SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration 2006 (CWID2006)
- Notice Date
- 5/2/2005
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Defense Information Systems Agency, Procurement and Logistics, DITCO-NCR, P.O. 4502, Arlington, VA, 22204-4502
- ZIP Code
- 22204-4502
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-CWID2006
- Response Due
- 9/30/2005
- Archive Date
- 10/15/2005
- Description
- 1. This Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) announcement is for the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration 2006 (CWID 2006), scheduled for 30 May through 23 June 2006. Combatant Commands, Services and Department of Defense (DoD) Agencies (C/S/As), government agencies outside the DoD, and international participants must submit interoperability trial proposals for CWID 2006 by 30 September 2005. Industry partners must work through a C/S/A or government agency sponsor from outside the DoD to submit trials. Complete details on CWID 2006, to include the format and submission instructions for interoperability trials (ITs), can be found at http://www.cwid.js.mil. 2. CWID is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's annual event that enables the C/S/As and the international community to investigate command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions that focus on relevant and timely objectives for enhancing coalition interoperability. US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), is responsible for the oversight of the CWID event. The intent of CWID is to conduct ITs that include C4ISR technologies that are capable of being responsibly placed into an operational environment within 6-12 months following the execution phase. ITs are not limited to hardware and/or software solution assessments. The tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with using technologies are just as important as the IT solutions themselves. Further investigation into these areas using CWID as a vehicle is highly encouraged. The USJFCOM J6, in collaboration with J8, J9, Joint System Integration Command, and the USJFCOM Office of Prototyping Oversight, will review and consider the results of the CWID event in an effort to identify those solutions that could be responsibly fielded or endorsed to the Joint Staff J6 for referral to an existing program of record. 3. United States European Command (USEUCOM) is the host Combatant Command (COCOM) for CWID 2006. Consequently, the scenario for CWID 2006 will reflect a more traditional military-to-military and military-to-civil authority focus on exercising its Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) responsibilities in an international setting. United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) intends to continue its CWID transformational efforts by investigating systems integration and interoperability solutions in the Home Land Security/Home Land Defense (HLS/HLD) arena. USEUCOM intends to use CWID as a risk reduction venue and proving ground for emerging C4ISR technologies relevant to the GWOT. Coalition participation and the demonstration of interoperable C4ISR systems remains the cornerstone of CWID. Anticipated international participants will include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and NATO to include several constituent nations. In coordination with, and the approval of, the Joint Staff J-6, each COCOM may sponsor and invite individual nations from within their respective area of- responsibility to participate as multinational task force (MTF) members. 4. CWID is conducted in a simulated operational environment to provide a context for validation of C4ISR solutions. Depending on the capabilities to be demonstrated during CWID Execution, each IT may receive one or more of the following assessments based on the criteria set forth in the CWID 2006 Additional Information document: Warfighter/Operator, Technical/ Interoperability, Security Capabilities assessment, and a Fielding/Sustainability Assessment. The Systems Engineering and Integration Working Group (SEIWG), with input from other working groups, will report on those trials, which are not formally assessed by the Assessment Working Group (AWG). Results from all trials will be detailed in the CWID Final Report. ITs with coalition partners are conducted over a worldwide secure network, Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network (CFBLNet) enabling trials classified SECRET releasable to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and NATO. The use of other information domains to support diverse communities of interest and their information flow requirements is influenced by the participating nations and government agencies and approved by the CWID Senior Management Group. 