The Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) program is an essential, joint mission support of the National Weather Service (NWS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Department of Defense (DOD). The ASOS is the nations primary system for collecting and reporting surface-weather observations, primarily at airports, in support of aviation operations as well as weather forecasting and the timely issuance of warnings. ASOS directly supports: 1) Air Traffic Controllers rely on surface observations to provide airport weather parameters to safely support National Aerospace System (NAS) operations, 2) Surface-weather observations at airports required for dispatch of commercial aircraft, 3) Surface observations required to support Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations, 4) Surface observation data required by the Office of Operational Systems and used by the NWS to produce weather forecast models and products, 5) Supporting the aviation community and flying public by providing required dial-in services to surface-observation stations to obtain automated voice-weather reports, 6) Providing the general public with up-to-date weather conditions via a dial-up service, 7) Providing forecasters with detailed and timely surface conditions from ASOS sites around the Nation, and 8) Providing the aviation community with Ground-to-Air (GTA) Radio broadcasts of automated voice weather reports.

The current SETRA 470T barometer has been fielded with the ASOS systems for over 18 years and is approaching the end of its useful life cycle. The National Reconditioning Center (NRC) oversees and repairs SETRA 470T, which is rapidly aging and deemed unrepairable .

This requirement is to procure a single system replacement Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) barometer sensor capable of providing a serial data stream to the ASOS per the Specifications Document.

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