SOURCES SOUGHT
69 -- Request for Information - Flight Simulator
- Notice Date
- 6/26/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, National Centers Region, BLM-FA NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER* 3833 S DEVELOPMENT AVE BOISE ID 83705
- ZIP Code
- 83705
- Solicitation Number
- RAI084011
- Response Due
- 7/25/2008
- Archive Date
- 6/26/2009
- Point of Contact
- Kathleen M. Colson Contract Specialist 2083875545 kathy_colson@nifc.blm.gov;
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR PLANNING PURPOSES. Disclaimer: This is a Request for Information (RFI) in accordance with FAR 52.215-3 --Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997). The Government is conducting market research to identify, as potential sources, companies that may possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to competently and competitively respond to requirements to provide and sustain an Aerial Fire Fighting Mission Simulator for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), 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 the RFI. Respondents needing confidential treatment for any proprietary information they furnish must mark their responses accordingly to ensure proper handling. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. BACKGROUND: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employs a wide variety of aircraft types to be used in the suppression of wildland fires. The unique nature of this work makes it difficult for companies and government aircrew to have relevant prior experience pertinent to aerial suppression of wildland fires. Currently vendors are responsible for most of the aircrew training with additional governmental training being provided via venues such as computer based training (CBT), Aerial Firefighting Institute (AFI), National Aerial Fire Fighting Academy (NAFA). In an effort to comply with the intent of Executive Order 13111, "Using Technology to Improve Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees" BLM is interested in applying cost effective technologies to train vendor/government flight crew and air crewmembers. On the job training can be effective; however it is costly and involves a degree of risk to aircrews and may jeopardize the success of the mission. The BLM is interested in pursing flight crew and air crewmember training in a simulated wildland fire environment using Flight Training Devices (FTD) or Personal Computer Based Aviation Training Device's (PCATD). We are looking for innovative approaches using cost effective methods that would use commercial off the shelf hardware and software when and if possible. The purpose of this RFI is to determine offeror interest to provide the BLM with a complete simulated flight training system to include hardware, new or existing software, and contractor logistics support. PROGRAM REQUIREMENT: a) The flight training system shall be a high-fidelity training system that facilitates flight and air crew training to include part task training, procedural training to teach underlying cognitive principles, mission training and rehearsal in a distributed mission operation training environment. b) The flight training system shall be an integrated set of hardware and software that shall implement the performance requirements specified in a requirements document. The training system shall be required to support basic and advanced mission training, tactics validation, air to air and air to ground complex communications to include multiple aircraft in a large fire exercise. c) The flight training system shall include a Mission Simulator. The Mission Simulator shall be capable of single-ship and/or multi-ship scenario's conducting aerial fire fighting missions. The flight training system shall include computer generated wildfire simulation, scenario generation capability, instructor-operator stations, and brief-debrief systems. Specific performance requirements for all system elements shall be defined in a requirements documents.1. Cockpits. The simulator system cockpits shall be an accurate representation of (2) Light Turbine Twin engine airplane, (2) Air Tractor AT-802's and (1) Bell 212 or similar Bell medium Helicopter. Each cockpit shall include controls, displays, avionics, and aerodynamic flight modeling representatives of the aircraft. The systems shall provide realistic simulation handling characteristics for all normal ground, flight regimes and retardant operations. The system shall be equipped with a full field-of-view visual display, digital image generation system for visual cueing system. The four cockpits shall be designed for networked training scenarios of one or more participants and in addition allow for stand-alone, solo pilot training. Cockpit hardware and software shall be modular and an open architecture design to allow for flexibility for upgrades and incorporation of new hardware/ software technology. 2. Fire and Flight Environment. The simulation shall create a realistic environment capable of supporting a full range of mission scenarios. It shall support a mix of constructive and interactive entities that react to aircraft flight maneuvers, avionics, retardant and water delivery systems. The mission simulator shall accurately model and integrate the impact of aircraft fire fighting activities on the simulated wildland fire. The mission simulator shall also be configurable to simulate wildland fires in different fuel types, topography and weather conditions. The simulated terrain and vegetative characteristics can be static, though in future iterations it would be beneficial to allow these elements to be changed to meet objectives of specific scenarios. The Instructor should be able to setup initial simulation conditions including wind strength, variability, RH, fuel moisture content. The fire environment (fire behavior) should effect