TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Passive Smart Container (MSC-TOPS-36)
Open Special Notice Posted
- Solicitation number
- T2P-JSC-00063
- Agency
-
Marshall Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 927110 Space Research and Technology
- PSC
- 9999 Miscellaneous Items
- Place of performance
- Huntsville, Alabama, United States
- Points of contact
-
- NASA's Technology Transfer Program agency-patent-licensing@mail.nasa.gov
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has published a Special Notice advertising a technology transfer licensing opportunity for a Passive Smart Container system (MSC-TOPS-36) developed at Johnson Space Center. This notice is an invitation for companies to express interest in obtaining exclusive or nonexclusive license rights to commercialize, manufacture, and market this NASA-developed technology. The opportunity was posted on March 10, 2026, with an application deadline of February 27, 2027. NASA's Technology Transfer Program solicits qualified companies through this mechanism to bridge the gap between government research and commercial product development. No funding is provided by NASA in conjunction with these potential licenses, and the agency does not manufacture products for commercial sale.
The Passive Smart Container technology uses RFID circuits to monitor fill levels and track small items that are traditionally difficult to tag individually, addressing a significant gap in current item-level tracking capabilities beyond standard pallet and box-level RFID applications. Potential applications span multiple industries including healthcare management, pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution, retail operations, and supply chain inventory management, with particular utility for tracking bulk items such as grain, liquids, pills, mechanical components, and electronic parts. Interested companies should submit license applications through NASA's Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) via the dedicated patent page at https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MSC-TOPS-36 on or before the February 27, 2027 deadline. There are no specific eligibility restrictions mentioned, suggesting that any company with commercial interest may apply. For additional information or questions regarding this licensing opportunity, interested parties should contact NASA's Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov.
Notice text
NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.
NASA's Johnson Space Center has developed a Passive Smart Container to monitor and track items that are too small to tag individually. Although Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being used widely for pallet and box level tracking in the commercial sector, significant technology gaps remain for tracking dense quantities at the item level. This system uses RFID circuits to identify the fill level in a container and could be easily converted for use in industries such as individual health care management, pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution inventory tracking, and retail and supply chain inventory management. Use of this technology enables the manufacturer, distributor supplier or user to easily manage and control an inventory of small items that are difficult to tag such as bulk grain foods, liquids, pills, mechanical parts (nuts, bolts, and washers) and small electronic components. This NASA Technology is available for your company to license and develop into a commercial product. NASA does not manufacture products for commercial sale.
To express interest in this licensing opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MSC-TOPS-36
If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/.
These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.
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