MODIFICATION
99 -- Sources Sought Announcement (SSA) for Engineering Services and Support for AN/TPQ-53 Radar.
- Notice Date
- 8/8/2012
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 811219
— Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance
- Contracting Office
- ACC-APG - Aberdeen Division B, HQ CECOM CONTRACTING CENTER, 6001 COMBAT DRIVE, ABERDEEN PROVING GROU, MD 21005-1846
- ZIP Code
- 21005-1846
- Solicitation Number
- W15P7T12RX112
- Response Due
- 8/21/2012
- Archive Date
- 10/20/2012
- Point of Contact
- Joshua Harvey, 443-861-4893
- E-Mail Address
-
ACC-APG - Aberdeen Division B
(joshua.harvey10@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The United States (U.S.) Army, Army Contracting Command (ACC) Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Aberdeen, MD, 21005, intends to procure engineering services to be performed in support of the AN/TPQ-53 Radar Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP). The ACC-APG is conducting market research to identify potential sources to provide the following services in support of production and deployment: program management; reliability improvement and management; maintainability improvement and management; repair activities; command center support; field service representatives (FSRs); training for FSRs; system support package updates; diminishing resources/obsolescence management services; test support; and software support during production, deployment, testing and fielding of the AN/TPQ-53 radar system. The required support will be provided on a cost plus fixed fee basis. The total period of performance (PoP) is 36 months. This notice is published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Part 10, Market Research and FAR Part 15, Exchanges with Industry before Receipt of Proposal. This SSA serves as a Request for Information (RFI) in support of market research. All information received will be used for planning purposes only. This notice does not constitute an Invitation to Bid, a Request for Proposal, or a Request for Quote. The government will not award a contract based on this notice and will not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with responses to it. The AN/TPQ-53 radar is a highly mobile radar set that automatically detects, classifies, tracks, and locates the point of origin of projectiles fired from rocket, artillery and mortar systems with sufficient accuracy for first round fire for effect. It mitigates close combat radar coverage gaps and will ultimately replace the current AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radars; fully supporting brigade combat teams and Fires Brigades operations. The AN/TPQ-53 radar will interoperate with future battle command systems to provide the maneuver commander increased counterfire radar flexibility. The AN/TPQ-53 radar will be capable of being deployed as part of the indirect fire protection capability system of systems to provide a sense and warn capability for fixed and semi-fixed sites. The AN/TPQ-53 radar will provide a system with increased range and accuracy throughout a 90 degree search sector (stare mode) as well as 360 degree coverage (rotating) for locating rocket, artillery and mortar firing positions. The AN/TPQ-53 radar was designed, developed and is currently being produced by Lockheed Martin (Liverpool, NY). The government anticipates it will procure a technical data package (TDP) during production; however the government does not own a TDP or associated rights at this time. Specific efforts to be performed are summarized below. a.Depot Services. The contractor shall repair or replace all inoperable system line replaceable units (LRUs) and shop replaceable unit (SRUs). If an item is determined by the contractor to be beyond economical repair (BER), the contractor shall notify the government. Within seven days of notification, the government shall advise the contractor whether to continue with the repair and replace action, or procure a replacement item. Items will be considered to be BER if the repair cost is anticipated to exceed 65% of a new procurement. In order to maintain the required operational availability (Ao), the total government transit time for each repair shall not exceed 30 days. The calculation of transit time includes the time to transport the failed item back to the contractor's facility (failed item transit) and the time to transport the repaired item back to stock (repaired item transit). Failed item transit begins when the item is removed from the radar system for repair and ends when it arrives at the contractor's site for repair. Repaired item transit begins when the repaired item is placed on the contractor's dock for government pickup and ends when the item is returned to stock. Repaired items will be inspected and accepted in accordance with the requirements of their respective drawings. All repaired/replaced items shall be available at the contractor's dock for government pickup and return shipment to the field location. The contractor shall establish and maintain a database that identifies modules and assemblies for return to include item nomenclature, individually identifiable reference number, date of receipt, issue identification and proposed resolution. b.Operational Availability. Operational availability as defined in Army Regulation (AR) 700-138. Fully mission capable (FMC) is a status condition where fully operational equipment or systems are safe and correctly configured as designed by the U.S. Army. Equipment is FMC when it can perform all of its combat missions without endangering the lives of crew or operators. The terms ready, available, and FMC