Special NoticePosted Jul 30, 2026·Responses due Aug 10, 2026

Sources Sought Notice of Intent to Sole Source for Thermo Fisher Microscope Maintenance

Commerce (all) · COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF

Stage
Early notice (sources sought, presolicitation or special notice)
NAICS
811210
Value
Not stated
Solicitation
NIST-SS26-169
Set-aside
None stated
PSC
J066
Place
Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Contact
Elizabeth Timberlake (elizabeth.timberlake@nist.gov)
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CSV Email

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Where this opportunity stands

Every notice posted under solicitation NIST-SS26-169 in this department, oldest first.

Early notice
  • Jul 30, 2026 · this notice
    Special Notice
Solicitation
None posted
Award
Not yet. Too few past cases at this agency to estimate timing (0 found; 10 needed).

Next steps for this stage

Standard steps for the notice type; not advice about this buyer.

  • Answer the notice: this is when the requirement can still be shaped.
  • Contact the contracting officer named on the notice.
  • Check who won similar work; they are the likely bidders.

What the notice says

Combined Sources Sought Notice and Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Contract for Service and Maintenance ThermoFisher Microscope Notice ID: NIST-SS26-169 Contract Opportunity Type: Source Sought Notice of Intent to Sole Source Response Date: August 10,2026 Product Service Code (PSC): J066 NAICS Code: 811210 BACKGROUND The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is conducting market research to identify alternative sources that (a) are capable of meeting NIST�s minimum requirements for the following commercial products and commercial services and (b) would be interested in … (show all)

competing for that requirement: The 3D Nanometer SEM Metrology Project of the Photonics and Photonic Devices Group owns a Thermo Fisher Scientific D400 Helios dual-beam scanning electron microscope (FIBSEM). It is equipped with a high-accuracy sample stage and essential detectors and measurement systems. In order to ensure the continued optimal performance of this instrument, a Service and Maintenance contract is required. NIST has not yet determined its acquisition strategy for this requirement and encourages interested sources to respond to this Notice. If NIST�s market research indicates there are alternative sources that are capable and interested in competing to fill this requirement, separate and apart from Thermo Fisher Scientific Co. then NIST will consider conducting a competitive acquisition in accordance with law and regulation. To be clear, NIST�s identification of Thermo Fisher Scientific Co. in this Notice does not constitute a binding commitment or obligation for it to conduct a sole source procurement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Co. for this requirement. Instructions for Responding to Respond to This Notice Parties that respond to this Notice are requested to voluntarily submit the requested information via email in Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and/or Microsoft Excel format to the designated point(s) of contact whose name and email address appears at the bottom of this notice. Please provide only the information requested by this Notice, and do not include proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information in a response to this Notice. Information Requested in Response to This Notice: To help NIST with its market research, NIST is requesting that industry sources carefully review this notice and any attachments to it and voluntarily provide the following information: Company Summary Notice Identification: Notice ID and Title of this posting. Corporate Details: Company name, physical address, website address, and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Point of Contact (POC): Name, phone number, and email address. Company Size Standard: Your company�s size status relative to the NAICS code provided in this Notice. (Refer to the SBA Table of Small Business Size Standards). System for Award Management (SAM) Registration: Indicate whether your company has an active registration for procurement purposes in SAM.gov. Feedback for Draft Requirements Review the potential requirements/minimum specifications included with this Notice. Then, please provide suggestions to (a) improve clarity of it; (b) to make it more competitive; (c) to indicate whether there anything in it that may inadvertently exclude domestic involvement; and (d) to indicate how the requirements could potentially be revised to improve the ability for domestic (�Made in America�) end products to be considered. Information Regarding Your Company�s Products and Services Provide specifications, company name of the original equipment manufacturer, and the country of manufacture for products and services that your company is legally authorized to sell and that may meet NIST�s minimum requirements. Indicate whether, in your opinion, the product(s) meet the definition of (a) commercial product or (b) commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) item or COTS item as described at https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul/far-part-deviation-guide/far-overhaul-part-2 and, if so, which definition applies ((a) or (b)). Indicate whether, in your opinion, the service(s) meet the definition of commercial service as described at https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul/far-part-deviation-guide/far-overhaul-part-2. Standard Commercial Pricing: Provide your company�s standard commercial pricing information for the identified products and services and explain what is included in those standard prices. Estimated Price Range: You may provide an estimated price or price range for the requirements, including a brief explanation of how the price estimate was developed. Standard Commercial Terms and Conditions: Provide a copy of the standard commercial terms and conditions for the commercial products and commercial services identified in the response to this notice, including nature and duration of standard commercial warranty. Regulatory and Supply Chain Compliance Indicate whether your company could comply with FAR Clause 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting (OCT 2022) if this acquisition were to be set aside for small businesses. Provide a brief supporting explanation. Existing Governmentwide Contract Vehicles Indicate whether your company has its own GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract or other federal contract vehicles under which NIST could award an order and, if so, provide the contract details (contract number, Contracting Officer name/contact, SOW, terms and conditions, and price lists). We truly appreciate your company�s willingness to provide the above-mentioned information which NIST will be valuable in helping NIST complete its market research. Important Notes This Notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay respondents to this notice for information provided in response to this Notice. Following a review of the responses and market research, NIST may publish a solicitation on an authorized site, depending on the chosen acquisition strategy. Responses received after the closing date for this Notice may not be considered. There is no solicitation available at this time. The Government reserves the right to use information that it receives in response to this Notice as it deems appropriate to establish final requirements or for other legally appropriate purposes. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization�s capability. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a synopsis and solicitation may be published on GSA�s eBuy or SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to any such solicitation(s). QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS NOTICE For additional information, please contact the primary contact or, if named, secondary contact identified at the bottom of this notice. THANK YOU Thank you for taking the time to read this notice and for your interest in helping NIST with its efforts to maximize competition.

