Commercial Total Lightning (TL) Data Feedview on SAM.gov

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE End User: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS) Requirement: Commercial Total Lightning (TL) Data Feed NAICS Code: 518210 – Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services ($40.0M Small Business Size Standard) 1. DISCLAIMER & GENERAL INFORMATION This Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for market research, information, and planning purposes in accordance with FAR Part 10. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. The NWS is not seeking proposals or quotes at this time and will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this notice. Responses will be used by the NWS to evaluate potential sources, determine levels of competition, and assess set-aside opportunities under GSA Multiple Award Schedules or open-market commercial procedures. 2. REQUIREMENT SUMMARY The NWS requires continuous, real-time commercial Total Lightning (TL) data delivered via automated electronic data streams (AES-128 binary encrypted). The total lightning dataset includes both Cloud Flash (CF / In-Cloud / Intra-Cloud / Cloud-to-Air) and Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning events. The feed must directly ingest into NWS operational decision-support infrastructure managed by NWS Central Processing, including the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), Centralized Integrated Real-Time Repository for Unified Services (CIRRUS), and Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (MRMS) models to support severe weather warning operations, Aviation Weather Center (AWC) corridor tracking, Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Lightning Jump algorithms, and Incident Meteorologist fire weather operations. Key operational requirements include: Scope & Event Classification: Real-time detection and classification of Total Lightning (TL) including Cloud Flashes (CF) and Cloud-to-Ground (CG) events. CF pulses/events must define vertical and horizontal extent (including estimated In-Cloud height up to 20 km with ~500 m accuracy) to evaluate convective potential. Probability of false flash type identification shall not exceed 20%, with no more than 2% false detections from non-lightning causes. Technical Performance Metrics: Location Accuracy: 2 km for 99% of the area within the designated geographic coverage zone. Timing Accuracy: Reported to 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) or better (UTC with microsecond resolution desired for event/pulse timestamps). Detection Efficiency: 60% or higher for over 90% of the 48 contiguous states; >50% over Hawaii and southern Alaska. Telemetry Data: Polarity (positive/negative), peak current in amperes for CG or peak radiated field normalized to 30 km for IC lightning, stroke/pulse count per flash (multiplicity), IC height in kilometers, and number of sensors utilized (5 to 25 sensors). Delivery & Archiving Standards: Con…