are often used to refer to the same status: Equipment is on hand and able to perform its assigned mission(s). This does not include necessary down time to perform preventative maintenance. The contractor shall ensure that the fleet of radars deployed to the theater of operation achieves a 90% Ao in FMC material condition over the PoP of each of these activities. The Ao will be calculated using the following equation: Ao=(U/T)*100: (U=Uptime and T=Total Time) Ao will be calculated in hours on a monthly basis. One hour per day will be allocated to conduct preventative maintenance checks and services (PMCS), not to conduct corrective maintenance once an item has failed. This PMCS hour is not calculated into total uptime for that day. Maintenance time in support of repair/replacement of failed items due to faults, attributing to the unscheduled downtime of the radar, shall be counted separate from the one hour allocated for PMCS. The use of scheduled PMCS time to correct performance and catastrophic failures causes a backlog in PMCS verification and reduces the time to fix or check normal PMCS defects that do not render the radar system inoperable or degrade its performance. Corrective maintenance time shall be calculated in the total downtime for that day. A system is considered down as soon as it is not FMC. A system in a "down" state is considered either partially mission capable (PMC) or not mission capability (NMC). PMC refers to a radar system that is fully operational in one or more, but not all, combat mission modes, or a radar system with defective subsystems, i.e. elevation, auto leveling, or azimuth drive. PMC radar systems shall not be reported as FMC. A non-deployed system is considered down 48 hours after the failure is reported. The AN/TPQ-53 is not FMC unless the system is fully functional in all modes (360 degree and 90 degree operation), is capable of automatic emplacement/displacement of the leveling system in order to meet the emplacement and displacement time requirements, and the system is available as per the interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) PMCS table. Operation in only one mode (example: only 90 degree operation) does not equal FMC. The ability to only manually level the system does not equal FMC. Individual software reboots that exceed 30 minutes, or the cumulative duration of multiple software reboots that exceeds 30 minutes over a 24 hour period are counted as non-FMC time for Ao reporting purposes. Failure of any of the government furnished equipment (GFE) will not count in the above calculation. The following downtime events shall not be assessed against the contractor: 1.Lack of communication between the radar FSR and the Forward Repair Area (FRA) FSR or lack of communication with the command center. 2.Downtime due to rejection or delay in approval of a system modification proposal to control system obsolescence. 3.During this period of PoP, these radars may be relocated from their original location. Downtime during the course of this relocation will not be apportioned against the contractor once troubleshooting is complete and the necessary parts, tools, test equipment and personnel are assembled. 4.Battle damage or operator misuse. 5.Downtime due to force majeure, defined as those events beyond reasonable control of the contractor. 6.Government Bill of Lading (GBL) delivery time >30 days round trip for other than continental United States (OCONUS) combat locations. 7.GBL delivery time >30 days round trip for non-combat OCONUS locations. 8.FRA test calibration >2 weeks. c.Threat Upgrade Assessments. In response to direction provided by the government, the contractor shall conduct studies and analyses to evaluate threat upgrade assessment, with technical progress assessed at technical interchange meetings (TIMs). Assessments to be conducted include, but are not necessarily limited to the following. 1.System Threat Assessment Report (STAR) (a)Target Detection (b)Signature Development 2.Develop System Modification Concept (a)Research and Development (b)Modeling and Simulation 3.Prototype and Demonstration (a)Test and Evaluation (b)Risk Management 4.Software Updates 5.Verification and Validation: (a)Radar Test Environmental Simulator (RTES) (b)Live Fire Testing 6.Frequency Authorization 7.Forensic Support 8.Life Cycle Signature Support Plan (LCSSP) d.Software Maintenance and Updates. The contractor shall use software change requests and software problem reports (SPRs) to resolve issues identified in the field or enhancements identified by the users or other key stakeholders. The contractor shall lead an Integrated Product Team (IPT) that includes government participants. The contractor shall work on existing SPRs and new SPRs as identified by the IPT. The contractor shall deliver up to two fielded software loads during the PoP. These updates will include associated regression, interoperability, information assurance updates and formal testing of the upgraded software for radar application. At government direction, the contractor shall evaluate and implement software upgrades. The contractor shall provide a plan which shall address the following. 1.A technical evaluation of any change or upgrade to the computer equipment, router or network equipment to ensure that there will be no loss in system functionalities and no impact to system performance. 2.A technical evaluation of any anti-temper solution to ensure the anti-temper measures has not been affected by any system upgrade. 3.An assessment of the cost and schedule required to implement the software, interoperability, communication, and information assurance upgrades 4.The contractor shall comply with software blocking/common operating environment interoperability and communication requirements. 