U.S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/OFA/PGAS/Contract Administration Branch -- OfA513, 1325 East West Highway -- Station 4301, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3283

D -- SATELLITE BROADCAST SYSTEM DUE 053197 POC Bert Syzmanski (301)713-0839 Ext. 125 E-MAIL: Click here to contact the CO via e-mail, Norbert.Szymanski@noaa.gov. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS), intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis with GTE Government Systems for a one-year extension (4/1/98-3/31/99) plus twelve additional one-month options (maximum extension until 3/31/00) under contract 50DDNW800001 for operation of the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS). The NWWS is a contractor-operated, satellite based dissemination system intended to provide critical information vital to the safety and welfare of the public to local emergency managers and mass news disseminators, and thus to the public, in the most timely manner possible. The current contract expires 3/31/98 and this extension will allow for the continuation of services during the interim period pending award of a follow-on, fully open and competitive contract. The solicitation for the follow-on procurement is in preparation and its availability will be published in the CBD under separate notice. Finalization of the Statement of Work for the recompete has been deferred pending completion of the NWS Dissemination Technology Conference in Washington D.C. from April 15-18, 1997. Companies that believe they can provide the required services are invited to submit, in writing, an affirmative response demonstrating an ability to immediately provide the services without disruption to the current operations and demonstrating a cost benefit to the Government. To be considered affirmative, companies shall submit a written narrative statement of capability, including detailed technical and cost information, sufficient to permit agency analysis in order to determine a bona fide ability to provide the specified services with no interruption to the existing network. See Note 22. (0104)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0031 19970417\D-0001.SOL)