Department of Commerce, NOAA, 200 World Trade Center, Room 209, Norfolk, VA 23510-1624

A -- GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH SOL 52EANR-8-00048 POC Michele McCoy, 757-441-6879 WEB: EASC Homepage, http://www.easc.noaa.gov. E-MAIL: Contract Specialist, Michele.A.McCoy@noaa.gov. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental Research Laboratories intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with the State University of New York at Albany to operate an independent Quality Assurance/Science Activity Center (QA/SAC). The QA/SAC will oversee the data collection, data validation control, and archiving activities of parts of the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch (WMO/GAW). The activity although headed by NOAA will be a joint operation also involving the Department of Energy and other U.S. agencies. The present QA/SAC is one of three presently being set up to service the world-wide needs of the WMO/GAW. The contractor shall have oversight responsibility for those parts of the WMO/GAW activity for which the U.S. has accepted some responsibility. Among the candidate focal areas are precipitation chemistry, aerosol optical depth, and surface and tropospheric ozone. A second QA/SAC is presently operating in Germany. A third is operating in Japan. The contractor shall be familiar with the WMO and its programs, especially the GAW. The contractor shall be widely renowned, so as to have existing recognizability extending to the member nations of the GAW in the Americas (North, South, Central and the Caribbean). The contractor shall have existing demonstrated skills in quality assurance, as applicable to international atmospheric networks. The contractor shall work closely with the existing QA/SAC operations in Germany and Japan. The contractor shall also be cognizant of the international programs of ICSU, IGBP, etc. and shall work in close collaboration with their relevant operations. A cost reimbursement contract is anticipated with a one year base period with options to extend two additional years. The proposed contract action is for research for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under authority of FAR 6.302. The State University of New York at Albany (SUNY-A) is the only known source with the expertise, equipment and personnel available to provide the required research. Additionally, SUNY-A has been the long-term operator of a unique mountaintop observatory (Whiteface Mountain) where data on all of the desired quantities has been obtained for a lengthy time. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement no later than January 15, 1998. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. 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. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. (See Note 22) (0005)

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