U.S. Department of Commerce, Acquisition Services, 14th & Constitution Ave., N.W., Room 6516, Washington, D.C. 20230

D -- SOURCES SOUGHT SOL 52-SANW-7-00033 DUE 022197 POC Bill Russell (202) 482-3483 E-MAIL: Contract Specialist, BRUSSEL1@DOC.GOV. The Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, contemplates the acquisition of equipment and services to meet its requirement for general purpose, high speed, large capacity computing, data storage, and networking to support numerical weather prediction at its National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Suitland, MD. A Request for Proposals is tentatively scheduled for spring/summer 1997 with award in the first quarter of CY1998. Sources capable of meeting these requirements and potentially interested in making offers are asked to submit information regarding their experience and past performance to Bill Russell, Office of Acquisition Services, Room 6516, Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230 [voice: 202-482-3483, fax: 202-482-0546]. Vendors with characteristics of past performance and experiences that include the sale, operation, and support of supercomputer facilities providing general purpose, high speed, large capacity computing, data storage, and networking should respond to this announcement. Additionally, preferred operating experiences will include mission critical, time dependent environments. Experiences in numerical weather prediction facilities are a definite plus. Although final specifications are yet to be developed, a Live Test Demonstration (LTD) on a substanial portion of proposed systems is anticipated prior to award for each proposal. In past acquisitions of the National Meteorological Center, operational software codes (usually numerical forecast model codes) were used during the LTD in combinations of multiple executions to attempt simulation of the projected operating environment. To facilitate this LTD, sample computer models and data to initiate their executions are available at: http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/ftp/pub/class8 The codes in the directories "regional", "3dvar", and "global" are from models now in operational use. The codes in the directory "scalable" are in development. Use these specific codes isnot certain but they do provide guidance and, we believe, information about the operational situation today. Changes in input data, resolution parameters, and execution times should be anticipated for the LTD. (0035)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0038 19970206\D-0008.SOL)