NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE: ANSYS ZEMAX OPTIC STUDIO

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis, under the authority of 41 USC 3304(a)(1); FAR 13.106-1(b), with ANSYS INC, 2600, ANSYS DRIVE, CANONSBURG, PA 15317-0404 for the procurement of Ansys Zemax OpticStudio Platinum and OpticStudio Premium. The sole source justification is based on the following: NIST is embarking on a project to support the EUV lithography (EUVL) community by developing characterization of EUV scintillator materials. Many techniques for measuring spatial distribution (or image) of EUV rely on scintillators or devices that convert EUV radiation into visible light. Scintillators tend to be robust and afford the user the ability to use less costly and easier to characterize, visible light detection or imaging systems. However, their characterization requires specialized techniques and hardware which NIST must develop in order to provide accurate characterization of the performance of EUV scintillators. With the goal of developing specialized optical systems to characterize EUV scintillators, NIST requires a seat of Ansys Zemax OpticStudio Platinum and Premium in order to design, evaluate and specify optical systems for this purpose. This work is the "Optical Metrology for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Generation" Project under Grand Challenge 2, "Advanced Metrology for Future Microelectronics Manufacturing," for CHIPS R&D Metrology. Ansys Zemax OpticStudio Premium is the only commercial optical raytracing program that includes built-in fluorescence modeling which is required for this application. During Market Research it was determined that the packages are only available by procuring directly from Ansys, Inc. Therefore, Ansys, Inc is uniquely qualified to provide their proprietary software packages as they have no re-sellers of this specific software. The resulting purchase order will be a Firm Fixed Price purchase order. The NAICS Code is 513210 Software Publishers with a size standard of $47M. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested parties who regard themselves as capable of fulfilling these requirements are invited to submit responses to the Government for consideration by the established due date/time. Responses must be submitted via email to the Government point of contacts listed in the notice. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.