrent source-destination pairs via untrusted repeater nodes.

Task 3: Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12

The Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) and its employees who require physical access to NIST facilities or logical access to NIST IT networks or systems must comply with Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12, Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors; OMB M-05-24; OMB M-19-17; FIPS 201, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors; NIST HSPD-12 policy; and Executive Order 13467, Part 1 §1.2.

Roster The Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) must submit a roster by name, position, e-mail address, phone number and responsibility, of all staff working under this acquisition where the Contractor will develop, have the ability to access, or host and/or maintain a government information system(s).

The roster must be submitted to the COR and/or CO within 14 days of the effective date of this contract. Any revisions to the roster as a result of staffing changes must be submitted within 14 days of the change. The COR will notify the Contractor of the appropriate level of investigation required for each staff member. If the employee is filling a new position, the Contractor must provide a position description and the Government will determine the appropriate suitability level.

Position Sensitivity Designations Requirement All Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) employees must obtain a background investigation commensurate with their position sensitivity designation that complies with Parts 1400 and 731 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

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The following position sensitivity designation levels apply to this solicitation/contact: Low IT Risk.

IV. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall provide all support for project oversight, administration, and technical execution of this contract. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining accurate records of project activities.

Government Responsibilities Government direction or supervision of contractor employee(s) in order to: (1) Adequately protect the Government’s interest; (2) Retain control of the function involved; (3) Retain full personal responsibility for the function supported in a duly authorized Federal officer or employee.

Government Furnished Property All property, data and information provided by the Government in the performance of this task remains the property of the Government and shall be surrendered to the government upon completion or termination of this requirement. Likewise, all deliverables generated under this requirement remain the property of the Government.

The property listed in this section (below) is property that is incidental in the place of performance due to the task order requiring the contractor personnel to be located on a Government site and the property used by the Contractor within the location remains accountable to the Government. Per FAR Part 45.000(5) items considered to be incidental to the place of performance include office space, desk, chair, telephone computer and fax machine.

Incidental Property Provided: The contractor will be provided with

• Office Space

• Desk

• Chair

• Laptop with VPN capability

• Telephone

• Access to a common printer

Upon award of this requirement, the Government will provide the Contractor with all access to all equipment and resources needed in the performance of this requirement.

Inspection & Acceptance In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in the specific FAR clause that allows the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense.

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Performance Tests A visual inspection of the equipment will be performed by the NIST POC to identify surface defects or any form of indication that any equipment was damaged during transport to NIST. The Government shall have sole discretion to require repair or replacement of damaged and/or nonconforming supplies at no cost to the Government. The Government at any time prior to acceptance shall reject the equipment due to defects and/or nonconformance. The vendor is responsible for latent defects discovered any time after final inspection. However, the extent of its liability shall be prorated over the useful life of the equipment.

Ownership of the equipment shall transfer to NIST upon acceptance by the Government.

The Government will test, inspect, and accept or reject the equipment within 2 weeks of the receipt of the equipment unless otherwise indicated above. The Government reserves the right to conduct quality assurance testing to confirm that a given instrument(s) meets the manufacturer’s and/or the Government’s performance specifications. It is anticipated that the equipment will meet all manufacturer’s specifications and/or the Government’s performance specifications identified in the most recent operations and maintenance manual for each piece of equipment and/or in this document.

Key Personnel Requirements It is anticipated that this work will require one (1) Key Personnel as a computer scientist who must meet the following minimum requirements:

(1) Ph.D in an area closely related to the work, such as in computer science, computer engineering, mathematics, statistics.

(2) Six (6) years of experience in convex optimization, theoretical and practical design and evaluation of machine learning algorithms, algorithm design and analysis, and epidemic modeling.

(3) Six (6) years of experience in independent design, efficient implementation, and testing of all aspects of an optimization or machine learning algorithm in a testbed.

(4) Six (6) years of experience of using popular machine learning libraries such as TensorFlow and PyTorch.

(5) Three (3) years of experience working on 5G networks and mechanisms for supporting end-to-end quality of services.

(6) Six (6) years of experience working with software version control systems such as GitHub.

Safety: The Contractor employee must be responsible for knowing and complying with all installation safety prevention regulations. Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety, fire prevention, and waste disposal.

Security: NIST is a restricted campus. An identification badge is required for access for entry into buildings and is shown to the armed Security Police when entering the campus.

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Identification Badges: Contractor employees must comply with NIST identification and access requirements. Each Contractor employee must wear a visible identification badge provided by the NIST Security Office.

V. SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES

Deliverables are subject to FAR Clause 52.227-17 – Rights in Data Special Works, to be incorporated into any task order contract resulting from this requirement.

Item Description Format Quantity Date Required

BASE PERIOD

Design quantum network optimizer, Phase 1 MSWord or

PowerPoint 1 12 months from date of award

2 Develop and analyze entanglement distribution protocols, Phase 1

MSWord or PowerPoint

1 12 months from date of award

3 Develop efficient entanglement routing models for quantum networks, Phase 1

MSWord or PowerPoint

1 12 months from date of award

4 Monthly Progress Report MSWord via email to the TPOC

1/month Monthly

5 Roster MSWord or Excel to the COR

1 Within 14 days of the effective date

OPTION PERIOD

Design quantum network optimizer, Phase 2

MSWord or PowerPoint

1 12 months from date of option exercise

Develop and analyze entanglement distribution protocols, Phase 1

MSWord or PowerPoint

1 12 months from date of option exercise

Develop efficient entanglement routing models for quantum networks, Phase 2

MSWord or PowerPoint

1 12 months from date of option exercise

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Standards of Acceptance: The NIST POC or COR shall review all the above deliverables and respond with an acceptance or request for revision email to the Contractor Point of Contact (POC) within 2 weeks of receipt of deliverable.

VI. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

The Contractor shall submit monthly payments and will be paid, in accordance with the payments clause in the contract and as otherwise noted in this document, upon receipt of a proper invoice.

4 Monthly Progress Report MSWord via email to the TPOC

1/month Monthly

5 Roster MSWord or Excel to the COR

1 Within 14 days of the effective date