Who won similar work

11 award notices on SAM.gov in the last 24 months. Matched by: Same agency (Commerce (all)), same product/service code (PSC) J066.

Single-winner award sizes (11): middle half $10K to $49K, median $19K; range $4K to $216K.

WinnerAwardsValueLast
CHRISTOPHER HOAGLIN 400 WEST CUMMINGS PARK SUITE 1725-143 Woburn MA 01801 USA2$68KAug 27, 2026
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC · $A · $6.8B2$11KSep 23, 2025
HIGH-REZ ANALYTICAL, LLC1$216KSep 18, 2026
PRECISION MACHINERY & TOOLING, LLC1$80KAug 8, 2026
EASTERN MOUNTAIN OPTICS, INC1$38KJun 23, 2026
AXIVEND LLC1$29KFeb 3, 2025
DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT RECONDITIONING CORPORATION1$19KAug 21, 2026
ILLUMINA, INC. · $ILMN · $4.5B1$16KSep 17, 2025
PIPET REPAIR SERVICE, INC.1$11KJul 10, 2025

Value counts single-winner awards. "Shared" awards are multiple-award contracts that list every winner with the same total ceiling; that ceiling is not one company's win, so it is not added in. Revenue next to a ticker is the company's last annual revenue from its 10-K.

Investor context
  • $A reported $6.8B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 11 past awards, $19K, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K
  • $ILMN reported $4.5B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 11 past awards, $19K, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K

One award's total value against one year of revenue; many awards are paid over several years.

Latest awards

Competitive landscape

For the 8 most frequent past winners above. Lobbying is matched by the company's exact name or exact ticker; agencies are as named on the filings.

  • 1 of these past winners lobbied Commerce, Dept of (DOC) since 2024 (6 filings)
  • 0 of their lobbyists list a past Commerce, Dept of (DOC) job
  • No corporate PAC money from them to the overseeing committees since 2024
  • 0 foreign-agent (FARA) registrations
See who and the source records with Pro

Policy around it

Bills the past winners named while lobbying this agency's issues, rules from the department, and executive orders that name the agency, last 12 months.

  • 1 bills named on the past winners' lobbying filings
  • 372 rules from the department in the last 12 months
  • 0 executive orders naming the agency in the last 12 months
See who and the source records with Pro

Market

For past winners matched exactly to a listed company. Insider trades are open-market buys and sells (Form 4) in the last 90 days, shown as facts; our own study found insiders do not reliably buy ahead of awards. A sale marked 10b5-1 was made under a trading plan set up in advance.

  • 2 of the past winners are listed companies
  • 0 insider buys and 5 insider sells at them in the last 90 days
See who and the source records with Pro

Sources: SAM.gov notices and award notices; Senate LDA lobbying filings; FEC filings; FARA; Federal Register; congress.gov; SEC Form 4. Every row above links to its record.

Companies are matched to tickers by exact name only. A company we could not match shows no market rows; that is a miss, not a finding.