The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Planet Labs, Inc. upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.501(a)(1).

ERDC-CRREL’s Terrestrial & Cryospheric Sciences Branch has a requirement for a Contractor to collect specialized sub-meter resolution imagery of drifting Arctic Ocean ice beacons to establish conditions around the buoys for scientific research. The Contractor shall collect imagery that targets the location of drifting buoys on a daily basis in an effort to collect at least one (1) cloud free scene at two (2) buoy sites each week from 1 May 2021 through 30 October 2021 and 1 May 2022 through 30 October 2022.  The images are critical to CRREL’s mission and five (5) year field project titled, ‘The Integrated Sea Ice Dynamics Experiment (SIDEx)’. The SIDEx project is entering into its third year of a five-year effort.

The primary aspect of the project is the ability of the Contractor to collect clear imagery at specified locations over the Arctic Ocean from 1 May 2021 – 30 October 2021 and 1 May 2022 – 30 October 2022, accurately collecting imagery that contains the drifting buoy assets at a cadence of at least one (1) successful image per week for each site. The unique imagery collection activities necessary to create a clear SkySat image of the surface, requires the following:

• A successful SkySat image shall be centered within 1km of the coordinate location entered into the Contractor’s tasking API by Government representatives and captured within six (6) hours of the request entry, or, which includes the drifting asset in frame if taken later than six (6) hours from the request; and

• Must be cloud-free (i.e. no more than 15% cloud cover) if atmospheric conditions permitted cloud-free (i.e. no more than 15% cloud cover) acquisition for at least twenty-four (24) daylight hours in a calendar week.

• Collection cadence of one (1) successful image per calendar week must be met twenty (20) of twenty-four (24) weeks for a site to be considered imaged successfully for the season.

• Performance of required ‘successful imaging collection over twenty (20) of the twenty-five (25) sites is required for full compensation. Contract value will be diminished on a pro-rata basis for each site less than twenty (20) which does not meet successful image collections.

• If a drifting asset ceases to report its location, government will substitute another drifting asset in its place.

ERDC-CRREL issued a pilot project to Planet Labs, Inc in 2019 and developed code tools and processing routines to adapt specifically with Planet Lab's satellite control API and imagery interface. These developed tools and processes are vital to meet the imaging cadence and latency specification of this requirement. Due to the unique nature of the requested imagery, Planet Labs, Inc. is the only provider capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541370, which has a size standard of $16.5M.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations.  However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 12:00 PM CDT, 31 March 2021 to [email protected]

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation.  A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.  Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.