SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS) BROKER SERVICE

The purpose of this acquisition is to extend the existing Mobile Decision Support Services (MDSS) Interactive National Weather Service (iNWS) Short Message Service (SMS) mobile alerting services for registered user up to 5 years beyond the end of the current contract period of performance, in order to sustain its contribution to improved decision support by community decision leaders during high-impact events, anytime, anywhere. The National Weather Service (NWS) provides Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS) to a variety of classes of its designated core partners. Some of the applications and technologies deployed to provide IDSS require an SMS broker to provide SMS gateway services between the NWS and cellular service providers (carriers), and to secure carrier approval, provisioning, and certification. MDSS (iNWS) is a mobile alerting service designed to bring critical weather data and automatic alerts directly to cell phones and mobile devices. The target audience for this service is community decision leaders. Our goal is to provide a tool for the NWS to deliver improved decision support to community decision leaders during high-impact events, anytime, anywhere. MDSS (iNWS) is a mobile alerting service designed to bring critical weather data and automatic alerts directly to cell phones and mobile devices. The target audience for this service is community decision leaders. Our goal is to provide a tool for the NWS to deliver improved decision support to community decision leaders during high-impact events, anytime, anywhere. MDSS (iNWS) provides NWS watches, warnings, and advisories in an interactive, user driven, real-time alerting service that leverages the solid NWS warning program. Users specify interest areas for location and types of weather alerts desired. MDSS (iNWS) embeds short hyperlinks in text message alerts to generate a brief but powerful message. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the leader in modeling and forecasting atmospheric and hydrologic behavior. iNWS provides delivery of this data to emergency managers and other key community decision makers who are in-route to a high-impact event, out of the office, or otherwise mobile. iNWS is working to take advantage of mobile information technology in order to enhance the service of our mission, and remain relevant in today's society. The use of mobile technology is necessary for us to provide information to users more completely, in a more usable form, and in a timely manner, for the protection of life and property. The due date for communications and questions concerning the RFQ is 12:00 PM EDT October 24, 2022. Questions must include the RFQ number in the subject line of the email. Questions received after the cut-off date and requests by a vendor for an extension will not be considered. Any information given to a prospective vendor concerning this requirement will be furnished at the same time to other prospective vendors, if that information is necessary in submitting quotes, or if lack of it would be prejudicial to other prospective vendors. Quotes are due by 12:00 PM EDT November 4, 2022. Quotes shall be valid for 120 calendar days unless otherwise stipulated by the vendor. This RFQ does not obligate the Government to compensate for any costs incurred by the Vendor in the preparation and/or submission of any quote, nor does it obligate the Government to procure for said services.