Weather station/ Værstasjon
AI Summary
The procurement concerns the supply of new weather station equipment to be installed at existing eddy‑covariance monitoring stations, including a critical site in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The installation is necessary to upgrade the current systems that rely on instruments from Li‑Cor and Campbell Scientific, with all hardware previously supplied and integrated by Scanmatic AS in Norway. The upgraded equipment is required to operate reliably in the demanding Arctic climate, where any interruption in data collection would result in irreversible scientific loss.
The new components must be fully compatible with the established communication protocols and data logging infrastructure that have been in use for nearly a decade. Maintaining seamless integration is essential to preserve continuous and comparable data series across the monitoring network. Because the existing stations are situated in remote locations, the equipment must meet stringent reliability standards to avoid operational failures that could compromise long‑term research efforts. The sole supplier eligible for this contract has been identified as the one capable of delivering the required integration without unacceptable risk.
The equipment must use the same communication protocols and data logging standards as existing stations and be certified for operation under Arctic environmental conditions.
Description
Additional information: The Contracting Authority refers to FOA Section 13-4 (b) and (c), which allows a contract to be awarded to a single supplier when this is necessary for technical reasons and to ensure compatibility with existing systems. The procurement concerns new equipment for existing eddy covariance (EC) monitoring stations, including installation in Svalbard where the Arctic climate places strict demands on operational reliability. The current EC systems use instruments from Li-Cor and Campbell Scientific, all supplied and integrated by Scanmatic AS in Norway. For this reason, changing supplier would not be technically or operationally feasible. 1. Technical grounds rendering competition infeasible All EC stations use the same communication protocols and data loggs, and new equipment must work seamlessly with these systems to maintain continuous and comparable data. The stations are located in remote areas where any interruption would lead to irreversible data loss. Nearly ten years of operational experience and integration has been built around Scanmatic’s components. Introducing equipment from another supplier would create a high risk of system failure, require significant extra resources, and could result in loss of valuable research data. This would conflict directly with the purpose of the procurement. 2. Market assessment Alternative international suppliers exist, but none can offer products that fully integrate with the systems and established work processes. Changing supplier would require new programming, system integration, training, and data management routines — and would significantly increase the risk of long measurement interruptions and breaks in long-term data series. Our market assessment therefore concludes that Scanmatic AS is the only supplier capable of delivering the required equipment without unacceptable risk. 3. Due diligence and legal justification The Contracting Authority has performed a careful assessment and recognizes that the use of direct procurement must be justified. In this case, competition is not possible because of technical conditions, and using another supplier would lead to disproportionate costs and risks. Loss of data would have serious negative consequences for ongoing scientific research. On this basis, we find that the conditions for applying FOA Section 13-4 (b) and (c) are met.
Place of performance: The procurement concerns new equipment for existing eddy covariance (EC) monitoring stations, including installation in Svalbard where the Arctic climate places strict demands on operational reliability.
Lot: LOT-0000
Title: Weather station/ Værstasjon