Scientific Research on FVCOM Modeling of Lake Erie

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON FVCOM MODELING OF LAKE ERIE

REQUIREMENTS-26-3582

This Sources Sought Notice is for market research purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal or Quotation. It is not considered to be a commitment by the Government to award a contract nor will the Government pay for any information provided; no basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this Sources Sought Notice or Government use of any information provided.

Pursuant to Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) Part 10 (Market Research), the purpose of this notice is to:

1. Determine if sources capable of satisfying the agency's requirements exist.
2. Determine whether the acquisition should utilize any of the small business programs in accordance with RFO Part 19.

Pursuant to RFO Part 12 and RFO Part 19, competition and set-aside decisions may be based on the results of this market research. This notice in no way obligates the Government to any further action.

Requirement: This notice is issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Western Acquisition Division (WAD) and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) to identify sources capable of providing the following:

The scope of this contract is to develop and assess aspects of the Lake Erie Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) - European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) model needed to simulate harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in response to nutrient loading and meteorological scenarios.

The work will deliver an FVCOM-Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM)-ERSEM implementation of Lake Erie that fulfils via simulations spanning the time period 2014-2020 the required characteristics (consistent with empirical data) of 1) phytoplankton community composition, including harmful algal bloom (HAB) biomass, spatial and temporal extent, and microcystin toxin concentrations produced by Microcystis 2) concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen containing constituents (particulate, dissolved, organic, inorganic), basin scale phosphorus and nitrogen budgets, 3) spatial and temporal extent of hypoxia, 4) and pH average values and extremes associated with HABs and hypoxia. Simulations shall be mass conserving and free of numerical instabilities.

A Firm-Fixed-Price purchase order is anticipated for award.

See DRAFT Attachment 1 Statement of Work for further details on this requirement.

Anticipated Period of Performance: The anticipated period of performance is one (1) year which consists of a single base period (no options), with an estimated start date of 18 September 2026.

NAICS Code/Size Standard: The applicable NAICS Code is 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, and the size standard is $19.5 million.

Submission of Information: Companies having capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements are invited to provide information to contribute to this market survey/sources sought notice.

Companies may respond to this Sources Sought Notice by sending responses to the Contract Specialist, Julia Hamilton, julia.l.hamilton@noaa.gov and Contracting Officer, Angela Royster, angela.royster@noaa.gov.

Responses shall be received no later than 19 August 2026 at 3:00 PM Mountain Time.

Interested parties: Need to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). Failure to submit sufficient detailed information may result in considering a company as not a viable source and may influence competition and set-aside decisions. Regardless of the information obtained from this Sources Sought Notice, the Government reserves the right to consider any arrangement as deemed appropriate for this requirement.

Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response to this Sources Sought Notice. The Government reserves the right to use any information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate, including using technical information provided by respondents in any resultant solicitation.

After a review of the responses received from this notice, a pre-solicitation notice and solicitation may be published on the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE). It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor the GPE for release of any future solicitation that may result from this Sources Sought Notice. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice will not be considered adequate responses to any resultant solicitation.