Sole Source Justification: Sector Specific Drought Early Warning Dashboard: A web-based tool to identify multi-sectoral drought hazard indicators and expected impacts

The U.S. Department of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a sole-source, Firm-Fixed-Price contract to the University of California, Davis for the development of a sector-specific drought early warning dashboard. This project, identified by solicitation number 1305M326P0049, aims to create a web-based tool that identifies multi-sectoral drought hazard indicators and estimates real-time impacts across four key areas—cities, small communities, agriculture, and the environment—within California’s hydrologic regions. The contract’s scope is non-severable and spans two years, from September 2025 to September 2027, with performance centered in Silver Spring, Maryland. The award was justified under FAR 13.501(a) and 41 U.S.C. 1901, as no other entity possesses the unique combination of technical expertise, historical collaboration with NOAA and NIDIS, and deep integration with California’s water management community required to meet all five critical project tasks: developing comprehensive drought indicators, estimating real-time impacts, building the interactive dashboard, engaging stakeholders collaboratively, and analyzing scalability beyond California. Fifteen potential offerors were evaluated, but only the University of California, Davis was deemed capable of fulfilling all requirements, rendering competition impractical. The contract value is not formally stated, though legal spending ceilings under simplified acquisition procedures are referenced. The acquisition process relied entirely on capability-based evaluation using a pass/fail methodology without numerical weights, adjectival ratings, or risk assessments. Price was not a competitive factor, and the selection was grounded in best-value trade-off, emphasizing technical superiority over cost. No line-item pricing, CLINs, or cost breakdowns are included, and no accounting data such as TAS, AAC, or ACRN are provided. The contracting office is located in Seattle, Washington, while the contracting officer is Angela Royster, with Julia L. Hamilton as the primary point of contact. No formal COR, COTR, or PCO assignments are documented. The contractor must leverage prior NOAA-funded tools and publicly available code on GitHub and engage directly with California water stakeholders throughout development. Packaging, marking, FOB terms, invoicing methods, inspection locations, and delivery details are unspecified. The contract contains no enumerated FAR clauses, attachments, or formal representations from offerors, and socioeconomic status, size certification, and organizational conflict of interest disclosures were not solicited or evaluated. The selection