This announcement is a Notice of Contract Action (NOCA) by the Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Sensing Directorate (SN) Contracting Office (SNK), Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA. This NOCA does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), nor is it to be construed as a commitment by the Government to further evaluate capability briefs, release a competitive solicitation, or award a contract.
The SSC/SNK Space Situation Awareness Environmental Monitoring (SSAEM) program intends to issue an RFP to University Corporation Atmospheric Research (UCAR) for the SSAEM Sensor Integration and Support Contract No. FA8810-25-R-B002.This will be a sole source action.
The period of performance anticipated to begin on 1 Feb 2025 with a one-year base period and four (4) one-year options. The prospective source for this acquisition is:
University Corporation Atmospheric Research Mr. John Braun
3090 Center Green Drive Boulder, CO 80301
Place of Contract Performance:
3090 Center Green Drive, Boulder, CO 80301
The statutory authority for this solicitation will be contracting by Other Than Full and Open Competition, 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(3), as implemented by FAR 6.302-3, "Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services." Specifically, FAR 6.302-3
(a) (2) (ii) states that "Full and open competition need not to be provided for when it is necessary to award the contract to a particular source or sources in order to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by and educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center."
A System for Award Management (SAM) Sources Sought notice requesting Statements of Capability (SOC) for this requirement was published 24 May 2024. The title of this posting was "Request for Information, Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring Sensor Development and Support Contract. The new contract is anticipated to be awarded by 1 Feb 2025. The small business size standard for this requirement is $47.0M under NAICS code 541330.
There is clear future DoD need for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data. The space-based observation of GNSS signals continues to be an important emerging weather sensor technology with potential to provide crucial terrestrial and space environment data for Space Force Weather Prediction Models. This dual use technology can be applied to successful execution of daily DoD operations in several ways:
Continuation of the UCAR research efforts will help preserve an independent research and development knowledge base thereby facilitating future expansion and fostering innovation in developing and improving space weather products and performing future studies related to GNSS weather sensing. Specifically, UCAR will continue to study our planets ever changing atmosphere through RO to the benefits of our GNSS. Currently, the Earth's atmosphere contains higher charged electrons in somewhat random areas (influenced by the sun and it's 11-year cycle). These "clouds" of charged electrons interfere negatively with all GNSS signals and provide skewed results. UCAR is able to measure the effects of these "clouds" and send that data back to the GNSS's so they can provide an accurate reading to their users.
Without UCAR's ongoing R&D efforts, specifically the SSAEM program to utilize UCAR for pursuing RO technology maturation, the DoD risks losing essential expertise in promising technologies, which could hinder broader technological advancements. These advancements would support their mission planning and execution efforts across the DoD. As mentioned above, the GNSS RO has some highly desirable DoD military applications. In short, with commercial weather services in its infancy and with no viable market demands for such technology and expertise, it is extremely difficult to maintain the current knowledge base without programs such as SSAEM to provide continuity and support.
The subject COSMIC-2 UCAR support is critical in maintaining essential RO technical sustainment as well as research and development capabilities/expertise. For instance, the USSF needs to maintain this essential capability to apply the COSMIC-2 investigative findings and to develop a roadmap for the development of future technologies that incorporate these findings. Under the current SSAEM contract, UCAR has demonstrated that it has the engineering understanding necessary to support the SSAEM sensor on-orbit operations. As noted above, UCAR personnel are SMEs in RO and have been involved with COSMIC-2 since program inception, as well as with preceding RO programs.
The SSAEM Sensor Support scope of work will require the contractor to have intimate knowledge of the GNSS RO data collection, processing and validation of data quality and accuracy for both space and terrestrial weather. UCAR, a non-profit consortium of 100+ North American colleges and universities, focuses on atmospheric & related
Earth system sciences and has managed the National Center for Atmospheric Research for 65+ years, specializing in RO phenomenology. In 1993, UCAR pioneered the application of GPS RO for probing the Earth 's ionosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. The Global Positioning System
Meteorology (GPS/MET) experiment produced the first RO soundings of Earth's atmosphere in 1995, which led to the COSMIC-1 program. COSMIC-1 launched in 2006 as a constellation of six LEO satellites to observe the Earth's atmosphere. COSMIC-1 demonstrated the value of RO soundings for numerical weather prediction, which led directly to the establishment of the current COSMIC-2 partnership between NOAA, USSF, and Taiwan. UCAR has been at the technical center of all these programs. The COSMIC-2 mission has provided a revolutionary increase in the number of atmospheric and ionospheric observations relative to COSMIC-1, which has allowed for improved space and terrestrial weather modeling that has greatly benefited both research and operational communities.
