SOLICITATION NOTICE
99 -- RFI FOR AIR FORCE WIRELESS TELEPHONY
- Notice Date
- 3/23/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- Contracting Office
- 490 E. Moore DriveBldg 892MAFB-Gunter Annex, AL
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- R2364
- Point of Contact
- Harry Bryan harry.bryan@gunter.af.mil
- E-Mail Address
-
E-mail the POC
(harry.bryan@gunter.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information Number: 10-0001Notice Type: Presolicitation Synopsis: The Air Force often selects its implementation efforts through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) process. The Headquarters Air Force A6 and Chief Information Officer, at the Pentagon is requesting information from industry to obtain market research data to assist future business approaches for building, and sustaining a mobile telephone environment. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. It is not a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a solicitation, or an indication that the US Air Force will contract for the items contained in the Request For Information (RFI). The Chief Technology Office (CTO) intends to use this information to support future acquisitions. This request for information (RFI) is intended to provide information relevant to a possible future AF program, so that feedback from potential participants can be considered prior to the issuance of a BAA. Respondents are invited to provide comments on the content of this announce! ment to include suggestions for improving the scope of a possible solicitation to ensure that every effort is made to adequately address the project and project implementation challenges described below. Responses to this request may be used to support development of, and subsequently be incorporated within, a future AF Program BAA and therefore must be available for unrestricted public distribution. All pricing or broad gauge costing information will be restricted from public distribution if requested. By restricting pricing information while keeping technical data unrestricted, the government intends to improve on the project requirement as well as understand the broad gauge costing for such a project if implemented. The following sections of this announcement contain details of the scope of technical efforts of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses. Background Current requirements cover basic analog telephone services to all Air Force Airmen and current cellular services. New options to improve the mobility, service, and functionality of users while reducing conventional costs bring a new opportunity to utilize mobile technology. With the increase in the reliability of mobile phone services and the high costs of maintaining analog telephone services, the government is attempting to discern the service levels, security, and cost structures for achieving a better balance between its investments in fixed legacy communications infrastructure with emerging mobile personal devices that provide improved capabilities beyond just voice services. The SAF/XC CTO is seeking innovative ideas, concepts, and pricing models for the implementation of a cutting edge solution which improves the full range of user mobile experience, reduces legacy telephone infrastructure, while pushing the range of acquisition and technology. PurposeMore specifically, SAF/XC is interested in forward leaning mobile solutions which would provide a "mobile phone for every Airman" which:A. Provides ubiquitous telephony access by providing a mobile device for every Air Force Airman (approximately 300K) B. Provides a reliable mobile infrastructure providing 99.99% reliability for all phone calls to include resiliency in making emergency phone calls at every SAF/XC location in the United StatesC. Provides the potential to replace desktop phones with mobile devicesD. Offers (or supports) a range of mobile devices, including highly capable mobile devices supporting, voice, text, browsing and multimedia content playing/recording (audio, picture/video)E. Service includes unlimited voice and messaging capabilities with option to include shared or unlimited data connectivity. (Options detailing tiers of service will also be accepted) Options should be included to address international roaming (both voice and data) to be part of unlimited plans or tiered plans. F. Provide option for virtual personal and business calling/data plans which would allow for separate billing for official/unofficial calls/data plans, unless proposing unlimited plans.G. Options to manage obsolescence/updates for mobile devices: i. Provide options for government and/or personal insurance of devicesii. Supports routine replacement of outdated devices and simple procedures for replacing users associated with a device. H. Mobile device architecture will be in compliance with DoD security requirements to include appropriate encryption capabilities for unclassified sensitive emails or secure web sites. Key security features include:i. Provide appropriate encryption support for wireless email ii. The ability to activate/deactivate remotely (OTA) by administrators.iii. Provide the ability to encrypt local dataiv. Provide DoD compliant password authentication and device lockv. Provide the ability to disable hardware features (e.g. Bluetooth/cameras)vi. Provides the ability to create white/black lists of applicationsvii. Meets government mandates for data-at-rest requirements as well as the ability to completely wipe devices if tampered with or security policies exceeded.I. Mobile devices will have the capability to integrate with unified communications and knowledge operations strategies Integration with Active Directory is essential. Presence with fixed and mobile devices and applications is highly desired as is the ability to utilize SharePoint, Office Communication Server, and Defense Connect Online on a mobile deviceJ. Reduces the overall legacy telephone infrastructure without adding significant mobile telephone infrastructure costs outside of a monthly subscription service per phone i. Optimize and/or remove Blackberry deployments to decrease back-office support, hardware, etc. in the AFNet/base data centersii. Provides the ability to utilize existing wireless data services available via the AFNet/base infrastructure (provide any relevant tariff data with this option) iii. Minimizes the amount of AF or DoD-specific maintenance support (e.g. OTA software/hardware patches, maintenance support) K. Potentially provides integration with the current Defense Switched Network (DSN) infrastructure to place calls utilizing DSN services (low priority requirement)L. Provides state-of-the-art, yet