SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- Request for Information Common Airborne Sense and Avoid Sources Sought and Request for Capability Statements
- Notice Date
- 9/20/2013
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFLCMC/PK - WPAFB (includes PZ, WL, WW, WI, WN, WK, LP, WG, WF, WK), 2275 D Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433-7218, United States
- ZIP Code
- 45433-7218
- Solicitation Number
- FA862014R4000
- Archive Date
- 11/9/2013
- Point of Contact
- William T. Smith, , ,
- E-Mail Address
-
william.smith.11@us.af.mil,
(william.smith.11@us.af.mil, /div)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Solicitation Number: FA8620-14-R-4000 Notice Type: Special Notice (RFI) TITLE: Common-Airborne Sense and Avoid (C-ABSAA) Program - Sources Sought and Request for Statements of Capability DUE: 25 October 2013 POC: Mr. William T. Smith (William.Smith11@wpafb.af.mil) DOCUMENT TYPE: Special Notice (Request for Information) R&D Background: The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance & Special Operations Forces (ISR & SOF) Directorate (AFLCMC/WI) is conducting market research. The objective is to identify potential sources for possible future Technology Development (TD) and Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) of a C-ABSAA capability for Group 4-5 Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) as defined by the Joint Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence, Joint Concept of Operations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Change 1, April 2010. AFLCMC/WI is interested in industries' ability to transition USAF sponsored sense and avoid technologies into a C-ABSAA system. Sources and their teams must possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to develop a C-ABSAA System that will allow the United States Air Force (USAF) to obtain operational approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to safely perform integrated flight within the National Airspace System (NAS). Currently, a Certificate of Authorization (COA) is required by the FAA to allow RPAS access to non-restricted portions of the NAS. Obtaining a COA requires a significant amount of preplanning between the FAA and RPA operators. As military (and commercial) employment of RPAS continues to grow, alternatives to the COA process are being sought in order to decrease coordination requirements and increase mission flexibility. Given the results of Research and Development (R&D) efforts over the past few years, it is now possible to equip RPAS with technology that will address some of the major requirements currently driving the FAA COA process. The USAF is seeking to develop the C-ABSAA capability to achieve integrated flight of RPAS in the NAS. The purpose of C-ABSAA is to satisfy the FAA regulatory ‘see and avoid' requirement and further the routine integration of RPAS into the NAS. The regulatory requirements are 14 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 91.111 (Operating near other aircraft), 91.113 (Right-of-way rules: Except water operations), and 91.181 (Course to be flown). The C-ABSAA program will develop, integrate and fly a system on an aircraft, either a RPAS or a surrogate aircraft. This basic C-ABSAA system must be platform and sensor agnostic given that it will support Group 4-5 RPAS across the Department of Defense. With the current state of technology it is anticipated that a Milestone-B (MS-B) will occur in FY17. Prior to the MS-B decision there will be a Technology Development (TD) effort that will mature the integration effort to a preliminary design configuration, and after MS-B there will be an Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) effort that further matures a production representative system to be evaluated by both development and operational test communities. The C-ABSAA System must account for both cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft in all classes of air space to include the terminal area. Additionally, the C-ABSAA system must develop a display methodology that will accommodate a wide variety of ground stations. It is anticipated that extensive use of modeling and simulation will be necessary to meet the requirements for Airworthiness and FAA safety certification/operational approval. It is the government's desire to promote effective use of competition throughout the execution of the C-ABSAA Program. As a result, the government will require the delivery of a data package for use in production and will require open systems architecture consistent with the DoD Open Systems Architecture (OSA) Contract Guidebook for Program Managers - Version 1.1. It is the government's intent to procure appropriate data rights to promote and facilitate competition throughout the life-cycle of the C-ABSAA program. Caution: This announcement is released to tentatively identify potential sources for a C-ABSAA system. The level of security clearance and amount of foreign participation in this program has not been determined. Contractors responding to this (RFI) are placed on notice that participation in this RFI may not ensure participation in future solicitations or contract awards. The government will not reimburse participants for any expenses associated with their participation in this RFI. Instructions: Statement of Capabilities (SOC) - Contractors desiring to participate in this RFI are encouraged to submit unclassified SOCs to address AFLCMC/WI needs as detailed in the overview above. Failure to clearly describe/document experience and abilities may result in the government being unable to adequately assess your capabilities. If you lack experience in a particular area, please provide details explaining how you would overcome the lack of experience/capabilities in order to perform that portion of the requirement (e.g., teaming, subcontracting, etc.). As part of the discussion, each following topic and/or question should be addressed in your response. 1. Describe briefly the capabilities of your facility and the nature of the goods and/or services you provide, including a description of your staff composition and management structure. 