NWR_Maintenance_SOW_FY2016.docx

Statement of Work for NOAA Weather All Hazards Radio Maintenance for Garner, NC

1. SCOPE

1.1 General.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS) operates the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) network to provide continuous transmissions of recorded weather and appropriate all-hazards warning information to the public. An NWR system consists of an audio control console located in a Government Weather Forecast Office (WFO), a station (a transmitter system, including antenna and transmission line, located at a remote site, often collocated with and hosted by a commercial or educational TV/radio transmitter and tower), and a communication link (telephone line, microwave or UHF link) between the two locations and emergency power. This Statement of Work (SOW) pertains to the station (transmitter system) portion of the NWR network only.

Systems are installed within the United States and its possessions. This SOW requires the contractor to maintain the identified NWR sites in Attachment 2 to the technical and operational standards identified herein. Attachment 2 indicates the station name (city), responsible NWS WFO, NWR Focal Point, type of transmitter (single or dual), transmitter manufacturer, frequency, restoration times and station owner. Any deviation from or non-compliance with this SOW, will be documented and addressed by the COR and/or the CO.

1.2 Maintenance Services for Contractor Maintained Transmitter Systems.

The Contractor provides complete maintenance services according to Section 3 for the transmitter system sites listed in Attachment 2. These sites will be referred to as "Contractor Maintained”. This list may be modified at any time during the contract period by notification in writing by the Contracting Officer (CO). The Contractor provides complete maintenance services according to Section 3 for the transmitter system sites listed in Attachment 2. Any travel costs associated with providing these services will be firm fixed price and should be included in the line item price.

1.3 Miscellaneous Services and Support Services.

The Contractor will provide, on an as-needed basis, miscellaneous services according to Section 3.9 for all transmitter sites Attachment 2.

2. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT (GFE).

Items and equipment furnished by the Government in order to provide the services required by Section 3 and 4 of this SOW are Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). Equipment manuals required to perform the services under this contract will be provided initially by the Government; subsequent requirements will be at the Contractor’s expense. The Government does not guarantee the condition of GFE, but will make every effort to transfer property that is in good working order.

3. CONTRACTOR MAINTAINED TRANSMITTER SITES.

Unless otherwise specified, the Contractor will have complete responsibility for, and will bear all costs associated with, providing all maintenance and maintenance support services for the NWR transmitter systems equipment at the locations listed in Attachment 2.

3.1 Required Maintenance Services.

Maintenance services will be provided in such a manner that the availability requirements specified in Section 3.5 are met.

3.2 Warranty Maintenance and Parts Support.

All new NWR transmitter equipment has a one year OEM parts warranty from the date of delivery to the transmitter site. The Government will initially provide the Contractor any appropriate warranty data on applicable transmitter sites listed in Attachment 2. The Government may require the Contractor to order the replenishment items or it may procure the needed items through its own supply channels.

Spare parts are available from the NWR National Maintenance Contractor. The NWS shall provide the contractor with contact phone numbers and shipping addresses to obtain replacement parts. All replaced parts shall be returned to the Government supply depot at the contractor’s expense. The contractor is responsible for all costs involved with shipping parts back to the supply depot. All parts must be returned to the supply depot within 14 days of repair action completion.

3.3 Routine Maintenance.

Maintenance services will be provided in such a manner that the availability requirements specified in Section 3.5 are met. The Contractor will maintain the transmitter systems through the use of Government furnished spare parts. These parts will be requested from the appropriate Government supply depot in order to affect repairs. Defective parts will be returned to the National Maintenance Contract depot unless otherwise directed by the COR.

3.3.1 On-Site Routine Maintenance.

The Contractor will perform routine maintenance every 90 days, as a minimum, according to the requirements stated in Attachment 4. The Government reserves the right to periodically modify the "Maintenance Schedule." In addition, the maintenance data log attached to the transmitters must be updated and a copy of the log submitted to the local NWR focal point (Attachment 1).

Prior to the onset of performing Routine Maintenance, the Contractor shall contact the lead forecaster of the owning forecast office by telephone using the Remote Off Air Monitoring System (ROAMS dial line) and inform them of the anticipated outage. The lead forecaster of the owning forecast office may suspend or delay scheduled maintenance based upon weather alerting requirements due to impending severe weather.

The Contractor at some time during the visit to a site, should attempt to arrange for the associated forecast office to transmit a Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) preamble test for the purpose of verifying signal level on the audio program line and resulting modulation deviation. Levels will be recorded in the maintenance data log attached to the transmitter.

