Library Services

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY.

This Sources Sought notice is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. Furthermore, those who respond to this Sources Sought notice should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission; other than acknowledgment of receipt, ONLY IF a request for an acknowledgement is requested by the submitter. This Sources Sought notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. NOAA is not seeking quotes or proposals at this time. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any costs incurred in response to this Sources Sought notice. All costs associated with responding to this Sources Sought notice will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this Sources Sought notice does not preclude participation in any future solicitation. 

The information provided in this Sources Sought notice is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government, and will not be returned.

Contractors should note that responses to this Source Sought may in part be utilized by the Agency to determine if this requirement will be set-aside for socioeconomic concerns.

Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such.

REQUIREMENT

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Library and its partners advance NOAA’s mission by providing access to authoritative scientific, technical, and policy-relevant information; stewarding NOAA’s scholarly and historical record; preserving and managing historical items, and enabling discovery, reuse, and impact of NOAA research outputs. The NOAA Library operates as a distributed, enterprise-wide service performing functions for NOAA Line Offices, Staff Offices, laboratories, and cooperative partners.  The NOAA Library and its partners operate through eight facilities positioned throughout the U.S., serving NOAA line offices and laboratories while also executing NOAA’s broader research mission.  The main locations include:

• NOAA Library (2nd floor, SSMC3, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910): The NOAA Library serves all NOAA staff.  Housing 100,000 volumes and extensive digital collections, serving as the central hub for NOAA-wide information services.
• Betty Petersen Library (5830 University Research Court, Room 1650, College Park, Maryland 20740): Specialized meteorological and oceanographic collections (9,000 volumes) supporting the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and weather/climate research. It also contains an installation of Science on a Sphere, a room-sized three-dimensional visualization of the Earth.
• National Centers for Environmental Information (151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5001): World-class digital archives housing one of the globe's most significant earth data collections.
• NOAA Heritage Program (1315 East-West Highway, 15th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910): Program to preserve the agency's history, traditions, historic objects, and culture.

Other locations: The government may require the contractor to perform library services at NOAA locations as yet to be determined.

Anticipated Scope of Services:

The contractor shall provide qualified personnel to execute library, museum, and archives tasks primarily at the following library locations: NOAA Library, Betty Petersen Library, NCEI Library and Archives, and Heritage Program. Performance may be required at other permanent or temporary locations as defined by task orders.

Objective:

The objective of this contract is to execute a complete program of library, museum, and archives activities that fulfills the missions of NOAA and the respective NOAA line offices and programs where each library, museum, or archives location resides. In some cases, the contractor will perform services in coordination with full-time equivalent (FTE) government librarians and archivists; in other cases, the contractor will work independently to fulfill the local program’s mission and goals. The contractor shall deliver the following functional requirements: 

• Metadata creation and maintenance in compliance with national standards;
• Research and reference activities in response to NOAA staff requests;
• Full operation of interlibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery services;
• Bibliometric and portfolio analysis of NOAA publications and programs;
• Scientific writing, copy editing, and Section 508 mediation, including monitoring internal manuscript approval process prior to approval for publication;
• Library outreach including facilitation of seminars, workshops, and trainings; creation and promotion of library outreach materials such as newsletters, announcements, and web pages; and promotion and facilitation of such special installations as NOAA’s Science on a Sphere;
• Maintenance and upkeep of library collections including deaccession and accession of items, selection of new titles and journals based on user needs, processing of gifts and donations, maintenance and trouble-shooting of electronic subscriptions, digitization of library collection materials and regular physical collection maintenance;
• Archival Tasks including receipt, cataloging, evaluation, consolidation, disposition, metadata development, maintenance, and shelving of archival records in a major scientific Earth science archive;
• Full operation of the NOAA Institutional Repository and related services;
• Preservation, identification, cataloging, documentation, and overall management of NOAA’s Heritage asset collections and displays;
• Execution of library, museum, and archives systems tasks including testing maintenance releases and fixes, providing feedback on enhancements, utilizing APIs to push and pull data, documenting workflows, policies and procedures, and collecting and reporting on metrics.
• Project and personnel leadership that serves as the primary point of contact for the Government while providing internal leadership for all contractor personnel.

RESPONSE FORMAT

In order to better assist in the review of submittals to this Sources Sought notice, respondents are encouraged to prepare a capabilities statement that closely adheres to the following format:

The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Responses shall be prepared using 12 pt. font, 1-inch margins, and 8.5” by 11” paper and shall not exceed five (5) pages in length, including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables.

Respondents are encouraged to ensure that their submittals are complete and address all items outlined within this Sources Sought notice. Respondents may provide additional promotional literature in their response as long as the literature conforms to the response format; this additional literature does not count towards the page limits. Submissions in response to this Sources Sought notice shall not exceed five (5) pages.

RESPONSE DEADLINE AND REQUESTED INFORMATION

Responses to this notice should be submitted by emails received no later than 3:00pm MT, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 to:

• Contract Specialist: Julia Hamilton at julia.l.hamilton@noaa.gov
• Contracting Officer: Angela Royster at angela.royster@noaa.gov

Interested parties are requested to submit a statement of capability outlining experience that is related to this requirement. The statement of capability shall also include the information listed below:

• Company Name/Division, mailing address, email address, telephone, and website address (if available).
• Single point-of-contact name, title, telephone, and email address.
• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, CAGE Code, and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.). Please note that companies must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be considered potential sources (https://www.sam.gov).
• Applicable NAICS code under which the company customarily does business.
• Business size for NAICS Code and socio-economic status. Please indicate if your firm is a Small Business under the identified NAICS. Also, indicate if your firm is qualified as one or more of the following:
  • 8(a) firm (must be certified by the Small Business Association [SBA])
  • Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA)
  • Woman-Owned Small Business (must be certified by SBA)
  • HUBZone firm (must be certified by SBA)
  • Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) Department of Veteran Affairs - Vendor Portal Self Registration Utility (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/eVP/Registration/Welcome.aspx)
• A description of the firm’s ability to execute the library, museum, and archives services and any other information you believe to be important and relevant to the purposes of this Sources Sought notice.
• If you responded that your company is a qualified socio-economic concern, what percentage of the requirement will your company’s personnel be able to perform without subcontracting?
• Does your company hold a Government Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), that contains all of the applicable services or Special Item Numbers (SINs) your company would utilize to satisfy this requirement? If so, please provide the FSS contract number and Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)/SIN your company would quote under to satisfy these services

The responses received will assist NOAA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves feasible technical solution providers.

Each respondent, by submitting a response, agrees that any cost incurred by it in responding to this request, or in support of activities associated with this Sources Sought notice, shall be the sole responsibility of the respondent. NOAA shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this Sources Sought notice. Responses to this Sources Sought notice will not be returned.