NOTICE OF INTENT TO NEGOTIATE ON A SOLE SOURCE BASIS - IDL Software

This is a notice of intent to negotiate a sole-source contract pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), only one responsible source, which applies when the supplies/services required by the agency are only available from one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO, Eastern Region Acquisition Division (EAD) intends to negotiate a contract with Exelis Visual Information Solutions, Inc. (Exelis VIS), Boulder, Colorado, on behalf of the NOAA's, National Weather Service (NWS)/National Centers for Environment Prediction Center (NCEP), National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) who have a requirement for unlimited user and multi-platform site license maintenance for Interactive Data Language (IDL). It enables users to visualize many different types of NOAA data to provide a better understanding of the data to subject matter experts. Exelis VIS is the manufacturer, developer, direct sales channel and distributor.

This procurement is vital to allowing NCEP, NESDIS and OAR to meet mission critical objectives. The software has been used throughout NOAA for over 10 years. Since the IDL software is mission critical, migrating to any other software platform could cause an interruption in operations, impacting weather forecasts and environment predictions operation in the National Weather Services. The current investment in IDL is so considerable that NOAA's investment in the skillset of its scientific community, the computing infrastructure, and shared software libraries and system interfaces prohibit the ability to change without requiring a long-term plan. Therefore, Exelis is the only known responsible source that can provide the IDL software and is required for this procurement. Exelis VIS is the sole source supplier for these software products in the United States, and utilizes no other authorized third party distributors, resellers, or agents.

The period of performance for this request includes a base year starting July 1, 2015 and 4 one-year options.

Responses to this notice must be provided within fifteen (15) calendar days from the date of this notice. Vendors who believe they can meet this requirement are required to submit in writing an affirmative response demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the requirement. All written responses must include a written narrative statement of capability, including detailed technical information demonstrating their ability to meet the requirement. The response must be sufficient to permit agency analysis to establish a bona fide capability to meet the requirement. Failure to submit such documentation will result in the Government proceeding as previously stated. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement to competition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this advertisement or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. Affirmative written responses must be received no later than 12:00 P.M. local time, June 1, 2015. The responses shall be submitted via e-mail to Shalisha Harris, Contract Specialist, at shalisha.harris@noaa.gov.