Finalizing the Development & Several Applications of a High-Resolution Version of the African Flood & Drought Monitoring & Forecasting System (AFDM)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to award a sole source fixed-price purchase order to the Princeton Climate Institute (PCI). The Institute for Water Resources (IWR) seeks services and support in finalizing the development of, and in applying, high-resolution (5-km) versions of the Global, and African, Flood and Drought Monitoring and Forecasting Systems. The earlier African Flood and Drought Monitoring (AFDM) system was developed by the University of Princeton, in collaboration with USACE’s International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It has been central to ICIWaRM's mission as outlined in its founding 2009 agreement between the U.S. Government and UNESCO.

Throughout 2019-2021, through an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement (IPA) from Sep 20 – Feb 21, Drs. Justin Sheffield and Ming Pan and their Princeton University colleagues developed a higher (5 km) resolution modeling system to estimate various hydrologic variables of interest (e.g., soil moisture, river flow), including developing baseline hydrography (rivers & contributing catchments) from best-quality digital elevation models (DEMs); and validated of the modeling system against available records. They have also piloted versions of this higher-resolution AFDM for several countries and regions, such as Zimbabwe and the Lake Chad basin. This contract will complete most of the work that was envisioned for Dr. Pan’s IPA, which ended Feb 28, 2021 prematurely due to Dr. Pan’s accepting a new position at the Scripps Institute of UC-San Diego.

The proposed period of performance will be 3 months from award. Any firm that believes it can meet this requirement may give written notification to the Contracting Officer within fifteen (15) days of publication of this announcement. Supporting evidence must be in sufficient detail to demonstrate the ability to comply with the requirement. Responses received will be evaluated; however, a determination by the Government to compete the proposed procurement based on the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

If no responses are received by 17 June 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will proceed with awarding a fixed price purchase order to PCI. The point of contact for this requirement is Ms. Shannon Benson at 703-428-7407 or shannon.n.benson@usace.army.mil.