5.The contractor shall comply with Department of Defense (DOD) Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) and update software as required per quarterly release of the Information Assurance Vulnerability Management (IAVM). 6.The contractor shall conduct quarterly TIMs with the government to assess progress. 7.The contractor shall develop, integrate and test software to satisfy the requirement for Common Front End (CFE), and related upgrades. e.System Modifications, Upgrades Technology Insertion and Pre-Planned Product Improvements (P3I). At government direction, the contractor will evaluate and or implement system modifications and upgrades to improve performance, reliability, operational effectiveness, survivability and/or suitability without increasing the performance envelope of the system. The contractor shall also increase the performance envelope of the system through development and implementation of P3I initiatives as directed by the government. The contractor shall identify and document proposed system modifications, upgrades and opportunities for technology insertion. The narrative provided will include a discussion of the proposed changes, associated technologies, and technical approach to implementation, risk, schedule and cost considerations. Once approved, the schedule will be integrated to the master program schedule. After receipt of order (ARO), the nominal schedule to completion and delivery (excluding installation) of the mod kit is nominally, six months each. Installation will take no longer than one week, after the system is made available to the contractor. The contractor shall conduct quarterly TIMs with the government to assess progress. The government anticipates that P3I improvements will be implemented during LRIP. Implementation of the P3I is both funding and schedule dependant. At the government's direction, the contractor shall assess potential P3I initiatives for cost, schedule and risk implications. This assessment will be provided to the government. Once approved, the effort will be formally integrated to the contract, and the integrated master schedule will be expanded to include the P3I initiative. f.Technology Development Strategy (TDS) Upgrades. The contractor shall develop and maintain a technology roadmap that identifies research and development investments, and plans for potential upgrades to the system. ARO, the nominal schedule to completion and delivery of the technology roadmap is two months. The contractor shall conduct quarterly TIMs with the government to assess progress. g. Engineering Studies, Feasibility and Impact Analyses. At the direction of the government, the contractor shall conduct engineering studies and feasibility and impact analyses. The purpose of these analyses is to assess the impact of any change in technical, programmatic or schedule re-alignments. h. Test Support. The contractor shall verify any modification made to the system. The contractor's technical approach, as well as cost, schedule and resource requirements will be documented and presented and approved by the Test IPT prior to execution of the test event. The contractor shall prepare and provide or review test plans and test procedures, and generate test reports as directed by the government. Test plans will include a summary of cost, schedule and resources required to support test execution. The contractor shall support government test efforts by providing on-site personnel to maintain, repair, and operate AN/TPQ-53 systems utilized in the test event. Planned test events with support requirements include quarterly capabilities and limitations (C&L) testing and Army Interoperability Certification (AIC) testing. Test support requirements shall be tailored to the test being conducted. The contractor shall support the AIC test by providing on-site maintenance, training, logistics, and technical support for the period of the test. i. Conduct of Operations and Maintenance Training. The contractor shall execute new equipment training (NET) for the AN/TPQ-53 Radar Operator Course and the AN/TPQ-53 Radar Maintainer Course. The structure, content, and standards of this course will be identical to the courses developed by Lockheed Martin and shall include manual leveling and manual orientation tasks. NET will occur at an Army installation, prior to a unit's deployment. Upon completion of each course session the contractor shall provide and after action report which will include the course roster, student evaluations of the instructions and report of any issues or concerns. j. Command Center and Field Support 1. Command Center. The contractor shall establish and maintain a Command Center that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Command Center will provide the following services: help desk/call center, repair program coordination, inventory control, data analysis, report generation, and change management control. The contractor shall supply any required engineering support to resolve problems arising in the field beyond the scope of the FSRs. The contractor will be responsible for providing the space, infrastructure, and all equipment necessary to operate the Command Center. 