U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Acquisition Center -- Washington Operations Office, 2461 Eisenhower Ave., Alexandria, VA 22331-0700

A -- MOBILE DETECTION ASSESSMENT RESPONSE SYSTEM-EXTERIOR SOL DAAB15-99-R-MDAR POC Terri White, (703) 325-6172 WEB: Army Business Opportunities Page, http://abop.monmouth.army.mil. E-MAIL: Technical POC for ABOP, wmcala@hoffman-issaa2.army.mil. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). The purpose of this announcement is to request identification of potential sources from industry for the Army's pending Mobile Detection Assessment Response System -- Exterior (MDARS-E) acquisition. MDARS-E consists of an exterior patrol unit with Mission Payload Suite (MPS) and Differential Global Positioning System. The MDARS-E procurement will be managed by the materiel developer, the Office of the Product Manager, Physical Security Equipment (PM-PSE), at Fort Belvoir, VA. The U.S. Army Military Police School (USAMPS) is the combat developer. The MDARS-E is a subsystem of the MDARS. The MDARS program will integrate the MDARS-Interior (MDARS-I) for interior environments, such as warehouses, and the MDARS-E designed to operate in exterior environments, such as materiel storage yards, arsenals, petroleum storage areas, airfields, rail yards, and port facilities. Future versions of the MDARS-I and -E will operate in conjunction with fixed Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). The major components of the MDARS are: the MDARS Control Station (MCS), the MDARS-I Remote Platform Vehicle (RPV) with MPS for which an Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) contract has been awarded, and the (MDARS-E) exterior patrol unit with MPS and Differential Global Positioning System. On 30 April 1999 a contract was awarded for the MDARS-I to enter EMD. The MDARS-E program follows MDARS-I in development by about a year and one-half. Like MDARS-I, MDARS-E involves the mission area of physical security. High dollar value and critical US assets in external storage sites may be vulnerable to an intruder or saboteur intending to deprive the US of these assets. The objective of MDARS-E is to protect these assets by providing commanders with a highly secure, standardized, semi-autonomous IDS using robotics technology. MDARS-E will introduce exterior patrol units employing a suite of sensors that is controlled by a control station that houses monitoring and annunciation equipment programmed with artificial intelligence. MDARS-E will satisfy an immediate Army requirement for a semi-autonomous mobile capability for patrolling physical security sites at Department of Defense (DoD) installations. Without operator intervention other than system initiation, the patrol unit will automatically move randomly to and throughout designated patrol areas in exterior environments primarily during non-duty hours. While on random patrol, the patrol unit will semi-autonomously conduct surveillance, check for intruders, conduct product inventory, and check the status of facility barriers, such as gate and bunker/container doors. Operator's input from the control station will be required only if an intruder is detected or the patrol unit encounters a situation it is not programmed to handle. If the MDARS-E patrol unit detects an intruder, the video link to the control station will be activated and an audio/visual alarm will be annunciated at the control station. The security officer will be able to see, hear, and talk to the intruder as well as send the patrol unit to a location where the intruder might be hiding. The exterior patrol units: (1) detect intruders, (2) read the status of locks on storage structures (open or closed), and (3) determine the status of inventoried items through the use of specialized Radio Frequency (RF) transponder tags. MDARS-E also will interface with RF/Microwave and Hardwire/Fiber Optic communication networks. Functional users of MDARS-E are supply and maintenance activities of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Approximately 18 depots are currently planned for operational deployment of MDARS-E. MDARS-E will be operated by Department of Defense (DoD) security and law enforcement units. To date MDARS-E has undergone Program Definition and Risk Reduction, which has resulted in development of brassboard models. The next phase of MDARS-E is EMD, which will verify producibility of the MDARS-E system. The optional Production and fielding phase will follow the EMD phase. The MDARS-E production patrol unit will be equipped with features such as collision avoidance, intruder detection and assessment, barrier assessment, and product inventory subsystems. The patrol unit will respond to and communicate with the MDARS control station that uses the Government-developed Multiple Resource Host Architecture (MRHA) command and control software. Associated support equipment for the MDARS-E include (a) Remote Product and Barrier Assessment Items, (b) Communications Relay/Repeaters, (c) Navigation Aids, and (d) Hand-held control units. Initially, logistics support and maintenance for MDARS-E will be provided by the production contractor or separate contractual agreements at the installation level. The MDARS-E contractor will be required to coordinate hardware and software interfaces and services (installation, training, maintenance and documentation) with the MDARS-I contractor. In the interest of acquisition streamlining, the Government's draft acquisition strategy will be to combine the EMD phase with options for the Production phase in a single solicitation and contract. The EMD phase will be Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) and will be about 2 years in duration. The optional Production phase will contain Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity ordering provisions and consists of Labor-Hour, Firm Fixed Price, and Fixed-Price Incentive-Successive Target CLINs. The Production phase will be up to five years in duration. The maximum value of the Production phase is 80 systems/sites. Total contract life will not exceed 7 years. Offerors will be required to propose fixed prices for non-developmental items and ceiling prices for developmental items. Fixed prices for developmental items will be negotiated after completion of First Article Test (FAT). The source selection will be Best Value and will use a Tradeoff process. In preparation for the release of the MDARS-E Request for Proposal (RFP), the Government is seeking sources from industry for the acquisition discussedin this announcement. The MDARS-E Draft Specification (ESPEC.PDF) and "Sources Sought" questionnaire (QUESTIONS.DOC) are posted on the Army Business Opportunities Page (ABOP) at "http://abop.monmouth.army.mil/". Click on "Army Business Opportunities", then select "CECOM/USA Communications and Electronics Command" from the drop down menu. These documents are downloadable and are posted as a "Request for Information (RFI)" session. This announcement is identified on the ABOP as "MDARS-E, DAAB15-99-R-MDAR, Pre-Solicitation." Click on the "Yellow" folder to access the MDARS-E draft documents. Questionnaire responses to this announcement are to be submitted as an attached Word (6.0/95 or greater) or PDF file via email to wmcala@hoffman-issaa2.army.mil. Your email response should also include: Vendor name, Company address, email address and Company Web Site address. Responses for the "Sources Sought" questionnaire are due no later than 30 days from the date of this announcement. Responses can also be submitted in hard copy, and if available, video (VHS format) can be sent to: Product Manager, Physical Security Equipment, ATTN: AMSEL-DSA-PSE (Mr. Jerry Edwards), 5900 Putman Road, Suite 1, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia 22060-5420. Questions concerning this announcement may be submitted electronically to twhite@hoffman-issaa2.army.mil. See also the MDARS-E RFI CBD announcement dated 7 Jul 99. Posted 07/09/99 (W-SN352115). (0190)

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