SPECIAL NOTICE
B -- Trace Gas Species Measurements on Barbados
- Notice Date
- 12/30/2008
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Mountain Region Acquisition Division, 325 Broadway - MC3, Boulder, Colorado, 80305-3328
- ZIP Code
- 80305-3328
- Solicitation Number
- TraceGasSpeciesMeasurementsOnBarbados
- Point of Contact
- Susan L Labovitz,, Phone: (303) 497-7943, Mark Caban,, Phone: 303-497-6875
- E-Mail Address
-
susan.labovitz@noaa.gov, mark.caban@noaa.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Acquisition and Grants Office, Mountain Region Acquisition Division, intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 6.302-1, with the University of Bristol located at Cantocks Close, Bristol BS8 1TS for Trace Gas Measurements in Barbados. The sole source determination is based on the University of Bristols' access to the specific specialized measuring instrumentation required under this contract, the technical expertise to continue the data linkage requirement and that no other contractor has indicated an interest in providing this service. The anticipated contract will be for a period of 60 months which includes a base year, and four (4) one-year option periods. Anticipated award date is no later than March 22, 2009. The anticipated North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) for this requirement is 541990 and the small business size standard is $7.0 million dollars. This requirement is a follow-on contract to RA133003CN3025 with International Science Consultants. NOAA publicized this requirement on May 29, 2008 to determine if there were any other sources capable of providing highly accurate measurements. The University of Bristol located at Cantocks Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, is the only known qualified and responsible source. BACKGROUND The Barbados site is one of four stations comprising the current Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network beginning in the time frame of 1993-1996. This network originated from the Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment (ALE) in 1978 and transformed to Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (GAGE) with the addition of new instruments during the 1981-1985 time frame. These networks were established to monitor the long-term trends of several trace gas species that cause stratospheric ozone destruction. Aside from NOAA's Global Monitoring Division (GMD) program, there are no other such national organized networks; only one or two other sites operated by foreign governments. Data from the network are analyzed for long-term trends, changes in sources, and global budgets and published jointly by the AGAGE research team. The species are key compounds in the issues of stratospheric ozone depletion and "greenhouse" climate warming. Thus, there is a fundamental scientific need to monitor the atmospheric concentrations of these species, and document their long-term increase. To establish the long-term change with high precision, the measurements must be made with a frequency of at least several observations per day. There is a critical scientific requirement that the future measurements are directly linked to those of the past and to the other sites of the GAGE network. This requirement is completely inflexible and, without this link to the past, the future measurements would have minimal value. The following measurements have been made at East Point, Barbados by contractors, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and NOAA: beginning in 1978, measurements of the trace gas species CFC-11 (CCl3F), CFC-12 (CCl2F2), carbon tetrachloride (CC14,) methyl chloroform (CH3CC13), and nitrous oxide N2O. In 1985, methane (CH4) and CFC-113 (CClF2-CCl2F) were added. Chloroform (CHC13) was added in 1995. GMD makes similar measurements at five additional sites and is, therefore, keenly interested in obtaining comparable data from Barbados. GMD has partially supported the Barbados measurements since 1984. The project will likely continue another 20 years or so, or as long as there is a threat of depletion of stratospheric ozone from the species being monitored. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT The NOAA/GMD has a continuing need for a Contractor capable of furnishing the necessary personnel, facilities, equipment, materials, supplies and services (except as otherwise specified) to perform the following functions: a. Make measurements of the concentrations in ambient air of the species listed in Table 1 below. b. Make these measurements of each species with the frequency of at least once every 40 minutes. c. Make these measurements within 100 meters from the seacoast at East Point (also known as Ragged Point), Barbados (approx 130 10'N. lat., 590 25' W. long). d. Make these measurements with an absolute accuracy (relative to past AGAGE measurements) of 0.5% for CH4 and 1% for all other species. Typical Northern Hemisphere (NH) concentrations and relative precisions are reported in Table 1. Researchers there should measure each individual type of trace gases listed at atmospheric levels near its concentration in the NH, and