SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Weather System Follow-On, Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) (WSF-E) System Request for Information (RFI) - Atch. 1 - Systems Characteristics Table
- Notice Date
- 11/27/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 336414
— Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Space Command, SMC - Space and Missile Systems Center, 483 North Aviation Blvd, El Segundo, California, 90245-2808
- ZIP Code
- 90245-2808
- Solicitation Number
- WSF-E
- Archive Date
- 3/27/2018
- Point of Contact
- Joseph M. Misch, Phone: (310) 653-4764, Yvette S. Byrd, Phone: (310) 653-3305
- E-Mail Address
-
joseph.misch.1@us.af.mil, yvette.byrd@us.af.mil
(joseph.misch.1@us.af.mil, yvette.byrd@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Atch. 1 - Systems Characteristics Table Request for Information (RFI): •1) 1) Purpose - This is a Request for Information (RFI) for planning purposes only. The United States Air Force (USAF) Weather System Follow-On (WSF) program within the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Remote Sensing Systems Directorate (RS) is performing market research to identify capable industry sources with full system solutions to meet anticipated Department of Defense (DoD) Space-Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) requirements for cloud characterization (CC) and theater weather imagery (TWI). The system solutions will consist of a space segment, containing cost effective, space-based Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) Sun-synchronous Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) sensor(s) with real-time data broadcast capabilities, integrated with a to be determined (TBD) DoD, civil, or commercial ground segment. SMC/RS seeks to receive information that will further clarify the industrial base landscape so that the Government can consider developing a solicitation in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.1, Full and Open Competition. 2) Background - The DoD relies on a Family of Systems (FoS) for its SBEM data consisting of military, civil, and allied international systems. The EO/IR FoS provides CC and TWI coverage, as well as other environmental information. The EO/IR FoS architecture requires five Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites and three LEO Sun-synchronous satellites. Current LEO satellites Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), Polar Orbiting Environmental System (POES), Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP), Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), and MetOp are providing global EO/IR coverage to meet refresh requirements. WSF-E plans to procure a full space and ground system solution to mitigate a potential gap in LEO EO/IR coverage in the early morning orbit with an Initial Launch Capability (ILC) of FY24. 3 ) General Program Assumptions a) Technical Assumptions i) Capability Need Definitions (1) Cloud Characterization (CC) is the measurement to support the determination of cloud cover and cloud top temperature. CC enables the characterization of cloud cover and cloud layers for optimization of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission planning and execution including refueling, air sovereignty alert missions, and other missions requiring cloud specification and forecasting. The CC anticipated Key Performance Parameter (KPP) consists of specific measurement accuracy and uncertainty of pixel-level cloud cover and cloud top temperature respectively, latency, refresh rate, and coverage area attributes. For CC, the WSF-E prime contractor will deliver operational software, validated algorithms, and documentation to allow the weather centers and direct readout terminals to produce processed CC mission data. (2) Cloud detection comprises the identification of a cloud in a sensor's native observation resolution or pixel to an accuracy of 90% for day conditions and 80% for night, day defined for cloud detection as being when the solar zenith angle is 85 degrees or less (see Table 1 below). (3) Cloud top temperature is the temperature at the top of the cloud, to be determined with an uncertainty less than 6 Kelvin (K) for opaque/thick clouds and 11 K for non-opaque/thin clouds (see Table 1 below). (4) Theater Weather Imagery (TWI) capability, for DoD operations, is defined as the ability to properly identify meteorological features such as clouds, fog, thunderstorms, sand storms, dust storms, frontal systems, squalls, etc. TWI enables Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) personnel to effectively support the planning and execution of military operations. Military decision makers use TWI information for tactical and operational level situational awareness and forecasting across the full spectrum of conflict, specifically for resource protection, mission planning, and execution to include strike, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), tactical