INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION IN THE ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS CENTER'S FORT FRANKLIN FIELD EXPERIMENTS Captain Robert E. Walbridge, Contact, 617-271-4731. ESC/XR, 50 Griffiss St., Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-2121. The Air Force is seeking to expedite the transfer of commercially available technology (e.g., COTS, and NDI derivatives) into operational capabilities available to the Joint warfighter. The Electronic Systems Center (ESC) of the Air Force Material Command (AFMC) is seeking vendor participation in a series of interoperability field experiments which are intended to identify potential sources of computing, communications, and networking technologies and/or existing products which will measurably improve Air Force capabilities to support Joint warfighting. These experiments will be conducted within a context of existing AF baseline capabilities established and operated for this purpose, and referred to as Fort Franklin. Participation will involve vendor inspection of Fort Franklin facilities and capabilities followed by the submission of proposed vendor experiments, and then their selection and scheduled execution. Selection and scheduling of vendor experiments will be in accordance with guidelines established by the Air Force Fort Franklin Engineering Team (AF3ET). Experiments will be conducted cooperatively by vendor and Air Force supplied personnel as mutually agreed. Equipment, software and procedures beyond those available at Fort Franklin and necessary for the conduct of vendor experiments will be the responsibility of the vendor. Fort Franklin is an evolving Air Force effort to better integrate and make interoperable existing and recently developed Air Force capabilities in a realistic field environment, and to identify potential enhancements or alternatives based on technology developments outside existing Air Force programs. The third in a continuing series of field experiments will be conducted from 1 May 95 to 16 May 95 at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts. The days of 15 and 16 May have been reserved for vendor inspection of the capabilities represented in the current Fort Franklin baseline. The fourth in the series of Fort Franklin field experiments is scheduled to be coincident with conduct of Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, 1995 (JWID 95) in the August to September 1995 time frame. Subsequent iterations are planned. Fort Franklin is intended to be the center of participation for the Air Force in JWID 95. Proposals for the conduct of vendor experiments in Fort Franklin subsequent to the May time frame should be submitted to the AF3ET in the form of a three to five page white paper describing the intent of the vendor's proposed experiments, the portions of the Fort Franklin baseline to be utilized, and the vendor's technologies and/or products to be employed. Vendors selected for participation will be required to supply on site technical representation, equipment, and software consistent with their proposals and at their expense. The appropriate formalization of participation will be agreed with each selected vendor. It is anticipated the Government will retain ``Government purpose license rights'' in any technical data jointly created during Fort Franklin experiments. Fort Franklin utilizes both classified and unclassified networks. Access the Fort Franklin on 15 and 16 May will not require DoD clearances. Vendors selected for subsequent participation will require a level of DoD clearance consistent with their experiments to participate. This is not an RFP, no contract award will be made as a result of this RFI. Vendor participation in Fort Franklin is at no charge to the Government. All vendor supplied equipment and software employed in Fort Franklin will remain the property of the vendor. Any Government assessments of Fort Franklin experiments involving a participating vendor's equipment, software, and/or procedures will be available to that vendor. The Air Force intends to employ a mixture of operational and technical personnel to conduct experiments at Fort Franklin. Vendors may choose to participate individually, or in collaboration with other vendors.

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