Upon completion of routine maintenance, the transmitter system will be fully operational and functional at the authorized output power as measured at the input to the transmission line, within required frequency and modulation tolerance, and in compliance with all technical descriptions and specifications in NWR operational specifications and requirements, and the OEM equipment manuals. The Contractor will again contact the lead forecaster of the owning forecast office and notify them of the transmitter’s operational status prior to leaving the site.

3.3.2 Routine Remote Monitoring.

The Contractor will monitor remotely or locally all transmitters listed in Attachment 2. The Contractor maintained sites will be monitored on a daily basis for basic awareness of signal quality and clarity, and on a monthly basis to verify that parameters are within specifications. Monitoring is to be done using dial in government furnished software (e.g. Crown and Armstrong transmitters) and/or dial in ROAMS.

3.4 Corrective Maintenance.

The Contractor will accomplish all corrective maintenance whether identified by the Contractor or requested via a service call. When corrective maintenance is required due to a service call, routine maintenance according to Section 3.3 will also be performed prior to leaving the transmitter site.

Prior to the onset of performing Corrective Maintenance, the Contractor shall contact the lead forecaster of the owning forecast office by telephone (ROAMS dial line) and inform them of the anticipated outage.

The Contractor at some time during the visit to a site and after the restoration of the corrective maintenance should attempt to arrange for the associated forecast office to transmit a Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) preamble test for the purpose of verifying signal level on the audio program line and resulting modulation deviation. Levels will be recorded in the maintenance data log attached to the transmitter.

Upon completion of corrective maintenance, the transmitter system will be fully operational and functional at the authorized output power as measured at the input to the transmission line, within required frequency and modulation tolerance, and in compliance with all technical descriptions and specifications in NWR operational specifications and requirements, and the OEM equipment manuals. The Contractor will again contact the lead forecaster of the owning forecast office and notify them of the transmitter’s operational status prior to leaving the site.

3.4.1 Service Calls.

The Contractor will provide a means to guarantee that calls for service will be answered and responded to 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. When contacted by the NWS, Service shall be responded to within 24 hours.

3.5 System Availability.

The NWR transmitter system (which includes some UHF and microwave links) operates 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Maintenance will be provided so that no Contractor maintained transmitter system will experience site outage in excess of 88 hours per year.

3.5.1 Site Outage and Restoration.

A site outage is defined as the total loss of the ability to transmit broadcast-quality audio at the required output power as measured at the input to the transmission line. This is also referred to as a station being “off the air”. Site outages caused by “Acts of God”, vandalism, lightning damage, or severe weather conditions will be corrected as soon as possible as determined by the COR and the contractor.

** Note: Restoration time and cost will be coordinated with the COR for those types of outages. Current weather conditions, site accessibility or forecasts for the affected site area will determine the urgency of the restoration.

All other site outages will be corrected so that the Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) per site will not exceed 12 consecutive hours. The maximum restoration time for the site outage will be listed in Attachment 2 under “Restoration Time”. Restoration Time consists of consecutive hours (including nights, weekends and holidays, regardless of Contractor's normal business hours) for all corrective service calls, unless an extended period is granted by the COR. Any extension request will be made to the COR within 24 hours of the site outage. Outage time starts when the Contractor is notified of a problem or when an attempt is made to notify the Contractor through the specified method in Section 3.5.2 and the Contractor cannot be reached. The outage time ends when: (1) the Government is notified by the Contractor that the system is repaired and is available for use, and that broadcast-quality audio is again being transmitted at full authorized output power as measured at the input to the transmission line and the transmitting system meets all the required technical specifications of Attachment 1 and the OEM equipment manuals; and (2) the Government monitoring system, as applicable, verifies the quality of the received signal.

3.5.1.1 Degraded Operational Capability. A transmitter site configured with a dual transmitter is considered in a degraded operational mode if either transmitter is not capable of operating at its full authorized power. The Contractor will perform corrective maintenance on a degraded site as described in Section 3.4. The Contractor will respond to an operationally degraded site within 48 hours of notice and restore it to full operation within 72 hours. A site outage is considered an emergency and has precedence over a degraded site.

3.5.2 Notification of Outage.

The Government will notify the Contractor of an outage. The Contractor will specify the method and phone number where the Contractor can be notified of an outage. It is the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure that notification can be made per Section 3.4.1. The Contractor will obtain approval from the controlling WFO before performing any routine or corrective maintenance that would cause an outage. Upon completion of the maintenance service: (1) the controlling WFO will be notified that the transmitter is repaired, available for use, and broadcast-quality audio is again being transmitted at full authorized output power; (2) the transmitting system meets all the required technical specifications of NWR operational specifications and requirements, and the OEM equipment manuals; and, (3) the Government monitoring system, as applicable, verifies the monitored transmitter parameters are within the prescribed limits and the received signal is of good quality.

