REQUEST INDUSTRY RESPONSE CONCERNING FEASIBILITY OF PROCESS TO ACQUIRE/PROVIDE INTEGRATED SUITE OF MISSION ESSENTIAL C4 COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS, UNDER SHORT/NO LEAD-TIME CONDITIONS TO SUPPORT WORLD-WIDE DEPLOYED COMBAT FORCES. Contact Deborah A. Young, Chief, E&I Services Contracting Branch, (405) 734-7364 FAX (405) 734-7376. The 38 EIW is looking for input and information from industry, including a wide array of vendors, manufactures and integrators, to conceptualize a process of providing deployed combat troops with the C4 requirements to set up operations of communication systems with as little notice as 24 hours and continue to provide components and systems up to 120 days. Most of the purchases under this concept will occur within a 30 to 120 day period after the first order would be placed. The 38 EIW seeks inputs from all levels of potential participants in the process including experts in the following C4 systems: connectionless and connection-oriented data, voice, and video systems, satellite communications, radio, wideband radio, navigation, radar equipment, and cable distribution. The 38 EIW is interested in providing deployed troops the latest state-of-the-art, commercial-off-the-shelf technology "off the assembly line". The 38 EIW is not interested in warehousing equipment in pursuit of reducing response requirements. While this current initiative is simply informational, it may lead to development of a concept and a potential acquisition to support the developed process. 38 EIW promotes creative concept submission. To give a frame a reference, the following information is provided simply as the 38 EIW's first view of how such a process might work. Interested parties should not be constrained by the contents of this synopsis, however, should this concept develop into an acquisition, the technology provided must be able to operate in the Defense Information Infrastructure-Common Operating Environment. Equipment, systems, cable and hardware may need to be provided to a Government shipping point as quickly as within 24 hours of notification. These systems will be purchased in phases: Initial, Sustaining, Robustment and Super-Sustainment. Each phase should be designed to provide specific C4 systems bandwidth and service and should be designed to incorporate the equipment installed in the previous phase. The Air Force plans to have military troops set-up and install these systems in deployed locations. The initial phase would provide the minimum baseline communications capability to combat forces. That baseline capability is UHF SATCOM voice, low rate SATCOM data (current 2.4 to 56kb capability), HF voice and data, two to four secure and unsecure voice lines via landline or INMARSAT if landlines are unavailable, an Air navigation beacon capable of providing azimuth and distance information, and self contained ground-to-air radio for Air Traffic Control. Initial phase capabilities would provide a voice, data and video transmission method to provide connectivity from Theater Air Base (TAB) at any point on the globe back to Alaska, Hawaii, or the east or west coasts of the Continental United States (CONUS). The capacity of this transmission medium currently provides the capability of one user activity to transmit a 660MB image data file in 2 to 4 minutes, provide voice support for up to 300 users, and support telemedicine and digitized video on a time sharing basis. The initial C4I distribution system at the deployed location would be via an information transfer network to widely separated sites at the deployed location. The equipment in this information transfer network should be able to support all current capabilities supported by multiple data rate and standards from 75 baud teletype to commercially available, state-of-the-art connectionless and connection-oriented data and voice for 300 to 350 network connections, and link the telemedicine and video transmission services to the off-site transport system at the deployed location. The initial solution must at a minimum support DMS compliant e-mail and Mission Critical intelligence and Data C2 networks and be expandable during later phases of a Theater Air Base build-up. The air navigation beacon must be able to support at least 100 aircraft simultaneously, provide service toany aircraft within the 40 nautical mile control area of the airfield, and support both distance and azimuth information. The successful test criteria is to pass a flight check IAW the United States Standard Flight Inspection Manual. Radio communications for initial Air Traffic Control should provide equipment for a team of at least two controllers with UHF and VHF radios. Coverage of the radios should be at least to the 40 NM. One each of the radios should have secured capability. Minimum Meteorological support will be purchased to provide wind speed and direction, temperature, dewpoint and humidity, and barometer. The equipment will at a minimum, meet NOAA standards. In the Sustainment phase, the government will expand the capacity of the connectivity to Alaska, Hawaii, and the CONUS to include redundancy. The distribution system must be capable of expansion of 3000 users and minimally 300 network/device connections. Support for data rates and protocols will remain at multiple rates, protocols, and standards. In addition to the mission support data systems, the network will begin to support administrative systems and e-mail. Simple redundancy and fault tolerance will be required in the distribution system. Support to Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems (ATCALS) and air navigation will expand to include precision radio guidance in azimuth and altitude to provide the ability to land in marginal weather conditions. The systems must be either radio navigation beacon systems or radio location systems. All systems will be required to pass a flight check as defined above. Meteorological systems expansion will include adding equipment to support precipitation measurement and dual runway operations for wind, visibility, runway visual range, and ceiling measurements. Ground to air radio communications to support air traffic, Command and Control, and maintenance operations will expand to include the UHF and VHF communications for the arrival, ground, local, and departure positions in the ATC tower and approach, final, and departure positions in a Radar Approach Control facility. Coverage requirements will remain as defined above. Radio control and switching equipment to remotely key and select the radios from the various positions in the ATC facilities will be required. The Robustment phase of building a combat base will add to the communications already procured in the previous two phases. During the Robustment phase, the government will begin transferring the off-site, off-base communications from non-terrestrial to terrestrial means where possible. In addition, full redundancy and hardening will be accomplished. Where necessary key core C4 transport systems will be hardened for survival against hostile action. Additional capacity for existing facilities will be added as required. In the super-Sustainment phase, the concept envisions moving the installed temporary C4 facilities to fixed facilities for permanent operations. Those systems where manufacturing time; civil or mechanical work to support the facility; or assembly, set-up and testing time exceed the timelines for establish a TAB or operating in a TAB environment would also be installed during this phase. It is during this phase when all of the quality of life and creature comfort communications would be installed. Non-mission communications needs would be addressed in this phase. Interested parties are invited to provide information on how they would perceive the process to meet the Air Force stated objectives. Specifically, is this concept viable; would you be interested in supporting, as a whole or in part, this concept; how would you support the timeframes; and what general technologies would be commercially available to support each phase. Further we are interested in what you view as critical issues raised by this concept that the Air Force should consider in the development of any future requirement for this type of support and what information you believe you would need to be provided in order to respond to any future Request For Proposal. Please keep your responses brief -- the 38 EIW is interested in receiving only brief descriptions of the general technologies that would satisfy each phase of the concept. Please do not submit detailed technological solutions, technical documents or equipment descriptions. A conference may be scheduled prior to or upon receipt of information. An e-mail address for the submission of questions is 38LS.LGCVE@mailgate.eiw38.af.mil. Additional information will be posted on the 38 EIW Home Page on the World Wide Web (URL: https://www.eiw38.af.mil/contracting/bus_ opp.htm). Questions may also be submitted by fax or in writing to the POC listed in this announcement. Questions and answers will be posted on the WWW for all interested parties to view. Information is requested to be submitted to the office cited in this announcement not later than 15 May 97.

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