Intent to Sole Source to OTT Hyromet Corp for Radiometers

The purchased Kipp & Zonen sensors will be integrated into existing and new
oceanographic mooring systems, autonomous vehicles (Saildrone) and other platforms
developed and deployed by PMEL. These are to replace the highly accurate radiometers
produced by Eppley Laboratories that PMEL has used for decades after Eppley abruptly
stopped manufacturing or repairing instruments during the COVID pandemic. This left an
urgent need for an accurate, reliable and tested sensor to take its place.

PMEL models its surface radiation measurements after the best practices and
high-quality measurements made by the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). In
BSRN’s network of ~900 surface pyranometers and pyrgeometers, more than 90% are
Eppley or Kipp & Zonen, split nearly equally. Based on this long track record of reliable
quality measurements, Kipp & Zonen are the only sensors that can maintain the quality of
our dataset, in the absence of Eppley, without extensive testing and development and a
huge cost to the government. Furthermore, we have conferred with NOAA radiation experts
at the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), who have extensively tested multiple
radiometers (and primarily use Eppley & K&Z) and confirmed that these are the only sensors
that will immediately and reliably meet our needs and be comparable to the global BSRN
network.

***Please see the attached RFQ for details.