Combined RFI_Sources Sought Notice - NOAA Multi-Cloud Enterprise Data Infrastructure Services.docx.pdf

Department of Commerce (DOC) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Notice (SSN)

Multi-Cloud Enterprise Data Infrastructure Services NOAA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A COMBINED REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AND SOURCES SOUGHT ONLY.

This combined Request for Information (RFI) and Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. This notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is not seeking proposals at this time. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any costs incurred in response to this notice. All costs associated with responding to this notice will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future solicitation.

The information provided in this notice is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government, and will not be returned. Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such.

REQUIREMENTS

NOAA OCIO intends to accelerate its cloud migration and enterprise data management capabilities by partnering with industry to prototype and, if successful, operationalize Multi-Cloud Enterprise Data Infrastructure Services. The goal of this infrastructure project is to unlock the full potential of NOAA's strategic data assets, accelerate NOAA’s transition to the cloud for enterprise weather, ocean, and space-based capabilities, and enable the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications at scale. The Multi-Cloud Enterprise Data Infrastructure Services project will enable advanced scientific discovery and cross-organizational scientific and analytical workflows with a scalable, governed, and accessible cloud-native data infrastructure platform that offers data-centric science development and consolidated public data access in addition to the implementation of a modern data architecture.

Desired Outcome: Prototype within 6 to 12 months leading to the operationalization of a high-availability, enterprise, multi-cloud data-enabled platform capable of bridging operational data generation with scientific and analytical data workflows, centralized science development with transition to operations capabilities, and secure public data access to meet integrated NOAA workflows and data requirements. This platform must serve as a foundational data plane that can seamlessly integrate with existing NOAA FISMA-High systems, support data from across the organization through orchestration of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) data and AI platforms (e.g., cloud provider integrated tooling platforms, unified data analytics platforms, data warehouses, MLOps solutions, etc). By creating a modern “data-first” infrastructure that combines a robust, government-managed foundation with the advanced capabilities of leading commercial data platforms and cloud-native managed services (e.g., AWS/Azure/GCP native AI/ML tools), this initiative serves as a foundational enabler for NOAA's core scientific mission and its ability to deliver critical data products and services.

Prototype Platform Objectives:

● Delivery of a robust, scalable, and cost-efficient multi-cloud data infrastructure as code (IaC) platform template that has the following components:

○ Modern data architecture that offers federation, data storage, and virtualization through a common catalog.

○ Scientific development area that offers virtualized workstations and compute to support innovation and development on the data.

○ Secure data access service with connection to all integrated data in the infrastructure.

● The IaC platform must maintain FedRAMP moderate cloud services for all cloud components, including robust

Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) controls to secure access, with the ability to meet the following accreditation:

○ FISMA-High for the data architecture and data access components.

○ FISMA-Moderate for the science development area.

● The IaC platform must demonstrate:

○ Interoperability, acting as a foundational data plane that enables secure, governed access for various

COTS data platforms.

○ Automated continuous integration / continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to accelerate science development.

○ APIs/Interfaces to support AI Agents for discovery and workflow automation.

○ Capabilities for data science, analytics, and AI/ML development offered by commercial unified data analytics platforms to support integrated NOAA scientific development.

● The IaC platform must demonstrate the capability to integrate, use, and access at least 4 of the following NOAA data use cases (defined below).

● The IAC platform will enable AI use through data and technological solutions, such as MCP servers, virtualized

AI-ready data formats, and other approaches.

● The vendor will deliver initial architecture diagrams, documentation on the ability to meet requirements, and Key

Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the prototype across technical performance and business value space.

● The vendor must provide scalable cost estimates for scaling out and maintaining the platform to inform NOAA operationalization decisions.

REQUESTED INFORMATION

NOAA is requesting information from industry on the commercially available sources and capabilities that can meet the Multi-Cloud Enterprise Data Infrastructure Services requirement. Responses shall include, at a minimum, a capability statement addressing the following:

1. Company Name/Division, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone, and/or website address.

2. Single point-of-contact name, title, telephone, and email address.

3. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). (Note: Offerors must be registered in SAM at the time an offer or quotation is submitted to comply with the annual representations and certifications requirements.)

4. Indicate if your firm qualifies as a small business, if qualified as one or more of the following:

a. 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA)

b. Small Disadvantaged Business

c. Woman-Owned Small Business (must be certified by SBA)

d. HUBZone firm (must be certified by SBA)

e. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business

5. Identify any Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) or Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts your firm possesses, including master contract number, awarded scope (e.g. Functional Area, Track, Schedule Item Number), and ordering period.

6. A description of the company’s modern data platform solution that could support NOAA’s enterprise data and innovation requirements for operationalization aligning to FISMA-High requirements in less than one year. In addition to:

a. The solution’s architecture diagram and associated tech stack implementation.

b. A description of how the platform supports integration of all types of NOAA data stored across existing NOAA cloud systems as well as offers storage capability. Reference the NOAA Open Data Dissemination as a baseline of NOAA data diversity.

c. A description of how the platform supports scientific innovation within NOAA and enables AI at scale for the agency.

https://www.noaa.gov/information-technology/open-data-dissemination https://www.noaa.gov/information-technology/open-data-dissemination

d. A description of how the platform provides secure, public-facing access to NOAA data.

7. Vendors may provide any other information determined to be important and relevant to the purposes of this RFI/Sources Sought Notice.

RESPONSE DEADLINE

Respondents are encouraged to carefully review the Requirements and prepare a response to the Requested Information.

Responses to this notice shall be no more than 3 pages and must be submitted in the form of Microsoft Word and/or PDF (searchable format) documents attached to emails received no later than 12:00 p.m. EST, June 5, 2026. Responses shall be submitted to:

● Contracting Officer, Jeremy Johnson, at Jeremy.Johnson@noaa.gov

● Contract Specialist, Tyra Lassiter, at Tyra.Lassiter@noaa.gov

INDUSTRY DISCUSSIONS

Some respondents may be asked to provide additional information regarding the matters addressed in this notice. Those respondents will be contacted directly if there is a need for further information.

QUESTIONS

Respondents may submit questions regarding this notice to the contact(s) listed below. Responses to questions may be posted. Please send any questions you may have to Contracting Officer, Jeremy Johnson (Jeremy.Johnson@noaa.gov) and Contract Specialist, Tyra Lassiter (Tyra.Lassiter@noaa.gov).

mailto:Jeremy.Johnson@noaa.gov mailto:Tyra.Lassiter@noaa.gov mailto:Jeremy.Johnson@noaa.gov mailto:Tyra.Lassiter@noaa.gov