Notice of Intent: Sole Source Acquisition Space Data Association Membership

The US Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Satellite and Information Acquisition Division intends to solicit, negotiate with and award on a sole source basis to Space Data Association Limited (SDA Limited) to renew NOAA’s Space Data Association Membership (SDA Membership).  The following SDA Membership/Space Data Centre Services are unique and required:

• Consistency and quality check of operational ephemerides

• Conjunction Data Message (CDM) analysis

• Owner/Operator (O/O) Ephemeris-vs-catalogue (SP and TLE data) conjunction assessment

• O/O Ephemeris-vs-ephemeris (Members’ only) conjunction assessment

• O/O Ephemeris / TLE / SP comparison

• Facilitation of communications between operators

• Technical advisory for SSA service providers

The SDA Membership is required for deployment maintenance/support licensing which is required to reduce the risk of NOAA assets colliding with other spacecraft or orbital debris and to ensure collected data is more comprehensive as a result.  The required SDA Membership/Space Data Centre Services must be compatible with the existing NOAA framework and systems. 

Therefore, the Government intends to award a firm-fixed-price purchase order to SDA Limited in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1).  There are no authorized resellers for SDA Membership/Space Data Centre Services.  Therefore, SDA Limited is the only vendor that can provide the aforementioned required services that meet the Government’s Requirements.

NAICS Code 519290 – Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services, with a corresponding small business size standard of 1,000 employees, is applicable to the Government’s Requirements.  The value of an acquisition is estimated at $25,000.00.

 This notice is not a request for competitive bids, quotes or proposals; however, any vendor that believes it can fully meet the Government’s Requirements may submit written documentation affirmatively demonstrating its ability to meet the Government’s Requirements to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer, identified herein, by the response due date and time associated with this notice.  Also, a vendor may submit a description of its past experience in meeting requirements that are the same or similar to the Government’s Requirements described herein and references for each past experience.  Vendor documentation that may be submitted in response to this notice will be considered only to determine whether to proceed with the intended sole source acquisition.  A determination by the Government not to conduct a competitive acquisition based on potential submissions to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.  Any documentation submitted in response to this notice is strictly voluntary, therefore, the Government: 1) will not pay for any documentation submitted in response to this notice; and, 2) will not award a contract solely based on documentation submitted in response to this notice.

Oral communication is not acceptable in response to this notice.  A written response to this notice must be directed to and received by Lillie Joseph at lillie.joseph@noaa.gov and Mario Gray at mario.gray@noaa.gov by the response due date and time associated with this notice.