5. To be considered for participation in CWID 2006, each proposed IT must: address one or more of the CWID 2006 objectives listed in paragraph 7, commit to fully resource the trial (funding, personnel, training, hardware, software, documentation, etc.) for one or more execution locations, be submitted in concert with a DoD sponsor or with a government sponsor from outside the DoD in the format outlined on the CWID web site. 6. The CWID Senior Management Group (SMG), in concert with coalition partners, will select specific IT proposals for execution by 7 November 2005 based on projected availability of resources, how well the IT satisfies one or more of the CWID objectives. USEUCOM will provide an initial determination on those ITs related to the GWOT. 7. USJFCOM, in coordination with the Joint Staff, DISA, NSA, JITC, the Services and USEUCOM, gathered and prioritized objectives for CWID 2006 from the COCOM capability gaps highlighted in their collective integrated priority lists. A summary of the five specific CWID 2006 objectives follows: CWID 2006 Overarching Objectives and Explanations Overview: The event objectives, form the foundation for the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID), and are driven by the overarching need to share and exchange information between military organizations, international coalitions and civilian agencies. The traditional view of coalitions focused on military-to-military interaction; however, it now incorporates a variety of international organizations that include military and civilian agencies. The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has highlighted the continuing need for unimpeded information sharing between legacy and new technologies as well as tactical exchanges between emerging coalition partners, civilian agencies and civil authorities/first responders. By streamlining command and control capabilities, we improve our senior leadership?s ability to respond to GWOT contingencies. The multi-national and interagency requirements for information sharing are, in many cases, more complex than those of traditional military-to-military coalition partners because of a lack of common standards and protocols for both hardware and software. Coalition operations, in response to international crises, continue to highlight the requirement to seamlessly exchange command, control, computer, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and logistical information. The acceptance and endorsement of the Network Centric Warfare concept by the U.S. and the nations within the various coalitions participating in current operations, points to the need to resolve the associated technical, procedural and policy challenges. The CWID event provides a unique opportunity for U.S. Combatant Commanders, Homeland Security/Homeland Defense (HLS/HLD) organizations and traditional international coalitions to explore innovative information sharing and interoperability solutions. CWID 2006 continues this successful tradition by providing a venue aimed at thoroughly integrating solutions while focusing on network centricity, and investigating tactics, techniques and procedures. The CWID hardware and software demonstrations support the overall Network Centric Warfare construct and leverage the advantages of emerging technology. During the CWID execution phase, Interoperability Trial (IT) activities will be conducted over, or connected to, a world wide area network that supports military and coalition operations while providing the infrastructure to facilitate the military?s role in providing Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA). CWID ITs are executed within the context of an overarching scenario to demonstrate how coalition warfighting and civil interagency operations can benefit from emerging technologies. The CWID 2006 Objectives described below contain several key differences from those associated with past Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstrations. First, the number of objectives has been reduced to narrow the focus of the annual event and to reflect a recurring theme of ?Coalition Information Sharing.? Second, each objective is supported by ?sub-objectives? that reference clearly defined U.S. Combatant Commander and Coalition capability gaps. Finally, each ?sub-objective? is related to the Universal Joint Task List (UJTL) to highlight a stronger relationship with warfighter requirements through a more defined mission-to-task linkage (specific UJTL references available upon request). These process improvements facilitate post-CWID execution efforts to develop strategies aimed at responsibly bringing solutions to the warfighters. Objective 1: Coalition Command & Control (C2). Enhance the Commander?s Coalition C2 capability through secure, scalable and bandwidth sensitive technologies, within and between communities of interest (COIs) and information domains of differing security classifications. - create a cohesive C2 relationship with and between military, coalition and non-military activities - improve open and secure mobile C2 capabilities between COIs - streamline operational decision-making for GWOT contingencies Explanation: Coalition operations require an information environment that spans multiple COIs. These COIs may be mobile, fixed or remotely located where the combination of military and/or civil agencies is likely to be affected by limited bandwidth. Within any COI, mission success relates to the commander?s C2 ability to communicate directly with individual users who may be detached from fixed information domains. Decision makers and/or first responders require interoperable, reliable and/or secure wireless capabilities to receive and transmit critical voice, data, and video information to support the Network Centric warfare construct. Solutions to achieve improved C2 between diverse COIs should consider the use of existing approved multi-level security implementations, innovative adaptations of these implementations, or propose new approaches that are well on their way to gaining security certification for operational use. Objective 2: Coalition Information Sharing. Provide solutions that improve the Commander?s ability to share information within a multi-lingual coalition that is secure, scalable and bandwidth sensitive. Included in this objective are improvements to language translation tools that provide grammatically correct, militarily appropriate context, multi-language translations to support verbal and textual collaboration within and between disparate information domains. - multi-level and multi-domain security - improve utility, accuracy and language capacity of translation tools (French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Russian) o written-to-voice, visa versa o voice-to-voice o user friendly displays Explanation: Coalition information sharing is more than providing a common operational picture at the strategic or major echelon level of command. It must be secure, scaleable in scope and functional within the theater bandwidth available at all levels of warfare. Trial proposals should be capable of using existing interface standards and protocols that define the format, content, and exchange mechanisms for shared data. Solutions must support each nation?s disclosure and release policies as well as provide a secure means of consistently communicating accurate information in a multi-lingual military and/or local authority context. Possible information to exchange includes: directive commentary, friendly and hostile order of battle, targeting information, safe areas for marshalling, weather data, imagery, Global Information Services (GIS) map data, equipment status, personnel movements and other intelligence related products. A key subset to creating and sustaining a coalition information-sharing environment is that users must be able to consistently and securely access, extract and utilize common information derived from dissimilar databases across multiple domains. Further, coalition operations are routinely conducted with multiple nations and organizations that are challenged with using a common language. A tool to translate documents, displays, and written/audio-exchanges between planners and end-users, is a requirement of operations at the military, agency, and other government organization levels. Current translation tools include inadequate vocabularies for limited languages and typically do not provide grammatically correct or militarily relevant translations. Additionally, no translation tool currently provides for the simultaneous translation of a single language to multiple languages. Inherent in this requirement is the need to fuse dissimilar information and extract specific data sets while providing reliable language translations for communicating guidance to coalition partners. Objective 3: Integrated Logistics. Provide solutions for responsive, effective logistics within and between multiple information communities of interest (COIs). - develop the ability to assess and display information on the movement, location and status of US and coalition partners? equipment and personnel en route and/or deployed - improve logistics data access, fusion and integration among COIs Explanation: Within the information environment of a coalition, military and non-military operations, the commander must have responsive and effective logistics. Logistic data is contained within diverse logistics information systems maintained by the military and civilian agencies across the coalition. Access to that data implies combining total asset visibility and information during the transit of friendly forces into a single information presentation available across multiple information COIs. Solutions should address the locating and fusion of logistics information feeds as part of the commander?s general situation awareness. Solutions to achieve CWID objectives should consider the use of existing approved multi-level security implementations, innovative adaptations of these implementations or propose new approaches that are relatively mature in gaining security certification for operational use. Objective 4: Continuity of Operations. Provide C2 solutions that enhance the Commander?s ability to plan, communicate and affect coalition operations while remotely deployed. Inherent in this objective is the ability of the commander to maintain situational awareness and connectivity with subordinate activities while en route to the theater in crisis. - enhance Commander?s ability to rapidly deploy a joint force headquarters Explanation: Commanders are challenged to sustain their situational awareness once they depart on their assigned mission. Trial proposals must be capable of using existing interface standards and protocols that define the format, content, and exchange mechanisms for shared data. Possible information requirements include: friendly and hostile order of battle, targeting information, safe areas for marshalling, weather data, imagery, Global Information Services (GIS) map data, equipment status, personnel movements and other intelligence-related information. When appropriate, the solution must be scaleable to provide GIS and Global Command and Control System (GCCS) situational awareness information to non-military, federal, state and local participants via a