Sources Sought (MDCRS WVSS) - Final.pdf

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY - Solicitations are not available at this time.

Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government and respondents will not be entitled to payment of direct or indirect cost incurred in responding to this Sources Sought Notice. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this Sources Sought Notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Eastern Acquisition Division (EAD), is conducting market research for the purpose of assessing the current and near future marketplace and potential vendors capable of providing observations of wind, temperature, and humidity Meteorological Data and Reporting System (MDCRS) and Water Vapor Sensor System (WVSS) data which includes atmospheric observations from commercial aircraft, through the use of commercial aircraft and on-board meteorological sensors, leading to the improved understanding of the structure of the atmospheric water vapor, temperature, wind, and pressure, as these data are critical to the prediction of thunderstorms, flash floods, hail, tornados, clouds, icing, and climate. The Key elements of this requirement are to:

• Continue data stream from commercial aircraft operated by major commercial airlines providing up to 3.2M vertical profiles of wind and temperature worldwide on an annual basis, with at least 1.5M annually over the Continental United States; a subset of those aircraft numbering 135 providing approximately 1000 vertical profiles of humidity per day along with wind and temperature in and around major airport hubs; and en route observations of wind and temperature every 14 minutes worldwide, primarily on transoceanic flights.

• Provide full and open disclosure of sensor characteristics (e.g., metadata), data processing and sampling techniques.

• Maintain high data delivery availability and reliability.

• Support the capability to communicate the data availability status to NOAA and other designated users including sensor and circuit status.

• Provide meteorological observational data to the Government consistent with an open--system architecture model.

• Provide data to NOAA without intellectual property or distribution restrictions, whereas

NOAA is the sole owner of the data and is free to distribute data in real time to other member governments of the World Meteorological Organization.

The Government anticipates awarding a single award, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a Not to Exceed Ceiling and Firm Fixed Price unit-level provisions based on a best value basis. The period of performance of this procurement will be from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2029.

Information provided in response to this Sources Sought will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for determining how to proceed in the acquisition process for the Meteorological Data and Reporting System (MDCRS) and Water Vapor Sensor System (WVSS) data. This Sources Sought Notice is a request for interested parties to describe their technical capabilities and demonstrated tools, processes, and service capabilities. A response to this

Sources Sought Notice is necessary in order to assist NWS in determining the potential levels of interest, adequacy of competition, and market maturity and technical capabilities within the business community to provide the required capabilities. The anticipated associated NAICS code is 518210 – Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services and the corresponding size standard is $40 Million.

Requested Information

● Name of Company

● SAM ID Number

● Address

● Point of Contact/Company Representative

● Phone Number/Email Address

● Size standard classification

● Capabilities

Response Format Please submit one (1) electronic Adobe Acrobat Portable Document File (PDF) format, formatted for 8.5" by 11" sheets, single-spaced. All documents submitted (including charts and graphs) should be limited to no more than five (5) pages.

Delivery Requirements The Government requests all electronic responses be received by 5:00 PM Eastern Time, on Thursday, February 8, 2024 to the Contracting Specialist to the email address listed below.

Primary Point of Contact:

Nicole Verway, Contracting Specialist Nicole.Verway@noaa.gov