National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a scientific and regulatory agency within the Department of Commerce that monitors and predicts changes to the Earth's environment. NOAA operates the National Weather Service, manages the nation's coastal and marine resources, administers fisheries regulations, and runs a fleet of satellites, ships, and aircraft for environmental data collection. Because of the breadth of its scientific and operational mission, NOAA is a substantial federal buyer, spending roughly one to two billion dollars per year on contracts ranging from satellite ground systems to marine research vessels to data analytics and cloud services.

What is NOAA?

NOAA was established in 1970 under Reorganization Plan No. 4, consolidating the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Today it operates through five major line offices: the National Weather Service, the National Ocean Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Each line office is a source of procurement activity, and NOAA also has a centralized acquisition organization - the Acquisition and Grants Office - that manages the agency's largest contract vehicles and IT acquisitions.

NOAA procures under the FAR using Department of Commerce acquisition regulations. Major procurement categories include environmental satellites and associated ground systems, scientific research and development services under Broad Agency Announcements (BAA), vessel construction and maintenance, information technology, and fisheries observer and data services. NOAA also participates in GSA Schedules and governmentwide acquisition contracts for standard services and commodities.

Why it matters for contractors

NOAA represents opportunity across multiple technology and scientific domains. IT contractors can pursue NOAA's enterprise IT modernization initiatives, cloud migration projects, and data management programs. Scientific and engineering firms can compete for research and development contracts, oceanographic survey support, and remote sensing data processing. Maritime industry firms can pursue vessel construction, maintenance, and charter contracts. Small businesses have dedicated set-aside opportunities under NOAA's small business program, and the agency has historically maintained strong set-aside utilization rates.

Contractors pursuing NOAA work should monitor the agency's annual acquisition forecast, which it publishes through SAM.gov, and engage early through industry days and requests for information. NOAA's large satellite programs, such as the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) program that will replace the current GOES satellite series, involve multi-year, high-value acquisitions where early relationship-building and teaming decisions materially affect competitive positioning.

Example

A mid-size data analytics firm learns from NOAA's annual procurement forecast that the agency is planning a recompete of its environmental data management and analytics platform contract, valued at approximately forty million dollars over five years. The firm attends NOAA's industry day, submits a response to the request for information, and builds a teaming arrangement with a certified 8(a) small business that holds relevant past performance with NOAA's satellite data programs. When the solicitation is released under FAR Part 15 best-value procedures, the team submits a technically strong proposal that addresses NOAA's cloud-first requirements and cites three prior engagements with NOAA data systems, resulting in an award.