Engineering Support for Mid Earth Orbiting Local User Terminal (MEOLUT) Ground Station

NOTICE TYPE: SOURCES SOUGHT DISCLAIMER: This is not a solicitation. This is not a request for quote (RFQ), invitation for bid (IFB), request for proposal (RFP), request for application (RFA) or an announcement of a solicitation and does not assume the government will award a contract or proceed with any of the above solicitations in the near future. The information requested herein is for information purposes and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued or awarded. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect cost or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of information. All information considered proprietary shall be marked accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified proprietary information. Properly identified proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with Government regulations. The purpose of this announcement is solely to gather information from the market place and any responses received will not be considered an offer by the responding party and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responses to this notice will not be returned. No telephone inquiries will be accepted and requests for solicitation packages will not be granted, as no solicitation has been prepared at this time. SYNOPSIS: The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is conducting market research and is interested in receiving statements of capabilities from small businesses interested in forming a partnership with NOAA in a requirement for building a ground station that will track, demodulate, and locate distress signals emitted by 406 MHz EPIRBs, SSAS beacons, ELTs, and PLBs, and relayed through bent pipe repeaters on board Global Positioning Satellites and other Mid Earth Orbiting satellites. The ground station will be located at the USCG COMMSTA Miami located in Miami, Florida and the data will be relayed to the SARSAT United States Mission Control Center (USMCC) located within NOAA's National Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, MD. NOAA will use the information it collects to evaluate the potential of small business entities to provide such data in the future. Responses are sought from small business sources. Responses from small business sources that include the participation of non-commercial entities such as not-for-profits and others may also be evaluated. No contracts will be awarded as a result of this Notice. However, NOAA may use the information it collects as input towards planning for future contract awards. Please note that this Notice is for informational purposes and to help identify potential small business sources only. It is not to be construed as a commitment of any kind by the Government. Respondents which the Government deems to be fully qualified may be considered in any resulting future action. All submitted materials will be designated For Government Use Only. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice and any follow up information requests. NOAA may contact respondents for clarification and discussion of the submitted responses. BACKGROUND: The United States Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) program is currently managed by NOAA and operated in a partnership with the US Air Force (USAF), US Coast Guard (USCG) and NASA. The SARSAT program has operated within the framework of the International Cospas-Sarsat program and since 1982 and has been credited with saving over 30,000 lives using satellites to detect and relay distress signals to ground stations called Local User Terminals (LUTs). These LUTs track Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting (GEO) satellites equipped with instrumentation to detect distress signals and then relay these distress signals to the USMCC for location processing and rescue coordination purposes. With the advent of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS-USA, Glonass-Russian Federation, Galileo-European Union) operating in a Mid Earth Orbit (MEO), the International Cospas-Sarsat program has planned and tasked their members to begin implementing and testing a ground system capable of operating with these MEO satellites. This new MEO Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) ground system will be comprised of MEOLUTs and will operate during a Demonstration & Evaluation period in parallel with the currently operational LEO and GEO ground system until global coverage for distress detection and processing can be accomplished. The US SARSAT program has already built a MEOLUT in Hawaii and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has the prototype MEOLUT. These MEOLUTs will be supplemented by one more MEOLUT to provide a coverage area that encompasses all of the US Areas of Responsibility of Search and Rescues as outlined by the National Search and Rescue (NSAR) plan. INFORMATION REQUESTED: Accordingly, NOAA is exploring the availability of small business sources for Engineering Support under a potential future full and open competition, to support efforts in developing the entire MEO system operational concept. The work that would be performed would fall under NAICS Code 517410. Interested companies should describe their capabilities as it relates to the activities below: System Description The NOAA Florida MEOLUT shall: Detect, characterize, and locate 406 MHz emergency beacons and transmit associated data to USMCC; Be capable of receiving S-Band and L-Band downlinks from GNSS satellites that are equipped with a 406 MHz SAR repeater; Measure the frequency of arrival and time of arrival of detected beacon messages and use the results to locate the beacon; Calculate an unambiguous location for the beacon if the message is received from at least three GNSS satellites for a given burst; Be capable of improving the location accuracy of the beacon over the first burst by combining subsequent bursts received by at least three satellites. Beacons The functions of the NOAA Florida MEOLUT include: Receiving and processing signals transmitted by 406 to 406.1 MHz emergency distress beacons Locating interfering signals that can prevent successful reception of 406 to 406.1 MHz emergency distress beacons. Ground Segment The vendor would be required to provide the infrastructure to support the antennas' power and communication lines from the NOAA Florida MEOLUT located in the COMMSTA Miami building to the antenna field. This work would require interfacing with the United States coast Guard Civil Engineering unit located at COMMSTA Miami in Miami, Florida and could consist of (but may not be limited to): Engineering (Electrical & Telecommunications System) - Investigate site; - Design trench, manhole and handhole sections, if required; - Develop necessary construction notes; - Design equipment and conduit layout; - Provide equipment and conduit details, electrical schematic for new circuits, and cable acquisition and installation schedule; - Update existing electrical, layout, and elevation drawings; - Submit final outside plant design for excavation permit, signed by licensed engineer; - Finalize as-built drawings per project completion; and - HVAC System-split unit for communications room, if required Construct Outside Plant Infrastructure - Provide excavation permits prior to excavation and toning for utility locations per excavations - Supply and install erosion control measures Operational Requirements The entire Florida MEOLUT shall be fully operational twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week with less than (2) percent downtime calculated over a year; with a minimum of four antennas at least (99) percent of the time. SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS: When to Submit: June 15, 2012 by 12:00pm EST Where to Submit: Beverly.Appell@noaa.gov