This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. All business types can respond to this RFI. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise because of contractor responses and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to reject input resulting from this request. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The Army, in developing its acquisition strategy, performance work statement, and/or other acquisition requirements documents may use the information provided. Parties responding to this RFI are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response.
The Government does not intend to pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI.
The Government is considering the use of other than full and open competition to execute this action. If you are interested in this opportunity, submit a complete response by the requested date and time.
Background:
Aerostat systems are elevated command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms equipped with a variety of payloads to fulfill force protection, operations support, communication extension, and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Aerostat systems can be employed during all phases of operations. Aerostat systems are responsive to the ground component of a joint warfighting force by providing weather dependent, persistent surveillance at operating locations throughout the operational area and directly enhancing the Commander’s situational understanding.
PD Aerostats is conducting market research to identify potential sources, technically capable and qualified, to provide life cycle support for the efforts related to the PD Aerostats family of systems (FoS) of Persistence Surveillance Systems Tethered (PSS-T) aerostats (large, medium, and tactical) and Persistent Surveillance Dissemination System of Systems. PD Aerostats’ current aerostat systems can carry multiple sensor payloads at various flight operations above ground level, based on the provided mission. In addition to continue sustainment of current Aerostat FoS, PD Aerostats is looking to identify lighter than air, tethered systems, and elevated sensors systems that are outside of these parameters for future requirements in support of international programs/foreign military sales (FMS).
RFI Response Requirements:
This is an update to the RFI Notice W56KGY23Aerostats. Previous respondents are not required to submit a new detailed response to subject RFI (unless your company desires to update its response) and are given the option to refer the Government to a prior response.
Interested parties and/or new respondents are required to respond to the RFI by answering all the attached market survey questions. All material submitted in response to this RFI must be unclassified. The response is limited to a maximum of 25 single-sided pages; 12 point Times New Roman Font; 1.0” margins.
Responses are due by 4:00PM EDT on 10 May 2024. All RFI responses should be emailed to the Contracting Officer, Jennifer Mattessino, at [email protected] and Eric Brixen at [email protected].
This RFI is for the following capabilities:
A. Aerostat FoS to include PSS-T Large, Medium, and tactical aerostats ranging from 500 cu. ft. to 80,000 cu. ft. of volume to carry multiple sensor payloads, based on the provided mission, ranging from 10 lbs. to 1,100 lbs. with flight operations ranging from 1,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. above ground level. We also encourage and will review responses of aerostat systems smaller than 500 cu. ft. and exceed 80,000 cu. ft. Current legacy payloads include:
- Radio Relay (i.e. High Altitude Radio Communications)
- Wide Area Surveillance
- Indirect fire detection, acoustic direction finder
- EO/IR (i.e. MX-15, MX-20, MX-25, CSP)
- RADAR (i.e. Vista F25, STARlight, APS142, etc.)
- Communications Intelligence (COMINT)
- Data Links (i.e. TCDL, CMDL).
B. The Government is interested in next generation of lighter than air systems, tethered systems, and elevated sensors and sensor payloads systems such as automated launch and recovery, autonomous flight and tethered operations, systems that offer significant reduction in logistic and operational footprints, as well as improve survivability and mission capabilities.
C. Design, manufacturing, engineering, testing, logistics, delivery, fielding, training, operations, and sustainment support services of a fully integrated lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor system meeting exportability requirements within the Combatant Commands in support of US Army and/or FMS programs. Respondents who can provide services, but not manufacturing, are also highly encouraged to respond. The Government is interested in respondents who can provide either full turnkey integrated lighter than air, tethered systems, and elevated sensors ISR systems, specialized subsystems, and/or services.
Approximate Award Value: $3-4 Billion.
Approximate Contract Duration: 5-10 years
Contract Type: Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Task Order Contract
Market Survey Questions:
Respondents are asked to provide a detailed reply for the following questions. When responding, please retain the outline structure provided below.
Basic Information:
Company Name:
Address:
Point of Contact:
Phone Number:
Email Address:
- What is the size of your company?
- What are your primary and secondary NAICS codes?
- Small Business Concern (Yes/No):
- Small Business Classification:
- If you are a small business under the current SB recertification regulations, do you anticipate your company remaining a small business, under primary NAICS code 541330 – Engineering Services?