2. Describe your company/team's past experience on previous projects similar in complexity to this requirement (software intensive systems that provide flight safety critical capabilities, integration of flight safety critical systems on to military/civil aircraft, open architecture, use of extensive modeling and simulation in place of extensive flight testing to provide technical artifacts supporting both airworthiness and operational approval). Include contract numbers, a brief description of the work performed, work with small business, period of performance, agency/organization supported, and individual point of contact (Contracting Officer or Program Manager) for described efforts. 3. Describe your company/team's experience transitioning new, flight safety critical, software intensive technology/capability from lab environment into an operational system. 4. Describe your company/team's experience using modeling and simulation for requirements definition and performance verification. 5. Describe your company/team's capabilities for generating, handling, processing and storing classified material and data. 6. Describe your company/team's capabilities and experience in generating DoD technical data, engineering drawings and manuals. Identify what software programs are utilized to generate these data products and what formats are available for delivered items. 7. Describe your company/team's ability to perform safety development functions to include defining, developing, collecting, and analyzing the artifacts necessary to build and defend a safety case. 8. Describe your company/team's capabilities and experience in managing hardware and software development projects, including subcontractor involvement. 9. Is your company/team's software development processes certified? If so, what level of certification have you achieved, who performed the certification, and what is the date of your certification? 10. Describe your company/team's experience in project planning, work breakdown structures, resource allocations, schedule tracking, risk analysis and cost management. 11. Describe your company/team's experience with and capabilities for delivering procurement/re-procurement data packages for production, sustainment, modifications, platform integration, and upgrades of your company's developed technologies/systems. 12. Describe your company/team's experience in implementing an open architecture on a software intensive system. 13. Describe your company's experience with and capabilities to conduct a system decomposition to identify critical technologies, critical program information and critical components (CT/CPI/CC) in support of DoD Anti-Tamper requirements. All responses (which shall only include UNCLASSIFIED information) to this announcement may be submitted by email to Mr. William T. Smith at William.Smith11@wpafb.af.mil. Submittals must be received by 25 October 2013. All responses shall be Windows 7 compatible. Both large and small businesses are encouraged to participate in this RFI. Joint ventures or teaming arrangements are encouraged. Each response shall include a cover letter, Statement of Capability, and general company overview PowerPoint (2010 compatible) presentation. Questions can be submitted with your response and will be kept anonymous. See below for additional detail. (1) Cover Letter: The cover letter should reference this Special Notice by solicitation number. The cover letter should also provide technical and contracting points of contact (including name, phone number, and email address), CAGE code, include a statement indicating if the firm is a Small Business, a Small Disadvantaged Business, an 8(a) Certified Business, a HUB Zone certified business, a Woman-Owned Small Business concern, a veteran-owned small business, or a service-disabled veteran-owned small business relative to the NAICS code and size standard listed above. Subject NAICS qualification must be verifiable in the System for Award Management (SAM). The cover letter must be signed and dated by an authorized official of the organization. The Contractor must use a font size no smaller than 10-point font, Times New Roman. Smaller type may be used in figures and tables as long as it is clearly legible. (2) Statement of Capabilities: Contractor's statement of capabilities shall address the needs outlined in the overview and response instructions. It shall not exceed 10 pages and shall use Times New Roman with font size no smaller than 10-point font. (3) Company Overview: Contractors shall also submit a PowerPoint presentation which provides a company overview that includes organization, customers, products, business base, etc. Page count is at contractor's discretion. The PowerPoint Presentation may also include narrative in the notes section of each slide. Contracting Office Address: 2640 Loop Road West WPAFB, OH 45433 William Smith C-ABSAA Contract Management Officer William.Smith11@wpafb.af.mil   This notice will not result in the issuance of a contract to any of the responders. This is for informational purposes only. The Government wants to provide information for a potential future contract action in and gain insight into existing industry capabilities. OMBUDSMAN: The AFLCMC Ombudsman is Ms. Jill Willingham. You can reach her at jill.willingham@wpafb.af.mil or at (937) 255-5472. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from potential offerors. The purpose of the Ombudsman is to receive and communicate concerns with potential offerors when an offeror prefers not to use established channels to communicate his concern during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. The Ombudsman will communicate certain offeror issues, disagreements, and recommendations on this acquisition into the proper channels. The Ombudsman's role is not to diminish the authority of the program director or the contracting officer but to advocate an offeror's concern on a non-attribution basis. The Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as the source of the concern when requested by the offeror.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/ASC/FA862014R4000/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: AFLCMC/WINK, Bldg 557, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, Dayton, Ohio, 45433, United States
- Zip Code: 45433
- Zip Code: 45433
- Record
- SN03197529-W 20130922/130920235849-2bf982490e61fd8abfc65168f9d2f2e4 (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 |