V3242286_SSJ_final - Copy_Redacted.pdf

This is a Sole Source Justification document for Procurement Request No. V3242286 issued by the Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Environmental Measurement and Modeling Division).

The procurement seeks to contract with the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA) at the University of Mississippi for development of a rocket propulsion and sonic boom acoustic propagation model software tool. This model will enable the Department of War and Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) to quantify propulsion and sonic boom noise from rockets, produce topological noise maps showing coverage percentages exceeding specified noise levels, model impacts from different rocket trajectories under varying meteorological conditions, identify data gaps regarding rocket launch effects, and inform decisions on monitoring station locations. The justification establishes NCPA as the sole capable source, citing Dr. Aaron Hastings' over 20 years of experience developing acoustic propagation software models and more than 5 years in sonic boom and rocket launch noise exposure modeling. NCPA possesses specialized expertise in meteorological and acoustical analysis, including ability to model propagation using Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) parameters as required. The document argues that alternative sources would require lengthy discovery phases to access proprietary code, adding unacceptable time, cost, and uncertainty. It further notes that attempting to develop equivalent expertise and datasets elsewhere would exceed $400,000 and require extensive time to replicate NCPA's decades of institutional knowledge. No brand name, unusual urgency, or competitive set-aside applies to this procurement.