Rocket propulsion and sonic boom acoustic propagation model

The Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center seeks development of rocket propulsion and sonic boom acoustic propagation modeling software on a sole source basis, with quotes due June 22 and questions due June 18. The procurement is awarded to The National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA) at the University of Mississippi under FAR 13.106-1(b).

Place of performance is University, Mississippi. Work is conducted under FAR Part 12 for commercial products and services. The NAICS code is 541715 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences); the small business size standard is 1,250 employees. The PSC code is 7A21, IT and Telecom—Business Application Software (Perpetual License Software).

The sole source justification establishes NCPA as uniquely capable, 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. Alternative sources would require discovery phases to access proprietary code and would exceed $400,000 and extensive time to replicate NCPA's decades of institutional knowledge.

Work comprises four Contract Line Items: monthly reporting, initial design and documentation, code base development, and testing. Deliverables include metric documentation, algorithm documentation, workflow documentation, software requirements specification, prototype/alpha/beta/release code with unit tests, and unit test results. All work concludes by March 15, 2027, with monthly progress reports due on the 15th of each month. Payment is firm fixed price via the Department of Transportation's DELPHI/iSupplier electronic invoicing system with www.login.gov authentication. Vendors must maintain active SAM registration throughout the contract period.