The NOAA Commercial Weather Data Program Radio Occultation Data Buy II Master IDIQ contract vehicle is a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a shared ceiling of $59,312,954 established to procure near-real-time Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation data and associated atmospheric products from commercial satellite operators. Under this vehicle, NOAA acquires radio occultation profiles, Total Electron Content (TEC) ionospheric tracks, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) data, precision orbit determination tracking data, navigation solutions, attitude quaternions, and associated metadata to support the agency's weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and space weather observation missions. The contracted data is delivered in specified formats to NOAA's Common Cloud Framework within defined latency requirements, with deliveries structured as firm fixed-price delivery orders issued against the underlying IDIQ authority.
Recent task orders under this vehicle demonstrate a bifurcated procurement strategy with two primary contractors, Space Sciences and Engineering LLC (operating as Planetiq) and Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc., each securing multiple delivery orders with individual ceiling values ranging from $400,000 to $24,345,500. The two largest task orders, awarded in September 2025, obligate approximately $35.5 million combined, with Planetiq contracted to deliver 6,500 daily GNSS radio occultation data points and Spire Global contracted to provide 3,000 daily radio occultation profiles, both with completion dates of September 18, 2026. Earlier delivery orders from 2023 and 2024 ranged from $75,000 minimum guarantees to approximately $8 million, establishing that NOAA employs flexible ordering mechanisms to validate contractor performance and manage procurement risk. No set-aside designations were applied to any of the identified task orders, and all work is performed by these self-certified small disadvantaged businesses or small business contractors based in locations including Golden, Colorado and Vienna, Virginia, with data ultimately delivered to NOAA's systems.