SOURCES SOUGHT
58 -- Tactical AEHF Terminal
- Notice Date
- 3/3/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334220
— Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFLCMC - Hanscom, 9 Eglin Street, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, 01731, United States
- ZIP Code
- 01731
- Solicitation Number
- FA8705-XX-R-AEHF
- Archive Date
- 4/5/2014
- Point of Contact
- Diana, Phone: 7812715361, Valeta A Miller, Phone: 7812715067
- E-Mail Address
-
diana.tien@hanscom.af.mil, valeta.miller@hanscom.af.mil
(diana.tien@hanscom.af.mil, valeta.miller@hanscom.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- AEHF Airborne Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Terminal Supporting Tactical Missions THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) is seeking information. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue a RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to award a contract whatsoever. Further, the Air Force is not seeking proposals at this time. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested Party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps.gov) website and is envisioned to be a US only corporation opportunity. It is the responsibility of the potential Responders to monitor the FedBizOpps.gov site for additional information pertaining to the content of this RFI. The Air Force's Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC) is interested in evaluating/pursuing a new model for acquiring more cost-effective airborne AEHF terminals that offer the tactical Warfighter a level of protection from hostile forces that is not achievable today using UHF, WGS Ka-, and/or WGS X-band SATCOM services. Similar to how Industry provides commercial terminals today, this new procurement model is aimed at encouraging Industry to internally fund development of tactical (non-nuclear hardened) AEHF military-based terminals that would utilize DoD-owned satellite assets (i.e. AEHF satellite constellation). To keep costs low, it is envisioned that these tactical AEHF terminals would only have the subset of nuclear terminal capabilities that would be needed to support the tactical mission. The following desires are not requirements and should not be construed as upper or lower limit requirements or all inclusive. Instead, they should be considered as a "trade-space range of best efforts" that Industry can work to provide the most cost effective capability for the military War Fighter. Those desires considered tradable to achieve cost efficiencies are indicated with a "(T)". •a) Mission: Tactical, non-nuclear (e.g. MC-130J) (T) •b) Environment: Airborne environment, MIL-STD 810G, inhabited environment, except for antenna. •c) Frequency Band: Extremely High Frequency (EHF) 44/20 GHz •d) Waveform: Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Extended Data Rate (XDR) - including legacy support during MILSTAR to AEHF constellation transition. •e) Modulation: XDR (a subset of modulations is acceptable) such that data rates (TBD) are supported to sustain tactical network services including Internet Protocol - IP, video transfer, text, and IP-based command and control data with acceptable timely response. Services provided are tradable with regards to the data rates and extent of timeliness (T). •f) MILSTAR Backward Compatibility (BC) Requirements: None (T) •g) Antenna: Hatch or fixed mount on aircraft (T) •h) Equipment: May be transit case or fixed installation within the aircraft (can be stand-alone or interface with aircraft systems) (T) •i) Operators and Maintainers: U.S. Citizens, SECRET cleared minimum •j) Other Personnel within the Aircraft: Aircraft may have non-US or non-cleared passengers who remain under observation/supervision/restraint while they are on the aircraft. All aircrew members and system maintainers are expected to have at least Secret clearances. •k) Terminal Operating Mode: Terminal SECRET during operation, UNCLASSIFIED with Controlled Cryptographic Item (CCI) crypto when powered down, User data can range from UNCLASSIFIED to TS/SCI/SAP/SAR but will be BLACK at the terminal. •l) Special Operating Circumstances: Must be able to store sufficient key material for 2 calendar months (T) •m) Special Protection: No HEMP, No Scintillation, No RAD hardening (T) •n) System Crypto: Embedded or applique acceptable •o) User Data Cover for IP Traffic: Type 1 - provided externally (e.g. KIV-7M) •p) SWaP (Not Including Antenna/RF Chain): 75 lbs and 1 1/2 ATR for modem (T) •q) Data Rate (estimated): 512 Kbps - 8Mbps (T) •r) Simultaneous AEHF User Services: 4 (T) •s) User Data Interfaces: Four BLACK EIA 530 (T) •t) Cryptographic Infrastructure: Same as AEHF infrastructure •u) Key Fill: DS-101 on the terminal or from elsewhere on the a/c (for activation key set), performed by properly trained a/c or maintenance personnel, using Simple Key Loader (SKL). Must be compatible with future generation SKL replacements and AF Key Management Infrastructure (KMI) Last Mile Networks/protocols. •v) Terminal Image Fill: DS-101 on the terminal or from elsewhere on the a/c (for activation key set), performed by maintenance personnel, using SKL •w) Over-the-Air Functionality: AEHF specified Over-the-Air-Rekey (OTAR) and Over-the-Air-Data-Distribution (OTADD) •x) System Certification: DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) or National Institute of Standards (NIST) SP 800-53 •y) System Crypto Certification: National Security Agency (NSA) Approved Based upon the information presented in this RFI, the Government requests the following information: •a) The Air Force is interested in an affordable/cost effective airborne