Manufacturing Execution System

The purpose of this sources sought notice is to conduct market research and identify potential sources of commercial equipment/services that satisfy the Government’s anticipated needs.

BACKGROUND

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Engineering Laboratory (EL) supports the advancement of Additive Manufacturing (AM). As AM transitions from prototyping to industrial production, the seamless integration of AM machines with enterprise software specifically Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) is the primary enabler for increasing throughput and addressing scalability issues. However, the standards are missing for interoperable AM and MES integration. The research team at the System Integration Division has a research objective to develop a neutral information model that can be standardized for AM and MES integration. As part of the efforts to develop standard information model to integrate AM and MES systems, the Information Modeling and Testing group will conduct a six-month benchmarking study to compare (a) a standards-based AM-MES integration approach using a neutral information model and validation, versus (b) an AI-assisted point-to-point integration approach using Large Language Model (LLM)-driven documentation ingestion and code generation, and (c) test the performance and efforts using existing NIST-owned AM machines, including EOS 290 and Renishaw RenAM500. The goal is to quantify effort, reliability, and semantic accuracy, and to produce a practical roadmap for AM-MES interoperability.

Requirements:

NIST is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a solution that will achieve the objectives described below:

Product Requirements

1. The MES software shall have been tested integrable with EOS 290 and RenishawAM500
2. The MES software shall have an open API which is sufficient for AI-based integration code generation
3. The MES shall come with emulators for EOS 290 and Renishaw AM 500 for integration tests

Technical Support Requirements

Task 1: Neutral Data Model & Standards Baseline to build the "Standards-Based" pathway.

The contractor shall: 

• Align their MES API and internal information with the NIST developed AM-MES information model and develop a "Translation Layer" to ingest neutral model-based JSON into their software.
• Align their EOS 290 and Renishaw AM 500 APIs with the NIST developed AM-MES information model and develop a "Translation Layer" to translate data from EOS 290 and Renishaw AM 500 into neutral model-based JSONL.

Task 2: Standards-Based Integration Development to execute the traditional integration.

The contractor shall: 

• Develop Middleware. Build a "Neutral Broker" that collects data from AM systems, converts it to the NIST neutral information model, and pushes it to the MES.
• Validate Layer. Implement JSON Schema validation based on the NIST neutral information model.
• Deploy API Endpoint. Deploy and document the endpoints for receiving standards-compliant data packages.

Task 3: AI-Driven "Point-to-Point" Integration using AI for code generation to bypass the neutral model for comparison.

The contractor shall: 

• Evaluate and recommend an AI tool with the NISTteam
• Integrate Documentation and design prompts. Feed AM System APIs and MES API documentation into the approved AI tool.
• Use AI to generate integration code. Use AI to generate Python/Node.js scripts that directly integrate EOS 290 and Renishaw AM500 to the Contractor’s MES software without using a neutral information model.
• Review Code. Document how many "hallucinations" or logical errors occur in AI-generated scripts.

Task 4: Integration Testing & Benchmarking for comparative execution and data collection.

The contractor shall: 

• Test Standards Pathway. Run additive manufacturing process using the neutral information model to integrate MES software with an EOS 290 emulator and a Renishaw AM500 emulator.
• Test AI Pathway. Run the same scenarios using the AI-generated point-to-point scripts.
• Stress test. Intentionally change an AM machine's API field name to see which path (Standards or AI) breaks or recovers faster.
• Assessing Data Quality. Evaluate the "usability" of the data received in both pathways.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or .pdf format, in the response: Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.  Please note that to be considered for award under any official solicitation, the entity must be registered and “active” in SAM at the time of solicitation response.

• Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

• Identify the software and technical support that your company sells that can meet the objectives addressed in this notice.  For each equipment recommended to meet the Government’s requirement, provide the following:
  • Manufacturer name
  • Product details
  • Please identify whether the potential product is manufactured in whole or in part in the United States. If it is manufactured outside of the United States, in whole or in part, pleas identify the country of manufacture.
  • If your company is not the manufacturer, provide information on your company’s status as an authorized reseller of the equipment(s)

• Identify any aspects of the NIST market research notice, including instructions, and draft minimum specifications you cannot meet and state why.  Please offer suggestions for how the market research notice and draft minimum specifications could be made more competitive.

• For the NAICS code listed in this notice:

• • Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

• • If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of equipment addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. 

• Describe standard terms and conditions of sale offered by your company for the recommended equipment such as: delivery time after your company accepts the order; FOB shipping terms; manufacturer warranty (including details regarding nature and duration).

• If the recommended equipment and related services are available for purchase on any existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts against which NIST may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

• Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for NIST to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by July 31, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ET. If the Contracting Officer determines that providing a written amendment to this notice to document question(s) received would benefit other potential respondents, the questions would be anonymized, and a written response to such question(s) would be provided via an amendment to this notice.

IMPORTANT NOTES

This notice is for market research purposes and should not be construed as a commitment by NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.  There is no solicitation available at this time.

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate.

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).

The responses shall not exceed 3 pages including all attachments, charts, etc.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!