SAM #571018-27-0011

NIST sole-source renewal of Sonnet software licenses and maintenance support

NIST plans a sole-source renewal of Sonnet software licenses and maintenance support for its Gaithersburg, Maryland facility. - Agency: Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Research Facility Operations. - Requirement: Renew the existing Sonnet software license and maintenance and technical support. No quantity, software version, or part number is provided. - Support includes: License maintenance, security upgrades and patches, product updates, technical assistance, and access to vendor support. - Sole-source rationale: NIST identifies Sonnet Software as the only known provider able to meet the requirement. Switching products would involve new licenses, staff retraining, and rewriting existing code; not renewing could impair support for the current product and critical IT support. - Opportunity status: This is a notice of intent, not a competitive solicitation. Interested parties may submit capability information for Government consideration.

Description

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (1), with Sonnet Software, 126 N. Salina Street, Syracuse, NY 13202, for the Renewal of Sonnet software and Maintenance Support needed by NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland.  

The Sole Source determination is based on the need to renew Sonnet Software and Maintenance Support, which is needed by the Research Facility Operations (RFO) at NIST.  NIST currently has a license for the Sonnet platform by Sonnet Software and requires software support services to provide software license maintenance, security upgrades, and technical support for NIST Sonnet software packages.

Replacing the software license with another product would result in the following:

- Require the purchase of new start-up licenses of the competing product at approximately 4-5 times the cost of purchasing this maintenance and support.

- Retraining all staff in the use of the replacement product.

- Rewriting all the code written in this product in the format/language/syntax of the new product.

Failure to renew Sonnet Software and support will prevent NIST from supporting the current version of the product as it becomes available, including IT security patches and updates. Additionally, NIST will not be able to open tickets for vendor support, and critical IT support will fail to function.

Sonnet Software is the only known vendor capable of providing software licenses and maintenance support.

The North American Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 513210 – Software Publishers. The small business size standard is $47.0 M.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, responses received by 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on November 28, 2026 will be considered by the Government.

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.

Interested parties that believe they could satisfy the requirements listed above for NIST may clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing on or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is not a solicitation. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to Prateema Carvajal at Prateema.carvajal@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted so that they are received at Prateema.carvajal@nist.gov no later than the aforementioned due date.

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