NTIA Broad Agency Announcement Open RAN Technology

July 15, 2021: Additional Information for all potential offerors: 1. There are no restrictions on teaming and/or subcontracting in response to this BAA. 2. There is no preferred pricing template and a pricing template will not be provided. July 9, 2021: Round 2 Questions and Answers has been posted. The close date for the BAA remains July 20, 2021. July 1, 2021: The response date for this notice has been extended to July 20, 2021. Institute for Telecomunications Science (ITS), as the Nation’s Spectrum and Communications Lab, performs research, testing, development, and evaluation of next-generation telecommunications technology in support of the policy goals of National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and for other executive branch agencies in support of their internal efforts. The technical research conducted by ITS is used to provide scientific input into the policy decisions of NTIA and other government agencies. ITS is currently evaluating and testing the performance and interoperability of open interface, standards-based, compatible, and interoperable radio access network (referred to as Open RAN throughout this document) technology intended for use in 4G LTE and 5G NR cellular networks. Open RAN technology includes equipment and software adhering to standards such as those developed by the O-RAN Alliance, Telecom Infra Project, etc. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) is issuing this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to procure prototype or commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Open RAN equipment and software to be deployed in the ITS Communications Research and Innovation Network (CRAIN) to support ITS’s testing of Open RAN equipment for evaluation of performance, inter-vendor interoperability, and standard maturity versus established RAN technologies.