Draft RODB2 Statement of Work.pdf

NOAA Commercial Data Program Radio Occultation Data Buy: 2023 - 2028

STATEMENT OF WORK

1. Introduction In order to respond to the demand for environmental information, NOAA strives for an observing enterprise that is flexible, responsive to evolving technologies and economically sustainable, while continuing to be a leader and member of the global meteorological community. To help meet these goals and satisfy observational requirements, NOAA uses satellite-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) data purchased from multiple commercial contractors to complement Government sponsored sources for use in weather models and other systems. NOAA is interested in continuing the purchase and ingest of these RO data and exploring additional capabilities available from these observations.

2. Scope NOAA is soliciting commercial near-real-time GNSS RO data that will be processed into neutral atmospheric and ionospheric products. These derived products will be fed into NOAA’s operational data systems, including weather and space weather analysis and prediction systems, and used for weather, climate, and atmospheric research purposes. All data and products will be archived by NOAA.

3. Data Requirements Contractors must have the capability to fulfill Delivery Orders for data meeting the requirements specified in Section 3.1. Optionally, contractors may propose the capability to fulfill Delivery Orders for data meeting requirements specified in one or more of the Sections 3.2 through 3.5.

3.1 Neutral Atmosphere Product Requirements

Definitions:

1. An RO sounding is a time series of satellite-based RO measurements made during an GNSS occultation event from which NOAA can produce a quasi-vertical series of bending angles.

2. The height of straight line (HSL) altitude of an observation is the height of the tangent point of a straight line between the GNSS transmitter and the RO instrument relative to the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) reference ellipsoid.

3. The time of an RO sounding is defined as the GPS time of the zero HSL altitude point.

4. The latency of a data product is defined as the difference between the time of the observation and the receipt of the data at NESDIS Common Cloud Framework

(NCCF).

5. The daily count of RO soundings is defined as the number of RO soundings in a 24 hour period starting at GPS time 00:00.

6. The location of an RO sounding is defined as the geographic location of the zero HSL altitude point.

Requirements:

1. RO soundings shall be collected as continuous dual-frequency open-loop measurements at either 50 Hz or 100 Hz.

2. Data shall be provided only from instruments on satellites with an assigned World Meteorological Organization (WMO) satellite identifier.

3. If applicable, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conversion factor from dB-Hz to Volts/Volt (V/V) in a 1 Hz band shall be provided.

4. The SNR of the stronger signal in a dual frequency signal pair, when averaged over HSL altitudes of 60 km to 80 km, shall be greater than 200 V/V in a 1 Hz band.

5. The HSL altitudes of occultations shall span at least -150 km to 90 km.

6. RO soundings shall be from GPS, GLONASS, or Galileo GNSS satellites.

7. RO soundings shall be provided with concurrent precise orbit determination (POD) tracking data.

8. POD tracking data shall include dual-frequency pseudo range, carrier phase, and SNR, as collected on-orbit in real time.

9. POD tracking data shall include dual-frequency measurements recorded at 1 Hz or greater rate from a minimum of four GNSS satellites simultaneously for 95% of the POD data collection period.

10. Every other orbit of each RO satellite from which data are provided shall be covered by POD tracking data at no less than 50% duty cycle with continuous arc length of at least 50 minutes per orbit.

11. POD tracking data shall be from GPS satellites, plus optionally Galileo and/or GLONASS satellites.

12. Navigation solutions calculated onboard the spacecraft shall be provided, including receiver clock offsets and time-tagged Earth-Centered-Earth-Fixed position and velocity.

13. Navigation solution data shall be provided at intervals of 30 seconds or less.

14. RO satellite attitude quaternions shall be collected concurrently with all POD and RO data at intervals of 30 seconds or less.

15. All RO soundings shall have a latency of 140 minutes or less.

16. The time of RO soundings shall be nearly uniformly distributed in time of day such that the quantity delivered in any six-hour period of the day, when averaged over 30 consecutive days, shall vary by less than a factor of two from any other six-hour period.

17. At a minimum, the Contractor must have the capability to provide a daily count of at least 500 RO soundings, when averaged over any 30-day period, with no more than three days in any 30 day period falling beneath 400/day.

18. Metadata shall include, at a minimum, for each satellite/instrument configuration:

18.1. Satellite mass, center of mass, external dimensions including any protruding appendages (e.g., solar array wings, antennae), satellite coordinate system geometry, POD and RO antenna reference point vectors relative to the center of mass and corresponding uncertainty estimates, antenna boresight vectors, and antenna fields of view.

