B -- Consistent Library Lookup and Retrieval System

INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE NOTICE: Please read this entire notice carefully as it constitutes the only notice that will be issued regarding the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intent to contract by other than full and open competition in the development of Consistent Library Lookup and Retrieval System in Support. NOAA intends to award a sole source a contract to Texas A & M Research Foundation, 3578 University Drive, College Station, TX. The anticipated contract will be a follow on cost reimbursable contract and will include a base year plus one (1) one-year option period. The applicable North American Industry Classification code is 541710, size standard is 500 employees. The work to be performed is for developing the radiative transfer model to be used in estimating cloud properties from the GOES-R sensor. The contract will utilize the services of Texas A & M Research Foundation for research and development of the GOES-R Algorithm Working Group. The Texas A & M Research Foundation provides unique experience that is unavailable within NESDIS. Only he can provide the computations that we need. The Texas A & M Research Foundation has a long collaboration with NOAA and its institutes. They have a team of scientists from NOAA, NASA and academia working on the cloud algorithms from GOES-R. They also have an expert in the area of light scattering by non-spherical particles (ice crystals, in particular). Over years, they have developed various state of the art light scattering computational models. The optical properties of ice crystals which their team has simulated have been of great utility to the atmospheric radiative transfer community. These simulations of the optical properties of ice crystals that have been used in the NASA MODIS operational ice cloud retrieval. Therefore the Texas A & M Research Foundation a critical role in our project which relies heavily on their expertise. Because of the Texas A & M Research Foundations extensive experience in light scattering computation, radiative transfer simulation, and remote sensing, the Texas A & M Research Foundation is the only appropriate contractor for this project. Additionally, it is not the Government's intention to enter into a contract based on this notice or otherwise pay for information solicited. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). This is a notice of intent to sole source only, and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the NOAA. NOAA will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to the subject of this request for capabilities statements. Vendors who believe they have this capability should respond in accordance with Numbered Note 22. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred in responding to this notice. See numbered note 22.