The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is forecasting a new IDIQ contract to provide technology evaluation support services for its Information Access Division (IAD). Known for pioneering research in artificial intelligence, biometrics, and information retrieval, IAD leads community-driven evaluations that shape national standards. This upcoming five-year contract will bring in external support to help assess, annotate, and validate emerging technologies across text, video, speech, and code.
Opportunity Snapshot
- Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Office: Information Access Division (IAD), Information Technology Laboratory (ITL)
- Opportunity Type: Pre-RFP (New Requirement)
- Estimated Solicitation Date: August 2025
- Estimated Award Date: December 2025
- Contract Type: Firm Fixed Price, IDIQ
- Duration: 5-year base
- Set-Aside: Undetermined
- NAICS: 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- Size Standard: $19.5M
- Place of Performance: Primarily off-site (Contractor’s site)
- gov Link: https://sam.gov/opp/5f7a07537f26497190c7531dbdde046d/view
Why This Matters
NIST’s IAD shapes how AI is tested, standardized, and deployed. This opportunity provides long-term access to IAD’s ecosystem of cutting-edge evaluation work, including:
- Natural language processing
- Human language technologies
- Facial recognition and biometrics
- Summarization, content verification, and deepfake detection
Offerors will support data annotation, summary writing, query generation, and multi-modal analysis across content types. If your team excels in data science, AI evaluation, linguistics, or technical content analysis, this is a contract worth pursuing.
How OST Can Help You Win
OST supports small and mid-sized businesses breaking into federal R&D and tech-centric programs like this one. We offer:
- Capture Strategy: Position your team with the right research partners or AI evaluation SMEs
- Proposal Support: Technical writing, past performance framing, and teaming strategies tailored to emerging tech
- Training: BD and proposal training tailored to scientific and technical services bids
This is a first-time contract. Positioning early can give you an edge with NIST’s evaluation community, long before the RFP drops.
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