USAFA: Quantum Demonstration/Experiment System (Amendment 4)

The U.S. Air Force Academy seeks a Quantum Demonstration/Experiment System including Time Correlation/Time Tagging (TCSPC) System and Fast Single Photon Detector, with proposals due September 2, 2026. This is a total small business set-aside; only firms meeting the NAICS 334516 size standard of 1,000 employees may compete.

Place of performance is USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80840. The system must be new equipment only—used, reconditioned, refurbished, gray market, or liquidated stock will not be accepted. The procurement is firm-fixed-price for one unit with F.O.B. Destination delivery and Net 30 payment terms; the vendor bears all shipping costs and risk of loss.

Technical requirements include a modular, scalable, reconfigurable platform for quantum optics instruction and research. The system shall support polarization-entangled photon pair generation via spontaneous parametric down-conversion, enabling coincidence counting, entanglement correlation measurements, and entanglement swapping experiments. Minimum four single-photon detectors are required, operating at approximately 800–1000 nm (with operation near 1310 nm and/or 1550 nm highly desirable), with dark count rates preferably below 250 counts per second, timing jitter below 100 picoseconds, and high photon detection efficiency. Timing electronics must provide minimum four synchronized timing channels at sub-nanosecond (picosecond-level) precision supporting multi-channel coincidence detection. Vendors may propose complete integrated systems or interface with USAFA's existing beta-BBO crystals, Picoquant MultiHarp-150/160 electronics, and two Excelitas detectors. On-site installation, commissioning, and technical support during system setup and acceptance are highly desirable. Vendor-supplied software must support data acquisition and coincidence analysis on a Government-provided computer.

Quotations must consist of technical capability (addressing salient characteristics v3, delivery schedule, and warranty), past performance information (assessed via SAM.gov and SPRS), and firm-fixed price. Evaluation prioritizes technical capability and past performance significantly over price; the Government may award to a higher-priced offeror if technically superior with lower performance risk. The NAICS code is 334516; PSC is 6650. Quoters must complete the Buy American–Balance of Payments Program Certificate and hold prices firm until September 30, 2026. Questions were due August 11 at 2:00 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time.