SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (EOSDIS) ALASKAN SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR) FACILITY (ASF)
- Notice Date
- 5/6/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 214.6, Greenbelt, MD 20771
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- ESDIS191
- Response Due
- 5/21/2002
- Point of Contact
- Isabell Watts, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 614-5298, Fax (301) 614-5267, Email Isabell.M.Watts.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Isabell Watts
(Isabell.M.Watts.1@gsfc.nasa.gov)
- Description
- THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to seek industry comments and inputs concerning the operation of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility. The EOSDIS Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) is required to acquire, process, archive and distribute very large volumes (estimated to reach at least 60 Terabytes/year) of remote sensed SAR data to research scientists, governmental entities and the public that apply this physical information to understand and solve major problems in the Earth Sciences, such as global change, environmental monitoring, agricultural inventory, geology, hydrology, ice sheet movements, polar change detection, etc. The ESDIS Project is interested in awarding or renewing a contract for acquiring and archiving SAR data at a facility that would work cooperatively with the ESDIS Science Operations Office (SOO) and the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs). The functions of the SAR facility would include, but are not limited to: 1) Direct interaction with universities or research institutes that use SAR data. 2) Direct Data reception and capture from SAR satellites. 3) Direct ingest of raw signal data from US or foreign ground stations. Site must be capable of ingesting digital tapes from foreign ground stations. 4) Automated processing of raw signal SAR data to Level-0 data 5) Automatic archiving of Level-0 data to on-line storage facility. 6) Capable of archiving 350 Terabytes of data electronically and on site. 7) Capable of processing Level-0 products to Level-1 or higher. 8) Capable of calibrating data to specifications and geo-location. Required for global change research. 9) Capable of distributing data to NASA customers using commercial shipping. 10) Act as the US Order Desk for all NASA's foreign partners (CSA, ESA, NASDA). 11) Provide science expertise to formulate new projects and missions. 12) Operate the User Service Office to assist customers in their daily needs. 13) Receive product price list from DAACs (and at least annual updates), 14) Allow ASF users to establish accounts 15) Respond to user queries concerning account or order payment status, 16) Provide regular activity reports. 17) Interact with the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) Alliance and NASA Headquarters. 18) Strong understanding of the SAR science community goals and mission set. The SAR science community frequently collaborates with federal agencies, private industries and educational institutions to understand and research global change phenomena. 19) Fully staffed with trained engineers and operators Geographic Constraints: 1) The SAR facility must be at or above Latitude 64?N and within the United States of America. The rational for the northern latitude is to allow the maximum number of opportunities to acquire data from polar orbiting spacecraft. For example: 10 to 12 passes for Radarsat-1, 3-5 passes for ERS-2, and 12-14 passes for ADEOS-2. 2) This facility should be resident at or have a strong partnership with a university to encourage education outreach, academic involvement and scientific research. Infrastructure Constraints: 1) Site must posses X-band antennas for the reception of high data rate SAR data. 2) The data archive and ground reception equipment must already exist and be collocated with a Data Archive Center to provide the most convenient and efficient method of capturing and archiving the data. 3) The facility should already exist and require little modification. 4) High-speed data networks and communication systems should already be in place and available for use. Management Constraints: 1) Management and personnel should already be familiar with managing data acquisition, processing, archiving, calibration and distribution of SAR data from multiple satellite systems. 2) Institution will be responsible for the U.S. Order desk for the scheduling and acquisition of SAR data for the NASA science user. 3) Management must have experience coordinating and conducting operations with NASA and foreign agencies. For an understanding of the scope of operation of the ASF respondents should review the provided references. These documents serve as a backdrop against which respondents must frame and pose the appropriate advanced information technology topics for further consideration: Reference URL 1. ASF Website http://www.asf.alaska.edu/ 2. SAR Facility RFI Website http://romulus.gsfc.nasa.gov/sarrfi/ 3. Sample Statement of Work http://romulus.gsfc.nasa.gov/sarrfi/sar_documents.html Table 1 In addition, information concerning the EOSDIS DAACs is available on-line at: http://ulabibm.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac/ The ESDIS Project encourages responses from businesses or other groups interested in the opportunity of providing a SAR data facility. The responses should demonstrate the operational reliability and robustness of the proposed approach, as well as simplicity and straightforwardness for users and the DAACs. The responses should show how the System could adapt to growth in the user community, changes in systems interfaces, and changes in technology. Sources with information relevant to this request are asked to respond by submitting a white paper of no more than five (5) pages which conforms to Annex 1, "Template For SAR Facility Continuing Operations Submittal". The paper should clearly address a prospective of how to meet current user demands and protect existing archive, acquire current SAR data from operational instruments and prepare for future missions. The approach should provide a portion or all of the needed capabilities. Please provide enough costs estimates for any Commercial-Off-the-Shelf products and the effort needed to integrate the proposed SAR facility. Comments and suggestions for improving the Alaska SAR Facility is always encouraged and solicited. All information received from this RFI will be combined and used for government procurement planning purposes. Sources are urged to describe their approach in enough detail so that NASA can plan for subsequent proposal opportunities for which proprietary information is appropriate. The information received in response to this RFI will be reviewed and summarized by a panel of experts. Some or no part of the summarized and synthesized recommendations may or may not form the basis of a future NASA solicitation, such as a NASA RFP (Request for Proposals). Annex 1 TEMPLATE FOR SAR FACILITY CONTINUING OPERATIONS SUBMITTAL 1. Background and Description of Proposed Approach Describe in adequate detail the specific approach to implementing the SAR Facility, which is being proposed for ESDIS Project consideration, the current state of its development, how interfaces to DAAC-based systems would be implemented, the comparability of your approach with or its use of current and/or anticipated commercial approaches. You will want to provide an Operations Concept ("a day in the life" scenario) illustrating the use of your approach. 2. Operational Robustness and Flexibility for Growth and Evolution of Proposed Approach Address the operational reliability and robustness of your proposed approach, as well as simplicity and straightforwardness for science users and the DAACs. Describe how your approach to providing the system could adapt to growth in the user community, changes in the systems interfaces, and changes in technology. 3. Science Support for SAR user community Describe specific details how the SAR science community will benefit from the support the SAR facility will provide. Describe the research organizations available and educational outreach mechanisms in place to assist the SAR science community. 4. Cost to Operate Provide a rough estimate of the cost to operate the SAR Facility on an annual basis. Responses may be sent via electronic mail, regular mail, or fax to: Mr. William J. Potter ESDIS Project, Code 423 Goddard Space Flight Center Tel. (301) 614-5343 Fax (301) 614-5267 E-mail: william.j.potter.1@gsfc.nasa.gov If you respond via regular mail or fax, please provide an electronic copy in Microsoft Word format in addition to the printed version of your submission. This synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. Any questions regarding this announcement should be directed to the identified point of contact. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See NASA Specific Note "B". The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in Microsoft Office 97 format and will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/GSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?group=C&pin=51 It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the Internet cite for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any. Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html
- Web Link
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