Procurement of a Open Radio Access Network System

The National Institute of Standards and Technology seeks procurement of a complete Open Radio Access Network system, with quotations due August 15, 2026 and questions due July 24, 2026. The procurement is set aside 100% for small businesses and is being conducted as a commercial item acquisition under FAR Part 12 using simplified procedures.

Place of performance is Gaithersburg, Maryland, with delivery, installation, and training to be completed within 90 days after award to NIST NCCoE in Rockville, Maryland (FOB Destination). The NAICS code is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees or less.

The contractor shall provide one turnkey system consisting of CU and DU software with perpetual licensing supporting 3GPP Release 16 and O-RAN 1.0 Split 7.2 architecture, two independent physical servers for CU and DU with perpetual operating-system licensing, production-release RU software with 100 MHz contiguous bandwidth for sub-6 GHz operation, one 4T4R Radio Unit with eCPRI support and 4250 mW output power, timing and synchronization system, integration with the Government's existing 5G Core, two commercial 5G user equipment devices, ten programmable SIM cards, and installation, configuration, testing, training, and maintenance support. The system must demonstrate at least 700 Mbps downlink and 40 Mbps uplink throughput during acceptance testing. A minimum three-year comprehensive warranty covering labor, parts, travel, and software support is required, with response objectives of one business day for critical issues and three business days for non-critical issues. Training must consist of instructor-led sessions for up to five Government personnel covering system architecture, administration, operations, and troubleshooting. All quotations must be firm fixed-price, including all hardware, software, licenses, antennas, cables, and shipping costs. Only production-release equipment will be evaluated; no prototypes, demonstration models, used, or refurbished instruments are acceptable. Evaluation is based on price reasonableness. The Government intends to award a single firm fixed-price purchase order and reserves the right not to award or to make an award without discussions based on initial quotations. Submit quotations electronically to Robert Cowins at robert.cowins@nist.gov.