Design of Master Station Replacement Components

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO PLACE AN ORDER TO METEOR COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION AT 22614 66TH AVE S, KENT, WA 98032-4844 FOR DESIGN OF MASTER STATION REPLACEMENT COMPONENTS FOR USDA NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS), NATIONAL WATER AND CLIMATE CENTER (NWCC). STATEMENT OF WORK DESIGN OF MASTER STATION REPLACEMENT COMPONENTS USDA, NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE NATIONAL WATER AND CLIMATE CENTER SCOPE OF SERVICES: The contractor shall furnish the personnel, equipment, labor, materials, transportation and facilities required to perform the services described herein. The intent of this contract is to obtain new meteor burst communication master station hardware and associated software because of obsolesce of current equipment. BACKGROUND: The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) installs, operates, and maintains an extensive, automated system to collect snowpack and related climatic data in the Western United States called SNOTEL (for SNOwpack TELemetry). The system evolved from NRCS's Congressional mandate in the mid-1930's "to measure snowpack in the mountains of the West and forecast the water supply." The programs began with manual measurements of snow courses; since 1980, SNOTEL has reliably and efficiently collected the data needed to produce water supply forecasts and to support the resource management activities of NRCS and others. In 1991, the NRCS began installing Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) stations to monitor soil moisture and climate information around the United States. The network currently is funded by cooperators and by NRCS. The SCAN network currently has 180 stations located in 40 states. Climate studies, air and water quality investigations, soil moisture and soil temperature, and resource management concerns are all served by the modern SNOTEL and SCAN networks. The SNOTEL and SCAN networks provide broad coverage of the information required to provide important data collection opportunities to researchers, water managers, and emergency managers for natural disasters such as floods. Over the past 30 years the NRCS SNOTEL and SCAN networks have operated on the meteor burst radio technology. SNOTEL is a mandated program by the US Congress. These projects range from helping to monitor and predict the snowmelt runoff and required reservoir storage to crop water uses. The equipment used for this was developed and maintained by Meteor Communications Corporation (MCC) through an agreement with NRCS. The equipment required includes radios for remote station and radios and associated equipment at master stations. The equipment at master stations include radios, transmitters, receivers, synthesizers, 520B meteor burst controller, RF switches, 545b transmitter, and associated software. Most of the equipment used at these master stations was designed and purchased over 20 years ago. Time and the elements have made it necessary to plan for the replacement of these components and the software that runs them. Current technology in components and software will require MCC to do a complete redesign of both the components and software. NRCS has owned two master station facilities over the last 30 years. Recently NRCS has purchased three (3) more master station facilities. All five (5) master stations owned by NRCS will require upgrading in the next five (5) to ten years. Existing master station equipment can no longer be manufactured because of obsolescence of component parts. This requires a complete redesign utilizing current technology. The new components and software must be compatible to interface with existing MCC equipment that exists under proprietary licenses. At this time MCC is the sole provider of the meteor burst technology and NRCS is nearly the only beneficiary of it. It is in the best interest of NRCS and the SNOTEL and SCAN networks that MCC will provide the services of master station design review in preparation of redesign of meteor burst master station equipment. The data is collected from Soil Climate Analysis stations and SNOTEL stations across the United States. These networks use meteor burst communications that can only be accomplished using radios and other equipment specifically designed for meteor burst. At this time MCC is the only manufacturer and provider of these radios and the owner of the central transmitting stations that help collect the data. The design of new meteor burst radios using today's technology needs to be done now to prepare for the replacement of outdated equipment and hardware at the master stations. All replacement equipment and software must be compatible with existing equipment. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this contract is to begin the design phase for the new meteor burst master stations. LIST OF ACRONYMS: CO: Contracting Officer COTR: Contracting Officer's Technical Representative SOW: Statement of Work SNOTEL: SNOw TELementry SCAN: Soil Climate Analysis Network NWCC: National Water and Climate Center NRCS: Natural Resources Conservation Service USDA: United States Department of Agriculture MCC: Meteor Communications Corporation REQUIREMENTS: The Contractor shall, as an independent contractor and not as an agent of the Government, provide the design of the replacement hardware and software components to replace the existing meteor burst communication equipment. DELIVERABLES: Task Deliverables Target Dates Dependencies 1. Design Requirements Review 11/17/2010 2. Gap Analysis between design requirements and functionality of PTC Locomotive Radio 03/31/2011 Contingent on availability of locomotive radio: 12/31/10 3. Preliminary specifications 06/15/2011 Contingent on approval and authorization of analysis by CO: 04/15/2011 The Contractor shall be responsible for the following: - Furnish all management, labor, tools, equipment, supplies, and materials required to perform the job. - Coordinate with the National Water and Climate Center (NWCC) staff in the Government's annual fiscal resource requirements determination process to determine NWCC's projections. - Provide a Project Manager, exclusively dedicated to this contract, as the Contractor's central point of contact concerning contract work performance, who shall be available during the Government's regular working hours for discussions. - Maintain up-to-date records of licenses, certifications, education, and training to verify specific qualifications, experience, or training required of Contractor personnel in accordance with any federal, state, or local regulations or statutes or this SOW in order to perform the requirements of the contract. - Restrict the employment of any employee or potential employee who is identified to the Contractor by the CO or designated representative as a risk to the health, safety, security, or general well being of the general population. The termination of an individual from employment shall not relieve the Contractor of the requirement to provide sufficient personnel to perform the specific tasks outlined in the contract. - Ensure that all Contractor personnel wear a distinctive nameplate, emblem, patch, or badge. - Perform services during the Government's regular working hours unless otherwise specified in the contract. The Contractor is not required to provide service, unless otherwise specified, on the following federal holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The contractor shall complete all work under the contract to include the delivery of the agreed to deliverables by June 2011. ESTIMATE OF WORK: The contractor shall deliver the deliverables within the following estimated period of performance: - Deliverable #1 estimated at approximately 100 hours of hardware and software engineering time. - Deliverable #2 estimated at approximately 100 hours of engineering time. - Deliverable #3 estimated at approximately 150 hours of hardware and software engineering time Typical duties of the contractor shall include, but not limited to, hardware and software engineering, design layout of all electronic components parts for boards, and CAD work to support engineering design. Other duties shall be to conduct meetings to go over the Requirements documents with designated NRCS personnel. RECORDS, FILES, DOCUMENTS, AND OTHER DATA: The Contractor shall: - Establish and maintain electronic records compatible with the latest commercially available software versions of Microsoft Office? that will allow for ease of tracking of all Government Furnished supplies and equipment. QUALITY CONTROL: The Contractor shall be: - In compliance with FAR 52.246-4, "Inspection of Services" to perform all services required, and to maintain all quality control records for the period of contract performance. QUALITY ASSURANCE: The Government will review the Deliverables to ensure the documentation addresses the requirements. Upon submission of each deliverable, the Government will review and provide comments to the contractor within 15 days of submission, if revisions are required. The contractor shall re-submit the deliverables with revisions within 10 days. SAFETY AND HEALTH: No person shall be required or instructed to work in surroundings or under conditions that are unsafe or dangerous to his or her health. The Contractor shall be responsible for the safety and health of its employees, to include subcontractors, and the protection of other personnel, including Government employees and visitors to the sites.