SPECIAL NOTICE
N -- NWS Telecommunications Gateway Re-alignment
- Notice Date
- 7/11/2011
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service, 1325 East West Highway, SSMC2, Room 11226, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20910
- Solicitation Number
- DG133W-11-SN-0001
- Point of Contact
- Anthony S. Kram, Phone: 301-713-3405 x106
- E-Mail Address
-
anthony.s.kram@noaa.gov
(anthony.s.kram@noaa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service intends to award a sole source contract to International Business Machines (IBM) for the supply and installation of required IBM components to re-align the National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway (NWSTG). The NWSTG is a central source and communications switching system for millions of hydrometeorological observations and products each day. The NWSTG's main functions include ingest (e.g., data capture or receipt), switching, and interfacing to outward-facing systems (e.g., for broadcast and web services). The NWSTG is a major and critical component of the NWS' Telecommunication Operations Center (TOC), located primarily in Silver Spring, Md. The TOC/NWSTG serves a broad array of users: internal NOAA users, and domestic and international external users. The NWS must undertake a technology realignment of the NWSTG for reasons that can be summarized as follows: 1. projections for steep increases in data volume related to GOES-R, and changes to other sensor and modeling systems; studies have indicated the current NWSTG systems will not accommodate the future data loads, 2. the current NWSTG has limited and outdated data search and data discovery functionality; such search/discovery functionality is central to NextGen, AWIPS Data Distribution, and other NOAA projects, 3. significant number of NWSTG infrastructure are at or near end-of-life; a considerable number of potential security vulnerabilities or weaknesses have been identified; the system is relatively inflexible in its ability to respond to new requirements, and, backup capabilities are incomplete (threatening continuity of operations provided by this critical infrastructure). NOAA-internal requirements associated with the GOES-R series, NPOESS Preparatory Project, dual polarization radar, new environmental production models, NextGen, AWIPS and other projects require profound NWSTG enhancements. Moreover, NOAA-external requirements- such as those related to DoD peering and the NWSTG as a WMO Global Information System Centre-impose further requirements that affect the future NWSTG. The schedule for the new data volumes and magnitude of the technology refresh is unprecedented. Calendar years 2011 and 2012 are critical for improving the Gateway infrastructure before the onset of new programs identified above impact the system in FY 2013. In order for NOAA to meet this aggressive timeline, NOAA must have contract services with a full range of IBM hardware and software experience, as well as the ability to provision, install and configure IBM hardware/software and equipment. IBM contractors have the requisite hardware and software knowledge and experience of performing the vital integration, hardware and software migration, and customization activities with their hardware and software products needed to meet the NWSTG realignment schedule. In addition, IBM has extensive and irreplaceable knowledge from years of working with the NOAA and in the existing NWSTG infrastructure. Please send any questions or inquiries to the Contracting Officer prior to the close of the response date of this announcement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NOAA/OCSNWS/DG133W-11-SN-0001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: NOAA/NWS, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, United States
- Zip Code: 20910
- Zip Code: 20910
- Record
- SN02495079-W 20110713/110711234836-c3098f11c8121370bbdb37094044a6a5 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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