Products and Services:
- What lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor related product(s), sensor systems, and/or services does your company provide? If you are not interested in all functional areas, what areas would you be interested in supporting?
- Is your lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensors related product(s), sensor systems, and/or services a commercial solution?
- Is your product export compliant and approved for foreign military sale to another country?
- Provide performance capabilities of the lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor related products and/or services of your company. Has your product gone through Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)? If so, what organization performed the IV&V, and when was it performed?
- What is your production lead times for all hardware and/or services that you provide? Discuss your production capacity/rate and ramp up capability.
- Has your company ever provided a lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor related products and/or services to the U.S Government, foreign governments, or other non-government customers, either currently or in the past? If so, by what agency, and what, if any data right assertions/technical data packages were provided or procured by the Government for that solicitation?
- Describes your company’s capability in providing full motion video (FMV) and sensor data dissemination, as well as any experience processing exploitation in dissemination (PED) and sensor command and control.
Company Background:
- Describe your company’s capability in providing lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor systems, payload systems, and/or spare packages to include all the contiguous United States (CONUS) and outside the contiguous United States (OCONUS) functions, organizational constructs, roles and responsibilities. Provide contract number(s), issuing organization, contracting officer, and contract information.
- Describe your company’s experience to manufacture, integrate, test and assemble lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor systems and sensor payloads (environmental, simulation, RF, wind tunnel, etc.). What capabilities do you have in-house and what capabilities are outsourced (i.e. aerostat envelope manufacturing – in house, mooring platform welding – outsourced)? Specify size and location.
- Do you have a facility clearance? If so, what level of clearance?
- What lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor system certifications do your employees have (i.e. sensors, subsystem components, support equipment, networking)?
Engineering:
- Describe your company’s experience to develop technical data packages in accordance with military and commercial specifications.
- Describe the process(es) used to perform sustainment engineering that address component obsolescence on similar lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor operation and mission support equipment efforts (e.g. control units for camera and radar systems, backup power supply with short shelf life, ground control station computers and peripherals, etc.).
- Describe your company’s experience testing and integrating new electronic sensors and technology on lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor platforms. Describe the process by which your company supports integration activities to include exporting hardware subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
- Describe your company’s process to provide reliability assessment for new or modified design(s) to include exporting systems to ITAR.
Quality:
- What industry standards, certifications, and/or accreditations does your company have for quality control and management (e.g. CMMI, ISO 9001, ISO 17025, NADCAP, etc.)? Provide a list of any exclusions. What tools does your company use to manage subcontractors, risk, schedule, and cost?
- Describe your system quality verification processes and standards. Once products have either been built and/or acquired from a subcontractor/vendor, how are they qualified? What tests and/or validation would be performed to ensure that the system meet specifications?
Operations, logistics, training, maintenance, and sustainment:
- Describe your company’s experience to provide qualified CONUS and OCONUS operators and maintainers for lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor system operations and sustainment.
- Discuss your company’s experience to manage the supply chain for lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor systems, to include helium supply, payload/sensors, associated support equipment and provide up to date inventory management.
- Describe your company’s process and experience to formulate sparing requirements for lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor operations sustainment.
- Describe your company’s experience to coordinate and execute CONUS, OCONUS, inter-theater, and intra-theater movement of personnel and equipment on commercial and military modes of transportation.
- Describe your company’s process for managing, transporting, and handling of hardware to include control cryptographic items and anti-tampering equipment subject to ITAR.
- Describe your company’s experience to manage repair and return maintenance programs for the lighter than air system, tethered system, or elevated sensor systems including payloads and associated support equipment and conduct field level repairs and modifications on deployed lighter than air systems, tethered systems, or elevated sensor systems. Identify types of field level repairs and modifications your company has performed.
- Describe your company’s process and experience in the development of system technical manuals, training curriculums, training, and evaluating operators for foreign military and U.S. personnel.
- Describe your company’s experience providing CONUS and OCONUS hub and site level support. Hub level support includes theater coordination, distribution and management of personnel, equipment, and system resources to support multiple remote operational lighter than air system sites, tethered systems sites, or elevated sensor sites within a region. Site level support includes: 24/7 operations, field level maintenance, manning, report and management of system site resources, training, and familiarization of system with battlespace owner.
