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Maintenance and support of the Integrated Environmental Modeling Hub
POSTED: 03 November 2011
Procurement Office: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Headquarters Procurement Operations Division (3803R) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20460
NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD (SOLE-SOURCE CHANGE ORDER / EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION)
Under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) intends to award a sole source, fixed price change order to Purdue University, incumbent to EPA contract EP-09-H-002084. Work under this action shall involve maintenance and support of the Integrated Environmental Modeling Hub, the cyber-infrastructure that supports the Community of Practice for Integrated Environmental Modeling. This online resource, hosted by HUBzero™ , will be maintained and enhanced by integrating the best available software solutions.
The proposed change order is being issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency, as it: (1) is a continuation of work and logical follow-on to the existing contract; (2) demonstrates a unique capability of the source to provide the particular support and maintenance to the website for this requirement; (3) serves to establish/maintain an essential research or development capability to be provided by an educational institution; and (4) would likely result in unacceptable delays and duplication of cost/effort to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.
Purdue University is in a unique position to maintain and service EPA’s the Integrated Environmental Modeling Hub, hosted by HUBzero™ . The HUBzero™ platform was created by researchers at Purdue University in conjunction with the NSF-sponsored Network for Computational Nanotechnology. The technology was originally developed to support nanoHUB.org, a national resource for nanotechnology simulation. It has since been extended to create science gateways for other scientific domains. Over twelve years of thoughtful programming and over $13 million in NSF funding went into the development of the HUBzero™ technology.
The benefits provided by the HUBzero™ platform are not available in any other technology. It employs a unique middleware system that precisely balances security, performance, and convenience to support distributed research. Scientists who use this research gateway are connected to the full wealth of data, computing power, simulation hardware, and applications. This seamless computing experience allows them to concentrate on achieving breakthroughs in the science rather than deal with generic computing issues. The other chief benefit of the HUBzero™ architecture is the ability to dispatch modeling and visualization (actually any computationally intensive task) off to a remote grid or cloud.
This notice is posted for notification purposes only. In accordance with FAR Part 6.302-1, Purdue University is determined to be the only one responsible source and no other supplies or services satisfy the Agency's requirements. Notwithstanding, any firm who believes it is capable of meeting EPA's requirement as stated herein may submit a response, which if received within 10 calendar days of the date of this announcement that, will be considered. Responses to this posting must be submitted in writing. A determination not to compete the proposed action upon the responses is solely within the discretion of the Government. Responses must be submitted to patrice.cunningham@epa.gov.