Road Weather Forecasting Services

The Georgia Department of Transportation is procuring statewide atmospheric, road pavement, and bridge deck weather forecasting services through RFP 484-081121, with the final proposal deadline of August 20, 2021 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. has been selected as the awardee.

The scope requires a fully implemented, cloud-based SaaS system delivering near real-time data and forecasting to support roadway and bridge closure decisions, treatment plans, and emergency operations. Core deliverables include pavement and bridge deck temperature forecasts on an hourly basis for 72 hours and six-hour increment forecasts for 10 days; polling of approximately 60 RWIS (Road and Weather Information System) stations; integration with GDOT traffic cameras; multi-parameter alerting; and 24/7 on-call meteorologist services staffed with American Meteorological Society Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM required for the lead meteorologist; other team members must hold a Bachelor's Degree in Atmospheric Science or Meteorology with a minimum of five years of surface weather forecasting experience). The system must comply with all State of Georgia IT security standards, maintain data within the United States at rest and in transit, and achieve GDOT acceptance with user access operational by December 31, 2021 and system operations commencing by November 1, 2021.

The contract term is three years with two optional one-year renewal periods on an as-needed basis through Purchase Orders at firm-fixed prices. GDOT reserves the right to award up to one contract with no guaranteed minimum or maximum spending. Proposers must carry comprehensive insurance including workers' compensation, commercial general liability of at least $1 million per occurrence, professional liability of $1 million per claim, and cybersecurity breach insurance of $12.5 million.

Technical proposals were evaluated on experience and qualifications (11%), program management (6%), information technology (3%), implementation plan (5%), licensing and maintenance (9%), on-call meteorologist services (7%), training plan (6%), current and forecasted weather information and alerts (12%), and demonstrations (11%), comprising 70% of the evaluation score. Cost proposals comprised the remaining 30%, with the lowest-cost proposal receiving full points and others receiving prorated scores. Addendum #2 extended the original August 11 deadline to August 20 and provided answers to 33 clarification questions. Addendum #3, issued August 19, clarified meteorologist qualifications, training structure (five annually offered sessions), technical proposal page limits (48 pages excluding cover and administrative sections), and supplemental demonstration proposal allowance (five pages).