18.2. RO and POD antenna phase center offset and phase center variation measurements and corresponding uncertainty estimates, in ANTEX format (https://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats).

https://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats

3.2 Space Weather Data

1. NOAA may require data that enable the generation of near-real-time ionospheric products for space weather applications.

2. Data to be used for space weather products shall be suitable for retrieval of absolute slant TEC electron density profiles, S4 and sigma-phi indices.

3. Data to be used for space weather products shall be delivered to NOAA with an observation latency of 22 minutes or less.

4. The median daily latency of ionospheric data shall be 25 minutes or less.

5. The sensing height range shall span HSL altitudes from 90 km to 800 km.

6. The scintillation (amplitude and phase) indices shall be derived from phase measurements with a minimum sampling rate of 50 Hz.

3.3 Specific Geospatial Distributions

The required geographic distribution of RO soundings for a Delivery will be specified in each Delivery Order RFP. Within the specified latitude and longitude ranges of the Delivery Order:

1. The number of RO soundings provided each day shall not vary by more than a factor of four (4) between any 30-degree latitude band.

2. Within any 30-degree latitude band, the number of RO soundings provided each day within a 30 degree longitude section shall not vary by more than a factor of four (4) from any other 30 degree longitude section.

3.4 Neutral Atmosphere Data with Enhanced Signal-to-Noise Ratio Delivery Orders may be issued which require higher SNR data.

When required by NOAA, the SNR of the stronger signal in a dual frequency signal pair, when averaged over HSL altitudes of 60 km to 80 km, shall be greater than 1200 V/V in a 1 Hz band.

3.5 Specific Local Time Sampling

NOAA may include specific requirements on the distribution of local times of the RO soundings. When required in a Delivery Order, the local time of the delivered profiles shall be within the specified local time range or group of ranges. The extent of any local time ranges specified in a Delivery Order will be at least 1 hour.

3.6 Designated Satellites, Instruments or Modes

NOAA may limit the data in a Delivery Order to come from a specific predesignated list of satellites, instruments, or modes (for example, rising vs. setting occultations). Such a restriction would allow NOAA to coordinate data purchases with other Agencies and partners to avoid duplication of shared observational data.

4. Delivery Requirements

4.1 Data Quantity and Delivery Duration

The daily data quantity, volume and delivery period duration will be specified in each Delivery Order RFP.

The Level of the RO soundings and associated data to be delivered, either Level 0 or Level 1a, will be specified in each Delivery Order RFP. The minimum Delivery Order duration will be 30 days.

4.2 Data Formats

4. The Contractor shall deliver RO data as Level 0 files or both Level 0 and Level 1a files, as specified by each Delivery Order. If Level 1a, the contractor shall deliver RO data in opnGns format (https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/cgi_bin/fileFormats.cgi?type=opnGns).

5. The Contractor shall deliver POD tracking data as Level 0 files or both Level 0 and Level 1a files, as specified in each Delivery Order. If Level 1a, the contractor shall deliver POD tracking data in RINEX2.20 or above format (http://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats).

6. The Contractor shall deliver on-orbit computed navigation solution data as Level 0 files or both Level 0 and Level 1a files as specified in each Delivery Order. If Level 1a, the contractor shall deliver navigation data in SP3 format (https://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS- Formats).

7. The Contractor shall deliver attitude quaternion data as Level 0 files or both Level 0 and Level 1a files, as specified in each Delivery Order. If Level 1a, the contractor shall deliver Level 1a attitude data in leoAtt format (https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/cgi_bin/fileFormats.cgi?type=leoAtt).

8. The Contractor shall deliver a detailed Level 0 data decoding dictionary for each to-be-delivered Level 0 data type. If delivered in binary format, in addition to the dictionary, the Contractor shall deliver binary decoder software as source code.

9. The data descriptor files shall conform to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 19115-1:2014 (content) and ISO 19139 (XML schema) standards, in accordance with the NOAA Environmental Data Management Framework.

10. Data files shall be named according to the file naming conventions used by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center (CDAAC), as defined at https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/doc/formats.html. Offerors who cannot comply with the file name convention used by the CDAAC shall propose an alternative naming convention. Acceptance of any alternative naming conventions is at the discretion of the Government.

11. The Contractor shall deliver data to NOAA batched as compressed TAR files, with each TAR file including concurrent POD and attitude data files. RO data files may be included in the POD and attitude TAR files or delivered as separate TAR files with file names correlating file types.

12. When RO data at both Level 0 and Level 1a are to be delivered, the Contractor shall deliver Level 0 and Level 1a data in separate TAR files.

