Global Soundscape Maps

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, LLC, upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106-1(b)(1).

ERDC-CRREL requires production services for global soundscape maps that include both natural and man-made sound sources.

Requirement: The Contractor shall produce two (2) preliminary and four (4) finalized global ambient sound level maps. The two (2) preliminary maps are due two (2) months after award and shall show the daytime and nighttime overall A-weighted L50 where L50 indicates the sound pressure level that is exceeded 50% of the time. The four (4) finalized maps are due six (6) months after award and shall correspond to the following times of day and statistical exceedance levels:

1. Daytime overall A-weighted L50


2. Nighttime overall A-weighted L50


3. Daytime overall A-weighted L90


4. Nighttime overall A-weighted L90

Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, LLC (BRRC) has been identified as the only source reasonably capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement. BRRC developed its unique and proprietary soundscape machine learning models under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phases I (2017) and II (2024) contracts. As part of their innovation research, BRRC developed a machine learning model to estimate ambient sound level metrics for worldwide from both anthropogenic and natural acoustic sources based on the local topography, climate, landcover, and many other factors.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541370 – Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services a, which has a size standard of $19M.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 12:00 PM CST, 9 June 2025 to kim.d.roberson@usace.army.mil

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.