AEHF Terminal to provide connectivity for the tactical Warfighter via the AEHF satellite system. The Government is not currently funded to conduct a developmental program to gain such a capability and is interested in looking to Industry investments via internal research & development (IR&D) funds or current fielded systems to provide such a cost effective solution to the Government. Would Industry support such a concept and what would Industry need from the Government to embark upon such a commitment? •b) What subset of related capabilities do you think would have the greatest cost impact? Please describe your concept for providing such a terminal and the production timeframe that such a terminal could realistically support? •c) Should the Government decide to move forward with this concept, an over-the-air AEHF flight demonstration onboard an operational Air Force C-130J-type aircraft might be considered as a method to gauge product readiness and terminal availability. A target timeframe for this flight demonstration is envisioned to be summer 2015 (pre-solicitation). Should the Government be funded to conduct such an activity, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is envisioned to document Industry and Government support. It is envisioned that the Government would provide the aircraft, antenna, RF chain, and dedicated satellite resources while those Industry Partners interested in flying a candidate terminal solution, would provide a prototype AEHF tactical terminal (less Antenna and RF chain). If such an activity were funded and scheduled, would there be interest in participating in such a demonstration? If so, describe the terminal you might use your assessment of its availability, and what you might need to support such a demonstration in this timeframe? •d) Should the Government decide to proceed with an acquisition of an "off-the-shelf" tactical AEHF airborne terminal, the terminal must be production ready (all certifications are "in-hand") by 3QFY16. If such an acquisition were funded, could you provide an assessment of your ability to support such a timeline? Would you be willing to support an over-the-air flight demonstration in 2QFY16 in support of an acquisition decision should the Government choose this strategy? If so, please provide details on the availability and high level capability satisfaction specifications of such a terminal and how you might achieve readiness for a potential flight demonstration? If any, what would be the greatest challenge in meeting this timeline and how would you recommend overcoming this challenge? To assist the Government in gaining more insight into Industry experience in accomplishing this kind of work, Responders who submit responses to this notice are requested to also provide the following information: •a) Knowledge of/experience with developing, manufacturing, testing, and/or installing complex military SATCOM systems onboard aircraft. •b) Demonstrated evidence of robust systems engineering discipline, systems analysis, and modeling and simulation experience in the AEHF area of interest. •c) Experience with the design, development, and test of equipment designated for airborne environments. Any experience associated with in-flight satellite acquisition and tracking would also be desired. •d) AEHF cost effective solutions that your company might be pursuing using internal corporate funds or plans to modify an existing terminal to avoid costly development efforts. Responses to this RFI are requested no later than 21 March 2014. Contractors should limit their response to a maximum of 50 pages. Submit your responses via email to the Program Contract Specialist Diana Tien at Diana.Tien@us.af.mil. We remind firms interested in pursuing this opportunity in any prime, subcontractor, or teaming arrangement capacity of their responsibility to ensure they address and take steps to avoid and/or mitigate potential Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) issues. This is especially important if a firm is presently supporting the Government through an Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) contract. Guidance is found in FAR Part 9 - Contractor Qualifications, and possibly OCI clauses in other Government contracts your firm may have. A potential OCI issue exists for any firm that has personnel in any of the divisions working under contract for the Government and, therefore, through them has access to any related information originating either from the Government or from other interested firms. Such firms should examine any support contracts it has in place with the Government for provisions addressing OCI issues. Firms should contact Valeta Miller at valeta.miller@us.af.mil with any questions on this matter. To help Industry understand the Government's needs, the Government is considering sponsoring an Industry Day to occur sometime in the mid-late April 2014 timeframe. Should the Government decide to sponsor an Industry Day; an announcement will be made describing the exact date, location, and requirements for attendance. The Government anticipates that such an announcement will be made sometime in the late March 2014 timeframe, or sooner. Contracting Office Address: 9 Eglin Street Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts 01731 United States Primary Point of Contact: Valeta A Miller, Contracting Officer valeta.miller@us.af.mil Phone: 7812715067
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/ESC/FA8705-XX-R-AEHF/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03300816-W 20140305/140303234255-dcb3ffbe56da3f886e9e1c549fbb2b2d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |