U. S. Department Of Commerce, NOAA, Central Administrative Support Center, 601 East 12th St., CC31, Rm. 1756, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

66 -- DROPWINDSONDES SOL 51WCNA806016JAS DUE 122297 POC Jackie Shewmaker (816) 426-7129, extension 221 Sources Sought. The U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA, is proposing a requirements' type contract with Vaisala, Inc., for expendable GPS Dropwindsondes for Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) in Tampa, Florida. The GPS dropwindsonde is an expendable meteorological instrument package, part of the Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS), used on the NOAA/AOC Jet, NOAA/AOC WP-3Ds, Air Force C-130, and NASA P3 aircraft. The GPS dropwindsonde design, developed for NOAA/AOC by The National Center for Atmospheric Research, Surface and Sounding Systems Facility (NCAR/SSSF) contain measurement and navigation assemblies which were selected for use only after NCAR/SSSF determined they were the best-fit assemblies for this application. The manufacturer of these selected assemblies is Vaisala, Inc. Because using any other measurement or navigation assemblies would require redesign of the aircraft mounted data receiver and processing system, and re-verification of the dropwindsondes, production of this dropwindsonde shall use these identical Vaisala measurement and navigation assemblies. The required GPS dropwindsonde deliverables must fully meet NCAR/SSSF drawing set 46-701 requirements which will be included with the solicitation. Alternate designs are not acceptable. All applicable drawings may be examined or obtained at NCAR/SSSF. All deliverables shall successfully pass NCAR/SSSF test specifications N-18, N-19, N-20 and N-21 prior to delivery. The following components shall be sourced from Vaisala, or produced under license to Vaisala: RSS90111Z: Met Sensor Module and GPS111: GPS Module. Anticipated annual NOAA dropwindsonde usage is about 600 sondes. The production of the supplies listed requires a substantial initial investment or an extended period of preparation for manufacture. The Government intends to award a contract beginning April 1, 1998 for a base year and four option years. Delivery of the dropwindsondes shall begin 90 days after receipt of a delivery order and continue at a minimum rate of60 sondes per week until the order is complete. The proposed procurement action is for supplies for which the Government intends to solicit to only one source under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1). This is not a call for proposals. Interested parties are encouraged to respond to this announcement within 15 days of its publication. Interested firms shall submit in writing, its name, address, point of contact, telephone number, business size and a brief statement regarding its capability to provide the specified item, and the name, telephone number, and point of contact for businesses or other Government agencies to which it has previously provided similar supplies. No response will be provided to those inquiries which fail to provide the information requested. This information shall be submitted to the address stated herein or may be faxed to telephone number 816-426-5067. A Solicitation will be issued on or about 15 days from the date of this announcement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The SIC Code for this action is 3829. This action is not set-aside for small business. (0303)

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