Engineering Support - Sensor Mission Management System

See Attached- Questions and Answers CBP Engineering Support - Sensor Mission Management System Request for Information (RFI) This is not a solicitation announcement. This is a sources sought synopsis only. The purpose of this posting is to gain knowledge of potential qualified sources and their size. Any responses received will be used by the Government solely for the purpose of making appropriate acquisition decisions. There shall be no basis for claims against the government as a result of information submitted in response to the sources sought announcement. The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this announcement or otherwise pay for any information submitted by respondents to this request. This notice is for market research purposes only and is not indicative of a full requirement. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) supports a layered enforcement strategy for border security through an integrated and coordinated air and marine force to detect, work with partners to interdict and prevent acts of terrorism arising from unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs, and other contraband across the borders of the United States. This effort will serve to continue the technological upgrades required for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) to remain relevant with the rapidly improving technological changes in airborne sensors, processing capabilities and sensor data dissemination. AMO seeks engineering support for updated airborne sensor integration, data sharing and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) integration across all aircraft and ground command and control centers for greater situational awareness and mission effectiveness. Accomplishment of this objective will require evaluating and proposing technical upgrades to: All mission areas All sensor products Appropriate mission/intelligence data bases All AMO platforms and assets This effort encompasses a wide range of engineering and technical disciplines that include an intensive assessment of system capabilities to accomplish operational objectives and overcome technical shortfalls. This will be accomplished through the formulation of possible courses of action to address these challenges, implementation of potential solutions, and iterative field validations resulting in prototype solutions. These prototype solutions will allow the government to assess and test technologies and concepts of operation via proof-of-concept and operational demonstrations. Requirement AMO is seeking industry feedback to identify a potential sources capable of providing engineering support services to include, but not limited to the following: a) Adapt and Upgrade Minotaur Mission Processor: The current Minotaur Mission Processor software baseline represents a continuous progression of integrated capabilities for building, exploiting, and disseminating real-time, tactical, all-source overland and maritime ISR information throughout the AMO defined enterprise. The Vendor shall continuously adapt and upgrade the current Minotaur Mission Processor software baseline for overland and maritime operations with all AMO aircraft and ground C2 centers, allowing the government to realize the following programmatic and operational benefits: Common software baseline / mission system for all assets and mission areas. Simple configuration file changes that differentiate each prototype installation. Software baseline that continuously adapted/upgraded to address new sensor modalities and products, new sensor platforms within AMO and CBP at-large, new ISR exploitation techniques and hardware obsolescence challenges. System hardware, software, operations, maintenance, and training commonality. Consistent expectation of system performance, dependent upon specific sensor capabilities and limitations. b) Integrate Minotaur Mission Management System On-Board Aircraft: The Vendor shall adapt or upgrade the Minotaur Mission Management System and its associated software baseline for installation onto manned and unmanned AMO aircraft, providing each aircraft with maritime and overland surveillance capabilities, dependent upon specific sensor capabilities and limitations. The Vendor efforts shall include (but not necessarily be limited to) integration requirements definition and evaluation, software development, software refinement via ground tests and flight tests, and operational support during AMO formal acceptance tests. While prioritization and scheduling of installations will be developed in conjunction with AMO leadership, the aircraft types to be upgraded (or at least surveyed / assessed for upgrade) before the end of the task period of performance may include (but not necessarily be limited to): Multi-role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) Block 1, Block 2 and Block 2 Fusion MEA Land Interdiction (LI) Law Enforcement Technical Collections (LETC) Aircraft De Havilland Canada DHC-8 (DHC-8) P-3B Long Range Tracker (LRT) Predator / Guardian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Mongoose III Argos Aerostats Select Fixed / Rotary Wing c) Integrate Minotaur Mission Management System at Ground C2 Centers: The Vendor shall adapt or upgrade the Minotaur Mission Management System and its associated software baseline for installation at select ground C2 centers. The vendor efforts shall include (but not necessarily be limited to) integration requirements definition and evaluation, software development, software refinement via field tests, and operational support during AMO formal acceptance tests. While prioritization and scheduling of installations will be developed in conjunction with AMO leadership, the ground C2 sites to be upgraded (or at least surveyed / assessed for upgrade) before the end of the task period of performance may include (but not necessarily be limited to): Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC) - Riverside, CA Caribbean Air and Marine Operations Center (CAMOC) - San Juan, PR National Air Security Operations Center (NASOC) - Albuquerque, NM, Corpus Christi, TX, Jacksonville, FL Predator / Guardian Operations Centers MEA and DHC-8 Operations Centers Joint Interagency Task Force - South (JIATF-S) - Key West, FL d) Investigate New or Promising ISR Capabilities: At the direction of AMO, the Vendor shall investigate development, integration, and improvement of new or promising ISR capabilities that could significantly enhance AMO maritime and overland surveillance operations. These investigations may include new sensor packages and data products, new sensor exploitation capabilities, new communications infrastructure for data sharing, new operational mission tactics, new applications / integration with ground-based surveillance sites and databases, etc. e) Training Support for Minotaur Mission Processor: The Vendor shall provide technical expertise and assistance with training on operational usage of Minotaur Mission Management System capabilities. This training shall typically be limited to on-the-job training at different locations at AMO discretion to instruct a small number of personnel designated by AMO (i.e., Vendor shall typically - train the AMO trainers immediately after each new installation effort, enabling the newly minted - AMO trainers to then address long-term AMO training needs). f) Minotaur Mission Management System Obsolescence: The Vendor shall work with a separately contracted sustainment activity to provide AMO national system administration personnel with the latest hardware specifications for the Minotaur Mission Management System, as well as assistance / advice on future hardware upgrades necessitated by obsolescence issues or new Minotaur software upgrades. The Vendor shall work with a separately contracted sustainment activity to provide AMO national system administration personnel with the latest Minotaur Mission Management System - gold disks, along with instructions on duplicating, testing and fielding new disk copies. The Vendor shall work with a separately contracted sustainment activity to provide AMO national system administration personnel with the requisite expertise to perform other select sustainment activities, to include (but not necessarily limited to) periodic system security scans and patching. g) Coordination and Technical Liaison: The Vendor shall provide facilities, along with technical and administrative support, for hosting and conducting on-site reviews and special studies related to accomplishment of this task. The Vendor shall maintain and advance the prototype systems maintained within its laboratory spaces for support of the government and events under the guidance of the sponsor. In identifying qualified vendors, AMO is open to responses that include innovative solutions to meet the requirements. Interested parties are encouraged to submit capability statements addressing how their companies may be able to meet this requirement. CBP also welcomes industry feedback in offering suggested processes in executing such procurements. The page limitation for responses to this notice is 7 pages to include corporate capacity, understanding of the requirement, and technical/management approach. All pages shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date, and referenced RFI number listed in the header and page numbers in the footer (e.g. 6 of 6). Page size shall be no greater than 8 1/2" x 11." The top, bottom, left and right margins shall be a minimum of one inch each. Font size shall be no smaller than 12-point. Arial or Times New Roman fonts are required. Characters shall be set at no less than normal spacing and 100% scale. Tables and illustrations may use a reduced font size not less than 8-point and may be landscape. Line spacing shall be set at no less than single space. Each paragraph shall be separated by at least one blank line. Page numbers, company logos, and headers and footers may be within the page margins ONLY, and are not bound by the 12-point font requirement. Questions related to this RFI are due by Wednesday, February 16, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (EST) and should be forwarded via email to contact@example.gov . Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Final responses to this notice shall be emailed to contact@example.gov, Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (EST).