DN738100 Early Market Engagement and RFI for Met Office parabolic C-band antenna with dual polarisation feed including a scalar horn.

Tender description

The Met Office designed, manufactured, installed and now runs a network of 15 C-band weather radars. These are spread across the UK and run 24/7. They are a critical part of the Met Office observing infrastructure, allowing us to obtain near-real time information about precipitation in the atmosphere. The data collected is used for a whole range of purposes numerical weather forecasting, nowcasting, specialist products to aviation and defence and for verification. We will be installing a new radar at a new secured site in Old Buckenham, East Anglia in spring 2025 and require a new antenna for this radar. The performance of the antenna has a significant impact on the overall radar performance, so the antenna specification has high requirements, particularly regarding gain, beam width and cross-polar isolation. The Met Office wishes to explore the route to market, request for information and undertake early market engagement with potential suppliers who could provide an antenna to satisfy the requirement as detailed in the attached document. We are looking for information from organisations that may be able to support us by supplying an antenna which meets the requirement as detailed in the attached document. We are specifically looking for organisations to detail their capabilities in this market, to help us to understand what options may be available to us in determining the optimal solution(s) in terms of cost, quality, sustainability and timescales for manufacture and testing. If you’d like to submit a response to us, please do so by emailing your documentation to karyn.marsdenjones@metoffice.gov.uk and rachel.wickerson@metoffice.gov.uk We’re looking to receive submissions by 17:00 BST on the 16th September 2024. If you require any further information to help you to submit a more meaningful response, please contact karyn.marsdenjones@metoffice.gov.uk and rachel.wickerson@metoffice.gov.uk by 17:00 BST on 3rd September 2024. Along with your response to the questions listed in the attached document, please feel free to include any suggestions on further information that you would like to see as part of any future procurement which would aid you in providing a quality submission. Keywords: parabolic c-band antenna, weather radar, Antenna