HomeMy WebLinkAboutLettersSEP 27,2005 19:02 Jan Dutton
603-225-9989 Page 1
WeatherBugi
Glenn Marcos
Chia Procurement Officer
City of Miami
444 SW 2nc1 Avemio
Miami. FL 33130
Mr. Marcos,
November 22. 200(i
This letter is to follow up on the November 21 discussion you had with John Doherty regarding the Fire
Departments request for funding for a Weather flug Professional weather station network. To address
uncertainty you may have regarding the sole -source status of our proposal to the fire deportment, 1'd like
to explain further a few other agencies at which we've completed sole source justification.
in the past throe years we hnvc completed scic source justifications with the Maryland Emergency
Management Agency, The Pemuaylvania Office of Ce:o.spatial Technologies, and thc National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA manages the National Weather Service. A brief
description of each is below.
o Maryland Emergency Management Agency —MEMA and its emergency operations center staff
have access to Weatherfiug Professional weather stations in the suite of Maryland via bcnh
geographic information systems (GIS) and our Streamer desktop product. In addition, every
county and throe city EOCs have access to weather station data in their county via the Streamer
application. Both the state and the city/county EOCs have. a common weather platform to
manage their severe weather, HAZMAT, and other potential man made events. The sole source
justification centered on the fact that our company manages over 300 pre-existing weather
station in the state and provides a level of detail, analysis, and weather intelligence not available
from any other source,
o Pennsylvania Office of Gcuspatial Technologies - PA-GTO has access to over 300 preexisting
weather stations in the state of Pennsylvania via leading edge GIS technology that inserts live
date streams directly into the PA GTO GIS infrastructure. In addition to the weather station data,
we have integrated a wide range of ancillary data such a radar mosaics, single site radar data,
lightning strike and prediction data. The primary role far access to our data in the, PA CiT()
system is for the management of events associated with Nevem weather, 11AZMAT, and other
potential man made events. Sole Source was justified in this cage because we are the only
company with a pre-existing. centrally managed, uniform instrumentation weather observation
platform within thc state.
12410 Milestone Center Drive, Suite 300 • Germantown. MD 20876
301.268.8390 • 800.544.4429
www.wentherbuaprofessional.com
SEP 27,2005 19:02 Jan Dutton
603-226-9989 Page 2
O National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WeatherF ug proti;ssiunttl has a Cooperative
Agreement with the Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) which is designed to provide NOAA ARL
4eCess to our network of weather stations in 12 metjor metropolitan areas within the United
States. Sole source was justified because of
—► our pro -existing weather station assets, and
—► our ability to remotely manage the weather station once installed, and
our ability to conduct detailed, regular maintenance activities, and
- our ability to rapidly disseminate the weather information collected, and
—► the nationwide scope of our network,
NOAA ARi. deemed our network and excellent resource by which to study advancers, in
atmospheric dispersion modeling. In addition, our agreement also provides access of our data to
the. NWS Weather Forecast Offices for use in their clay -to -day weather monitoring and
forecasting responsibilities.
The City of Miami Fire Department's role in emergency management and first response will be
enhanced by the Wcatherl3ug solution. They will have live up date weather information not available
from any other source with the defining features discussed alcove. Weather happens to be a regional
phenomenon as much as it is a local one. As such, while the Fire Department Is establishing their own
weather observation network, they will also have access to neighboring networks, such as that sponsored
by tho Broward County Sheriff Office, the City of Miami Beach, Miami -Fiume County Emergency
Management Office, and Miami L)adu Schools. The Piro Departments request will establish a unique
but proven tool to better enable decisions during emergency situations. Tho citizens will therefore
benefit as well.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
`-1 n F. Dutton, PhD
Director and General Manager ofWoatherBus Prolossiunul
WcamhorBug Processional Services
f103-226-9989 (o)
301-250-4506 (f)
jdut1an(r.Jawrr.com
12410 Milestone Center Drive, suite 300 • Germantown, MD 20876
301.268.8390 - 800.b44.4429
www.weatherbupprafessional.com
James E. Anderson
Director — Government Services
WeatherBug
2-5 Metropolitan Ct.
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
John R. Conklin
Emergency Management Coordinator
City of Miami
DEPARTMENT OF FIRE -RESCUE
Disaster Management & Public Affairs Division
1151 N.W. 7th Street, 3rd Floor
Miami, Florida 33136
RE: Sole Source Justification for WeatherBug Products and Services
Dear Mr. Conklin
WeatherBug operates a proprietary weather observing network of nearly 8,000 weather stations,
including approximately 300 in Florida and 35 in Miami -Dade County. This network is
completely unique. Weather tracking stations and cameras, primarily mounted at schools and
public safety facilities, stream live data and imagery through our proprietary network architecture
to over 20,000,000 active users every 2-seconds. It is the only truly real-time and highly dense
network of weather stations. There is no other comparable network or source of data in the U.S.
Access to this data is provided through a suite of proprietary applications and data feeds and
available only from WeatherBug.
Within the State of Florida, and throughout the United States, government agencies have
repeatedly elected to work with WeatherBug on a sole source basis because of our vast network
assets in there area. Because of these assets, we are the only company that can economically
provide real-time, local weather intelligence and alerting for public safety officials, departments of
transportation, public works departments or other agencies. By utilizing our network
organizations inherently leverage the investment made by our existing partners — schools, TV
broadcasters, government agencies and the general public - in their area.
Currently in Broward County we are under sole source contract with the Broward County
Sheriffs Department, Broward County Emergency Management Agency, and Fort Lauderdale
Fire -Rescue. Other sole source customers in Florida include the Lee County Emergency
Management Agency, Cape Coral Fire Department and several other organizations.
Please do not hesitate to call if you need additional information or assistance.
Sincerely,
James E. Anderson