4.3 Data Delivery

The Contractor shall deliver all files to the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework (NCCF) in accordance with the NCCF Interface Control Document (latest version).

The Contractor shall, upon receipt of NCCF alert notification, resolve and (as needed) redeliver data files when data latency requirements can still be met. Re-delivered file names shall include a date or identifier unique to that delivery.

Within 7 days of contract award, the Contractor shall provide:

1. A list of the satellites, with their WMO identifiers, that are planned to be used for RO data collection during the contract. Updates for future satellites should be handled per Notification https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/cgi_bin/fileFormats.cgi?type=opnGns http://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats https://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats https://kb.igs.org/hc/en-us/articles/201096516-IGS-Formats https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/cgi_bin/fileFormats.cgi?type=leoAtt https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/cgi_bin/fileFormats.cgi?type=leoAtt https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/doc/formats.html requirements.

2. File name protocols, file name examples, and satellite identifier location, as well as information requested in the NCCF Interface Control Document section 3 “Template for Data Provider Interfaces Information”.

3. A description of the onboard receiver clock steering methods, sufficient to enable NOAA to determine any needed processing adjustments on the ground, shall be provided.

4. If the POD and RO receiver clocks are not the same, the Contractor shall provide a description of how to align them for single difference RO data processing.

Approximately 14 days prior to the start of any Delivery Order that is not a continuation of a Delivery Order, the Contractor shall provide:

5. 24 hours of contiguous on-orbit data, representative of that to be provided under contract and compliant with the data requirements specified herein.

6. Metadata as necessary to prepare ground processing for the identified satellites.

4.4 Test Data

NOAA may require the Contractor to provide, outside the scope of a Delivery Order, limited examples of the data described in this SOW in order to validate changes to NOAA systems. For test data, the requirements for latency and delivery to the secure ingest interface may not apply.

The Contractor shall provide test data, consisting of 24-96 hours of contiguous compliant RO and POD data and associated metadata, to support NOAA system tests.

NOAA will require any Contractor having data or interfaces not yet tested and validated by NOAA to provide a 30-60 day period of like-operations data delivery to support NOAA implementation and testing.

NOAA will use a Test Data Delivery Order for this purpose and will specify the data and delivery requirements in that Delivery Order.

Any Contractor determined to have a new NCCF interface shall participate in network connectivity testing with the NOAA NCCF secure ingest service.

As specified in a Test Data Delivery Order, the Contractor shall provide compliant RO and POD data and associated metadata to enable high-fidelity NOAA system tests.

4.5 Notifications

The Contractor shall provide timely notification to NOAA designated points of contact of anomalies and events that impact or have the potential to impact data deliveries or data volumes. Within a month of the reported anomaly, the Contractor shall deliver an anomaly report to the Program Manager, CO, and the Contract Specialist whose framework should include these topics: 1) General information on the Delivery Order (DO), POP, Contractor name; 2) Date/time of anomaly; 3) Description of the anomaly;

4) Resolution Summary and Lessons Learned, as applicable; 5) Impact on Users, Performance, and Schedule, as applicable.

The Contractor shall notify the Program Manager, COR, and the Contracting Officer, in writing, of any contract administration issues, including, but not limited to, changes in anticipated data delivery timelines or data specifications, as soon as they become known.

For any platform, sensor, or ground processing change that may affect data delivery or data quality, including but not limited to spacecraft, instrument, software, configuration, or other change, the Contractor shall provide written notification to NOAA of pending change no less than fourteen (14) days in advance of its implementation and shall include a description of the planned change as well as any resulting changes to the operations concept, configuration, delivery, ground data processing, data content, or metadata. Notification is required under the contract and is not dependent upon having an active Delivery Order. Depending on the nature and extent of the change, the Government may request a delivery of no less than 24 hours of sample data, not to exceed 1 week of sample data, in order for the Government to implement and test any Government system modifications required to accommodate the change.

5. General Requirements The Contractor shall participate in a post-award kick-off meeting.

The Contractor shall be available to discuss deliveries, support initial data integration, discuss anomalies, and provide sustaining engineering information, if necessary, through the end of the contract Period of Performance.

The Contractor shall support mitigation of NOAA Supply Chain Risk Assessment findings as determined by the NOAA OCIO. The Contractor shall provide a point of contact that is available 24x7 and will respond within 60 minutes of notification by NOAA to investigate and resolve any data delivery or performance issues.

6. Contracting Officer’s Representative and Task Manager In accordance with CAR Clause 1352.201-72, a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) will be designated at award. The COR may provide technical direction and has the authority to accept delivery.

