P06 1116274 SS_(FY24-FPAC-J013)_Blaine_18Dec23_ss_Redacted.pdf
PDF 211 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Snow Measurement
- Solicitation number
- FY24-FPAC-Justification-013
About this file
This is a sole source justification document related to federal contract opportunity number FY24-FPAC-Justification-013 for snow measurement services. The Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation seeks to award a sole source contract to collect daily snowpack data in remote mountain locations across three western states. The incumbent contractor has been providing these specialized measurement services for over a decade and has acquired extensive equipment, trained personnel, and established measurement sites that would be prohibitively expensive for the government to replicate through competitive bidding. The justification document outlines the incumbent's unique qualifications and proprietary methodology for collecting and reporting time-sensitive snowpack data to support water resource management programs. The proposed one-year, firm-fixed-price contract valued at $500,000 would be awarded on or before January 31, 2024 to ensure continuous collection of data throughout the upcoming snow season.
View the file
On GovTribe
Work with this file
- Download the original file
- Contacts named in this file
- Similar government files
- Ask GovTribe AI about this file
Text version
Template for Single Source or Brand Name Justification under SAT, March 2019
Single Source/Brand Name Justification United States Department of Agriculture
FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions
1. Identification of the agency and the contracting office.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Boise State Office, Snow Survey Dept., Boise, ID.
2. Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.
NRCS Snow Survey proposes to procure snow measurement services by means of other than full and open competition
3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.
NRCS Snow Survey maintains an extensive automated (SNOTEL) and manual (Snow Course) data collection network in the Western United States and Alaska. Combined, the network encompasses nearly 2,000 remote snow measurement sites in mountain snowpack zones.
Congress mandated NRCS (then the Soil Conservation Service) in the mid 1930’s “to measure snowpack in the mountains of the West and forecast the water supply.” NRCS Snow Survey now provides reliable and efficiently collected data needed to produce water supply forecasts and to support resource management activities across the Western US. The high-elevation watershed locations, broad coverage, and real-time operation of the network provide important data to farmers, researchers, river and reservoir managers, emergency managers for natural disasters such as floods and droughts, and for power generation. In some remote locations, private local contractors have been utilized to conduct critical manual snow measurements. In these rare instances, the contractors have the wherewithal (over-snow travel equipment, snow samplers) and knowledge of local terrain in order to complete work in a timely manner.
Additionally, local surveyors have many years of experience using a federal snow sampler, calculating snow-water-equivalent, and communicating results to the main NRCS Snow Survey office. Lastly, data continuity between years is key to making NRCS Snow Data most useful and to decrease data uncertainty (error). Year-to-year data continuity is best achieved by utilizing the same surveyors as long as possible.
4. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.
Market research was
Control Number: _FY24-FPAC-Justification-013_
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .