National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Western Regional Weather Records Center (WRWRC)

Western Regional Weather Records Center Task Order 1 Performance Work Statement (PWS) 1. Introduction and Background: The Regional Climate Center (RCC) Program was formed in 1983 in response to the National Climate Program Act of 1978, which recognized the need for accurate, localized climate information to support government decision-makers and other stakeholders. Since 1990, NCEI’s Regional Climate Services (RCS) program has traditionally supported Regional Weather Records Centers (RWRCs) established at Public Universities within six geographic regions. The RWRCs have produced and delivered environmental data, products, information, and services – hereafter collectively termed “products and services” – and captured user needs. Since inception, the Regional Centers have been at the cutting edge of the rapidly expanding field of environmental information and service delivery. Its work is grounded in a combination of infrastructure, outreach, applied research, and operational services. Other regional service providers have been established over the years, with a primary focus on adaptation; however, the RWRC Program is the only existing program that covers such a significant breadth of long- term weather records services for all 50 states and U.S. Territories. As operational long-term weather service providers, the RWRCs fill three main niches: ● Delivery of weather records, data, and information to assist regions as they work to mitigate extreme weather impacts and ensure continued prosperity. ● Provision and development of sector-specific and value-added data products and services. ● Seamless integration of non-NOAA weather data with traditional NOAA data sources. RWRCs support NCEI’s effort to understand user needs for environmental information, and to translate those needs into requirements for the development of future products and services. This support complements the work of NCEI’s Information Services Branch and its Regional Climate Services Directors (RCSD), with the RCSDs primarily assessing, prioritizing, and translating priority constituent needs into actionable product requirements, and the RWRCs primarily providing operational capacity to deliver products and services, as well as addressing engagement and needs gathering with non-prioritized constituents. NCEI Information Services ensures RWRC activities align with NCEI strategic direction. 2. Period of Performance: BP: 9/17/26 - 4/16/27 OP1: 4/17/27 - 6/30/27 OP2: 7/1/27 - 6/30/28 OP3: 7/1/28 - 6/30/29 -- 1 of 9 -- OP4: 7/1/29 - 6/30/30 OP5: 7/1/30 - 6/30/31 OP6: 7/1/31 - 9/16/31 3. Geographic Scope: The Western Regional Weather Records Center (WRWRC) is defined as follows: ● Western Region: MT, ID, UT, NM, AZ, NV, CA, OR, WA, AK, HI, U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands 4. Requirements The WRWRC will provide products and services to address regional long-term weather records needs and issues in the context of NCEI’s broader environmental information responsibilities. This Task Order’s scope, commonly referred to as the “Core Task Order,” is executed as Base Services (direct support to NCEI), and Regional Services (direct support to areas/states within the defined region). 4.1 Base Services Requirements 1. Synthesize Regional Weather Records, and Information a. The WRWRC shall provide monthly environmental monitoring reports for public release. The reports shall, in coordination with NCEI’s monitoring and assessment group: i. Provide a regional overview of temperature, precipitation, and drought statistics and highlights. ii. Provide a regional overview of weather impacts within the region, including elements such as crop conditions, reservoir levels, and energy demand. iii. Provide historical context on weather events and episodes that are defined conceptually and are not directly measured by instruments and observatories, such as heat and cold waves, drought, severe weather events, and water shortages. b. At least quarterly, the WRWRC shall compile and synthesize seasonal-scale weather-related impact and outlook information for the region, appropriate for non-technical audiences, and deliver a summary consistent with NCEI style and format guidelines and in consultation with the designated NCEI representatives. i. Reports shall be done for the current region and sub-regions which include: -- 2 of 9 -- 1. Western RWRC (WRWRC) ○ Western (CONUS states in the WRWRC geography) ○ Alaska and Northwestern Canada ○ Pacific (Hawaii and the US Affiliate Pacific Islands) ii. For reports led voluntarily by other groups, the WRWRC may support the generation of the report but the WRWRC is ultimately responsible for their report being delivered. c. The WRWRC shall produce in coordination with NCEI’s monitoring and assessment group annual “State of the Region” environmental monitoring summaries, modeled on NCEI’s annual National Overview and appropriate for non-technical audiences, in consultation with the relevant RCSD(s). d. The WRWRC shall provide or contribute to NCEI monitoring of sub-monthly environmental events of interest (ex: story maps of hurricanes, extreme heat outbreaks, or extreme storm events). 2. Support Adjudication of Possible New Weather Records Should a record meteorological event occur, WRWRC shall support the assessment as to the legitimacy of extraordinary weather observations or other data identified as possible new records for jurisdiction within the region. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/scec/ 3. Maintain and Deliver Inventory Information The WRWRC shall maintain an inventory of its research and sustained products and services, including all projects developed under previous additional Task Orders, their maturity assessed through a NCEI-specified framework (e.g. NCEI Maturity Matrix or NOAA Readiness level), their documentation states, and their compliance with NCEI-approved formats and metadata schema. Products and services included in the NESDIS integrated products list …