Cloud-Based Platform for Screening System Data Sharing Consortium (SSDSC) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL)

Cloud-Based Platform for Screening System Data Sharing Consortium (SSDSC) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and market research and planning purposes.  This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government.  This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals (RFQ or RFP).  No solicitation document exists and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of any information received in response to this RFI.

The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses.  All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense.  Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation.  In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.  The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate.  Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine that organization’s capabilities.

The Government’s explicit intent through this RFI is to obtain general product/service information.  The Government is not requesting and does not want to receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. §1905.  The Government’s constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data.  The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.  All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.

I.  BACKGROUND

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) Office of National Laboratories (ONL) Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) is seeking information for support services to establish a Screening System Data Sharing Consortium (SSDSC) for the purposes of facilitating collection and sharing of screening system data ranging from non-sensitive to Sensitive Security Information (SSI).

With its staff of federal employees and contractors, including physicists, chemists, engineers, and mathematicians, TSL is internationally recognized for its unique ability to advance detection technology from conception to deployment through applied research, test and evaluation, assessment, and certification testing.

Among its many tasks, TSL conducts research, development, and validation of Transportation Security Equipment (TSE) to assess its effectiveness in detecting and mitigating threats posed by explosive devices and contraband items and materials.  To address evolving security challenges, the DHS Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is transitioning toward an open architecture approach for TS - emphasizing standards-based, interoperable software and hardware components.  This approach enables a broad range of industry partners to develop innovative subcomponents and fosters rapid adoption of state-of-the-art solutions across transportation security systems.  To support this move to open architecture, TSL is establishing the SSDSC to facilitate collection and sharing of screening system data ranging from non-sensitive to SSI.  This initiative aims to accelerate the development and validation of machine learning-enabled threat detection algorithms.  Since TSE vendors require access to large and diverse datasets to reliably train and test their models, a critical element of the consortium is providing authorized developers with secure and efficient access to well-curated data from a variety of data providers.

TSL intends to address this need through the development and implementation of a cloud-based platform to receive, store, curate, protect, and enable authorized access to large amounts of screening system data.  The platform will serve as a centralized repository for data from both developmental systems and deployed TSE, including x-ray Computed Tomography (CT) Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) for both checked bag and carry-on bag screening and millimeter wave systems for screening passengers.  The repository will also contain data sets including augmented and fully synthetic data.  Because of the sensitive nature of the data, the platform will need to comply with rigorous requirements for authorized access and privacy protection.

II.  PURPOSE OF RFI

Responses to this RFI are solely for the purpose of market research and will be used for a market survey of prospective support services to establish a SSDSC for the purposes of facilitating collection and sharing of screening system data ranging from non-sensitive to SSI.  No content in this RFI shall be interpreted as a commitment on the part of TSL to enter a contract with any respondent or to make any procurement.

As stated above, by submitting a response to this RFI, each respondent agrees that any cost incurred in responding to this request, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of respondent.  The Government incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI.

Through this RFI, TSL will assess the capabilities of respondents to provide the services of experienced

program management, communications, business operations, and acquisition and financial management support personnel who can effectively manage a variety of disciplines and details necessary to maintain uninterrupted performance in a fast-paced laboratory environment.

This is a new requirement, so there is no incumbent contractor.

III.  OBJECTIVES

The objective of this RFI is for TSL to obtain information from industry on solutions for developing a secure cloud platform that supports data ingestion, storage, curation, protection, and secure access to large amounts of screening system data for training and testing of automatic threat detection software.  Respondents should discuss specifically whether algorithm developers would receive access to a cloud-based testing environment (containerized code running on cloud Central Processing Units (CPUs)/Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)) or be permitted to download data for testing on their own platforms.  In both scenarios, respondents must address how data security and integrity would be ensured.

In addition, TSL seeks insight from industry on transitioning transportation security screening data from local Network-Attached Storage (NAS) to a secure cloud platform to facilitate sharing, collaboration, and advanced analytics among SSDSC members and other stakeholders.

The objective of this project, if implemented, is for TSL to establish a flexible, scalable, and secure environment for large-scale data migration, management, and utilization.  TSL does not wish to constrain developers’ approaches with a fixed set of use cases; however, some key objectives intended to guide responses include:

• Migration:  Move screening system datasets - including data collected at TSL, by system developers, from TSE, and augmented or synthetic data—to the cloud, ensuring secure transfer and data integrity.
• Data Management:  Ingest, verify, annotate, redact, set permissions, and version-control new or revised data, including updates such as ground truthing, while maintaining robust audit trails of data access, annotation, and modification.
• Indexing and Access:  Provide flexible mechanisms for efficient indexing, sorting, searching, and access to metadata and datasets, including a description of how access is controlled and data are provided only to approved users.
• Collaboration:  Enable integration and collaboration with SSDSC members and external stakeholders by providing secure APIs for data ingestion, curation, annotation, modification, and access.  Additionally, allow developers to access data for training and analysis, including support for linking to developers’ private cloud environments.  This process may require separate cost allocation, and cost sharing or chargeback mechanisms should be addressed.
• Audit and Compliance:  Track and audit data access, including user identification, access history, and usage metrics, to ensure compliance and operational oversight.  Ensure compliance with classification, privacy, and security standards for data ranging from public to SSI.
• Technical and Continuous Improvement:  Address technical dependencies, scalability, and strategies for continuous improvement, such as version control, monitoring, and updating of data management processes and tools.
• Payment and Accounting:  Describe accounting and billing practices for invoicing parties based on actions such as storage, downloading, or using compute services.  Explain if billing can be separated by action and how fees can be tracked and allocated, including options for the Government to bear all or part of the costs.

While the initial build phase is intended to support the SSDSC as currently envisioned, TSL may expand the scope of the platform to address changing needs or other programs that would benefit from a cloud-based data sharing platform.  The development approach should be flexible and adaptable to accommodate evolving requirements.

IV.  SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Please describe your capabilities to deliver the required support services as outlined in the Objectives above or simply attach a capabilities statement.

Please include in the subject of your e-mail: the RFI number 70RSAT26RFI000026 and title of this potential requirement “Cloud-Based Platform for Screening System Data Sharing Consortium (SSDSC) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL).”

Please include in the body of your e-mail:  your company name, Unique Entity ID, a point of contact (name, e-mail, address, and telephone number) technical questions, a point of contact (name, e-mail, address, and telephone number) contractual questions, a list of any federal contracting vehicles (for example, General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) or GSA One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS), etc.) you have that are available for use.

Please limit your responses, either in Microsoft Word or as Adobe PDF, to 10 (ten) single-side 8 ½” x 11” pages using 12-point font for text and no less than 8-point font for any images or graphics.

Any questions, comments, and/or additional information (if any), should be submitted via e-mail to the DHS Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) Points of Contact (POCs) Contracting Officer Robert Marosz at contact@example.gov and Contract Specialist Kimberly O’Neill at contact@example.gov.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted via e-mail Mr. Marosz and Ms. O’Neill no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 18, 2026.

V.  OTHER

Once again, this RFI is for information gathering and planning purposes only and should not be construed as an RFQ or RFP or solicitation of an offer.  Submission of vendor information constitutes consent to publication of that information in TSL SSDSC program documentation.