with the precisions listed in Table 1. e. Make these measurements by gas chromatography technology using Contractor furnished Hewlett-Packard Model 6890 ECD gas chromatograph, or equivalent. f. The Contactor shall house the instrument in a Contractor furnished air-controlled Windowless shelter. g. The Contractor shall make these measurements to be directly comparable and linked to similar measurements made at the Barbados location since 1978 by the American Lifetime Experiment (ALE) and its successor, the Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (GAGE). The ALK and GAGE programs are described in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 238, pp. 945-950, 1987. h. The Contractor shall provide calibration standards interlinked with similar past measurements from ALE and similar contract-period measurements being made at other locations by the NASA-sponsored GAGE. Current GAGE standards are provided by Scripps Institution of Oceanography. i. The Contractor shall provide personnel to visit the shelter at least once per day, every day of the year, to confirm instrument operational status and note and record weather conditions. j. The Contractor shall attend meetings of the GAGE project team (held every 6 months) to discuss linkage of Barbados and other GAGE measurements. k. The Contractor shall provide technical personnel to visit the site at least once every 4 months to service and repair equipment and replace expendable parts. TABLE 1: Below is a list of the gases to be measured and their required precisions: Chemical Formula Industrial Name NH mixing ratio Precision Required in ppt RSD (%) CF4 carbon tetrafluoride 76 0.11 CF3CF3 PFC-116 3.8 0.84 CHF3 fluoroform 22 0.46 CHCH acetylene NA 0.44 SF6 sulfur hexafluoride 6.1 0.51 CH2F2 difluoromethane 2.3 3.3 CClF3 CFC-13 2.9 1.4 C2H6 ethane 1200 0.19 SO2F2 sulfuryl fluoride 1.5 1 CF3CF2CF3 PFC-218 0.48 2.7 CH3CF3 HFC-143a 7.4 0.88 COS carbonyl sulfide 500 0.17 CBrF3 halon 3.2 1.7 CHF2CF3 HFC-125 5.1 0.67 CClF2CF3 CFC-115 8.4 0.86 CH3CHF2 HFC-152a 7 0.58 CH2FCF3 HFC-134a 45 0.43 CHClF2 HCFC-22 190 0.26 CH3Cl methyl chloride 540 0.19 CCl2F2 CFC-12 540 0.12 CH3Br methyl bromide 8.5 0.4 CH3CClF2 HCFC-142b 18 0.32 CHClFCF3 HCFC-124 1.7 1.7 CBrClF2 halon 4.5 0.35 CClF2CClF2 CFC-114 17 0.25 CH3I methyl iodide 1.6 1.7 CH2Cl2 dichloromethane 34 0.35 CCl3F CFC-11 250 0.18 CH3CF2CH2CF3 HFC-365mfc 0.41 4.9 CH3CCl2F HCFC-141b 20 0.41 CCl2FCClF2 CFC-113 78 0.22 CBrF2CBrF2 halon 0.49 1.8 CHCl3 chloroform 11 0.33 C6H6 benzene 80 0.25 CCl4 carbon tetrachloride 89 1.5 CH3CCl3 methyl chloroform 16 1.3 CCl2CCl2 perchloroethylene 3.6 0.44 CHBr3 bromoform NA 1.2 Chemical Formula Industrial Name NH mixing ratio (2006) 2006 Precision in ppb RSD (%) N2O nitrous oxide 318 0.1 CH4 methane 1750 0.2 CO carbon monoxide 125 2 NA=not available as an absolute calibration number yet. RSD = relative standard deviation Requirements: Measurement Location and Infrastructure: The measurement location must be in a clean air sector and free from any local pollutants or contaminants. Instrumentation must be reliable and have documented calibration and maintenance plan. Every six months, a new time period of measured gas concentration data from the Barbarous site should be uploaded on the web for NOAA and other scientists to compare their measurements to the AGAGE data set. The timing should be right before the biannual AGAGE/NOAA meeting. Data Reporting: A monthly report of gases measured must be submitted to: NOAA / Global Monitoring Division Attn: Observatory Operations ESRL / GMD1 325 Broadway Boulder, CO 80305 Data Linkage: The Barbados data must be directly comparable to the past historical record of measurements of these chemical species at that site and to the similar measurements at the four other AGAGE sites. The AGAGE team has achieved scientific acceptance and credibility for their data from many years of hard work with results and data freely available to the scientific community at large. Measurements during the upcoming years must be directly comparable to those obtained since AGAGE began (partially supported by NOAA over the past fourteen years). This fundamental aspect of the project cannot be compromised. NOAA must be absolutely certain that detected atmospheric changes are real and not artifacts of instrumental or methodology changes. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe that they can provide services that fully meet the Government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation within 15 days after publication of this synopsis by emailing their capability statement to Contract Specialist Susan Labovitz at Susan.Labovitz@noaa.gov. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Such documentation 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 conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.
- Web Link
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- Place of Performance
- Address: Barbados, Barbados
- Record
- SN01725090-W 20090101/081230214329-91699cc9d4f5d354ddd69d0e096a52ad (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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