Commercial Cloud-to-Ground (CG) Lightning Data Feed

Commercial Cloud-to-Ground (CG) Lightning Data Feed
Sources sought notice
end user: national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa), national weather service (nws)
requirement: commercial cloud-to-ground (cg) lightning 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 cg lightning telemetry delivered via automated electronic data streams (aes-128 binary encrypted). the data feed must directly ingest into nws operational forecasting infrastructure, including the advanced weather interactive processing system (awips), centralized integrated real-time repository for unified services (cirrus), and multi-radar/multi-sensor (mrms) decision-support models.
key operational requirements include:
scope & event classification: continuous detection and classification of cg flashes and return strokes across designated conus and oconus geographic zones. probability of false flash/stroke type identification shall not exceed 5% for known cg events, with no more than 1% (conus) to 5% (oconus) false detections from non-lightning causes.
technical performance metrics:
location accuracy: 1 km for 99% of the conus coverage zone (reported to 0.0001° latitude/longitude or better); 2–5 km for 99% of oconus zones (2–3 km for alaska and hawaii).
timing accuracy: reported to 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) or better.
detection efficiency: 95% or higher over conus (≥70% over adjacent land/marine areas); 70% or higher oconus (≥80% over majority of ak and hi).
telemetry data: polarity (positive/negative with ≥99% accuracy conus / ≥90% oconus), estimated peak current in amperes (error ≤15% conus / ≤25% oconus), and strokes per flash (multiplicity).
delivery & archiving standards: continuous secure shell tcp/ip streaming data and 1-minute encrypted packets (aes-128 binary) delivered to the nws telecommunications gateway (nwstg) within 1 minute or less of detection (2 minutes or less oconus). level i data must be made available for archiving at the national centers for environmental information (ncei) and nws meteorological development laboratory (mdl)
3. response requirements
interested vendors capable of meeting the attached draft statement of work (sow) are requested to submit a concise capability statement (maximum 5 pages) providing the following:
company profile: company name, address, uei, cage code, gsa schedule contract number (if applicable), business size/socioeconomic status under naics 518210, and primary point of contact (name, email, phone).
technical capabilities: a description of your commercial ground-based lightning detection network, sensor physics (e.g., low-frequency vlf/lf vs. broadband), spatial accuracy metrics, and delivery protocols for continuous cg data streams.
operational experience: summary of relevant federal or commercial contracts delivering real-time lightning feeds into severe weather decision-support systems or automated meteorological models.
market feedback: identification of any technical challenges, risks, or recommendations regarding the draft sow requirements or naics classification.
submissions must be delivered electronically in pdf or microsoft word format to paul thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov no later than october 23, 2026 at 1300 hours et.
all proprietary, confidential, or sensitive trade secret data included in submissions must be clearly marked. the government will protect properly marked proprietary information from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with statutory regulations.