2. Forward Repair Activity Test Sets (FRATS). FRATS shall be employed to perform repairs of specific LRUs at the designated government Forward Repair Areas (FRA). The FRATS will support the repair to the sub-assembly level or SRU level for the signal data processor assembly, exciter/receiver assembly and octapack. A FRATS Users Manual will be supplied in contractor format. Sanitization procedures and Information Assurance (IA) requirements will not be required for this equipment. The Army shall provide calibration capability for the FRATS equipment and all required facilities and workspace for the FRATS equipment located at the FRAs. 3. Field Service Representatives. The FSRs will support sustainment activities at the locations where AN/TPQ-53 radars are employed by combat units. The FSRs will be responsible for maintenance of the radar system to ensure the required 95% Ao is met; conduct all supply chain operations in support of radar maintenance; collection and supply of all required data to support government reporting requirements, and reporting of any issues or concerns to the Command Center. FSRs are specialized and require a comprehensive 6-month training and certification program. When possible, FSRs are used on a regional support basis, however, when operating in remote locations, a 1 each FSR to 1 each AN/TPQ-50 radar ratio is instituted. The planning assumption is an Army requirement for 12 each AN/TPQ-53 radars to be operational at any given time. The contractor shall provide one Journeyman FSRs per deployed radar with an additional in-country FSR for leaves, sickness, and attrition for a total of 13 Journeyman FSRs. Each FRA deployed in an active theater of operations will have one lead FSR assigned. The AN/TPQ-53 Command Center will have adequate FSRs assigned to support 24/7 operations. The contractor will provide five Journeyman FSRs to support 20 radars at peacetime locations. The contractor shall provide the FSR program management, training, certification, and support. These Journeyman FSRs shall support sustainment activities at the locations where AN/TPQ-53 systems are employed, or as requested by the government. The FSRs will be responsible for: (a)Maintenance of the radar to ensure the required Ao. (b)All supply chain operations in support of radar maintenance. (c)Collection and supply of data to support government reporting requirements. (d)Loading software and firmware updates. (e)Operating non-deployed systems. (f)Performing data collection and reduction (with Detection Load Analysis Tool (DLAT) Remote Control Display Unit (RCDU) utility tool when available). (g)Reporting of issues or concerns. (h)Providing over-the-shoulder sustainment training of previously trained operators. Lead FSRs will be located in the FRA, or the Command Center. Lead FSRs will support sustainment activities at in-country FRA locations and in the Command Center. The lead FSRs are responsible for: (a)Supervision of all field FSRs. (b)Troubleshooting and repair of failed octapacks, SDPs, and exciter/receiver units. (c)Inventory control of all required spares in each FRA. (d)Response to emergency requirements as needed. (e)Assisting field FSRs as required. (f)Maintaining FRA workspace and associated/assigned equipment. Deployed FSRs will be transported to, from, and between Forward Operating Base (FOBs) and FRAs utilizing existing military infrastructure. FSR transportation within FOBs and FRAs will be the responsibility of the contractor. The contractor shall provide transportation for FSRs supporting the non-deployed radar systems. In cases where civilian vehicles are not permitted (during unit training events, etc.) the contractor will rely upon transportation by the owning unit or Army logistics agencies. The government will be responsible for all FSR workspaces in the theater of operation, services for deployment and redeployment processing, movement in and out of theatre, emergency medical care, postal service, phone service, religious service and internet access at the work site. When the FSR is not embedded with a deployed unit the government will be responsible for living arrangements and movement between FOBs, FRAs and the planned worksite location. The government will provide a Letter of Authorization (LOA) for each FSR authorizing these services. The government will assist the contractor with obtaining the appropriate work visa for if needed. In the event of the outbreak of hostilities, war, armed conflict, insurrection, civil or military strife in a geographic area or country which is being serviced in accordance with this contract or in the event of any imminent danger of enemy attack, the contractor shall be relieved of the requirement for continuing services in that area during the period of hostilities. The contractor shall be entitled to an equitable adjustment for costs and expenses associated with any emergency evacuation of such personnel to a place of safety and any costs incurred to replace such personnel. 4. FSR Training. The contractor shall provide standardized training for FSRs. Newly hired FSRs will complete a training regimen upon hire. Training course will focus on two major areas; radar operation and radar maintenance. The program of instruction is at the discretion of the contractor. The contractor shall provide on-going training as additional training topics are identified by the contractor. The status of FSR certification and/or completed training will be made available to the government semi-annually, or upon request. k. Maintenance Reporting. The contractor shall collect and report radar maintenance data. This data will be provided in a weekly status report to the Communication Electronics Command (CECOM) master technician in theater, and compiled and submitted monthly to Product Manager (PM) Radars. This report shall contain the operational readiness rate calculated for the fleet, operational readiness rate calculated for the fleet of deployed systems, operational readiness