Notice of Intent to Sole Source, EKO All-Sky Imager

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) intends to issue a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) single source award to EKO Instruments USA, Inc., 111 N Market Street, Suite 300, San Jose, California for the purchase of EKO All-Sky Imager. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is engaged in an ongoing force protection research.

Part of this work focuses on characterizing and assessing the signatures and vulnerabilities of US Army assets through high-fidelity physics-based geo-environmental modeling. Validation and verification of the model is critical for ensuring the efficacy and robustness of data. The ERDC therefore requires two all sky imagers to be deployed in the field to monitor cloud conditions.

The data will be used in quantifying the amount of solar radiation reaching a surface during physical experiments as well as set limits within the modeling environment. The ERDC is need in an all-sky Imager for monitoring cloud height and distribution as well as sun location within the sky.

In order to be compatible with the modeling efforts described in Section 1 above, only the ASI-16/55 All-Sky imager manufactured by EKO meets all of the following criteria requirements: Digital camera with fish-eye optics supporting a 180° field of view necessary for capturing the entire sky, an ability to generate high dynamic range (HDR) images of the sky even under direct sun exposure, incorporation of relative humidity and temperature sensors to provide correlations to other environmental conditions at the time an image is captured.

This means equivalent sensors no longer need to be included on the ERDC deployed meteorological stations, reducing cost and complexity of the sensor network, a modular design that allows additional sensors such as pyranometers to be incorporated onto the platform at later dates based on changing project needs in the future, n board data logging capabilities that store data in a csv and jpeg formats used by existing post-processing tools, support full control with respect to changing settings regarding performance, data acquisition, storage, and visualization.

Uses a web-browser interface for interacting with the data logger, an ability to change the rate at which data are collected, ensuring high temporal frequency measurements can be made when necessary, utilizes power over ethernet which is compatible with the ERDC’s existing meteorological station, forced ventilation and up to 60W airflow heating to ensure that the camera lens remains free of condensation, rainfall, or snow.

The sensor is furthermore rated for operating environments with temperatures between -40°C and 50°C which is required for the locations it will be deployed, the features/capabilities of the associated FindClouds tool suite also meets the need to be able to autonomously calculate cloudiness, sun position, cloud height, and opacity. FindClouds can also extract blue/red and blue/green channels ratio information. The sole source award will be issued in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i).

The applicable North American Industrial Classification System Code (NAICS) code is 334519 (Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing) with a size standard of 600 employees. This notice of intent is for information purposes only. This notice is not a request for competitive quotes or proposals. A solicitation will not be issued. However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency.

The information submitted must be provided in sufficient detail to demonstrate the vendor’s ability to fulfill this requirement. The contractor must also provide a description of their past experience in fulfilling requirements which are the same or similar to this requirement and references for each. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Responses to this requirement may be submitted to David Ammermann at David.G.Ammermann@usace.army.mil AND Janalyn Dement at Janalyn.H.Dement@usace.army.mil. The notice of intent number shall be included in the subject line of the e-mail submission. Responses must be received no later than 1:00PM CST 31 July 2024.