The U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) intend to award a purchase order for 15 each of LEDWI Microprocessor Unit (MPU) Module with Firmware 364, Optical Scientific Inc. (OSI) P/N 1103-214, NSN: 5998-01-368-4596; ASN: S100-2MT2A1A1A3. These items are specifically manufactured by OSI for the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS). OSI is the only responsible source to perform this work since they are the company that designed and built all of the LEDWI MPU Boards (microprocessor boards) part number 1103-214. They retain the only stock of repair parts and drawings for the end item. OSI also retains the engineers and technicians who designed the LEDWI MPU Boards, thus reducing the time to manufacture the end item. The LEDWI MPU Boards are a proprietary part manufactured by OSI, and is the only part that is approved for this sensor. Any redesign and remanufacturing costs could not be recovered by using competitive processes. The use of another manufacturer's part may not work due the uniqueness of the end item being replaced. An attempt to reproduce these items from another source other than OSI would require that the Government re-qualify the parts at a considerable cost to the Government whose cost savings could not be recovered through open competition. Therefore, it is recommended to purchase the item by part number. This item is being purchased for the National Weather Service (NWS) NEXRAD spare parts program, to be delivered to the National Logistics Support Center located in Kansas City, MO. The proposed contract action was issued as a sources sought notice that was posted on FedBizOpps under Solicitation No. NWWG01401302167 on August 7, 2013. An award will be issued to Optical Scientific, Inc.

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