National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Northeast Regional Weather Records Center (NRWRC)

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This solicitation is for the Northeast Regional Weather Records Center (NRWRC) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The contract supports the National Centers for Environmental Information's (NCEI) effort to understand user needs for environmental information and translate them into requirements for future products and services. The work involves leveraging NOAA's capabilities to transform satellite, in situ, radar, and paleoclimate data into regionally-tailored products and services. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.

• The IDIQ contract will have task orders issued for specific services.

• Deliverables will be defined at the task order level.

• Performance Work Statements (PWS) for the IDIQ contract and Task Order 1 are provided as attachments.

• Specific requirements for packaging and marking are detailed.

• Data sharing requirements are extensive, mandating public visibility and accessibility of environmental data.

• Contract Type: Firm-fixed-price IDIQ with the ability to award firm-fixed-price task orders.

• Base Ordering Period: September 17, 2026, through September 16, 2031 (five years).

• Option Periods: Not specified as available (N/A).

• Estimated Value: Not explicitly stated in the provided sections, but the NAICS code has a size standard of $19.5 million.

• Proposal Submission Deadline: June 17, 2026, by 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

• Submission Method: Electronic submission via email to Audrey.Hogg@noaa.gov and Recarlo.Applewhite@noaa.gov.

• Evaluation Factors: Best value evaluation considering technical factors (Experience for IDIQ Contract, Technical Approach to Task Order 1, Key Personnel) and price. Technical factors are of equal importance and will be weighed equally. Non-price factors combined are significantly more important than evaluated price.

• Oral Presentations: Required for technical factors.

• The acquisition is unrestricted.

• The solicitation includes numerous FAR and CAR clauses covering various aspects of contract performance, including security, data management, labor, and reporting.

• Offerors must submit proposals in four volumes: Business Proposal, Technical Proposal (Oral Presentation Only), Past Performance, and Price Proposal.

• A Data Management Plan is required and will be evaluated for compliance.

Statement of Work (SOW) / Performance Work Statement (PWS)

This Performance Work Statement (PWS) outlines the requirements for the Northeast Regional Weather Records Center (NRWRC) to provide products and services addressing regional weather records needs and issues, supporting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) mission.

• Geographic Scope: The NRWRC will cover ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, and DC. The contractor must be physically located within this region and serve all its states, territories, and U.S.-affiliated islands.

• Program Scope: The NRWRC will transform NOAA's satellite, in situ, radar, and paleoclimate data into regionally-tailored products and services. This involves four key areas:

  1. Regional engagement and user needs identification.
  2. Needs prioritization and product/tool development, adaptation, and provision.
  3. Transitioning tools, products, and services to sustained NCEI operational states.
  4. Sustaining activities supporting the provision of products and services.

• Supported Areas: Services and products will support existing NCEI Data Product Areas and NESDIS Products/Product Areas, including climate reports, surface air properties, drought, regional climate, precipitation, imagery, sensor data, and analytical climate/weather data.

• The NRWRC must ensure software tool development is platform-independent and sufficiently documented.

• Contractor personnel must safeguard protected information in accordance with law and government policy.

• Section 508 compliance is required for all Electronic and Information Technology (EIT).

• Base Ordering Period: September 17, 2026 – September 16, 2031 (5 years).

• Place of Performance: Within the specified geographic region.

• Key Personnel: A NRWRC Director is required, with specific educational and experience qualifications (PhD preferred, minimum 12 years experience).

• Training: Mandatory sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention training for all contractor employees.

• Security: Personnel screening for Moderate Risk contracts; specific requirements for Foreign Nationals.

• Deliverables: Includes SASH Prevention Training (annually) and a Transition Plan (annually, three months prior to contract period expiration).

• Task Orders: A minimum of one task order with a minimum value of $250,000.00 will be awarded, with additional task orders awarded as funding becomes available.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is a Past Performance Questionnaire designed to gather feedback from references regarding an Offeror's past performance. It is to be completed by both the Offeror (Part 1) and the assigned reference/evaluator (Part 2). The information provided is crucial for the government's evaluation of the Offeror for potential contract awards.

Part 1 (Offeror/Contractor):

• Name of the company being evaluated.
• Name, address, and contact information of the company providing the evaluation.
• Project Information, including:
  • Contract Number, Date of Award, Project Title/Location
  • Work Description (emphasizing similarities/relevance to the current solicitation)
  • Contract Type, Original and Final Price, Original and Completion Dates
  • Type of client (Commercial, Federal Gov't, Local/City/State Gov't)

Part 2 (Reference/Evaluator):

• Evaluation of the Offeror's performance across various categories using a rating scale (Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal, Unsatisfactory).

• Specific performance elements assessed include:

  • Successful performance of contract requirements (e.g., option exercise, discrepancy reports, terminations).
  • Quality and timeliness of product/service delivery.
  • Effective management of subcontractors.
  • Cost control (within budget).
  • Level of communication.
  • Proactive management (staffing, key personnel).
  • Customer satisfaction (problem correction, technical expertise, willingness to improve).

• Requires narrative explanations for Exceptional, Marginal, or Unsatisfactory ratings.

• Asks if the evaluator would contract with the company again.

• Asks about the evaluator's role in contract administration.

• Offerors complete Part 1 and provide the form to their references.

• References complete Part 2 and submit the questionnaire via email to Recarlo.Applewhite@noaa.gov and Audrey.Hogg@noaa.gov.

