Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery   2

The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (DOC/NOAA/NESDIS), intends to award a Purchase Order pursuant to Simplified Acquisition Procedures under the authority of FAR Part 13. The requirement is being issued for an 18-month period of performance April 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. The requirement contains no additional option periods.

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format at FAR Subpart 12.6., as supplemented with additional information included in this notice, and is being conducted pursuant to Acquisition Circular FAC 2022-04 Effective 1 Jan 2022 Part Subpart 12.6 and FAR Part 13. The Request for Quote (RFQ) number 1333MD22BNEEB0004

The acquisition is being conducted as a full and open requirement. The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 541360 - Size Standard 15M.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED.

1. Background:

The mission of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO), is to manage and direct the operation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) satellites, the acquisition of remotely sensed data, and the central ground facilities which ingest, process, and distribute environmental satellite data and derived products. The OSPO Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) serves as the operational focal point for near real-time imagery products and multidisciplinary environmental analyses within NESDIS. Specifically, the Marine Pollution Desk within SAB monitors U.S. coastal waters for marine pollution events such as accidental or intentional crude oil discharges and marine debris. SAB requires high resolution multispectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery for these monitoring purposes.

Resulting from this combined synopsis/solicitation, NOAA intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order on a sole source basis to Planet Labs, Inc. The objective of this effort is to create a resource through which NOAA's Satellite Acquisition Branch (SAB) is able to obtain unclassified, daily, shareable, near real-time and retrospective high-resolution multispectral imagery with a sub 5-meter collection at near nadir for the creation of emergency response oil spill information in support of SAB's Marine Pollution Program. For more technical specifications, please refer to the attached Statement of Need.

Planet Labs is uniquely qualified to perform the required work. Specifically, only Planet Labs is able to meet the requirement of providing daily generated electro-optical imagery within the specific areas of interest (AOI)s referenced in the Statement of Need with sub 5-meter collection. With 130+ CubeSats on orbit, Planet Labs has imaging the entire earth every day for more than one year. In addition, Planet Labs' satellite constellation comprises electro-optical (RGB/NIR) satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) which, together, image the entire Earth once a day at ~3m resolution. The high-temporal revisit rate of Planet Labs' imagery empowers every echelon to account for the change in their AOI and to adjust operations as necessary. Only Planet Lab's cloud processing infrastructure generates a daily global mosaic of data, with individual images available within 8 hours of collection and Planet Lab's imagery can fed into Amazon AWS and GovCloud, Microsoft Azure and Azure Government, Google Cloud Storage, and SFTP. Additionally, via the Sky Satconstellation of 13 high-resolution satellites, only Planet Labs is able to image anywhere on Earth again, twice a day, during daytime or nighttime for events requiring a sub-meter collection. The Planet Lab daily feed, Planet Lab's historical archive of its various sensors, and its high-resolution constellation are immediately available for global use. Finally, the 24x7x365 support offered by Planet Labs and their web portal for both viewing and downloading imagery is essential to fulfilling the mission of SAB's Marine Pollution Program.

Overall, only Planet Labs has the unique personnel, mission experience, and existing technology to satisfy the SAB's immediate need for monitoring the aforementioned oil spill. Due to the urgency associated with monitoring the spill, another company without the existing technology or infrastructure would result in an unacceptable mission impact to SAB's Marine Pollution Program.

Interested organizations may submit their quotes to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact no later than 1 p.m. Eastern time on February 28, 2022. Such quotes will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this combined synopsis/solicitation.