New Mexico Weather Stations O&M | BOR UC 17 N022

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR UC 17 N022

The New Mexico Weather Stations O&M grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number BOR UC 17 N022) is a Bureau of Reclamation discretionary grant focused on keeping two newly installed climate stations in New Mexico, located within the Colorado River Basin, running reliably and producing usable data over time. The underlying purpose is to protect the investment already made through earlier Phase I and Phase II work and to support the Upper Basin (UB) Network, which is used to improve consumptive use estimates across the Upper Colorado River Basin. In practical terms, the funding is meant to ensure the stations are consistently operated, properly maintained, and that the data coming from them is dependable and shared in a uniform way for broad use.

The scope of work centers on three main responsibilities: station operation and maintenance, sensor calibration, and data quality management plus public-serving of the processed dataset. First, the recipient (contractor/grantee) is expected to operate and maintain the two stations in line with American Society of Civil Engineers standards for this kind of network (ASCE-EWRI 2005). The stations must be monitored through teleconnections back to a home laboratory so that sensor outputs can be reviewed daily. If a significant issue is detected, the expectation is that the contractor will arrange a site visit and resolve the problem within seven days. The contractor also needs to be able to provide written documentation of maintenance procedures and produce maintenance logs upon request, which reinforces transparency and accountability for how the equipment is being kept in working order.

Second, the grant requires annual calibration or checks of each station's sensors against recognized standards, again following ASCE-EWRI 2005 guidance. This is intended to keep measurements accurate and comparable over time, which is especially important for climate and water management applications where small biases can create large downstream errors. As with maintenance, the contractor must be prepared to provide documentation describing calibration procedures and to share calibration logs if asked, demonstrating that the stations are not only operating but are producing measurements that remain traceable to accepted benchmarks.

Third, the opportunity emphasizes strong data stewardship. The contractor must conduct quality assurance and quality control on the collected data on a regular schedule, described as daily or every other day. After QA/QC processing, the contractor is responsible for serving or hosting the finalized processed data through a website. Access must be available at least to the four Upper Basin states (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico), as well as the Upper Colorado River Commission and the Bureau of Reclamation, with the broader intent that data be available to any and all users in a consistent format. The contractor must also be able to provide documentation of processing procedures and share processing code upon request, which supports reproducibility and helps users understand exactly how raw observations were screened, corrected, or flagged.

Administratively, the opportunity was issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, under CFDA 15.541 (as listed in the notice). Eligibility is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, indicating the work is meant to be carried out by a university or similar public academic entity with the capacity to manage field stations, instrumentation standards, and public data services. The posting date was September 21, 2017, with an original application deadline of October 5, 2017. The anticipated funding level was modest and targeted, with a single expected award and an award ceiling of $26,438, reflecting a focused operations-and-maintenance effort rather than new construction or large-scale research.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "New Mexico Weather Stations O&M" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.541.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 21, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 05, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $26,438.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for BOR UC 17 N022

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