The US Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisition Division, Simplified Acquisition Branch intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Micro-G LaCoste, Inc., using the procedures in FAR Part 13, to provide for the purchase of a Model CG-6 AUTOGRAV gravity meter. The CG6 model gravity meter is critical to the research carried out at the NOAA, National Ocean Service (NOS), National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Observation and Analysis Division. Micro-g LaCoste is the only manufacture to have a quartz based (non-clamping) relative gravimeter, a system proven to have negligible offsets between measurements. With current instrumentation (LaCoste and Romberg g-Meters), gravity gradient measurements are extremely tedious and prone to instrument uncertainty: a measurement of the gradient with an accuracy of 3% (considered minimum acceptable quality) takes approximately 3.5 hours. This delay is due to offsets that are introduced by locking (clamping) the instrument between measurements. Numerous repeated measurements are necessary to identify and remove these offsets. Further, the instrument must be leveled at each tripod tier, a time consuming process. The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i), Only one responsible source.

The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) for this acquisition is 334513, Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables with a business size standard of 750 employees.

This is not a solicitation for competitive quotes, nor will one be posted on FedBizOpps.

Although a determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. However, if any interested party believes that it is capable of meeting the requirements, and in an effort to comply with the requirements outlined in FAR 5.102, a firm may request an electronic copy of the solicitation from the Contract Specialist, Lynne Phipps, [email protected]

All electronic correspondence shall have the subject line read: Announcement Number: 1305M219QNCNL0229

All responsible sources may submit a Capability Statement and/or a quote in accordance with the solicitation, which shall be considered by the agency if received on or before 11:00 AM EST on July 26, 2019. The Capability Statement must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NOAA to determine if the party can meet all of the requirements.

The solicitation will remain open from July 16, 2019 to July 26, 2019.