rate calculated for each system, mean time between failure (MTBF) for each failed item, and a description of each failure item. Reports are not to be shared outside of U.S. government channels. All reports shall be transmitted in accordance with the current Security Classification Guide. All maintenance faults or issues, both hardware and software, shall be reported by the Command Center to PM Radars within 24 hours of discovery. Daily maintenance logs shall be maintained by the FSR, and provided to the Command Center and PM Radars on a weekly basis. These maintenance logs shall indicate the PMCS and fault repair maintenance tasks performed, to include the time required to perform the maintenance or repair tasks and the IETM reference for each. The maintenance logs will help the material developer refine procedures, validate the required resources, and validate the durations of time assigned to maintenance functions as part of the maintenance allocation chart (MAC). The contractor shall copy PM Radars on all Secure Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) traffic pertaining to the status, support, or activities associated with fielded AN/TPQ-53 radars. The contractor shall also copy PM Radars on all un-edited or un-filtered FSR written reports pertaining to the status, support, or activities associated with AN/TPQ-53 radar provided to the Command Center. l. System Support Package Updates. The contractor shall provide quarterly updates to the IETM and the operator smart book distributed to NET course students. These updates will include changes encompassing the non-armored prime mover and armored prime mover configurations, as well as the current changes to the latest delivered system configuration hardware and software baselines. These IETM and smart book updates will be provided to the government quarterly. m. System Refurbishment/Re-fit. Re-fit includes returning the system to 10/20 standards; deep-cleaning; and paint touch-up. For planning purposes refurbishment/re-fit costs are estimated at $100K per system, multiplied by 18 systems per year. n. Reliability and Maintainability. The contractor shall update the Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) Program Plan as necessary. A formal Failure Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) program will be conducted. The contractor shall include a designated government representative in all FRACAS and Failure Modes, Effect, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) program activities. The goal of the FRACAS program is to identify failure trends, initiate corrective actions and update the fielded MTBF and/or mean time between system aborts (MTBSA) values used in the spares procurement calculations. The R&M Program Plan shall reflect system design changes that may occur as a result of the migration of the Mission Essential Group (MEG) & Sustainment Operations Group (SOG) to the 5-ton medium tactical vehicle (MTV) variant that utilizes the Army's Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) configuration. The R&M Program Plan shall be made available to the government. Responses to this Sources Sought Announcement. Responses will consist of an unclassified white paper that is no more than 20 pages in length. In the white paper, the contractor shall address the technical approach, estimated cost, and schedule constraints associated with each of the aforementioned tasks. The contractor shall clearly identify assumptions on which the response is predicated. As a minimum, identify any required GFE or government furnished information (GFI) on which the effort is predicated; and all required government support anticipated. Also identify and discuss plans and risks associated with reuse, or dependency on any other awarded contract. Company information will be verified via the Central Contractor Registration database. Responses to this RFI must be unclassified and should not exceed 10 pages in length, be prepared on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, double spaced with fonts no smaller than 10 point, and one inch margins. Each page of the submission shall contain the document identifier in the document header. Information is preferred in soft-copy form in either Microsoft Word and/or Microsoft PowerPoint. If a soft-copy cannot be provided, written information will be accepted. Information may be provided through mail, or via e-mail. Respondents should ensure labeling of information contained as proprietary. All interested firms are encouraged to respond to this notice by providing the information specified herein, on or before 1700 hours on Tuesday, 21 August, 2012. Telephone or email requests for additional information will not be honored. Any UNCLASSIFIED questions regarding this RFI may be posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FEDBIZOPS). Any additional questions may be forwarded to Ryan McWilliams (Contract Specialist) e-mail: ryan.mcwilliams.civ@mail.mil; Lauren McGibbon (AN/TPQ-53 Radar, Project Lead) e-mail: lauren.r.mcgibbon.civ@mail.mil. Contracting Office Address: U.S. Army Contracting Command ACC-APG CCAP-CCC Attn: Mr. Lawrence Holton, Contracting Officer Bldg 6001, Combat Drive Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005 Place of Performance: TBD
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- Place of Performance
- Address: ACC-APG - Aberdeen Division C HQ CECOM CONTRACTING CENTER, 6001 COMBAT DRIVE ABERDEEN PROVING GROU MD
- Zip Code: 21005-1846
- Zip Code: 21005-1846
- Record
- SN02832239-W 20120810/120809001502-bced8ac608f2ef5c387b4c8f9b6ca48b (fbodaily.com)
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