• Deadline: 1:00 PM (EDT) on June 17, 2026.

• Subject Line: "1332KP26R0025 – Past Performance Questionnaire Submission for "

• Submissions must originate from a government or commercial email address.

This questionnaire is a critical component for bidders to demonstrate their past performance. Bidders must identify suitable references and ensure they provide detailed, relevant information, particularly highlighting work similar to the current solicitation's requirements. The quality and content of the responses directly impact the evaluation of the bidder's past performance.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is Attachment J.7, the "RWRC Question and Comment Template." It is provided for offerors to submit questions or comments regarding the solicitation documents.

• Offeror Name
• Question Number
• Document (referencing which document the question pertains to)
• Page Number
• Section
• Paragraph
• Question / Comment

Bidders should use this template to formally submit any questions or comments they have about the opportunity. This ensures that all inquiries are tracked and addressed in a standardized manner, potentially leading to official clarifications or amendments to the solicitation.

Statement of Work (SOW) / Performance Work Statement (PWS)

This Performance Work Statement (PWS) outlines the requirements for the Northeast Regional Weather Records Center (NRWRC) Task Order 1, focusing on providing regional long-term weather records, data, products, and services to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

• Base Services: Provide monthly environmental monitoring reports, synthesize seasonal-scale weather-related impact and outlook information, support the adjudication of potential new weather records, maintain an inventory of products and services, and track user inquiries and resource usage.

• Regional Services: Meet regional theme requirements (Water Resources and Critical Infrastructure; Resiliency to Extreme Events), propose annual theme changes, provide products and services to support public and private sectors, conduct regional constituent workshops, and identify opportunities to grow awareness of NCEI/NESDIS/NOAA environmental data.

• National Capabilities: Maintain a database of "threaded" station time series for calculating temperature and precipitation extremes, provide web-based access to this database, and offer user-friendly, web-based access to NCEI 2001-2030 Climate Normals data.

• Base Period: September 17, 2026 - April 16, 2027

• Option Periods 1-6: April 17, 2027 - September 16, 2031

Northeast Region, including ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, DC.

• Monthly environmental monitoring reports.

• Quarterly seasonal-scale weather-related impact and outlook summaries.

• Response to routine customer inquiries within one business day.

• Monthly updates to NCEI requirements collection database.

• Annual updates to the "threaded" database by March 1.

• Detailed performance reports as scheduled in Table B.

• Transition plans submitted within 3 months of contract expiration.

• Deliverables must comply with NCEI's standards and policies.

• Computer code for data access must be compatible with NCEI's Cloud initiatives.

• Transition of mature NRWRC products, tools, and services to NCEI operational state.

• Invoicing via IPP within one week of the required Performance Report submission date.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) for the Regional Weather Records Centers (RWRC) Support Services contract. It outlines the Government's methods for ensuring the contractor performs according to the contract's performance metrics and requirements. Bidders should review this to understand how their performance will be monitored and evaluated.

• Government Roles: Defines responsibilities of the Contracting Officer (CO), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and other key personnel.
• Contractor Responsibilities: Outlines the contractor's role in project management.
• Performance Standards: Details the desired services and the Acceptable Quality Levels (AQLs) for each.
• Surveillance Methods: Describes how the Government will monitor performance, including Partner Feedback, Director Meetings, Random Monitoring, and Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).
• Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan Table: Lists specific performance requirements, standards, AQLs, and surveillance methods for tasks such as providing reports, summaries, inventories, and organizing workshops.
• Rating Scale: Defines performance ratings from EXCEPTIONAL to UNSATISFACTORY.
• Documenting Performance: Outlines procedures for addressing acceptable and unacceptable performance, including the use of Contract Discrepancy Reports (CDRs).

This QASP is critical for bidders to understand the performance expectations and evaluation criteria for the contract. It details the specific metrics, acceptable quality levels, and surveillance methods the Government will use to assess contractor performance. Understanding these aspects is essential for developing a compliant and competitive proposal and for managing contract execution effectively.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is the Data Management Plan (DMP) for the NCEI Regional Climate Data Product Area. It outlines the procedures and standards for managing, documenting, and preserving climate data and products generated by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and its contracted Regional Climate Centers (RCCs).

• Overview of NCEI Mission: Stewardship of the Nation's environmental information.
• Regional Climate Centers (RCCs): Details the six contracted RCCs and their locations, responsible for producing and delivering climate data, products, and services.
• Data Sets Managed: Summarizes characteristics of data sets managed under the DMP, including temporal and spatial coverage, data types, and collection methods.
• Specific Product Areas: Describes various data products such as Applied Climate Web Services, Automated Weather Dataset, Climate and Forecast Perspectives, Climate and Health, Climate Data Quality Control, Climate Tools for Agriculture, Extremes, Freeze/Thaw, Regional Climate Summaries and Webinars, Regional Mesonet Products, Regional Winter Weather, and Vegetation Impact Products.
• Data Management Procedures: Covers data collection, processing, quality control, metadata documentation (ISO 19115), data access (publicly available), and data preservation and archiving.
• Points of Contact: Identifies Tamara Houston (Physical Scientist) and Jeff Privette (Division Chief) for data management.

This document provides insight into the types of climate data and products managed by NCEI and its regional partners. Understanding the data management practices, data sources, and accessibility can be relevant for potential bidders interested in climate data services, research, or applications. It details the infrastructure and processes supporting the creation and dissemination of climate information, which may inform proposals related to climate resilience, environmental monitoring, or data analysis.