Sources Sought
Request for Information (RFI): NOAA PACS/VSS Integrator
Department of Commerce · National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
AI summaryNOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) posted request for information (RFI) REQUIREMENTS-26-4640 to gauge interest in an integrator that would run its enterprise physical access control system (door badges, ePACS) and video surveillance system (eVSS), based at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. It is not a solicitation. A draft work statement plans a base year from April 1, 2027 plus four option years. The response due date is November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Eastern. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) posted request for information (RFI) REQUIREMENTS-26-4640 to gauge interest in an integrator that would run its enterprise physical access control system (door badges, ePACS) and video surveillance system (eVSS), based at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. It is not a solicitation. A draft work statement plans a base year from April 1, 2027 plus four option years. The response due date is November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Eastern.
Who can bid (5)
- Open to all sizes of business: SAM.gov says no set-aside is used.
- Hold an active UL 2050 certification (a national industrial security system certification)
- Hold active status as a Software House Vendor of Record and an authorized Milestone partner throughout performance; the draft also asks for ExacqVision partner relationships
Show all 5Show fewer
- Key Personnel (Senior Electronic Security Systems Administrator) must hold an active Certified System Engineer ICAM PACS (CSEIP) certification and Software House C•CURE 9000 factory training
- Staff under the main administration CLIN must be U.S. citizens able to receive a Tier 4 (high-risk) background clearance; the suitability level is high
Things to watch (7)
From the version posted Oct 26, 2026.
- Serious: Maker-specific partner status required (Software House, Milestone). Only firms that are an authorized Software House Vendor of Record and Milestone partner, with a UL 2050 certification, could qualify. A business without these would need a teaming partner.
- Serious: Certified key person on site and high-risk clearance. The key person needs CSEIP and C•CURE credentials and must work at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Staff under the main CLIN must be U.S. citizens able to pass a Tier 4 check.
- Worth checking: Request for information only, draft work statement. No contract comes from this notice, and the attached work statement is marked DRAFT with the solicitation number still to be decided. Terms may change before any solicitation.
Show all 7Show fewer
- Worth checking: Contractor pays license lapse fees if renewals are late. Renewal packages are due 60 calendar days before expiration, and missing that window makes the contractor pay the OEM's lapse and reinstatement charges.
- Worth checking: No progress billing on installation labor. Labor and installation can be invoiced only after all work is finished, tested and accepted in writing, so a small business must carry its labor costs until then.
- Worth checking: 24/7 emergency response windows. Emergency outages require an acknowledgment within an hour, remote triage within two hours and a fix or workaround within eight hours, any time of day.
- Minor: Travel locations differ between sections. The travel line item allows trips to locations outside the continental U.S., while the contract requirements section limits travel to existing continental U.S. NOAA sites. Ask which governs.
Read from the notice and 1 attachment. Show which files.
- Performance Work Statement (PWS) - NOAA PACS_VSS Integrator.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Day-to-day head-end administration of the C•CURE 9000 access control, Milestone video and ExacqVision video software, with 24/7/365 availability (firm-fixed-price: one set price)
- Management and renewal of OEM (original equipment maker) software licenses, with renewal packages due 60 calendar days before expiration; licenses are registered in NOAA's name
- Supply of head-end servers, storage, controllers and spare parts that are on the GSA Approved Products List and Trade Agreements Act compliant, billed on a time-and-materials (T&M) basis
- Emergency after-hours support: acknowledge within 1 hour, begin remote triage within 2 hours and restore or work around within 8 hours for the most serious outages
- Technical staff augmentation (IT engineers, system engineers, help desk, quality assurance, chief architect) on a firm-fixed-price basis through task orders
- A phase-in plan due within 10 calendar days of award, a master equipment inventory within 60 calendar days and at least 15 business days of shadow operations
- Pre-staging and configuring equipment bound for field sites; physical field installs and routine field maintenance are out of scope
- Contract type
- Draft plan: firm-fixed-price (FFP) for annual maintenance with time-and-materials (T&M: paid for hours worked and materials used) work as required; travel is reimbursed as an other direct cost. This notice itself is an RFI, not a solicitation.
