Airborne Optical Change Detection System

This Request for Information (RFI) announcement is for informational and planning purposes only. It does not constitute a solicitation and is not to be considered as a commitment by the Government. All firms responding to this RFI are advised that their response to this notice is not a request that will be considered for contract award. This is strictly market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10. The intent of this notice is to determine the availability of qualified sources that may be technically capable of providing the requirements described herein this notice. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code contemplated for this acquisition is 488190, Other Support Activities for Air Transportation. The small business size standard for NAICS Code 488190 is $32.5M. The United States Army Contracting Command Orlando, Florida, has a requirement for flight services providing mature/proven Airborne Optical Change Detection System to detect Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and IED emplacement activity from survivable altitudes of 15,000 feet Above Ground Level or greater. The desired system should include an Electro-Optical/Infrared (IR) step-stare and/or scanning capability that provides day & night imagery at 2-3" Ground Sampling Distance, near-real time change detection processing to provide IED emplacement nomination reports, and long and short range digital data links to provide high resolution Black & White, color, or IR full motion video products to the Warfighter. In support of the effort, Fixed Wing Program Office Redstone will provide continued technical and logistics support to this deployed system. In addition, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate will continue to develop, test, and potentially deploy upgraded system components and new technologies to support the counter-IED effort. Significant contractor support resources will be required to execute these efforts. The Government owns and furnishes the mission equipment package (MEP) (excluding 3rd party proprietary change detection software), ground control stations, military unique avionics and cryptographic requirements supporting flight operations in theater. The contractor shall own and operate the basic aircraft, the commercial communication suite, the System Integration Laboratory, and the training facility. Contractor responsibilities include providing a turn-key solution that includes Contractor Owned/ Contractor Operated (COCO) aircraft, flight operations, air and ground crew, logistics support, systems integration, analysts, material and equipment, to include any necessary sensors and camera system. Also, contractor shall be responsible for Test and Evaluation of aircraft and equipment in support of an airworthiness release certification, and risk management framework certification in support of Authority to Operate within the Continental United States (CONUS) and Outside Continental United States (OCONUS). Two primary levels of support required for this effort include flight operations and maintenance operations to operate up to 330 flight hours per month and maintain a Fully Mission Capable rate of 85% for 24/7/365 operations. The contractor is required to have a facility clearance of TOP SECRET (TS) and SECRET level of safeguarding. All deployed contractor personnel shall have or obtain a SECRET level clearance prior to actual deployment. Select contractor personnel will require a TS/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) security clearance. Performance will take place primarily at OCONUS deployed locations in United States Central Command Areas of Responsibility. CONUS performance will take place at the contractor and subcontractor facilities, and Government testing sites. Any interested parties would be required to provide all of the necessary equipment, personnel and technical/logistical. There are no duplicates available for system integration of replacement change detection capabilities. The current contract, W900KK-18-C-0009, was awarded on 23 January 2018 as a Firm Fixed Price contract with two six-month options in the amount of $75,266,150.00. RESPONSES REQUESTED: If you are a small business interested in being the prime contractor for this effort, please be advised that the FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting clause has changed. Deviation 2019-O0003 is now in effect which adds the definition of - Similarly Situated Entity and changes the 50% calculation for compliance with the clause. Small business primes may now count - first tier subcontracted work performed by similarly situated entities as if it were performed by the prime itself. Please read the full text of the clause deviation (52.219-14 Class Deviation 2019-O0003 dates 12/3/18 at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vmfara.htm ). To assist in our market research and determination of any applicable small business set-aside for this effort, if you are a small business interested in priming this effort and plan to utilize - similarly situated entities to meet the Limitation on Subcontracting, please identify the name & CAGE Code of the specific firm(s) you intend to partner/subcontract with to meet the requirements as well as their SB size status under the NAICS that you as the prime would assign for their workshare. Information regarding any planned similarly situated entity should be included in answering any questions outlined in the SSN in order to assist the Government's capability determination. The Government is interested in receiving meaningful feedback on the aforementioned requirements description. Interested sources that possess the technical capability and resources to fulfill the Government's requirements stated herein are invited to provide a Capability Statement consisting of Volume I- Management and Volume II Technical. Format shall be Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Font size shall NOT be smaller than ten (10)-point Times New Roman or Arial. Corresponding Volume should include the following: Management Volume (5 Page limitation): 1. Company name, CAGE code, address, point of contact, phone number, e-mail address, and business size (if small, please indicate any socioeconomic classification (8(a), HUB-Zone, Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned, Veteran-Owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, small business') that applies. 2. Has your company performed this type of effort or similar type effort (to include size and complexity) in the past? If so provide Contract Number, Point of Contact (POC), e-mail address, phone number and a brief description of your direct support of the effort. 3. Do you plan to prime? Does your company possess the capabilities to provide the entire range of services called for in this announcement? 4. Identify and describe your company's experience in preparing personnel for deployment, ability to comply with Army deployment requirements and management of deployed personnel with regards to operational readiness. Technical Volume (25 Page limitation): 1. A brief description of the company's experience/ ability of modifying aircraft and integration of mission equipment. 2. Describe your company's capability to provide logistics support to meet the requirement including, sensor systems, communication systems, data links, aircraft survival system, etc. so as to maintain a daily operational availability rate of 85% or greater. 3. Describe your company's capability to transport equipment to/from deployment sites, to include International Traffic in ARMS Regulations (ITAR) and U.S. and OCONUS customs requirements. 4. Describe your company's capability to conduct and expedite repairs to aircraft, mission system components to include hardware/software. 5. Describe your company's experience with change detection architecture, to be able to expeditiously troubleshoot and correct malfunctioning systems. 6. Describe your company's capability to maintain configuration management of hardware and software architecture. 7. Describe your proposed material solution to the above requirement. Please address system architecture encompassing aircraft/ Mission Equipment, data links, and Processing Exploitation and Dissemination solution. Provide sensor specification and performance information to include mission profiles and GSD at minimum required altitude. Provide justification of Technology Readiness Level 7 or greater, to include any relevant operational support and experience. A detailed technical approach and capabilities will be required at time of proposal with material solutions in hand and not in development. No Government Furnished Equipment or material will be supplied to support replies to this RFI. If your firm believes it can satisfy this requirement based on the conditions identified above, reply to this announcement with the rationale to allow your firm to be included in the anticipated Request For Proposal. All interested inquiries will be considered. All questions regarding this RFI, please submit to - SUBMISSION: Submit Request For Information responses and comments via email by Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., EST to the following email addresses: sean.j.johnson2.civ@mail.mil patricia.c.soucy.civ@mail.mil