Sources Sought Synopsis

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Global Monitoring Division (GMD), (hereinafter referred to as the Government) is currently conducting market research to determine the availability of potential vendors to provide highly accurate measurements of trace gas species on the island of Barbados. NOAA's very sensitive measurements are necessary to monitor the threat of depletion of stratospheric ozone. This is not a solicitation; it is only a Request for Information (RFI). The Government anticipates award of a contract with a 1-year base period followed by four 1- year option periods on or before April 1, 2009. The anticipated North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) for this requirement is 541990 and the small business size standard is $6.5 million dollars. The Government's draft Statement of Work is included as Attachment 1.

Background:

Since 1978, measurements of the trace gas species CFC-11 (CCl3F), CFC-12 (CCl2F2), carbon tetrachloride (CC14,) methyl chlorform (CH3CC13), and nitrous oxide N2O (later, the following were added, methane (CH4) and CFC-113 (CClF2-CCl2F), since 1985, and chloroform (CHC13) since 1995) have been made at East Point, Barbados by contractors, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA makes similar measurements at five additional sites and is, therefore, keenly interested in obtaining comparable data from Barbados. NOAA has partially supported the Barbados measurements since 1984. The project will likely continue another 20 years or so, or as long as there is a threat of depletion of stratospheric ozone amounts from the species being monitored.

The Barbados site is one of four stations comprising the current Advanced Global Atmopheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network beginning in the time frame of 1993-1996. This network originated from the Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment (ALE) in 1978 and transformed to Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (GAGE) with the addition of new instruments during the 1981-1985 time frame. These networks were established to monitor the long-term trends of several trace gas species that cause stratospheric ozone destruction. Aside from the NOAA program, there are no other such national organized networks; only one or two other sites are operated by foreign governments. Data from the network are analyzed for long-term trends, changes in sources, and global budgets and published jointly by the AGAGE research team. The species are key compounds in the issues of stratospheric ozone depletion and "greenhouse" climate warming. Thus, a fundamental scientific need exists to monitor the atmospheric concentrations of these species and document their long-term increase. To establish the long-term change with high precision, the measurements must be made with a frequency of at least several observations per day. There is a critical scientific requirement that the future measurements are directly linked to those of the past and to the other sites of the GAGE network. This requirement is completely inflexible and, without this link to the past, the future measurements would have minimal value.

RFI Instructions:

The purpose of this request for information is to determine (1) whether there are sources capable of satisfying the Government's requirements and (2) to determine whether these services are provided to the commercial market. No proposals are being requested or accepted under this synopsis.

Interested sources must provide information regarding their capabilities to perform these measurements. Their qualification statement should indicate past performance, quality of instrumentation to perform the required measurements, and infrastructure to support long-term monitoring of species gases. In addition, responders should demonstrate that they understand the Barbados measurement location, infrastructure, data reporting, and data linkage. Responders should also provide a rough cost estimate for the first year of performance.

NOAA will consider all comments, supportive or critical, but may or may not use these individual comments. Qualification Statements will be treated separately from, and will have no bearing on, any subsequent evaluation of proposals submitted in response to any resulting future formal Request for Proposals. NOAA will not pay for information or comments provided and will not recognize any costs associated with submission of comments. NOAA, as noted above, is assessing the existence of sources and is requesting written comments from industry on the attached requirements. Written comments or e-mail messages shall be received no later than 2:00 P.M. Mountain Time, June 20, 2008. Sources interested in providing comments shall respond in writing to Susan Labovitz, MC3, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305. Submittals may also be sent by e-mail to Susan.Labovitz@noaa.gov. Telephone responses are not acceptable. This notice is not a Request for Proposals, Invitation for Bids, or Request for Quotes. It is a RFI and is part of the Government's market research process.