NOAA revises bid rules for Fairbanks satellite station contract ahead of Nov. 19 deadline

NOAA issued a third amendment Thursday to its solicitation for a company to operate and maintain the Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station. The amendment revises the work description, price proposal template, past-performance questionnaire and equipment list, along with the rules for writing proposals and how they will be evaluated. NOAA also posted its answers to questions from bidders.

Proposals are due Nov. 19 at 2 pm Eastern time. A second amendment pushed that deadline back from Nov. 9, after NOAA finalized its call for bids, as Alaska News reported Oct. 23. The agency first posted a draft version in mid-October.

The new amendment also settles when bidders had to sign up for oral presentations, which NOAA uses to judge each company's management approach. It drops a first-come, first-served line from the second amendment and says the sign-up window closed Oct. 28 at 2 pm Eastern time. NOAA will not accept requests after that.

The contract is set aside for small businesses. Bidders need an active SECRET-level facility clearance from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency by the closing date, according to the solicitation.

The station is NOAA's primary data-acquisition facility for polar-orbiting environmental satellites, handling about 135 satellite contacts a day, the solicitation states. NOAA owns the station and has historically hired a contractor to run it. It awarded the prior contract to Netcentric Technology LLC in May 2022, valued at about $44 million for a one-year base period and four one-year options, with work starting June 1, 2022.

The new contract's first year begins June 1, 2027.