Notice of Intent to Sole Source - RAWS Portable Weather Station Upgrades for Hoosier National Forest

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest, intends to award a sole-source, firm-fixed-price purchase order to FTS (Forest Technology Systems) for a critical hardware and structural upgrade for two active Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) Portables. The upgrade involves procuring proprietary Quick Deploy (QD2) structural enclosures, tripod legs, 20W solar panels, mounting brackets, and SDI-WS-RMY-QD wind speed/direction sensors. This action is required to prevent water intrusion into internal electronics and ensure data stream accuracy for decision support during prescribed fires and wildfire response. • The upgrade is for two RAWS Portables: IIC NORTH PORTABLE and IIC SOUTH PORTABLE. • The procurement is for a firm-fixed-price purchase order. • The estimated contract value is $16,900.00. • The upgrade is required to prevent water intrusion and ensure data stream accuracy. • The procurement is sole-source due to the proprietary nature of the FTS F6 Data Collection Platform (DCP) infrastructure and G6 QD transmitters.