US Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition Management Division (OFA512:GNS), 1325 East West Highway, Station 4301, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3283

T -- DIGITAL RASTER NAUTICAL CHARTS SOL 52-DGNC-7-90050 POC Greg Smith at (301) 713-0823, or by fax at (301) 713-0808, or John O. Thompson NOAA and other government agencies require digital raster nautical charts, digital Coast Pilots and updates to those products. These digital products are used in computers for navigation, planning, as georeferenced base maps in computer applications and for other purposes. These products must meet the following minimum specifications: 1) digital raster charts must be produced from original NOAA digital files; 2) digital raster charts for ALL NOAA charts must be provided; 3) the current editions of NOAA charts must be available within 45 days of release of a new edition as digital raster charts; 4) the digital raster charts must be exact, full color replicas of currented editions of NOAA nautical charts at 254 dots per inch and must be georeferenced to NAD1983 latitudes and longitudes; 5) the digital raster charts must have been warped using a finite element warp algorithm to remove residual distortions; 6) the digital raster charts must be in NOAA's chart compression format (patent pending); and 7) thedigital Coast Pilot must be produced from original NOAA digital files provided by NOAA. Only one company, BSB Electronic Charts of Rockland, Maine is known to make a product which conforms to the above mentioned specifications. NOAA/NOS has competitively entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with BSB Electronic Charts. Under the CRADA, BSB has a license to exclusively use NOAA's original digital chart files for electronic charting. Under the CRADA, the original digital files are not available to any other party for purposes of developing a competing product. The original digital files are exempt from release under FOIA pursuant to the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 as amended. Because BSB has a license giving them the exclusive use of NOAA's original digital charts which must be used to produce the needed products, no other source is thought capable of supplying the required product. Therefore, NOAA proposes to enter into an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity type contract with BSB Electronic Charts of Rockland, Maine for the purchase of raster digital files and related services. The contract will be for a one year period with four one year option periods. See Numbered Notes 22 and 26. (0067)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0100 19970312\T-0001.SOL)