protected, multi-lingual and secure network, common to all. Information exchange should support pre-event and en route planning as well as the situational awareness during the execution of operations. At a higher level, this objective involves effective information dissemination and knowledge management. This includes problems of integration, or conversion of data from one format to another, identification of producers/ consumers of information, and how to transmit the information securely from end-to-end while supporting national disclosure/release policy. A key subset to creating and sustaining effective situational awareness is users must be able to consistently and securely access, extract and utilize common information derived from dissimilar databases across multiple domains, while operating within a bandwidth-constrained architecture. Additionally, the integrity and continuity of sharing common information across networks must be preserved. Potential trials need to explore web technology, improved data labeling, data standardization and / or enhancements to existing solutions while being realistically acceptable to security management concerns. Where applicable to information sharing, data encryption must be accomplished at the lowest level. Objective5: Net Centric Enterprise Services. Provide solutions that enhance the Commander?s ability to collaborate and disseminate information among communities of interest (COIs) in a Net Centric environment. - improve information assurance - improve horizontal data access, fusion and integration - improve vertical and horizontal information distribution Explanation: Network Centric Enterprise Services imply that coalition, military and non-military civilian authorities can harness the power of their respective information environments to collaboratively plan and execute operations even in a bandwidth-constrained environment. Collaborative planning and dissemination of products in a bandwidth constrained environment horizontally across and vertically within COIs is an emerging issue for the warfighter, particularly as software and procedure tools become sufficiently robust to be extended from the operational to the tactical level of warfare. Operations require an information environment that is not only scaleable, but one that spans multiple COIs. These COIs may be populated and maintained by military or civil agencies or a combination of both and it is likely they will be bandwidth-constrained. The information exchange between these COIs must be accomplished in such a way that it inspires confidence at each activity that the information is being disseminated securely, and will only be available to the agreed upon and authorized participants. Solutions to achieve this data dissemination, across and within COIs, should consider the use of existing, approved multi-level security implementations, innovative adaptations of these implementations, or propose new approaches that are well on their way to gaining security certification for operational use. 8. Subject to change, the following milestones are to be used for planning purposes: a. Interoperability Trial (IT) proposals due - 30 September 2005. b. IT Evaluation & Selection ? 24 - 28 October 2005, Stafford, VA. c. Initial Planning Conference ? 29 November - 2 December 2005, Tidewater area VA. d. Mid-Planning Conference: 30 January - 3 February 2006, Tidewater area VA. e. Final Planning Conference: 27 - 31 March 2006, Tidewater area VA. f. CWID 2006 Execution: 30 May - 23 June 2006. (1) Preliminary Set Up: 30 May - 2 June 2006. (2) Training and Rehearsal - 5-9 June 2006. (3) Trials assessment and visitors - 12-22 June 2006. (4) Hot Wash - 23 June 2006. 9. Administrative requirements: a. All information submitted will be considered and handled as non-proprietary. b. Trials should begin entering their initial data on the CWID 2006 link on the CWID web site (http://www.cwid.js.mil.). The link will be available on or about 15 July 2005. c. Unclassified and classified networks will be used. US DoD IT participants will require a minimum of DoD SECRET clearance to participate in CWID 2006. The principal DoD information domain that ITs will use is at the combined SECRET-releasable security level. d. Military or government civilian personnel will operate their ITs during assessments. ITs must provide required operator training at each CWID 2006 site. CWID funds will not be provided for operator training. e. Trials will be required to provide on-site technical and operational representation at each CWID 2006 planning conference and throughout the execution phase. CWID funds will not be used. 10. The CWID JMO points of contact for trials are Capt Steve Weatherhead, 703-681-2318, E-MAIL:steven.weatherhead@disa.mil, or Carla Jolly 703-681-2342, E-MAIL: Carla.jolly.ctr@disa.mil 11. With the event?s operational focus on the GWOT and coalition interoperability, CWID will play a large part in improving information sharing between coalition partners, DoD, government and non-government agencies. 12. This announcement is not a request for proposal; no contract award shall be made as a result of this request for information. Industry participation in CWID 2006 is at no cost to the government.
- Place of Performance
- Address: N/A
- Record
- SN00798896-W 20050504/050502211530 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |