Attachment 2 - Brand Name Justification Draft.pdf

This is a Brand Name Justification document for a federal equipment procurement issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, located in Boulder, Colorado.

NIST seeks to procure Safran White Rabbit brand distribution switches along with supporting instruments and licenses under Requirement NB676020-26-01839. The switches will support NIST's participation in the Washington DC-Quantum Network Research Consortium (DC-QNet) and enable absolute time synchronization to sub-nanosecond precision across multiple research sites, including NIST Gaithersburg laboratories and the University of Maryland Joint Quantum Institute (JQI). The justification for specifying the Safran brand is based on two critical compatibility requirements: interoperability with the existing WR-PTP time distribution infrastructure currently in use and compatibility with the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) open-source platform developed by Fermilab. The document asserts that utilizing alternative or non-compatible components would impose significant time and monetary costs to NIST due to the need to replace existing systems already deployed. The justification is signed by Daniel Kent, the Contracting Officer.