3.5.3 Service Calls.

The Contractor will provide a means to guarantee that service calls will be answered and responded to at all times according to the requirements of Sections 3.4 and 3.5.

3.5.4 False Repair Calls (FRC).

The Contractor may expect to receive service calls that are not directly related to a failure of the NWR transmitter system. When the Contractor responds to a service call that is subsequently classified as a False Repair Call (FRC), the Contractor notifies the COR, also notes and documents the cause and effect of the NWR transmitter outage. The cost of an FRC to the same site for the same cause and effect within a five day period will be reimbursed by the Government at cost. Historically, less than 8 percent of all service calls have been classified as an FRC in the past. However, there is no guarantee that this rate will continue.

3.6 Antenna Systems and RF Transmission Lines.

Each transmitter system shall be fully operational at the completion of routine or corrective maintenance, new installations, or relocations. The Government shall be responsible for the installation, repair and replacement of antenna systems and RF transmission lines (Heliax), including related hardware and components.

3.7 Contractor Personnel Technical Requirements.

All Contractor personnel performing routine and corrective maintenance on the NWR transmitter system will have appropriate technical qualifications, training, and experience to perform the required work on high power radio frequency (RF) UHF/VHF FM transmitter systems.

The Contractor shall possess (a) experience in conducting site surveys of radio communications sites; (b) an understanding of NOAA All Hazards NWR radio communications network, Specific Area Messaging Encoding techniques; (c) established familiarity with NWS facilities and systems; (d) possess the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to operate and interrogate portable computer systems, email, and software applications ; (e) experience in troubleshooting and diagnosing electronic equipment failures in specialized NWR and ROAMS equipment, (f) experience in installing antennas on government-owned transmitter sites, and (g) experience in the analysis of radio paths, and their relationship to equipment configurations.

These qualifications will be met by appropriate schooling in electronics and associated theory, and specific training and/or schooling in job related experience in the maintenance of related type transmitter equipment. The Contractor will notify the Government in writing of any change of technical field personnel along with their technical qualifications, training and related experience. Documentation of such training shall be provided with quote.

3.8 Contractor Performance Monitoring.

The Government reserves the right to monitor the routine and corrective maintenance performance of the Contractor at any NWR transmitter site listed in Attachment 2. The monitoring will be performed by NWS personnel. The factors the Government will monitor are all Contractor performance requirements specified in Sections 3 through 3.12.

3.9 Other Maintenance Support Services.

The Contractor will provide maintenance and logistics support of the Remote Offair Monitoring System (ROAMS) if installed at transmitter sites listed in Attachment 2. Maintenance will involve defective whole unit replacement. Logistic support will be whole unit shipment to and from the field with whole unit replacement provided by the Government from major items inventory.

3.9.1 Telecommunications Equipment.

The contractor will provide “first look” maintenance for telephone communication lines supplying program audio to the transmitter system. This initial inspection of telephone circuits may involve the verification of line levels with respect to test tones. Providing access for telephone repair personnel and escort of telephone repair personnel may be required.

3.9.2.1 Emergency Generators.

Several NWR transmitter sites have NWS-owned emergency power. Some of these generators are set to run an unattended weekly test. While on site performing routine maintenance on NWR transmitters, the contractor shall perform a visual inspection of the generator checking for any oil, coolant, frayed drive belts or fuel leaks. Any faults or failures will be noted and reported to the NWS NWR controlling office. The contractor will log run time, fuel level, any faults, and date of inspection in a NWS supplied logbook for the generator. NWS will perform any and all routine or corrective maintenance on generators. A listing of sites with emergency generators is included in Attachment 2.

3.10 Emergency Measures.

The contractor is responsible for routine and emergency maintenance of the equipment. Infringement on the scope, terms, and conditions of the agreements or maintenance contracts by Government employees is not permitted except in emergency situations and only when directed by regional or WSH management. The Government reserves the right to return equipment to operating condition when station maintenance cannot meet operational restore time requirements. When the Government does so, it must notify the Contracting Officer (CO) of the action(s) taken as soon as practical after the occurrence; especially if obtaining prior CO approval was determined unreasonable.

3.11 Radiation/Intermodulation Interference.

When notified of a RFI problem, NWS may require the contractor to perform a technical check of the transmitter. The Government will take the necessary precautions to eliminate radiation interference to a NWR transmitter system from other transmitting equipment and to eliminate any radiation emanating from the NWR transmitter system that may interfere with the normal services of other communications and broadcast systems, devices, services, or facilities within or outside the United States.

