The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intends to solicit and award a sole source firm fixed price contract to Raytheon Corporation in support of NOAA Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) and Office of Marine and Aviation (OMAO) for the Coyote^TM UAS Tropical Cyclone Research Advancement Phase IV under the authority of FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901. The period of performance is anticipated to be one to run from 8/30/2018 through 8/19/2019.

Contract is to procure seven Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and convert two existing UAS to a fully-integrated meteorological/oceanographic (METOC) payload-equipped, flight-ready Coyote^TM UAS(s). Raytheon is the sole manufacturer of the Coyote^TM UAS and has proprietary ownership of the development and the unique technology for NOAA for Hurricane meteorological data sampling. This action will allow NOAA OMAO and the Hurricane Research Division of OAR to accomplish its mission of Hurricane Forecast improvement program studies, which includes engineering for Smart Sonde technology. This work is significant in the understanding of the surface air/sea interaction processes that impact Hurricane intensity models. In 2017, six (6) Coyote^TM platforms were deployed into Major Hurricane Maria. The data collected by the Coyote^TM platform and disseminated by the OAR Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Lab (AOML) and Hurricane Research Division (HRD) for both of these missions illustrated the strong potential to be a future necessity for initiating Hurricane models to improve operational Hurricane forecasts.

The Government intends to utilize the authority under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures where only one source will satisfy agency requirements, unless, as a result of this announcement, acceptable responses to this notice are received and a determination is made by the Government to issue a competitive solicitation.

Interested firms shall submit in writing, their name, address, point of contact, telephone number, business size and a brief statement regarding their capability to provide the required supply and service for this requirement and also any unique qualifications by 4:00 P.M., Central Standard Time, August 17, 2018. In order to be considered, firms must submit pertinent and specific information to demonstrate their ability to perform this requirement.

Although the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with the only known source, Raytheon Corporation, all responses received prior to the close of this notice will be considered by the Government. This is not a request for quotes and there is no solicitation available at this time. The Government reserves the right either to solicit quotes based on the receipt of affirmative responses to this notice or to issue a contract to Raytheon Corporation, whichever is determined to be more advantageous to the Government, without further notice. 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 be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

Offerors may send the above requested information to the following email address: [email protected]. The NAICS code for this requirement is 336411. All responsible sources may submit a response which will be considered by the Agency. All contractors doing business with the Government must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) website. Vendors can register with SAM at the following website: https://www.sam.gov

Bid Protests Not Available