RADAR TOWER MAINTENANCE

This Sources Sought notice is for planning purposes only and is issued in accordance with FAR 5.2  Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions provided at: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-5.2.

No solicitation document exists at this time. Issuance of this notice does not constitute any obligation on the part of the Government to procure these items or services or to issue a solicitation. In addition, the Government is under no obligation to pay for information submitted in response to this Source Sought notice, and responses to this notice cannot be accepted as offers. Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS), and Radar Operations Center (ROC), located in Norman, OK is conducting market research seeking information regarding capabilities for an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contact (IDIQ) to conduct tower inspection, engineering evaluation, and potential repair services for timely restorations of inspected towers to a like-new condition for 160 WSR-88D sites.

The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) program is a tri-agency joint effort of the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Transportation (DOT). The operational user agencies involved are: DOC, NWS; DOD, United States Air Force (USAF); and DOT, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The NEXRAD Program has deployed 160 operational and 2 non-operational (training, test, and repair) towers supporting the Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) weather radar systems throughout the United States and various overseas locations. Currently only NEXRAD radar sites operated by the DOC and DOD are participating in this tower restoration contract. DOT has an internal depot team conducting tower maintenance on their towers.

The WSR-88D ROC has support management responsibility for these radars for the tri-agency NEXRAD program. Part of the support management responsibility associated with these radars is the maintenance of the tower structure in a fully operational condition to ensure the mission of the tri-agency radar network can be continuously met. Timeliness of tower repairs, both routine as well as catastrophic failure recovery, is critical to the successful completion of the NEXRAD mission.

Since the WSR-88D tower is a rigid structure which supports the critical transmit and receive equipment, the structural integrity of the tower must be maintained to ensure the availability of weather radar data under all circumstances. Factors such as corrosion, loose fasteners, damaged structural components or tower foundations, and others can contribute to the weakening of the tower system and may result in failure of the system to perform its lifesaving function. It is necessary to periodically inspect the soundness of the tower at all WSR-88D sites, which are constantly exposed to the environmental extremes. It may be necessary to conduct impromptu inspections of radar towers, which have been damaged or suspected to have been damaged by a catastrophic event. Additionally, some towers are located at remote mountainous sites with severe weather environments where the wind and ice loading are excessive. These sites are only accessible at certain times of the year for a limited period of time and require frequent maintenance. Timeliness of inspection and subsequent repair are critical in these situations to restore the WSR-88D tower to its original operational condition. WSR-88D radars must be 96% operationally available in order to meet the diverse meteorological missions of the NEXRAD tri-agency partners.

The Government does not own complete data rights associated with the WSR- 88D Tower. The design and engineering data for the WSR-88D Towers are the proprietary property of Valmont-Microflect (CAGE: 29189). The Government does have data rights to the unique as-built drawings for each tower and detailed bills of material for each tower configuration. The Government has available, a set of installation drawings and detailed bills of material to reconstitute any tower height contained within the WSR-88D network for both the Limited Phase Production and Full-Scale Production configurations. These drawings contain references to all Valmont-Microflect part numbers and parts/quantities required to install any tower configuration in the NEXRAD network. All necessary data and drawings currently available to the government will be provided following contract award.

The NWS is seeking vendor capabilities for a potential 5 year IDIQ that would involve tower inspection, engineering evaluation, and potential repair services for timely restorations of inspected towers to a like-new condition.

1. Capability statements shall clearly show an understanding and compliance with the attachment Performance Work Statement (PWS).

1. Please provide your company profile:

• Company Name as listed in System for Award Management (SAM)
• Company Address
• The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this requirement is 237130 - Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction
• Provide your Unique Entity ID if registered (12-character alphanumeric ID assigned to an entity by SAM.gov). The website can be accessed and utilized free of charge at https://sam.gov/content/home
• Small Business Administration (SBA) certified small business concern status and/or economic status (if applicable)
• Primary point of contact information and secondary point of contact (Name, Title, Phone, and Email)
• Provide information relating to any common commercial practices regarding providing the needed supplies that the Government should be aware of
• Provide any other relevant information not specifically mentioned in this Sources Sought notice that your company feels would be beneficial to the Government to consider in finalizing its market research and acquisition strategy.

Government Point of Contact

Company brochures will not be considered in lieu of the response requirement. Interested vendors are invited to submit an electronic copy of their response to Taylor Wisneski, Contract Specialist, taylor.wisneski@noaa.gov no later than 12:00 PM CST on February 11, 2026. Any questions or responses regarding this notice must be submitted to Taylor Wisneski via the above email address provided. Information received in response to this Sources Sought notice will be considered solely to conduct informed decisions regarding the potential procurement strategy of this requirement.

Responses to the Sources Sought announcement are not offers and cannot be accepted by NOAA to form a binding contract. 

This Sources Sought notice is serving as market research.  If interested vendors decide not to respond to this Sources Sought notice, it will not preclude them from submitting a response for any subsequent competitive NOAA solicitation.