On April 1, 2026, NOAA released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Commercial Microwave Sounder Data Buy to be conducted under its Commercial Data Purchase (CDP) program. Industry proposals are due on April 22, 2026.
For this data buy, NOAA is seeking passive microwave sounder products from commercial vendors that will enable NOAA to derive vertical temperature and moisture profiles of the atmosphere. That data can contribute to improved land, hydrology, and precipitation products for operational weather models and applications.
NOAA will evaluate and demonstrate the quality and impact of commercially available microwave sounder data on NOAA’s weather forecast models and tropical cyclone forecasting. Successful studies subsequently may lead to sustained commercial data purchases of this type of data to supplement the government backbone supporting NOAA’s operational forecasting endeavors.
The NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Services (NESDIS) CDP assesses and acquires space-based observational weather data from the private sector to improve NOAA’s weather forecasts and explore ways to meet mission requirements more efficiently. The program consists of two lines of effort:
- Commercial Data Pilots demonstrate the quality and impact of commercial data on NOAA forecast models; and
- Commercial Data Purchases support operational weather forecasting.
NESDIS’s authority to manage CDP is pursuant to the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-25) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42).