- Period of performance
- Draft: Base Year April 1, 2027 - March 30, 2028, plus Option Years I to IV through March 30, 2032, with an extension option under FAR 52.217-9 (option to extend the term)
- Place of performance
- Silver Spring, MD, USA (SAM.gov fields). The draft says the key person works on-site at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, and work normally takes place at NOAA facilities in the continental U.S.
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Not set for this RFI. The draft work statement's Technical Exhibit 3 lists planned evaluation factors for a later solicitation; the factor order is not ranked in the text.
- Offers due
- November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Eastern
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical Capability & Approach: (1.1) enterprise system architecture and service level execution plan, (1.2) daily presence, quality assurance and staffing oversight, (1.3) software maintenance and license lifecycle management, (1.4) phase-in and transition plan
- Key Personnel & Management Qualifications: active CSEIP and Software House C•CURE 9000 Architect or Installer certifications; Software House Vendor of Record and Milestone or Exacq partner status
- Past Performance: contract performance reports (CPARS) and history on contracts of similar size, scope and complexity
- Price / Cost: price reasonableness of the firm-fixed-price CLINs (0001, 0007) and the T&M fully burdened hourly labor categories (CLINs 0005, 0006) against GSA MAS schedule rates
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The draft work statement refers to joint inventory counts with an 'outgoing contractor' during phase-in, so a current provider exists. No contract number is given.
Not in the notice text
- How to send an RFI response (email address, portal or format) and what the response should contain are not in the notice text or the work statement.
- NAICS code and product service code are blank in the SAM.gov fields.
- The solicitation number, final schedule and the dollar value or budget are not stated.
- The separate NOAA notice REQUIREMENTS-26-3295 covers nationwide preventive maintenance and field installation and is not part of this one.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply: this is market research, and no bid is being taken yet.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 26, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- Dept of Commerce NOAA, Silver Spring, MD
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only, and does not constitute an offer by the Government to fund, as a whole or in part, the opportunities referenced herein. This RFI does not represent a pre-solicitation synopsis or a solicitation and does not constitute a request for proposal or request for quote. The Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in responding to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Any response received will not be used as a proposal or quote. The responses to this RFI will be reviewed by the Government and may be used to develop requirements for future needs. Additionally, all submissions become government property and will not be returned. No basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this RFI. NOAA recently released REQUIREMENTS-26-3295 which is separate and distinct from this RFI. This RFI is for the Integrator and related support services for the Enterprise system. REQUIREMENTS-26-3295 is for nationwide preventative Maintenance, Repair, Installation, and related work. Purpose This Performance Work Statement outlines the requirements for system administration, engineering, architecture, software licensing, hardware procurement, and installation services required by the NOAA/OCIO/Service Delivery Division’s (SDD) Critical Infrastructure Management Services (CIMS) program for NOAA’s Enterprise Physical Access Control System (ePACS) and Enterprise Video Surveillance System (eVSS). Background The NOAA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), through its Service Delivery Division (SDD) and Critical Infrastructure Management Services (CIMS) program, is responsible for the secure operation and maintenance of NOAA’s Enterprise Physical Access Control System (ePACS) and Enterprise Video Surveillance System (eVSS). These systems are deployed across multiple NOAA facilities nationwide and support mission-critical physical security functions. To maintain operational integrity, ensure 24/7/365 system availability, and meet strict federal physical security and IT compliance mandates (such as HSPD-12, FIPS 201-3, and FICAM), NOAA requires dedicated vendor support for enterprise-level system architecture, daily administration, software/license management, hardware acquisition, and system expansion services. Objectives The objectives of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) are to: Ensure continuous (24/7/365) operational readiness, maximum uptime, and peak reliability across all NOAA ePACS and eVSS infrastructure. Provide robust system administration, database engineering (SQL/Oracle/Active Directory), and cross-system integration (PACS, VSS, IDS, Visitor Management). Maintain strict alignment with GSA Approved Products List (APL) standards, Trade Agreements Act (TAA) guidelines, HSPD-12, FIPS 201-3, and NOAA/DOC cybersecurity baselines. Provide turn-key engineering design submittals, professional installation, and cabling compliant with TIA and NEC standards during facility modifications, retrofits, and site expansions. Please see the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS) for more information.