CPO UMRB Plains Snow & Soil Moisture Monitoring Network

***The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Acquisition & Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division-Boulder (WAD), Climate Program Office (CPO), intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) located in Durham, NC for UMRB Plains snow and soil moisture monitoring network services to be performed in the Upper Missouri River Basin.

***The sole source determination is based on NOAA’s requirement that RTI is the only vendor that manufactures and distributes these research services. The team of RTI International is additionally a Subject Matter Expert on the content that will be discussed in the report, including the measurement of environmental, health, and natural resource values and the application of these measures to evaluate environmental and risk management policies. Further, this team is uniquely positioned to generate the report because of their direct knowledge about the UMRB Data Value Study. RTI team members are already engaged in a Viability Assessment for the UMRB Data Value Study. Consequently, they have developed a detailed knowledge-base on the Upper Missouri River Basin and the Soil Moisture and Snowpack and Soil Moisture Monitoring Project not held by any other agency. They have already established contact with PIs of other projects that will be included in the report, which will greatly facilitate acquiring and summarizing findings from these projects, as required for the report. NOAA technically does not know of any other source with both the expertise with the subject matter (application of observational data to drought and other natural resource applications), familiarity with the projects at hand, and access to project PIS and stakeholders in the region. Working with another provider on the project would require an extension of timeline to gain adequate familiarity with report content, particularly when considering the need to address hiring appropriate team members and developing adequate expertise. Such an approach would entail a significant delay and could jeopardize the ability to meet the Congressional mandate for a report to Congress documenting the value of soil moisture data from within the Upper Missouri River Basin.

Period of Performance: date of award to October 31, 2026.

***This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can fully meet the government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact within 15 days after publication of this synopsis. Such documentation will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the government not to conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.