COLLABORATIVE R&D ON SOCIAL DATA, ANALYTICS, AND VISUALIZATIONS RELATED TO INLAND FLOODING APPLICATIONS

COLLABORATIVE R&D ON SOCIAL DATA, ANALYTICS, AND VISUALIZATIONS RELATED TO INLAND FLOODING APPLICATIONS The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Weather Program Office (WPO) seek Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) partners that possess unique social data and expertise, capabilities, and experience with developing cloud tools for data analytics and visualizations that might be applied to inland floods and flooding events, while also providing data and tools for long term NOAA flood-related research, such as connected to the National Water Model developed by the Office of Water Prediction. Data could include, but is not limited to, traffic, mobility, cellphone, social media, retail, insurance, and other similar types of data. The initial period of collaboration for this CRADA is expected to be from fiscal year 2024 through fiscal year 2026 (2 years), with extensions possible if all parties agree. Relevant NAICs: 518210, 541330, 541511, 541512, 541720 This Notice does not constitute an Invitation for Bid or Request for Proposal and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. No contracts will be awarded as a result of this Notice. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice or for any follow-up requests for information. NOAA may contact respondents for clarification and discussion of the submitted responses. It is important to note that the government is legally prohibited from providing any funding to the CRADA partners, but is able to provide personnel, services, facilities, equipment, intellectual property, and other resources in support of the research and development activity. Further, entering into a CRADA with NOAA is not a guarantee of potential future funding nor does it provide any advantage when responding to a future NOAA procurement. SYNOPSIS: The work of the Weather Program Office (WPO) is authorized under the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. WPO was created to ensure alignment of office practices with the strategic goals of this law. Within the WPO, the Social Science Program is tasked with enhancing the - integration of social science knowledge into weather forecast and warning processes (Section 105). Recently, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) has provided funding for the establishment of the Societal Data Insights Initiative (SDII) to develop a data infrastructure for the integration of social data with weather and climate data to serve dual goals: Joint development of cutting-edge data management and analytical tools. These tools will merge social science data with pertinent weather data to explore key research questions and potential operational applications, with initial data projects focused on inland floods and flooding. Establishment of a centralized housing and archiving system for SBES datasets. This will mainly cater to NOAA-funded projects and select datasets from external contributors. The overall scope of the CRADA is to explore, develop, and refine methods collaboratively with SDII and affiliated partners to obtain unique social data and data analytic capabilities for integrating social and weather/climate data. Specific aspects to be investigated might include, but are not limited to: Identifying and monitoring societal responses to flood events, both in real-time and post-event, Evaluating the social impact of NOAA flood products, such as watches and warnings, Evaluating the economic impact of NOAA flood products and services, such as the National Water Model, and Better understanding public perceptions of and response to NOAA flood products and services, such as Flood Inundation Mapping. SCOPE: The collaborating partner(s) might provide the following: Contribute rich, comprehensive, and accurate datasets related to social, economic, and behavioral variables, as well as associated variables related to mobility, traffic, retail, insurance, or social vulnerability data. Offer technical prowess in integrating their data with the current SBES and weather datasets within NOAA. Collaborate in developing analytical and visualization tools aimed at drawing meaningful insights about human behaviors, perceptions, and responses related to inland flooding. DOCUMENTATION OF INTEREST: Responders may document their interest in entering into a CRADA with a letter to the Technology Transfer Program Office (noaa.t2@noaa.gov). Interested partners are asked to provide information that relates to: Company/organization profile with a highlight on data-related experience and accomplishments. Details of datasets available, their coverage, granularity, and relevance. Ideas or methodologies centered on data utilization and visualization for the stated goals. Foreseen challenges in data integration, handling, or interpretation, and their mitigation strategies. A high-level timeline detailing data delivery, integration, and analytics milestones. Past data-centric projects, especially in the realm of flooding or related analytics. Data-driven references or case studies. Interest in pursuing a CRADA with NOAA. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS Any questions pertaining to the Request for Information must be submitted electronically to the Technology Transfer Program Office at noaa.t2@noaa.gov, no later than December 22, 2023, 11:59PM Eastern Time. Please add the following subject to emails: CR-196 RFI Questions Additional information requested: A) Institution's name, address, point of contact, phone number and email address. B) If a business, then firm's DUNS number and Cage Code as provided under the SAM system. C) If a business, then state the firm's SBA certified small business concern status or other socioeconomic status. Specifically identify if your firm is HUBZone-certified, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, Women Owned, or in the SBA's 8(a) program. If your institution is not a small business, please state that it is a large business, FFRDC, university, UARC, or other. D) Institution's previous work experience that is similar to that described above. E) Any other pertinent documentation or information. F) Responses should be no more than 10 pages. All information submitted in response to this notice is voluntary; the United States Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the United States Government. No calls, hard copy submittals, or questions will be accepted or considered. All responses to this Request for Information shall be submitted only via e-mail to noaa.t2@noaa.gov by January 12, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Please add the following subject to the email when submitting: CR-196 RFI Response NOAA will protect privileged or proprietary information submitted in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). To avoid inadvertent release of such information, please be sure to clearly mark all documents and every page containing such information with - Confidential'Contains Proprietary Information or other - Confidential markings as needed. To the extent a document contains a mix of proprietary and nonproprietary information, you should clearly mark the document to indicate which portion is proprietary and which is not. Please note Exemption 4 of FOIA applies to trade secrets and commercial or financial information that you submit that is privileged or confidential. Apart from contact information identified above, please do not submit additional personally identifiable information (PII).