The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a formal notice of intent to expand its nationwide science and supercomputing network.

NOAA intends to issue a "Class Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition" (JOFOC) covering a 10-year period of work on its N-Wave Network. Established in 2009, N-Wave is a high-performance, high-bandwidth network service provider that relies on partnerships and relationships including the Department of Commerce (DoC) and the Department of Defense (DoD).

The notice of intent lists key requirements such as high-speed connectivity for "research and education (R&E) grade" networks; service support for data center facilities and collocation services; and a national network backbone to interconnect all NOAA research facilities, made up of around 25 major laboratories and more than 70 dedicated research hubs.

NOAA intends to issue sole-source contracts to the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) for the national network backbone known as Internet2; the Trustees of Indiana University for GlobalNOC operations; and the University of Maryland, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and Pacific Northwest GigaPop as the regional optical networks (RONs) supporting the N-Wave infrastructure.

NOAA intends to bypass traditional competition due to the proprietary nature of the R&E grade network, other vendors have until May 1 to submit capability statements challenging the sole-source justification before the agreements are finalized with its pre-selected partners.

NOAA was established in 1970 and is tasked with forecasting weather; ocean exploration; monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions; and marine resource management.

N-Wave was built for NOAA and has expanded to provide network services for other federal agencies that need science-grade connectivity, including the DoC, DoD, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). It provides nationwide coverage across the United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, along with connectivity to international partners via R&E networks.