High Performance Cesium Clocks

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), Cambridge, MA, OST-R, issues this Sources Sought to assist the Government in its acquisition strategy.  This Sources Sought does not constitute a Request for Proposal.  

The Volpe Center currently supports the Complimentary, Position, Navigation and Timing (C-PNT), program for a variety of Federal agencies and departments.     

The Volpe Center has identified the need to purchase ten (10) High Performance Cesium Primary Reference Source 5071A AC & 24VDC clocks, with display, keypad & internal battery.

All capability information submitted shall outline the respondents’ abilities to satisfy the specification requirements and the ability to meet the Government’s request of purchasing ten (10) High Performance Cesium Primary Reference Source 5071A AC & 24VDC clocks, if the items are in stock and ready to ship or need to be ordered.  If the items need to be ordered, please provide an estimated time when items will be received by the vendor.  Sources shall indicate whether they are a large business, small business, or other business type.  The capability statement shall be no longer than one (1) page.

Each response must reference the Sources Sought title and number.  Respondents shall ensure that the Contractor's name and address and the following information are included in the response. 

1) Point of Contact (along with telephone number and e-mail address);

2) UEI number;

3) Contractor Address; and

4) NAICS code(s) as registered in the System for Award Management. 

Interested small businesses shall indicate their socio-economic small business size status (Small Business, 8(a) business development, historically underutilized business zone, service-disabled veteran owned, small disadvantaged, or woman-owned) in the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

Interested parties must respond to this announcement in writing no later than June 21, 2024, at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. Telephone requests will not be honored.  All responses must be submitted via e-mail to, Carl Chin at carl.chin@dot.gov.  Electronic attachments to the e-mail should be submitted as a PDF document.

THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL.  This notice is for information and planning purposes only and is a market research tool to determine the availability and adequacy of potential business sources prior to determining the method of acquisition and possible issuance of a solicitation.  The notice does not constitute a solicitation for bids, quotations, and proposals, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for or award a contract. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of response to this Sources Sought notice. The Government will not pay for any materials provided in response to this synopsis and submittals will not be returned to the sender. Submissions must be disclosable to the public or the submitter should provide a summary statement that can be disclosed to the public with supporting information that is clearly marked as restricted. The Government will use customary means to safeguard proprietary information, but only when such information is (1) clearly marked as proprietary; (2) is, in fact, information that could not have been obtained from another party or source; and (3) is otherwise deserving of such treatment under standards and processes described in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Executive Order 12600.