Performance Work Statement NEXRAD RADOME MAINTENANCE IDIQ

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR OPERATION CENTER

NEXRAD WSR-88D RADOME INSPECTION, REPAIR, AND ENGINEERING SERVICES

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

REQUIREMENTS-26-3168

INTRODUCTION

The Government requires contractor technical evaluation and support services for life-cycle maintenance and catastrophic recovery of the radomes existing in its weather radar network.

BACKGROUND

The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) program is a joint effort of the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Transportation (DOT). The operational user agencies involved are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS), the DOD’s United States Air Force (USAF) and the DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The NEXRAD Program has deployed 160 operational Weather Surveillance Radars - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) weather radar systems throughout the United States and at selected overseas locations.

The WSR-88D Radar Operations Center (ROC) located in Norman, OK has support management responsibility for these radars for the tri-agency NEXRAD program. Part of the support management responsibility associated with these radars is the maintenance of the radome structure in a fully operational condition to ensure the mission of the tri-agency radar network can be continuously met. Timeliness of radome repairs, both routine as well as catastrophic failure replacement, is critical to the mission of the WSR-88D radar system.

The WSR-88D Radome was designed and manufactured by L3 Communications - ESSCO (Formerly Electronic Space Systems Co.) and is known today as CPI ESSCO. The radome configuration is Model S38-90, Part Number 8531-1, and its associated subsystems whose design and engineering data is the proprietary property of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Consistency in the radome configuration baseline is mandatory at all WSR-88D sites to sustain the quality of the meteorological products generated as a result of the radar antenna sending and receiving signals at the specific frequency assigned to NEXRAD. Changing the characteristics of the S38-90 radome engineering design would adversely impact the quality of meteorological products produced by the NEXRAD radar. Because the WSR-88D radome is a rigid spherical structure which encloses the antenna equipment and protects it from the elements, the

structural soundness of the sphere must be maintained to ensure the protection of the radar equipment. Any delamination of a radome panel can contribute to the weakening of the spherical structure and subsequent protection of radar equipment. It is necessary to periodically inspect the soundness of the radome and lightning protection system conditions at various WSR-88D sites which are exposed to extreme environments or have experienced a catastrophic event. Additionally, some radomes are located at remote mountainous sites with severe weather environments where the wind and ice loading are excessive. These sites are only accessible at certain times of the year for a limited period of time and require frequent maintenance. Timeliness of inspection and subsequent repair are critical in these situations to restore the WSR-88D radome to its original operational condition. WSR-88D radars must be 96% operationally available in order to meet the diverse meteorological missions of the NEXRAD tri-agency partners.