secure, capabilities to:i. Provides a wide range of mobile applications to extend mission effectiveness e.g. GPS, GPS labeled/stamped photos & videos, GPS-enabled social networking, audio to text conversionii. Opportunities to support "push-to-talk" capabilities to support flight-line or other disconnected user scenariosiii. Support GPS-enabled operations to allow for the passing of device location to support emergency response, flight-line, medical, or other AF operationsM. Maximize the utilization of already owned AF applications/capabilities while also maximizing utilization of open platforms (which meet DoD security criteria)N. Provides a simple process for integrating with the corporate phone book (or AF Global Address List)O. Provide the ability to securely synchronize all device content - such as image, documents, contacts, emails, etc - into the base, automatically, without having to connect the device to a PC and explicitly trigger such synchronization The purpose of this RFI is to gather input for an SAF/XCAF Workshop on "Mobile Phone for Every Airmen" anticipated to take place on 15 May 2010 in the Hampton Roads Area. The government reserves the right to provide an information briefing and take Q&A no later than 30 days prior to the workshop. The workshop objective is to understand the potential feasibility and limitations of a full SAF/XC mobile infrastructure that can be scaled to the AF enterprise. Participants will be selected only from respondents to this RFI. Workshop participation will be limited to US citizens and permanent US residents who fall within AF contracting guidelines. This workshop seeks to accomplish the following: 1) Identify potential solutions to converting existing analog telephone systems to a 80+% mobile environment; and 2) Explore procurement strategies and pricing structures to implement these concepts.The practical aspects of operations and deployment are substantial considerations at this stage, SAF/XC also seeks to understand the potential infrastructure costs/savings, sustainability issues, reliability concerns being presented. Workshop Format It is anticipated that this one-day workshop will bring together phone vendors, service providers, and software vendors from diverse mobile solutions, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Verizon, VMWare, Nextel, and Sprint. As such, it presents unique opportunities for SAF/XC to better understand the art of the possible in reducing the costs of telephony infrastructure, improving the connectivity of AF Airman, and increasing the capabilities and richness of communications experiences. Preparation Instructions to Respondents SAF/XC invites respondents to submit ideas related to this topic for use by the Government in formulating a potential program. SAF/XC requests that submittals briefly and clearly describe the potential approach or concept, outline critical technical issues, and comment on the expected performance, robustness, and a rough estimated cost of the proposed approach. This announcement contains all of the information required to submit a response. No additional forms, kit, or other materials are needed. Because SAF/XC is interested in an integrated approach, responses from teams with complementary areas of expertise are encouraged. Responses have the following formatting requirements: 1. The document should be formatted in 12 point Times New Roman font, appropriate for single-sided, single-spaced 8.5 by 11 inch paper, with 1-inch margins 2. A one page cover sheet that identifies the title, organization(s), respondent's technical and administrative points of contact - including names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses of all co-authors, and clearly indicating its association with RFI Number 10-0001 (This page is not included in the white paper page count); 3. A substantive, focused, one-half page executive summary (This page is not included in the white paper page count); 4. Optionally, a single overview briefing (no more than 15 slides and in PowerPoint format) graphically depicting the key ideas summary. (This briefing is not included in the white paper page count); 5. Seven page white paper that includes the following: a. Brief discussion of specific approach b. Service Level Agreement for level of service (e.g. reliability of phone service) c. Method(s) of acquisition and predicted acquisition time d. Capabilities of End-User devices (text, video, audio) e. Acquisition Costsi. End-user device costs (in tiers of 10K devices)ii. Recurring monthly costs for servicesiii. Any additional infrastructure costs f. Prior relevant experience from government implementations (private sector implementations will be considered as well) g. A list of relevant citations (any significant claims or reports of success must be accompanied by citations; citations are not included in the white paper page count) Submission Instructions to Respondents Responses to this RFI are due no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time, on 4 April 2010. All submissions must be electronically submitted to caleb.president@gunter.af.mil and william.marion@langley.af.mil as a PDF and/or optional PPT document. Inquiries to this RFI should be submitted to William.Marion@langley.af.mil. It is preferred that only non-proprietary data be provided; however, proprietary data may be submitted. Proprietary data shall be clearly identified and marked. No telephonic inquiries will be accepted. Requests for meetings, briefings, demonstrations, etc., will be considered. DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES This is an RFI issued solely for information and possible new program planning purposes, and does not constitute a solicitation. Respondents are advised that SAF/XC is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Respondents are advised that SAF/XC is under no obligation to extend a workshop invitation to a respondent solely on the basis of white paper submission. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. It is the respondents' responsibility to ensure that the submitted material has been approved for public release by the organization that funded whatever research is referred to in their response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is the Government obligated to issue a solicitation based on the responses received. All RFI submissions must be unclassified. Input on technical aspects of the responses may be solicited by SAF/XC from non-Government consultants/experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. rimary Point of Contact.: William E Marion II, AIA/A6T, Comm 757-764-0541
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