WAN Emulator

Statement of Work (SOW)

To procure a Wide Area Network (WAN) emulator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) to support research and engineering projects examining the feasibility of deploying Open Radio Access Network (RAN) systems. The emulator will be used to test Open RAN systems in the CRAIN laboratory, specifically focusing on the effect of WAN behavior in 5G OpenRAN and cabled Ethernet networks.

The primary deliverable is a WAN emulator system with the following capabilities:

• Two ports, each capable of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBE) minimum. Information on 25GBE and 100GBE support or upgradability is requested.

• Internal throughput up to and including 10GBE between ports.

• Programmable API for automation.

• Associated licensing and hardware capable of up to 500ms delay (minimum upper bound), with a delay resolution of 5 microseconds (maximum).

• Ability to emulate packet delay/loss/retransmission based on real or simulated network conditions, including bandwidth throttling, latency, jitter, packet loss, reordering, duplication, corruption, and error insertion.

• Support for various network impairment traffic shaping generation types (Constant, Normal-Gaussian, Uniform, Internet, and custom patterns).

• Simulation of real WAN network link conditions.

• Handling of frame sizes up to 2048 bytes.

• Automated stream impairment capabilities.

• Detailed per-stream Tx/Rx frame statistics for performance monitoring.

• Traffic classification on each port into separate streams (minimum 4 for 10GBE, 16 for 1 Gbps).

• Support for Raw (bit level) and Packet mode stream configurations.

• Support for stream definitions up to 120 bytes wide, covering MAC to UDP and payload.

• Independent per-stream WAN impairments.

• Live throughput graphs per stream.

• FPGA-based hardware solution.

• Support for O-RAN test cases (specific versions mentioned).

• PTP (IEEE1588v2) Transparent Clock (TC) and SyncE (ITU-T G.827x, G.781) passthrough.

• Capabilities regarding Packet Capture, Traffic Generation, and Analysis should be commented on.

• WAN emulator unit.

• Small Form Pluggable (SFP/SFP+) layer 1 adapters (specific types and quantities listed).

• Associated licensing and support for a minimum of 1 year.

• Delivery requested within 12 weeks after Receipt of Order.

• Hardware delivery location: NTIA.ITS, 325 Broadway, Boulder 80305; Building 1 room 2226.

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This Request for Quotation (RFQ) seeks proposals for a WAN Emulator. The resulting award will be a Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase Order.

• The Offeror shall demonstrate conformance of proposed items/services to technical requirements outlined in the attached Statement of Work (SOW).

• The technical quotation should detail the firm's capabilities and how they will satisfy the stated requirements.

• Offerors are encouraged to propose innovative solutions.

• Contract Type: Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase Order.

• Quotations are valid for 120 calendar days.

• Submission Deadline: 12:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) on Monday, May 18, 2026.

• Submission Method: Electronically via email to ecrawford@doc.gov. Hard copies will not be accepted.

• Format: Single electronic file combining technical and price quotations.

• Technical Quotation Page Limit: Maximum 5 pages.

• Price Quotation Page Limit: No page limit.

• Evaluation Criteria: Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA).

  • Technical Acceptability: Quotations must demonstrate a clear understanding of requirements and provide a solution fully compliant with the SOW. Unacceptable quotations will not be eligible for award.
  • Price: Total prices for all items, including discounts and open market pricing, will be evaluated.

Not specified in the provided document pages.

• Agency Contact: Erika Crawford (ecrawford@doc.gov)
• Submission Requirements:
  • Format: Microsoft Word, Excel (2007 or later), or searchable PDF.
  • Font: Arial 11 pt or Times New Roman 12 pt.
  • Margins: 1-inch minimum.
  • No marketing materials.
  • Company name must appear on all pages and file names.
• Applicable Attachments: Attachment 1 - Statement of Work.
• Incorporated Clauses: Several clauses are incorporated by reference, including those related to Contracting Officer's Authority, Compliance with Laws, Organizational Conflict of Interest, Evaluation Utilizing Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Place of Acceptance, and Security Requirements for Information Technology.