The COR is not authorized to make any commitments or otherwise obligate the Government or authorize any changes which affect the contract price, terms, or conditions of the award. Any Contractor request for changes shall be referred to the Contracting Officer directly or through the COR. No such changes shall be made without the express written prior authorization of the Contracting Officer.

A Task Manager (TM) will be designated at award. The TM does not have delegated authority to represent the Contracting Officer or bind the Government. The TM cannot change, waive, add, or request any additional specifications or performance.

7. Security Requirements The Contractor shall comply with CAR 1352.239-72, section (i). The Contractor may request COR approval of alternate security accreditation methodologies for compliance with section (i) including:

information security assessment methodology promulgated by the U.S Federal Government (specifically, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-37 and NIST SP 800- 53), or internationally recognized private industry information technology (IT) security frameworks (such as International Standards Organization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 27033, 27001, 27006 and 27002, or Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology

(COBIT)).

The Contractor shall deliver files to NOAA ingest using either Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) (preferred) or Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

The Contractor shall use a data integrity method compliant with the NCCF ICD and approved by NOAA.

The Contractor Certificate shall be compliant with the NCCF ICD and as approved by NOAA.

8. Data Rights Per this contract, the Contractor grants NOAA a perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, and create derived and value-added products with the RO data, in any manner and for any purpose, and to authorize others to do so on its behalf (including other contractors and recipients of financial assistance awards).

A derived product means a work that is created when data are manipulated to such a degree that it cannot be reverse engineered. Derived products created using RO data received under this contract are not subject to the data rights provisions in this section or any other contractual, licensing, or intellectual property claims by the Contractor, and therefore may be publicly distributed without use restrictions.

A value-added product means a work that is created when data are modified—through technical manipulation, addition of data, or both—where the principal features and characteristics of the source data are retained in the work and are extractable through technical means. Value-Added Products created using RO data received under this contract are subject to the data rights provisions in this section.

Level 1 and Level 2 products (excess phase, vertical profiles of bending angle, refractivity, temperature, and humidity) created by NOAA or its affiliates from Contractor-supplied RO data are considered to be value-added products. All other products created by NOAA or its affiliates from Contractor-supplied RO data, including but not limited to model output, are considered to be derived products.

Furthermore, the Contractor shall provide pricing for various external data sharing rights, including but not limited to the external distribution and use rights described in the options below.

Option 1: Right to distribute all RO data to any entity immediately after receipt at NOAA with no restrictions on their use or further distribution, under a [Creative Commons 1.0 Universal public domain dedication (CC0) OR Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)].

Option 2: Right to distribute all RO data to U.S. Government agencies, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, WMO-designated Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers, members of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, non-profit entities and academic entities, immediately after receipt at NOAA, for non-commercial use but not for further distribution.

Option 2A: In addition to the rights under Option 2, Option 1 rights will apply to all RO data beginning at 24 hours after collection.

Option 3: Right to distribute all RO data to U.S. Government agencies, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, WMO-designated Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers, and members of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, immediately after receipt at NOAA, for non-commercial use but not for further distribution.

Option 3A: In addition to the rights under Option 3, Option 1 rights will apply to all RO data beginning at 24 hours after collection.

Option 4: Right to distribute all RO data to U.S. Government agencies for non-commercial use and no further distribution (except to contractors for use on agency behalf)

Option 4A: In addition to the rights under Option 4, Option 1 rights will apply to all RO data beginning at 24 hours after collection.

Option 5: No right to distribution outside NOAA (except for contractors and recipients of financial assistance awards for use on NOAA’s behalf)

Option 5A: In addition to the rights under Option 5, Option 1 rights will apply to all RO data beginning at

24 hours after collection.

NOAA will ensure that any non-NOAA entity receiving restricted data is made aware of the identified use and distribution restrictions associated with the data rights specified in the IDIQ contract and this Delivery Order. If NOAA determines that an entity is not adhering to those restrictions, NOAA will seek to ensure compliance, and if unsuccessful, may terminate the entity’s access to the data. NOAA, however, has no additional obligations under the IDIQ contract or this Delivery Order related to data use by third parties. In no event is NOAA liable to the contractor for third party use or release of contractor data.

9. Nonconformance This contract is subject to FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions, Commercial Items. Pursuant to 52.212-4(o), Warranty, the Contractor warrants and implies that data delivered complies with the requirements and is fit for the particular purpose of this contract. In accordance with FAR 52.212-4(a), the Government may require replacement of nonconforming data at no increased cost or exercise its right to terminate in part or in full in accordance with FAR 52.212-4(l) or (m).