drop, and other missions impacted by weather. Joint Force and Joint Task Force commanders rely on this information to make critical decisions on protecting DoD assets and to anticipate, mitigate, and exploit METOC impacts. (5) Imagery is a regular and prescribed two dimensional array of locally averaged in-band radiances, or a corresponding array of reflectances (reflective bands) or Equivalent Block Body Temperatures (emissive bands), at the top of the atmosphere as measured in the direction of the viewing sensor. (a) Imagery, at a minimum, must support manual analysis from a suitably trained meteorologist to determine the location of clouds, thunderstorms, fog, sand storms, and dust storms day and night (b) The imagery must also be sufficient to identify the above in low light (terminator) conditions (i) Sensor must account for stray light conditions ii) System Capability Assumptions (1) Class B Mission Assurance in accordance with TOR-2011(8591)-21, Mission Assurance Guidelines for A-D Mission Risk Classes. Tailoring will be done to SMC compliance standards/documents, potentially using a commercially available spacecraft. (2) 5 year on-orbit design life, commencing with the post orbit insertion and activation of the sensor, which includes the early orbit checkout and ends with the commencement of Space Vehicle (SV) disposal operations. The SV reliability shall be greater than or equal to 0.70 at the end of required minimum on-orbit design life. (3) Spacecraft and sensors may be operated by the Air Force (AF) via Enterprise Ground Services (EGS) or an industry identified cost effective ground system. (4) EO/IR data will be unclassified but encrypted using National Security Agency (NSA) approved encryption. WSF-E Telemetry, Tracking, and Commanding (TT&C) transmissions will be protected with NSA Type 1 encryption and transmission security algorithms. (5) Minimum of one downlink per orbit required based on < 120 minute latency (a) If WSF-E opts to use NOAA's Common Ground System (CGS) for data recovery, data must be made free and open if recovered at Svalbard or McMurdo - treaty compliance (b) Also at least one contact for TT&C and state of health determination per day (6) WSF-E assumed to fly in a low-light or near "terminator" orbit (a) Day/night boundary defined as a solar zenith angle of 75 - 85 degrees depending on the product (7) Maneuvers are expected for orbit station keeping, sensor calibration, and mission termination deorbit (8) Energetic Charged Particles (ECP) sensor to be hosted on the SV, with ECP sensor data to be included in SV telemetry and state of health (interface information can be provided upon request). iii) Data Availability Assumptions (1) 95% of data available no later than (NLT) 120 minutes from imaging (2) DMSP legacy ground system will not be available for use (current Government OV-1 may be requested if needed). (3) S or L band frequencies for direct readout broadcast and TT&C, dual band support for Space Ground Link Subsystem (SGLS) and Unified S-Band (USB) (4) X/Ka band frequencies for stored mission data downlink with TBD ground station/space network b) Programmatic Assumptions i) The following is expected to be included in a potential solicitation: (1) Contract Authority to Proceed (ATP) in first quarter, FY20 (2) Space Segment (Bus/Hosting Opportunity, Payload, and Launch Vehicle Adapter) (3) Flight Vehicle/Sensor Testbed (4) Ground solutions for TT&C and mission data recovery (5) Mission Data Processing software (6) Mission Unique Software necessary for spacecraft command/control and data decommutation (7) Mission Integration (a) SV Integration (b) Launch Vehicle Integration (c) Integration with Ground TT&C software (d) Integration of mission data into existing weather processing systems at weather centers (8) Launch and Early On-Orbit Test support (9) Calibration and Validation support (10) Initial launch capability (ILC) NLT FY24 (11) Launch Services will be provided by the Government (12) A potential contract may include an option for a second space system. (13) Identify key cost factors in achieving specified mission life. c) Other Assumptions i) This LEO solution will be part of a FoS such that the global refresh will be 4 hours or less over at least 75% of the globe ii) re-existing software for producing Environmental Data Records (EDRs) for cloud characterization and imagery could be made available to industry upon request of the eventual provider. iii) Current Air Force Ground systems may not meet mission data recovery performance needs. iv) GPS M-code transponder will be required v) The anticipated system performance requirements are captured in Table 1 below Table 1. Anticipated Performance Requirements for CC and TWI Attributes (see definitions below) Target Value for CC Target Value for TWI Coverage Global Global Horizontal Spatial Resolution < 1 km (edge of scan) < 1 km (edge of scan) Refresh < 12 Hours < 12 hours Latency < 120 min < 120 min Timeliness < 10 min < 10 min Cloud Cover Accuracy 90% day, 80% night N/A Cloud Top Temperature Uncertainty 6 Kelvin (K) (Thick), 11K (Thin) N/A Definitions of performance requirement attributes: Global Coverage: Global coverage denotes the observation of all points on the Earth at least once per given time period. Horizontal Spatial Resolution (HSR): HSR is expressed as x km by y km, where x is the length of the Effective Field of View (EFOV) along its major axis and y is the width of the EFOV along its minor axis. This is an end-to-end number, from scene radiance collected by the sensor to calibrated radiances provided as SDRs. Refresh: Refresh (i.e., revisit) is the time interval between successive collections of data from the same geographical point on the surface of the earth. Latency: The maximum time from data acquisition over any given point on earth until delivery of the collected raw sensor data to the weather centers. For DoD direct readout terminals, the time, starting when the WSF-E satellite is in line-of-sight of the terminal, until delivery of the raw sensor data to the DoD direct readout terminal. Timeliness: The maximum time from raw data receipt at the ground downlink location to the product's delivery at the weather center's security boundary. For direct readout terminals, the maximum time from raw data receipt to the availability of products. Accuracy: Accuracy is the magnitude of the difference between the mean estimated value of a parameter and its true value. This estimate may be the result of a direct measurement, an indirect measurement, or an algorithmic derivation. Uncertainty: Uncertainty is defined as the root-mean-square (RMS) of the measurement errors for an estimated parameter. This estimate may be the result of a direct measurement, an indirect measurement, or an algorithmic derivation. The measurement uncertainty is based on a set of estimates satisfying the following two conditions: (1) The set is large enough so that the sample size error (see definition) in the measurement uncertainty is much smaller than the specified measurement uncertainty value. (2) The true value of the parameter is the same for all estimates in the set. 4 ) Response Content - Interested prime contractors must submit a Statement of Capability (SOC) in the form of a briefing that responds to Section 3, General Program Assumptions. The Government will only consider discussions with integrated contractor teams capable of meeting the complete scope of the contract. The Government will not facilitate or direct partnerships. The Government's intent is to have each contractor team present their SOC briefing during One-on-One sessions. a) Company Information: Company Name Company's ownership and other relevant information Personnel/Business size classification (Small/Large Business, HUB, veteran, etc.) Mailing address Point of Contact (POC) including e-mail and telephone numbers b) Statement of Capability (SOC) - All interested vendors who are capable of performing as the Prime Contractor for WSF-E to meet the USAF needs shall submit a SOC. The USAF is interested in opportunities that will meet the aforementioned need dates and improve affordability. SOCs must include the following information: i) Statement of interest to perform as the WSF-E Prime Contractor. ii) Corporate Capabilities and Experience - Describe work your company has performed and company expertise which is relevant to the role of WSF-E Prime Contractor. Also provide the following: (1) History with space-based EO/IR payloads, space vehicles, ground systems/software, and systems integration (2) History as a Prime Contractor of similar size contracts and technical complexity. (3) Relevant products and services (4) Subcontractors' capabilities, products, and services iii) Technical Solution - Describe your company's technical solution to deliver a system solution that addresses all of the Government's assumptions and meets all technical requirements in Table 1 of the RFI. Include estimated technology readiness levels (TRLs) of subsystems, and the aggregated system. Include technical risk mitigation strategies for lower TRL systems. Additionally, to the best of your ability, please fill out the tables in the attached document for your expected design and capability. iv) Cost - Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate. (1) Identify cost drivers, cost tradeoffs, and assumptions (2) Identify cost estimates at the subsystem Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) level, to include non-recurring and recurring engineering. Do not include fee or profit. (3) Identify any source lines of code (SLOC) count assumptions used to estimate software development costs (4) Identify and quantify lifecycle cost saving initiatives v) Schedule - Provide a schedule from ATP to end of life (EOL) with its confidence level. Please identify primary, secondary, and tertiary