Questions_and_Answers_for_Cellular_Wireless_Test_System_NB672020.docx

Questions and Answers for Cellular Wireless Test System NB672020-15-02636:

1. For RFQ response, shall we just email to you? Email your Quote to me at angela.hitt@nist.gov

1. The equipment comes from multiple resources, some ports are off shore. Can we use your shipping account for the oversea shipping? Or should we quote the shipping cost to arrive at your destination? Or what should be the proposed INCOTERMS? We are not very clear about FOB destination term. Use our account for oversea shipping.

1. What’s the payment method, ACH or wire transfer? Can the payment made to a Canadian bank for USD account? Net 30, if you have your SAM account set up then it may be electronic payment.

1. Does line item 1 (reverberation chamber) require five years of annual calibration in the quote? No, the electronic instruments require annual calibration, not the reverberation chamber.

1. The RFP says CLIN 0002: (OPTIONAL LINE ITEM): Channel Emulator, while channel emulator is also the line item 2 in the CLIN 0001 Cellular Wireless Device Test System. Could you please clarify whether channel emulator is optional? There is only one (1) Channel Emulator which is only for CLIN 0002 as an OPTIONAL LINE ITEM. In the specifications it is marked as Channel Emulator-OPTIONAL LINE ITEM. CLIN 0001 shall only consist of Reverberation Chamber Test System, Base-Station Emulator and Rotating Turnable for Large-Form Factor Devices.

1. Regarding price, will there be a second stage in the process for deleting/adding options to a preselected offer, or fine tuning? No.

Technical questions:

1. Does NIST have a VNA currently? If does, could you please provide the band name and model number? Agilent/Keysight PNA-X, 10 MHz to 50 GHz, model N5245A.

2. Does “3” in the above table mean LTE FDD, WCDMA and GSM, total 3 technologies? Yes.

3. For the base station emulator, we have multiple options (Anritsu, R&D and Keysight). Not sure whether there is any preference from NIST? If no preference, shall we quote more than one as options? No preference, quoting all three options is fine.

4. Is LTE-A FDD carrier aggregation needed? It is not mentioned in the RFP, but would like to get confirmed whether it is required or not due to the bug impact on price. Carrier aggregation is not needed.

5. Is E2E data testing needed? Do not believe so.

6. For the WCDMA and GSM part, does it mean that only the standard WCDMA Rel.99 and CS GSM (no GPRS/EDGE/EDGEevo) is required? Yes, no GPRS/EDGE/EDGEevo is required.

7. Are TX measurements for one or more of these standards required? No, we will using the BSE exclusively.

8. Reverberation Chambers can measure S-parameters of Antennas Under Test using the antennas RF ports-connectors (like SMA) in raw mode for post-processing and getting MIMO figures of merit like radiation efficiency or MIMO capacity, among others. This is typically named passive MIMO measurements. This feature is not mentioned in the RFQ. Is it needed? Yes, this feature is needed. The specification of a bulkhead connectors was meant to imply that we would be connecting directly between a VNA or other instrument and the antennas in the chamber. It is essential that we are able to perform SISO with direct connection to antennas for research purposes.

9. On page 4 of the solicitation, it states, “FAR 52. 2122, Evaluation Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a firm fixed price contract based on the following factors: Technical capability, deliverable schedule, and price. Technical capability will be evaluated by how well the proposed product meets the Government ' s minimum requirements.” Delivery schedule will be rated separately from the technical capability. Technical capability and delivery schedule are more important than price. The Government reserves the right to make an award to other than the lowest priced offeror if that offeror is deemed technically unacceptable. OPTIONAL LINE ITEM will be evaluated the same way.”

We are interpreting the statements above to mean that NIST will give no consideration to best value, or to any technical aspect of the proposed solution that exceeds the minimum requirements, unless an evaluation of the stated factors results in a tie. Put another way, if all submissions meet the Government’s minimum requirements, an award will be based solely on a combination of delivery schedule and price. Is that correct? Yes.

10. For those parameters that include ONLY a typical value and do not include a minimum or maximum specification (e.g. frequency range of operation), shall we interpret the typical value as the minimum acceptable requirement for those parameters? Yes.

11. There are often significant long term advantages to installing new equipment in a system such as this. Does NIST have a preference or requirement for acquiring new vs. used or refurbished equipment? Only new equipment will be considered.

12. In Specifications.docx Line Item 2: Channel Emulator, the Minimum and Typical number of channels capable of supporting 4G LTE with 2x2 MIMO is listed as “2”. In practice, to mitigate a "double-rayleigh" fading effect arising from a combination of the channel emulator and the reverberation chamber, extra input channels are required. Measurement theory shows this requirement is necessary regardless of chamber implementation and is the reason the Rayleigh fading test is added to the CTIA Verification procedures in Appendix A of the draft test plans for MIMO. Would NIST consider our recommendation that the minimum number of channels be revised to “4” to support 2x2 MIMO testing with the Channel Emulator? The requirement remains unchanged.

13. When 4 RF channel pairs from a Channel Emulator (CE) are used for 2x2 MIMO testing, 4 independent source antenna are needed in the Reverberation Chamber (RC). This means that the chamber hardware to support 2x2 MIMO testing in an RC + CE system looks more like the 4x4 MIMO RC-only system. If NIST agrees with the premise in question #4 above, we would suggest that NIST augment the requirements specified for the OPTIONAL Channel Emulator to also specify that the reverberation chamber hardware include 4 independent source antennas (i.e. support 4x4 MIMO testing in an RC only environment). We would not be purchasing the extra two antennas at this time.

14. Line Item 1: Reverberation Chamber Test System, specifies at least two omnidirectional and two directional antennas. Many RC systems for wireless device testing are designed with multiple, relatively fixed, source antennas attached to RF switching for source stirring capability. Would NIST consider an appropriate number of such dedicated and “fixed” chamber antennas to satisfy this requirement, or is NIST requesting at least 4 antennas with some portability that could be used separately as accessories for various test applications? These antennas may be fixed or portable, as long as they can be changed out with other types for future test scenarios.

15. The USB connector parameter implies a bulkhead through connection only. Many cellular wireless test devices use USB connections when on the turntable. Does NIST need routing for the USB wiring (and it's associated signal isolation hardware, such as O/E converters) to enable this connection on the turntable? Routing and isolation for the USB is not required.

16. GSM TIS measurements per CTIA specify Class II Residual Bit Error Rate (RBER), while the NIST requirement states only GSM (BER). (Only BER is required per 3GPP). Would NIST need the extra firmware in the Base Station Emulator to provide RBER capability? NIST does not require RBER at this time, but we would be interested in knowing whether this could be added at a future date.