the flight model in the form of realistic air turbulence.3. Instructor Operator Station (IOS). The IOS shall provide the instructor the ability to monitor the simulation, all displays, and instrument indications of each cockpit independently or all four interconnected cockpits. The system shall also provide the capability to set up, run and monitor all missions. IOS shall be capable of controlling and inputting changes in simulated wildland fire, emergency procedures (EPs), and instrument indications. The IOS shall provide means for generation, setup, monitoring, and evaluating simulated training scenarios and missions. These scenarios can be changed or modified by the instructors at any time during the mission via the IOS. The capability to share scenarios and missions between networked sites shall be provided. The IOS shall give the instructor the capability to insert specific or dynamically created situations into the simulation.4. Visual Display System. The simulator system shall include a state-of-the-art, high-fidelity digital image to present the pilot with realistic, detailed, simulated real-world imagery. This includes a fully correlated "out-the-window" visual display system supporting all aspects of complete mission training, including all cues necessary to support such training. At a minimum, dynamic air model assessments (determination of range, closure, and aspect angle) shall support multi-aircraft tactical operations and basic flight maneuvers (BFM) cues. The visual display shall provide a high-fidelity image (contrast, brightness resolution, scene complexity, etc.) to the pilot. The simulation shall provide realistic terrain and texturing at the lowest operating altitude (50' above ground level) with the support of "Level of detailing" up to the maximum operating ceiling (8,500' above ground level). The simulated fire environment should, at a minimum, consist of a remote airport 10-15 minutes away (flight time) from the fire. The fire "area" shall encompass at least 250 square miles involving representative terrain and vegetative features. Both the area around the airport and the fire area should have a level of detail out line above.5. Debriefing Facilities. The brief/debrief capability should be able to provide a "God's eye" view, selected cockpit or target views, and full wildfire observation (observation of the entire scenario, or a selectable major portion thereof). The system shall have the capability to record full mission data for replay. The recordings should be both archivable on removable media and transferable to other sites over the network. Minimum recording time length of 120 minutes shall be supported. The brief/debrief capability should be able to provide "before the mission" planning or briefing mode, "after the mission" debrief capability, and "real time" observation capability to watch the mission as it unfolds. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: In response to this RFI, please provide the following information:1. Business Information: Please provide the following business information for your company and for any teaming or joint venture partners: Company Name; address; Point of Contact; Phone Number; E-mail Address; Web Page URL; whether your company is a small business based upon the SBA Size Standard of 500 employees for the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code of 333319; whether your company is Woman Owned Business, a Small Disadvantaged Business, an 8(a) Certified Business, a HUBZone Certified Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, or a Small Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business; whether your company maintains a current Central Contractor Registration (CCR) registration.2. Capabilities: a) Describe your cost-effective approach to deliver an Aerial Fire Fighting Mission Simulator in late 2011 and early 2012 and provide the training capability and availability as discussed in paragraph II d above. b) Describe your company's technical competencies and experience in developing, deploying, and sustaining high-fidelity training devices and simulations for aircraft/aircrew training systems. Include contract numbers, a brief description of the work performed, period of performance, agency/organization supported, and individual points of contact (Contracting Officers or Program Managers). c) Describe your specific experiences and capabilities with high-fidelity training devices and simulations for aviation training: Provide a description of your capability to field an accurate representation of aircraft performance; Your experience and capability to develop, operate, and support simulation equipment; Describe your experience with aircraft simulations for real-time training applications. d) Describe your expertise with interoperable networked simulations and interoperability interface mechanisms such as distributed interactive simulation (DIS) and high level architecture (HLA). e) Are there any other relevant topics, concerns, and information that will help the Government in forming an acquisition strategy? Direct and succinct responses are preferred. Marketing materials are considered an insufficient response. Please limit responses to no more than 20 pages, and identify a representative to support further Government inquiries and requests for clarification of the information provided, if needed. Respondents should indicate which portions of their response are proprietary and should mark them accordingly. Interested parties should submit their information on or before July 25, 2008 prior to 4:30 pm MDT. Responses can be submitted via e-mail to kathy_colson@blm.gov or via mail to the Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center, Attn: Kathy Colson, 3833 South Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
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