Presolicitation Notice: NWS Hydrogen Gas Generator Maintenance Supplies and Factory Training

Title: NWS Hydrogen Gas Generator Maintenance Supplies and Factory Training

This notice is being published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.101 requiring dissemination of information for proposed contract actions. This is a presolicitation notice and is not a request for competitive quotes/proposals. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.103-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

It should be noted that the Proton Energy Systems, Inc. is identified in the System for Award Management as Doing Business As: NEL Hydrogen US; throughout the remainder of the document for simplicity purposes Proton Energy Systems, Inc. and NEL Hydrogen US shall be considered synonyms and herein referred to as Proton/NEL.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC), National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), Western Acquisition Division (WAD), intends to issue a five-year (one twelve-month base year, and four twelve-month option years), Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), sole source Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to Proton/NEL.

The NOAA, National Weather Service’s (NWS) mission is to provide weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. In support of this mission, the NOAA NWS, operates and maintains a network of Upper Air (UA) observing stations with some sites that rely on on-site hydrogen generation and storage systems to support routine weather balloon launches used to collect testing data. The Government’s objective is to obtain maintenance supplies and factory training for the Proton/NEL Hydrogen Generators (HOGEN) located at the NWS UA observing stations.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516 – Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with a business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The intent of this presolicitation notice is for informational purposes only and is NOT a request for competitive proposals. However, responsible parties may submit a capability statement demonstrating the ability to provide the requested services, which shall be considered by the agency before the intended award date. Interested sources who submit information are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. The Government shall not reimburse interested sources for any information provided. No requests for capability briefings will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Interested vendors must respond to this notice on or before February 16, 2026 at 2:00pm PST by sending an email to Danyell Hertel, Contract Specialist, at danyell.hertel@noaa.gov and Richard Barzaghi, Contracting Officer, at richard.barzaghi@noaa.gov.