55 Broadway; Cambridge, MA 02142

D -- MOSAIC RADAR WEATHER DATA SERVICES SOL DTRS57-99-R-00017 DUE 083099 POC Point of Contact -- Donna Brickley, Contracting Officer, (617) 494-3661 WEB: Volpe Center Acquisition Division home page, http://www.volpe.dot.gov/procure/index.html. E-MAIL: Contracting Officer, brickley@volpe.dot.gov. This is not an Invitation for Bid, a Request for Proposal or a Request for Quotes. The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center is conducting market research, with the intention of issuing a solicitation in the near future for companies that have the capability to provide for continuous access to a radar weather data base, lightning data, alphanumeric text data, high resolution gridded model data, Echo Tops, STORMcast data and the distribution license of the data except lightning data. This data is important for the mission of the Federal Aviation Administration s Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS). ETMS is an operational FAA system. It provides the means by which the FAA can monitor and control air traffic. A major component of ETMS is its weather overlay functions and backgro The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center intends to negotiate on a non-competitive basis with WSI Corporation for continuous 24-hour access to the weather data required by the Federal Aviation Administration s Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS), including but not limited to, NOWRAD and NOWRAD PLUS database, lightning data, Alphanumeric text data, High Resolution Gridded Model Data, Echo Tops, STORMcast data, and by contract option, Canadian Radar Mosaics. With the exception of lightning data, the contractor shall provide the distribution licenses of the data. A major component of ETMS is its weather overlay functions and background processing functions that requires access to operational weather data. The ETMS Aviation Weather Network (AWN) has been evolved over the years unds processing functions that requires access to operational weather data. To that end, the ETMS Aviation Weather Network (AWN) has been evolved over the years to receive, ingest and process weather data .The Mosaic radar data shall be of a minimum of 2km spatial resolution from all available NWS radar sites. The data shall contain 16 levels of radar reflectivity intensity. The data must be quality controlled prior to delivery to ETMS. Ahigh-resolution product shall be available every 5 minutes with automated quality control algorithms. A medium-resolution product of 15-minute temporal resolution is required with manual quality control check. Lightning data shall contain time, location, polarity and amplitude of flashes and shall be from a continuous data feed. The data shall be accurate to receive, ingest and process weather data. All the data must be compatible with the existing ETMS AWN programs. The results of the sources sought synopsis which was published on April 14, 1999, supports the Government s decision that WSI corporation is the only known source that has the ability to provide the requisite services meeting the following Government s requirements. The mosaic radar data shall be of a minimum of 2km spatial resolution from all available National Weather Service (NWS) radar sites. The data shall contain 16 levels of radar reflectivity intensity. The data must be quality controlled prior to delivery to ETMS. A high-resolution (NOWRAD PLUS) product shall be available every 5 minutes with automated quality control algorithms. A medium-resolution (NOWRAD) pr to within 10km or less over the contiguous 48 states. The data shall be on the national scale. Echo tops shall contain the highest detected echoes above a given location. The data shall be of 4km spatial resolution and is updated every 10 minutes. The data is on the national scale. STORMcast provides the current position, speed and direction of storms from all NWS radar sites and is on the national scale. The data is updated every five minutes. All the required weather shall be provided to ETMS over a land-based communication circuit of at least 256BPS circuit and 1 Mbytes per second satellite network. All the data must be compatible with the existing ETMS AWN programs. The data must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The data shall be available for redistribution to other ET oduct shall be available every 15 minutes with manual quality control. Lightning data shall contain time, location, polarity and amplitude of flashes and shall be from a continuous data feed. The data shall be accurate to within 10km or less over the contiguous 48 states and shall be provided on the national scale. Echo tops shall contain the highest detected echoes above a given location. The data shall be of 4km spatial resolution and is updated every 10 minutes and shall be provided on the national scale. STORMcast provides the current position, speed and direction of storms from all NWS radar sites and shall be provided on the national scale. The data is updated every 5 minutes. All the required weather data shall be provided to the ETMS over a land-based communication circuit o MS remote sites. The government will acquire the data, and the necessary distribution licenses except for lightning data, for a period of one-year base period and two one-year options. If interested and have the capability to provide all of the aforementioned services and data as required by the Government, please send company s name and qualifications within fifteen (15) working days after issuance of this source sought by mail or e-mail. Send to Volpe National Systems Center, Attn: Susan A. Bertram, DTS-853, 55 Broadway, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02142-1093. E-Mail responses should be sent to bertram@volpe.dot.gov. f at least 256KBPS circuit and 1 Mbytes per second satellite network. All the data must be compatible with the existing ETMS AWN programs. The data must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The data shall be available for redistribution to other ETMS remote sites. The Government shall acquire the data and the necessary distribution licenses with the exception for lightning data, for a period of one-year and one, one-year, option. This synopsis is for informational purposes only. For Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), has programs to assist minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to acquire short-term working capital and bondin g assistance for transportation-related contracts. This is applicable to any eligible prime or subcontract at any tier. The DOT Bonding Assistance Program enables firms to apply for bid, performance and payment bonds up to $l.0 million per contract. The DOT provides 80% guaranty on the bond amount to a surety against losses. Loans are also available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rates to provide accounts receivable financing. The Maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information and applicable forms concerning Bonding Assistance Program and/or the STLP, please call the OSBDU at (800) 532-1169. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting official listed above. Posted 08/02/99 (D-SN361979). (0214)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0034 19990804\D-0006.SOL)