SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- CLOUD PHYSICS SYSTEM
- Notice Date
- 3/29/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 334514
— Totalizing Fluid Meter and Counting Device Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Central Region Acquisition Division, 601 East 12th Street, Room 1756, Kansas City, MO, 64106
- ZIP Code
- 64106
- Solicitation Number
- WC133M-06-RP-0115RFA
- Response Due
- 4/14/2006
- Archive Date
- 5/2/2006
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) located at MacDill AFB, Florida has a need to obtain off-the-shelf replacement cloud physics instruments with equivalent cloud physics probes and data acquisition software/hardware. The shape of an ice particle influences its scattering properties, growth rate, and terminal fall velocity. The scattering properties of cloud ice particles may significantly affect the climate and radiation balance of the whole earth. Scattering properties of ice particles are also important for satellite retrievals and remote sensing. An ice particle?s shape affects its rate of growth through the processes of vapor deposition and riming. These mechanisms define the rate of precipitation growth, which is important for weather and forecasting models. The terminal fall velocity influences the lifetime of ice clouds which may, in turn, affect the radiation budget of the earth. Cloud physics probes were originally developed by Particle Measuring Systems (PMS Inc., Boulder, Co) for the measurement of cloud and precipitation drop size distributions. These sensors are used primarily for the study of cloud microphysical processes, particularly the growth of cloud drops and ice crystals through aggregation, riming and coalescence into drizzle, rain drops, or other forms of precipitation. In a typical PMS probe, a laser beam is projected onto a photo-detector array. As the particle traverses the sample area, its shadow obscures a selection on the photo-detector. The detector array produces image slices at a frequency proportional to the true air speed. This generates images with the same resolution along the flight direction and the direction of orientation of the photodiode array. In order to reliably use microphysics measurements in mixed phase clouds, the respective contributions of ice and water must be sorted out so that a particle size distribution (PSD) can be constructed for each phase. To sort out ice and water PSDs in mixed phase clouds, careful processing of the data combining contributions from other probes require a dedicated effort on a case-by-case basis. Each type of probe responds to a different size range and their individual contributions need to be integrated in the analysis. Unfortunately, there is no prescribed formula for combining PSDs from various probes, and the problem is compounded in mixed phase clouds. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has conducted cloud physics experiments through the years. At AOC, where two P3 Orion aircraft are operated for weather research, cloud physics instrumentation is part of the standard aircraft scientific equipment. The cloud physics probes installed on the aircraft have suffered a lot of wear and tear through many years of use. Some minor upgrades, calibrations and repairs keep them operational. However, these probes are overdue for replacement. Better technology with today?s electronics will benefit scientific research if AOC acquires more capable cloud physics systems. The more capable cloud physics systems proposed by AOC should be composed of the following cloud physics instruments: o Cloud Combination Probe (CCP). This probe combines a Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) with a Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP). o Precipitation Imaging Probe (PIP). o Cloud and Aerosol Spectrometer (CAS). o Cloud Aerosol and Precipitation Spectrometer (CAPS). This probe combines a Cloud and Aerosol Spectrometer (CAS) with a Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP). o Particle Analysis and Collection System (PADS). Each of the two WP-3 Orion aircraft operated by AOC have installation capacity for a set of three cloud physics probes, installed in three standard PMS canisters. AOC intends to purchase two CCP, two PIP, one CAS and one PADS as the basic system with the option of obtaining two CCP, two PIP, three CAS, two CAPS, and three PADS. Other items to be acquired are calibration equipment for the above probes and a training class at AOC facilities. The specifications refer to cloud physics probes capable of sampling, imaging and measuring different ranges of particle sizes. The replacement of these instruments with equivalent cloud physics probes and the data acquisition software shall comply with the following GENERAL PROBE specifications: ? Provide software selectable asynchronous sampling frequencies from 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz. ? Operates at True Air Speed of up to 200 m/s. ? Functions with on-board signal processor. ? Data system interface shall comply with RS-422 standards. ? Shall provide compression image data with user configurable particle header information. ? Shall operate at temperatures ranging from -50 to +50 degrees centigrade. ? Shall reliably operate at altitudes from sea level up to 50,000 feet. ? Shall reliably operate at humidity ranging from 0 to 100%. ? Shall reliably operate when subjected to vibrations as encountered in the proximity of aircraft turbo-prop engines. ? Shall not exceed 25lbs (11.3 Kg) of weight. ? Shall be housed into a PMS style probe canister. ? Shall electrically be compatible with the PMS style probe canister including the two Amphenol 26-190-24 connectors to allow selective instrument orientation (probe sample arms could be horizontally or vertically oriented). ? Electronics and anti-ice heaters shall operate at 115 VAC +/- 10% single phase from 50 Hz to 400 Hz and or 28 VDC +/- 10%. Usage of 115 VAC is preferred. ? Power usage shall not exceed a total of 9 A rms of 115 VAC and 8 A of 28 VDC. ? Shall be protected for load fault conditions which may result in high voltage arcing. Operation into arcing condition shall be eliminated. ? Shall be protected from input power out of tolerance conditions such as under and over voltages and power surges. ? Shall perform without degradation in presence of electromagnetic interference. ? Shall limit the amount of electromagnetic disturbance that would affect the ability of other equipment or system to function satisfactorily. ? Shall be protected from overheating. ? Shall use flame-resistant materials as defined in FAR 1. Delivery shall be in September 2006. The Government intends to award a contract to the responsible offeror whose offer represents the best value to the Government IAW Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12, Commercial Items and Part 15, Contracting By Negotiation. This acquisition is restricted to small business only. Solicitation issue date is expected by end of April 2006 with contract award expected by end of July 2006. CRAD requires all contractors doing business with this office to be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). For additional information and to register in CCR please access the following web site:http://www.ccr.gov. In order to register with CCR and be eligible to receive an award from this acquisition office, all offerors must have a Dun & Bradstreet Number. A Dun and Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html or by phone at (800) 333-0505. In addition, completion of the Online Representation and Certifications Application (ORCA) is required. It can be accessed at http://www.orca.bpn.gov. All parties interested in receiving a copy of the solicitation must submit a written request to the attention of Ronald Anielak, at the address stated herein, or e-mail to ronald.f.anielak@noaa.gov, within 15 days from publication of this notice. Facsimile requests will be accepted at (816) 274-6993.
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD
- Record
- SN01016858-W 20060331/060329211853 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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