SOURCES SOUGHT
58 -- Spectrum Efficient Airborne Transmitter
- Notice Date
- 8/21/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334220
— Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Material Command, AFTC/PZIE - Eglin, 205 W D Ave, Bldg 350, Ste 414, Eglin AFB, Florida, 32542, United States
- ZIP Code
- 32542
- Solicitation Number
- FA2487-16-R-0043
- Archive Date
- 10/30/2015
- Point of Contact
- Craig L. O'Neill, Phone: 8508820173, Margaret Santos, Phone: 8508820166
- E-Mail Address
-
craig.oneill@us.af.mil, margaret.santos@us.af.mil
(craig.oneill@us.af.mil, margaret.santos@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. This announcement serves as a Request for Information (RFI) issued for the purpose of market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10. This RFI is issued for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid (IFB), or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with the preparation or submission of the information requested. All costs associated with responding to the RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any contractor's input resulting from this RFI. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation for proposal or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this contemplated effort. The information provided may be used by the Services in developing an acquisition strategy, a statement of work (SOW), statement of objectives (SOO), or performance specifications. Some information resulting from this RFI may eventually be included in one or more RFPs, which will be released to industry. Proprietary information should be marked. Any subsequent actions resulting from the evaluation of the information provided in response to the RFI may be synopsized at a future date. If synopsized, information detailing the specific requirements of this procurement will be included. DESCRIPTION. The 96th Range Squadron (96 RANSS/RNRE), in conjunction with the Air Force Test Center (AFTC) at Eglin AFB, FL, is seeking technical information to support the procurement of a Spectrum Efficient Airborne Transmitter (SEAT) that provides for multi-band, multi-modes (shaped offset quadrature phase shift keying [SOQPSK-TG], Advanced Range Telemetry [ARTM]-continuous phase modulation [CPM]), local/remote command/control, discrete inputs, and compliance with the IRIG 106-15 Chapter 2 Space-Time Code (STC) and Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) forward error correction required in support of airborne instrumentation requirements. The SEAT will employ LDPC and STC individually and in combination, and only with SOQPSK-TG modulation. BACKGROUND. The Air Force Test Center (AFTC/PZIE), Eglin AFB, FL, seeks potential business sources for procurement of Spectrum Efficient Airborne Transmitters. The Air Force Transition Plan at Eglin AFB requires Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry (AMT) users to vacate the frequencies auctioned in the FCC Auction 97. The frequencies auctioned for use by Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) include 1755-1780 MHz. The existing and effected AMT capability at Eglin AFB consists of three systems: 1) test article (weapons/weapon systems/aircraft) transmission systems, 2) terrestrial receiving systems, and 3) ground-based RF management systems. The test article transmission system includes a radio transmitter/antenna to transmit real-time mission critical data to the ground receiving system. The installed transmitters are currently capable of transmitting in the frequencies to be vacated. They do not incorporate efficient modulation modes, and are unable to transmit in all of the frequencies recently made available by the NTIA in Report and Order 27 April 2015. Therefore, suitable replacement transmitters are being sought. Companies providing information should provide sufficient written information to indicate their capacity and capability to successfully perform research and development of relevant systems. If firms responding to this announcement are registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), they should include company name, cage code, point of contact, address and indicate if it is a small business, 8(a) concern, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, or women-owned small business. STATEMENT OF NEED. The Statement of Need for this RFI is as follows: To mitigate the existing shortfalls of the installed transmitters and enable effective vacating of the auctioned frequencies, the Air Force is seeking replacement airborne transmitters that are spectrally efficient and designed not to operate in the vacated frequencies. A comprehensive draft Technical Requirements Document (TRD) is available, but will exclusively be available to DoD contractors certified under the Defense Logistic Agencies (DLA)'s Joint Certification Program (JCP). Certification under the JCP establishes the eligibility of a U.S. or Canadian contractor to technical data governed, in the U.S., by DoD Directive 5230.25 and, in Canada, by the Technical Data Control Regulations (TDCR). A certification is required by U.S. or Canadian contractors that wish to obtain access to unclassified technical data disclosing militarily critical technology with military or space application that is under the control of, or in the possession of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) or the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND). Contractors must submit a DD Form 2345 to the U.S./Canada Joint Certification Office, along with a copy of the company's State/Provincial License, Incorporation Certificate, Sales Tax Identification Form or other documentation which verifies the legitimacy of the company. Comments on the draft TRD are being sought from interested qualified vendors for the purposes of clarification of the government's requirements. For copies of the TRD, contact the Contract Specialist identified below with proof of certification. Respondents should provide the following information: A. Company name, mailing address, cage code, DUNS number, point of contact (POC), POC telephone number and e- mail address. B. Business size status (i.e. 8(a), HUBZone, Woman/Women Owned or Service Disabled Veteran-Owned, small business, large business, etc.). C. Company and product literature describing the performance parameters of existing and future products with statement of current availability, a budgetary estimate of test articles, production units, production quantity breaks and lead times. D. Statement of data rights and abilities to openly interface with other products, which permit possibilities for procuring and sustaining this effort on a non-sole source basis. E. Statement of the type of environmental testing that has been performed on the system. F. Requirements for verification of testing results and conduction of testing per the Range approved sequence G. Capabilities and facilities to provide Spares, Non-Warranty Repair, Refurbishment, Upgrades, Lowest Replaceable Unit (LRU), and Installation Kits along with associate lead times. H. Statement of obsolescence milestones for availability of production articles, spare parts and firmware updates. I. Availability, cost, and terms and conditions for warranties in existing and future products. J. Statement of domestic and/or foreign locations for depot level repairs by the Original Equipment Manufacturer. K. Experience in developing systems of this type, description of the technical capabilities in regard to the transmitter systems, and capability to responding to the statement of need. L. Capability of providing qualified and experienced personnel, with appropriate clearances, if required. M. Past Performance. Do you have past performance as a prime contractor or subcontractor developing systems that meet similar requirements? If so, please provide the following information: Contract number, Name of Government Agency or Commercial Entity, Period of Performance, Dollar Value, Type of Contract (Fixed Price, Cost Reimbursement, etc.), and an explanation of products provided as they relate to this Statement of Need. If your firm acted as a subcontractor or joint venture, name the prime contractor or other party, the specific work performed and percentage. N. Does your company have the financial capability and financial stability, and/or adequate lines of credit to sustain and support a five-year multiyear contract at one or more locations, in the event there are difficulties with invoice payments? Do you have an approved accounting system in place to adequately track expenditures? O. Do you anticipate any type of teaming arrangement for this requirement? If yes, please address what kind of arrangement and what percentage of work, and type(s) of service would you perform. P. The TRD should be considered to be in draft form. The government is seeking input in the form of suggestions and comments to improve the TRD completeness and usefulness. In particular the list of mnemonics is drafted based on existing standards which themselves are incomplete for the functionality called out in the TRD. The governments seeks standardization in its approach to fulfill its requirement, therefore suggested changes should also consider available commercial and military standards. Q. The TRD has a compliancy matrix associated with it that mirrors the government's requirements. Vendors are requested to complete the matrix based on their product's capability in meeting the TRD requirements. The matrix data will be used to aid the government in its acquisition decisions. R. Is the requirement readily available in the commercial environment? What is the projected timeline for its commerciality? What modifications would it take to make it commercially available? This RFI is not a request for proposal and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Proprietary information should be marked. Please provide electronic copies of all submitted product literature. The government will use this information, in addition to other information obtained, to determine its small business set-aside decision. Any information provided by industry to the Government is voluntary. The Air Force may contact a respondent for more information or clarification purposes. The Air Force does not commit to contacting a respondent or providing any feedback on a response. The Air Force does not intend to issue any findings or reports outside the Air Force resulting from the RFI. Responses to this RFI will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. The Air Force Responses are due no later than 9:00 AM (CST) on 5 October 2015 via e-mail to the Primary POC. Questions and responses should be addressed to the Primary POC Mr. Craig O'Neill, via email, to craig.oneill@us.af.mil. Alternate POC is Ms. Margaret Santos, Contracting Officer, margaret.santos@us.af.mil. INDUSTRY DAY. The Eglin AFB Air Force Test Center will be hosting an Industry Day to obtain industry feedback associated with the initiative for the 96th Range Squadron (96 RANSS/RNRE). We welcome collaboration with industry to critically review our requirements and discuss mutual issues and concerns relative to our technical requirements and acquisition strategy approach. The event will commence with a public brief program overview, and it will be followed by private one-on-one presentations and discussion sessions with government representatives. A special notice will be posted on FBO in the near future with details. If your company is interested in participating in the subject Industry Day, please contact the Contract Specialist listed below. Primary Point of Contact: Craig O'Neill Contract Specialist craig.oneill@us.af.mil Phone: (850) 882 - 0173 Secondary Point of Contact: Margaret Santos Contracting Officer margaret.santos@us.af.mil Phone: (850) 882-0166 Contracting Office Address: AFTC/PZIE 205 W. D. Avenue, Bldg 350 Eglin AFB, FL 32542 United States
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/d29dd1267d7e9d8f96413c1a80ab574a)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Eglin AFB, Florida, 32542, United States
- Zip Code: 32542
- Zip Code: 32542
- Record
- SN03849633-W 20150823/150821235126-d29dd1267d7e9d8f96413c1a80ab574a (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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