3PODS (Third Party Observation Data Service)

The Met Office wishes to contract with an organisation or organisations to deliver a Third Party Observation Data Service (3PODS), which consists of the supply of Automated Weather Station data and the processing of this data into Met Office Systems. The contract(s) shall be for an initial period of 2 years with extensions of 2 and 1 years up to a maximum of 5 years in length.

Should both Lots be awarded, Lot 1 data supply will not begin until Lot 2 delivery has been completed, as Met Office does not wish to pay for data it is not ingesting. The effective date for commencement of services under Lot 1 is therefore unknown until a contract for Lot 2 is awarded.

Should Lot 2 not be awarded, the Met Office reserves the right to still award contract(s) under Lot 1, in which case, provision of the services will commence immediately. This will deliver a supported platform that is initially capable of processing data from at least 2,000 sites and also be capable of change and delivering new data sets as identified in the future more quickly and flexibly than current internal Met Office capabilities (with a view to increase the number of observations from the baseline level of 2,000 up to 3,000 or more over that 5-year period subject to budget availability and data suitability).

It is important to note that the fundamental concept for Lot 2 is that the data ingested will not be confined to Lot 1 data sources. Other potential example data sets could include but are not limited to data from automatic weather stations run by other central government organisations and local authorities, the academic sector, UK energy providers, rain gauge network data and data from marine buoys.

This represents a strategic opportunity to scale. The speed of deployment of new data sources is the key component of this capability- if it does not represent a material improvement on current internal Met Office processes, no contract will be awarded.

Met Office's expectation is that Lot 2 delivery is a prerequisite for Lot 1 data supply and the operational deployment of the solution will determine when the Lot 1 data supply can begin. Should Lot 2 not be awarded, the Met Office reserves the right to still award contract(s) under Lot 1, in which case, provision of those services will commence immediately.