Sources Sought Meteorological Data Server and Numerical Predictor

Description: This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE; there is no solicitation available at this time. No response will be provided to requests for a solicitation. THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE IS PUBLISHED FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. Background: The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) mission is to safeguard America and its allies from Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosives [CBRNE]) by providing capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat, and mitigate its effects. DTRA's Research and Development Enterprise is the focal point for identifying and developing innovative technologies to combat WMD and is responsible for designing, testing, and demonstrating emerging technologies to be adopted by the Services, Combatant Commands, and other agencies. Following guidance and operational concepts of senior DoD officials, the Research and Development Enterprise provides solutions across the full range of CBRNE WMD technologies. DTRA currently has a requirement to develop and maintain meteorological systems for support to consequence assessment and management (CA/CM) functions. DTRA's current systems are composed of: 1. A high-resolution numerical weather prediction (NWP) system based on the NCAR/Penn State MM5; and 2. A 24/7/365 meteorological data server (MDS) system and Weather Client software application. The NWP system generates mesoscale forecasts over user-configurable locations and time periods and at a variety of horizontal (typically 12, 4, and 1.33 km) and vertical resolutions. The MDS retrieves, processes, stores, and serves observational data along with gridded NWP data from a variety of internal and external sources (e.g., the National Center for Environmental Prediction [NCEP], the Air Force Weather Agency [AFWA], and the US Navy Fleet Numerical Meteorological and Oceanographic Center [FNMOC]). These systems are located on Ft Belvoir, VA and Kirtland AFB, NM on both DoD unclassified and classified networks and systems. Therefore, they must meet DoD information assurance standards. The requirement is to build upon existing operational and research and development (R&D) meteorological computing platforms and prototype capabilities through research, design, development, engineering, publication, and upgrade of methodologies and technologies. The DTRA operational NWP capability must be made available on-demand in a "cold-start" mode meaning that potential operators of the system (i.e., engineers and scientists) not necessarily versed in the details of NWP should be provided with the ability to initialize an NWP forecast, verify the output, and process results that are operationally compatible with DTRA and DoD atmospheric transport and dispersion (ATD) codes (e.g., the Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability [HPAC], the Integrated WMD Toolset [IWMDT], and the Joint Effects Model [JEM]). The MDS system must be capable of serving weather data to 1000 simultaneous users, ensuring data is parsed, formatted, and transmitted successfully within five minutes. In addition, Weather Client software compatible with DTRA and DoD CA/CM systems that directly access MDS must be maintained and further developed. Both the NWP and MDS systems reside on DoD classified and unclassified networks and must meet DoD information assurance standards and be PKI and CAC accessible. The end-state goal is a comprehensive meteorological capability to serve DTRA and DoD CA/CM functions. The end system must include both an in-house, high-resolution NWP capability and the ability to serve NWP and observational data in appropriate formats seamlessly and securely to DTRA and DoD customers. The following are projected task areas: Research, Development, and Integration: a) Conduct NWP research including effect of resolution on ATD, optimal mesoscale ensemble configuration and use in ATD applications, verification and validation methods/implementation and graphical display. b) Conduct MDS research including methods for determination of "typical day" atmospheric conditions and best performing NWP models. c) Conduct R&D of processes to assist in the selection of appropriate meteorological data based on defined CBRNE scenarios and model performance or meteorological observation data density. d) Conduct R&D of processes to retrieve oceanographic data for use in water bourn transport and dispersion tools such as Incident Command Tool for Drinking Water Protection (ICWater) and System for Hazard Assessment of Released Chemicals (SHARC). e) Conduct R&D of high-resolution climatology information for user defined domains. f) Conduct research on the effects of climate change on emerging infectious diseases in support of global biosurveillance efforts. g) Explore, investigate, and design new methods for creating, capturing, storing, assessing, and modifying large amounts of meteorological data. This may include dynamically accessing in-house NWP systems and external providers. h) Provide technical assistance/training on the use and maintenance of the MDS and NWP systems as well as assist in the incorporation/installation of upgrades/patches to the system at both locations. i) Develop and assist in the integration of Weather Client software into DTRA and DoD CA/CM tools. System Administration/Maintenance: a) Provide 24/7/365 on-site or remote system support. b) Deliver on-site system hardware/software upgrades. Provide recommendations on the state of the art, to include developmental, hardware and software to enhance daily operations c) Assist in the migration to virtualization on the DTRA "Mission Enclave" of the existing and any developed systems. d) Provide systems monitoring tools to include systems performance and production in the case of the NWP, and status of ingest, parsing, formatting and transmission of data for the MDS. e) Maintain awareness of current meteorological products and make recommendations for addition of new grids / observation to enhance operations. f) Perform Information Assurance duties to include: vulnerability assessments, threat assessments, mitigation, and reporting activities in order to provide safeguards of information. g) Maintain and administer user accounts for all meteorological systems on both the unclassified and classified networks. Travel: a) Travel to the DTRA and its customer sites will be required for meetings, technical direction/discussions, training, system upgrades, and installation of Life Cycle Management (LCM) high-performance computer(s) and software. Security: a) An active secret level (minimum) security clearance will be necessary for access and maintenance of DTRA systems. Subject Matter Expertise: Be available and able to provide key subject-matter expertise to support DTRA Reachback analysts, Combatant Commands, and other federal, state, and local agencies with technical advice during exercises and operational needs as they pertain to the meteorological system and its workings. Additionally, support and train subject-matter experts that will be using the system for exercises and real-world scenarios. General Instruction: Sources sought responses shall reflect corporate information and a capability summary reflecting experience related to the above areas. Responses shall indicate whether the above described services are available through an existing government contract and if so, identify the contract and provide contact data for the Government point of contact managing that contract. Responses are to be limited to no more than five (5) pages. Company information should include qualifications and experience in work of this nature, point of contact, phone number, fax number, e-mail address, CAGE code, DUNS number, business size, and small business classification (8[a], HUBZone, etc.), if applicable. Any information submitted in response to this Sources Sought Notice is strictly voluntary. This synopsis is for information planning purposes and the Government will not pay or otherwise reimburse respondents for information submitted. Proprietary information in the responses, if any, must be clearly marked. The Government may use non-Government (contractor) support personnel as subject matter experts in the review of responses received, including the review of any marked or unmarked proprietary information provided. Appropriate non-disclosure agreements have been executed between the third party, non-Government (contractor) support personnel and the Government and are on file with the Government. A submission of a response to this Sources Sought constitutes the respondent's acknowledgement and agreement that the information provided in the response, including any marked or unmarked proprietary or source selection information, may be disclosed to these third party, non-Government (contractor) support personnel. The non-Government support contractors are TASC, Inc (advisory and assistance services) and Suntiva Executive Consulting employees (contract specialist support). Responses shall be submitted no later than 5 P.M. ET, Thursday, 17 November 2011. Electronic responses are required and shall be submitted to Ms. Mary Kay Chase, Contract Specialist, mary.chase@dtra.mil. All documentation shall become the property of the Government. Unless otherwise stated herein, no additional information is available. Requests for the same will be disregarded. There is no commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation, to make award or awards, or to be responsible for any monies expended by any interested parties in support of any effort in response to this Sources Sought Notice. Information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit or award a contract.