National Interagency Fire Center, Bureau of Land Management, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354

70 -- RESOURCE ORDERING AND STATUS SYSTEM (ROSS) PROJECT SOL R220Q970012 DUE 041897 POC Contact Point, John Gebhard, (208) 387-5164, Contracting Officer, Kay Ryan, (208) 387-5717 The Wildland Fire Agencies in the US, consisting of States, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS) are considering the joint use of an automated system to provide support for wildland fire dispatch and coordination center offices. There are approximately 200-300 dispatch/coordination centers that support the wildland fire management program. Approximately 81 are interagency centers, housing cooperating agency personnel. There are approximately 188 single agency dispatch offices located at National Parks, Native American tribes, National Forests, BLM Districts, and States and Counties. Dispatch/coordination center personnel often travel from one office to the next based on work load (wildland fire) priorities. A synopsis of the role and responsibilities of the dispatch/coordination centers is as follows. Local organizations/personnel have responsibility for responding to emergencies (including wildland fire). Local resources (under local control) are assigned various tasks in support of the emergency response. In some cases these local initial resources are insufficient to deal with the emergency. Additional help is then requested from local cooperators. If the situation continues to deteriorate, additional requests for resources may be placed with a zone or geographic area coordination center. These centers can request resources from a wider geographic area. If they are unable to provide the needed resources, requests are placed with the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) in Boise, Idaho. NICC can draw on resources located throughout North America. A system to provide automated support to interagency dispatch and coordination offices within the wildland fire organization is being considered. Procurement of a system or equipment is not intended at this point. BLM is looking for sources and gathering information such as catalogs, brochures, and product literature explaining types of systems, system features, warranty and maintenance offered. A review of all information gathered will be made to select possible sources meeting the requirement. The BLM would like to evaluate, at no cost to the Government, no more than three or four systems from the selected companies. Companies would be invited to place equipment at NICC in Boise, Idaho for a minimum one week evaluation period. Those interested in submitting catalogs, brochures, and product literature should do so by April 18, 1997, to National Interagency Fire Center, Bureau of Land Management, ATTN: John Gebhard, 3833 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705-5354. The BLM does not guarantee that a procurement action will result from the evaluation. Product literature will be screened by the following requirements that will also be used to evaluate equipment. The system should: 1) provide current status of resources available to support wildland fire activities, and 2) enable the cooperating offices to exchange and track resource order information electronically. Currently, the various dispatch and coordination centers communicate via several different electronic mail, facsimile, and telephone systems. The proposed system should address (at a minimum) the following types of resources and functions. Types of resources covered include: 1) national resources such as: a) type I crews and teams, b) type I and II helicopters, c) lead planes, d) air tankers, e) smokejumper aircraft, f) kitchens, g) infrared aircraft, and h) showers; 2) type II crews and teams, and 3) equipment (rolling stock). Functions covered include: 1) sending, receiving, and forwarding all resource orders, 2) adding, updating, and tracking resources identified above, 3) producing reports regarding resource utilization, status, and location, and 4) travel arrangements, itineraries, and tracking. Types of resources not covered are: 1) National Fire Equipment System (NFES)equipment and supplies, 2) individual overhead personnel, and 3) non-contract aircraft. Functions not coveredare: 1) compliation/distribution of situation reports, 2) designation of preparedness levels, 3) assigning/tracking accounting codes, 4) action taken once the resource is delivered to the incident. The resources that will be covered have existing protocols addressing configuration and status reporting. Miscellaneous overhead, non-contract aircraft, and NFES equipment/supplies may also be added in the requirements. The primary objectives of the proposed system should be to: 1) eliminate the need to manually re-enter resource orders from other offices, 2) obtain "near real-time" availability of resources throughout the nation, 3) allow geographic/national coordination centers to prioritize pending resource orders, 4) provide a single user interface regardless of organizational or system-specific requirements, 5) eliminate duplicative development efforts in the area of resource status and ordering, 6) share information between the cooperating offices, 7) provide accurate information to management, and 8) ensure that the system is reliable during heavy mobilization periods. (0085)

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