The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) The NIST Office of Safety, Health, and Environment (OSHE) in collaboration with the Office of Facilities and Property Management (OFPM) has been tasked with ensuring the integrity of the NIST fire alarm system. The NIST fire alarm system on the Gaithersburg campus is composed of four (4) Simplex TrueSite graphical command centers (GCCs) and 147 building fire alarm control panels (FACPs), e.g., nodes. NIST has several styles of Simplex fire alarm control panels; e.g. 4100+, 4100U, and 4100ES. All nodes are connected by fiber. There are three separate loops of fiber with appropriately 49 nodes per loop. The NIST fire alarm system is a fully self-contained network with its own physical wiring; there is no access to the Internet or to the NIST network.

As NIST continues to renovate and modify its existing facilities, periodic changes to the fire alarm system programming and graphics are necessary. Additionally, preventative maintenance and repair services are required for the campus fire alarm control panels and graphical command centers. As such, the objective of this task order is to obtain programming, engineering, preventative maintenance and repair services for NIST’s Simplex fire alarm system. Simplex is the original equipment manufacturer of NIST's existing fire alarm control panels (FACPs) and graphical command centers (GCCs). Due to the proprietary communication protocols between the FACPs and GCCs, Simplex is the only contractor capable of properly modifying and reprogramming their proprietary software to accommodate the transfer of data to the GCCs for fire reporting. The GCCs and existing FACPs use Simplex developed software and are interconnected on networks using Simplex proprietary communication protocols.

The Government intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Johnson Controls Fire Protection LP 705 Digital Drive, Suite N, Linthicum, MD 21090.

Interested parties that believe they can satisfy the requirements listed above for providing programming, engineering, preventative maintenance and repair services for the NIST Simplex fire alarm system shall identify their capability to do so in writing on or before July 19, 2023, at 3:00 pm Eastern time. This notice of intent to sole source is not a solicitation. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether competitive procedures could be used for this acquisition. Please submit capability statements to to robert.singman@nist.gov.