critical paths. vi) Contract Type Consideration - Respondents are to identify preferred contract type and incentives with justification •1) 5) One-on-One Sessions - The Government intends to host One-on-One sessions as part of this RFI. One-on-Ones will allow each capable company the opportunity to individually present their submitted SOC briefing concerning their ability to provide solutions to meet the USAF's needs and allow Government Subject Matter Expert (SME) teams to assess submitted SOC presentations. a) Date - 20 Dec 2017 - 21 Dec 2017 b) Location - Tecolote Research Inc. (2120 E. Grand Ave, Suite 200, El Segundo, CA 90245) c) Format - Individual contractor presentation (1 hour), Government-only discussion (30 min), and Q&A (1 hour). The total number of attendees each company may bring to the One-on-One Sessions is limited to five (5) representatives (technical and executive-level representation is desired). One-on-One presentations shall be kept at the UNCLASSIFIED level to the highest extent possible. d) Registration - Requests for one-on-one sessions must be submitted by email to Capt Joseph Misch and Ms. Yvette Byrd by 15 December 2017 via email. Meetings will be scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis. Visit requests for Tecolote Research must be sent by 12:00 PM (Pacific Time) on 19 December 2017. •1) 6) Small Business Consideration - The NAICS code for this effort is 336414 "Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing". The Small Business size standard is 1,250 employees. Participation from small and small disadvantaged businesses is highly encouraged. SMC's Small Business points of contact are Mr. Willard Strozier and Ms. Audrey Campbell. They can be reached at smallbus@us.af.mil. •1) 7) Response Submittal Instructions : a) Response Classification - All material provided in response to this notice shall be kept UNCLASSIFIED, non-confidential, and non-proprietary to the maximum extent practicable. Firms providing confidential/proprietary information shall separately and clearly identify and mark all confidential/proprietary information. The USAF will take all necessary steps to protect/safeguard any confidential/proprietary information provided. The USAF will NOT be held responsible for any proprietary information not clearly marked. b) Response Format - Responses shall be provided to the POCs identified above as a PDF briefing package. White papers will not be accepted. The USAF will not accept company literature or marketing materials in response to this notice. c) Submission Instructions - Submit SOCs to the POCs identified above prior to the due date. Hard copy responses will not be accepted. d) Response Due Date - Responses are due NO LATER THAN 12:00 PM (Pacific Time) on 15 December 2017. 8) Communications and Questions - All communications and questions associated with this RFI shall be submitted in writing to Primary and Secondary POCs listed below. All Unclassified/Non-Proprietary question and answers will be published to the Federal Business Opportunities website on a non-attributional basis. a) Questions - All questions submitted prior to 12:00 PM (Pacific Time) on 01 December 2017 will be responded to prior to the RFI response date. Questions and answers will be consolidated and posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website. b) Points of Contacts: Primary POC: Capt Joseph Misch, Contracting Officer joseph.misch.1@us.af.mil, (310) 653-4764 Secondary POC: Ms. Yvette Byrd, Contract Specialist yvette.byrd@us.af.mil, (310) 653-3305 c) Disclaimers and Notes - THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotations) or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This notice does not commit the USAF to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Furthermore, the USAF is not, at this time, seeking proposals. Responders are advised that the USAF will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. The Government will not assume liability for costs incurred by any attendee for travel expenses or marketing efforts. All costs associated with responding to this notice will be solely at the responding party's expense. d) The following companies/organizations may review the submitted responses and may be in attendance at the One-on-One Sessions: The Aerospace Corporation, Linquest Corporation, Scitor Corporation, TASC an Engility Company, Tecolote Research, Quantech and Integrity Applications Incorporated -- all are bound by appropriate non-disclosure agreements with the USAF. For further information regarding these agreements, contact the Contracting Officer identified above.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFSC/SMCSMSC/WSF-E/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD, United States
- Record
- SN04748696-W 20171129/171127230606-96ca5273344aa22dbb55e14084a50fb2 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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