Intent to Sole Source

RFIMS QXDM Software and License

The Department of Commerce (DOC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) intends to make a sole source award  pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501.

The agency plans to enter into a contract in a manner other than full and open competition because there are items peculiar to one manufacturer, and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency's requirements.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) Office of the Secretary, Enterprise Services plans to issue a 12-month purchase order for two (2) Qualcomm Licenses per below:

CLIN      Software             Duration

0001      QXDM 2-5G Yearly License

Subscription       One (1) year

0002      Annual Software License Fee       One (1) year

Place of Performance:

Herbert C. Hoover Building

1401 Constitution Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20230

Justification:

The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) provides research and development support for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by performing basic research in radio science that provides the technical foundation for NTIA’s policy development and spectrum management activities, as well as solves telecommunications challenges for other Federal agencies, state and local Governments, private corporations and associations, and international organizations. Additionally, ITS addresses emerging telecommunications, information technology, and security challenges and contributes to the creation of telecommunications standards that support the full and fair competitiveness of the U.S. communications and information technology business sectors.

The ITS Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS) Support Program requires two QXDM software packages and associated license to monitor and collect data from AWS-3 Motorola 5G handsets to assess the RFIMS Technical Readiness Level (TRL). This software is used for debugging and log collection from Qualcomm cellular modems found in Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) smart phones used in AWS-3 user equipment.

The License Software and license shall also allow ITS to generate support tickets, receive technical support, and download software upgrades for the above mentioned QXDM instance.

ITS already utilizes the Qualcomm QXDM software internally and has done so for many years. As such, ITS has developed significant internal subject matter expertise in this software. Adoption of other manufacturers’ software would require staff retraining costs that would far exceed any potential product cost savings obtained by choosing a competing product.

Finally, in this situation, Qualcomm is the sole manufacturer of the chipset hardware for the 5G phones under test for this requirement. Attempting to use diagnostic software from a different vendor, other than the manufacturer – Qualcomm, increases the risk to the Government.

This announcement is not a request for competitive quotations. A solicitation will not be available for this requirement. The intent of this announcement is for informational purposes only. However, any information received within seven days after the posting date of this notice will be considered by the Government.

THE PROPOSED SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION IS FOR SERVICES FOR WHICH THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO SOLICIT AND NEGOTIATE WITH ONLY ONE SOURCE (FAR 13.501) AND POSTING REQUIREMETNS OF  (FAR 5.203 (a) 1).

 A DETERMINATION BY THE GOVERNMENT NOT TO COMPETE THIS PROPOSED SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION BASED UPON RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE IS SOLELY WITHIN THE DISCRETION OF THE GOVERNMENT. CONTRACTORS MAY FORWARD CAPABILITY STATEMENTS TO THE REFERENCED EMAIL ADDRESS.  INFORMATION RECEIVED WILL NORMALLY BE CONSIDERED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING WHETHER TO CONDUCT A COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT.

Responses are due on Thursday, August 31 2023, 5PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)  electronically to the Contracting Officer (CO)

CO: Raymond Meraz RMeraz@doc.gov