A reminder that the September 6th response date means that the us.gov will very soon be making a decision as to how this matter will be handled - as a "sole source" contract for current contract holder Collins or as an RFP open to qualified companies like FLYHT.
(This is a revised version of an August 23rd post. The original three parts were posted earlier this year, see links below.)
Back in February I posted about finding a “Sources Sought” notice and a draft "Statement of Work" updated January 25, 2024. I believe these pertained to the roughly 138 WVSS-II units that were installed years ago, that were being maintained by Collins Aerospace then to present. Collins was also collecting the data from the sensors and delivering it to NOAA.
No one has been competing with Collins for this work. No one was in a position to do so - until, in 2021, FLYHT bought the WVSS-II sensor technology from SpectraSensors.
"The acquisition includes manufacturing assets, inventory, aviation-specific intellectual property, and a license to SpectraSensors’ Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (“TDLAS”) technology for use in the weather and aviation markets."
"There are broad use cases for WVSS-II data. For airlines, forecasters rely on WVSS-II data to determine the location and timing of fog, cloud formation, altitude of cloud ceilings, and precipitation types; this information is critical to determine safe conditions for aircraft travel. Beyond airlines, this data enables industry organizations to provide more accurate weather and climate forecasts leading to increased societal and economic benefits."
More in this article...
Financial Post article. FLYHT could alternatively handle provision and maintenance of the sensors and FLYHT could also collect and provide the data to NOAA just as well as Collins and SpectraSensors had been doing.
Time has passed and the planes these units were installed on may be aging out of use, presenting another opportunity for work within the maintenance portion.
I anticipated a contract renewal for September of this year based on previous renewals, but an RFP did not materialize, rather the offer seemed to have been withdrawn.
A renewal had to come sometime, and it appears that the time has come.
In routinely checking the sam.gov website for contract opportunities pertaining to the WVSS-II sensors, I found this (August 23rd).
It's a very difficult process to follow, but it looks like it is underway.
If a contract does get offered publicly, and not "sole source", FLYHT could have a good chance to win it.
Original Published Date: Aug 23, 2024 12:29 pm EDT
Original Response Date: Sep 06, 2024 05:00 pm EDT
NWS Water Vapor Sensing System (WVSS) Observations
Active
Contract Opportunity
Notice ID
REQUIREMENTS-24-3755
Related Notice
Department/Ind. Agency
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Sub-tier
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Office
DEPT OF COMMERCE NOAA
"The scope of this SOW also includes continued maintenance on the WVSS-II sensors on the 132 aircraft mentioned above in addition to providing the water vapor observations, with the expectation that the MDCRS wind and temperature data from those aircraft will be incidentally provided to NWS."
If you need a refresher...
In February I laid out what I had found in three posts. Rather than try to recreate the material, here are links to the posts.
In store in ‘24 on the weather side of FLYHT’s business
https://stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard?symbol=v.fly&postid=35879434 In store in ‘24 on the weather side of FLYHT’s biz... part 2
https://stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard?symbol=v.fly&postid=35881625 In store in ‘24 on the weather side of FLYHT’s biz... part 3
https://stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard?symbol=v.fly&postid=35881758