3.12 Modifications.

Only NWS approved modifications are to be made on Government furnished equipment. NWS reserves the rights to have the contractor make the modifications where necessary.

NOTE: Not all transmitter locations have lightning protection systems installed.

The Contractor will provide the Government, a list of all Contractor maintained transmitter sites that do not have antenna, AC power, or phone line lightning protection equipment or devices properly installed on the transmitter system.

3.13 Annual Signal Strength Measurement.

The NWS should perform annual signal strength measurements to ensure that overall system performance has not deteriorated. The signal strength measurements shall be made at a minimum of four (4) different land locations that are approximately ninety (90) degrees apart and a minimum of five (5) to a maximum of twenty (20) statute miles radius from the transmitter site (the NWS shall use the same locations as used the previous year and each year there after for continuity). The time interval between the annual measurements shall be from nine (9) to thirteen (13) months. The measurement shall be performed using calibrated (traceable to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) test equipment designed to measure RF field strength in the appropriate units and using identical measurement procedures.

4. PROGRAM SUPPORT.

4.1 Test Equipment Maintenance.

The COR may issue Government furnished test equipment to a Contractor on a case by case basis. This GFE test equipment will be maintained and kept in a secure location by the Contractor. Current calibration will be monitored by the Government. The calibration period will be as noted in the equipment manuals. The GFE test equipment calibration will be performed by the NWS PME Calibration Contractor approved by the Government.

Any special test equipment manufactured by Scientific Radio Systems, Inc. (SR Systems) will be sent to the National NWR Maintenance Contractor and calibrated annually.

If any Contractor-owned test equipment is used in the performance of this contract, it will be maintained and kept in current calibration at Contractor expense according to manufacturer’s recommendations and traceable to the NIST. Copies of this certification will be made available to the NWR Focal Point and/or the COR.

4.2 Computer Support.

The Contractor is required to supply a portable computer system which shall be used to provide connectivity to transmitter monitoring systems both locally and remotely. At a minimum, this computer system will contain a dial modem, serial port (RS-232), Word Processing Software compatible with NWS Standards (ie MS Word), virus protection application, (McAfee) and electronic mail capability. The computer system will be maintained and kept in good repair at Contractor expense.

The Government will supply the Contractor all necessary software applications used to access NWR transmitters for the purpose of remotely monitoring NWR transmitters. The Government shall also provide training to the Contractor and software installation and setup assistance to the Contractor. The Government shall also provide the Contractor with access phone numbers and passwords to NWR transmitters and ROAMS equipment.

The NWR Focal Point (Attachment 1) and/or the COR is responsible for providing the Contractor with up to date email addresses.

The Contractor is responsible for maintaining a current email account for the purpose of sending and receiving modification notes, maintenance notes, reports and correspondence from the NWR Focal Point and/or COR. The Contractor is responsible with providing these individuals with the current email address.

4.3 Maintenance Reporting.*

The Contractor will provide a unique email address for each employee, performing maintenance on equipment listed in Attachment 2. The government will allow access to the Equipment Maintenance Reporting System (EMRS) for each identified contract employee. The government will provide username and password information for EMRS access. Additionally, all maintenance actions, modification notes, and maintenance moratorium notifications will be issued via Oracle Notification from the National Headquarters via email to the maintenance contractors.

When an outage or maintenance action is reported from the government, an email notification will be sent to the contractor.

The contractor will be required to phone in (Attachment 1) to the Lead Forecaster of the owning forecast office (Attachment 2) reporting any changes of transmitter status during the maintenance action. At the completion of the maintenance action, the contractor is required to log into EMRS (using their specific username and password) and close out the maintenance work order. The local NWR Focal Point or ESA will be required to review and submit the completed work order.

The contractor shall notify the government within 24 hours (during normal business hours) if any of the contract employees (that are authorized access to EMRS) have a change in employment status (i.e. termination). The contractor is responsible to notify the COR if any new hires require EMRS access.

Use of the EMRS system does not negate the need to maintain a site log book or mailing in performance data sheets to the COR / WFO NWR Focal Point.

*Until EMRS access has been given to the Garner NWR contractor, following NWR maintenance the local NWR focal point should be notified of the parts used and the time taken to perform maintenance.

4.4 On Site Quality Control Visits.

The government reserves the right to make on-site visits for the purpose of reviewing the Contractor’s performance with respect to compliance with contract specifications and adherence to established maintenance procedures and schedules.