Co-Sponsorship of the 2024 International Symposium on Technological Advances in Human-Robot Interaction (TAHRI)

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE

Contracting Opportunities Announcement Type: Special Notice

Announcement Number: AMDTCNOI2403385

Subject: Co-Sponsorship of the 2024 International Symposium on Technological Advances in Human-Robot Interaction (TAHRI)

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) intends to negotiate a firm-fixed priced purchase order on a sole source basis with Semio Community, located at 123 S. Figueroa St, Ste. 1012, Los Angeles, CA 90012-5490.  The purchase order will specifically procure co-sponsorship and participation at the 2024 International Symposium on Technological Advances in Human-Robot Interaction (TAHRI) that is being organized by Semio Community and will take place at the University of Colorado-Boulder in Boulder, CO on March 9-10, 2024.  The period of performance of the NIST co-sponsorship and participation at the TAHRI symposium shall be effective from November 21, 2023, to March 11, 2024.

Authority
This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106(b)(1) allowing the Contracting Officer (CO) to solicit from one source. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 561920 – Convention and Trade Show Organizers with a small business size standard of $20 million.

Description
The Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology for engineered systems in ways that enhance economic security and improve quality of life. EL is missioned to enable industry and academia to create better technological transfer in the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and to connect and collaborate on software, hardware, frameworks, datasets, metrics and standards in HRI. TAHRI is the premiere symposium for HRI research focused on the advancement of the underlying technology enabling the interaction between a robot and a human. NIST co-sponsorship and participation at the TAHRI symposium is essential to provide support and development to HRI standards development. For more information, please see the attached Statement of Work (SOW) for this requirement.

Sole Source Determination
The sole source determination is based on the following:

Semio Community is working directly with the Colorado University Conference Services (CUCS) at Colorado University-Boulder to organize and host the TAHRI symposium. Semio Community is the only entity that is organizing this conference with CUCS. No other contractors possess the site permissions, authorization, and capabilities to successfully perform this requirement. Semio Community is the only source that can fully achieve this requirement and the required sponsorship services must be purchased directly through Semio Community.

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 Hunter Tjugum, Contract Specialist, at Hunter.Tjugum@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted via email to hunter.tjugum@nist.gov so that they are received no later than October 23, 2023, at 10:00 AM, Eastern Time.

Each response should include the following Business Information:

a.    Contractor Name, Address,
b.    Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and Email address
c.    Contractor DUNS
d.    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.
e.    Capability Statement