FACE Software Reference Architecture

1. Introduction: Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is conducting market research to identify qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources. Part of the market research is to publish a Sources Sought Notice seeking market information on businesses capable of providing the capabilities, as described below. This notice is issued solely for information and 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. Your response to this notice is strictly voluntary and will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this notice or the Government use of such information. Not responding to this Sources Sought Notice does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website (https://www.fbo.gov). The NAICS Codes and Product and Service Codes (PSCs) listed in Paragraph 5, "Additional Information," may also be applicable to this Sources Sought Notice. 2. Background: The Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACETM) Consortium is an aviation-focused professional group made up of U.S. industry suppliers, customers, and users. The FACE Consortium provides a vendor-neutral forum for industry and the U.S. government to work together to develop software components and to gain consensus on a common framework, addressing such areas as open standards, best practices, guidance documents, data acquisition and competition driven business models. The FACE Technical Standard was developed by the FACE Consortium and calls for software-based capabilities to be developed as components that interact with other software components through multiple FACE key interfaces, which will allow for reuse, third party technical insertion and increased component competition. The FACE Technical Standard defines the software computing environment architecture and interfaces intended for the development of portable components and applications. NAVAIR plans to demonstrate potential open architectures, utilizing the FACE Technical Standard, Edition 2.0, and to influence future architecture development for both the joint DoD services Future Vertical Lift (FVL) and the F/A-XX. This activity includes establishing a prototype FACE environment in government laboratories at Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Aircraft Division (AD) in Patuxent River, MD, NAWC Weapons Division (WD) in China Lake, CA, and U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Huntsville, AL. The laboratories will be used to validate the FACE Reference Architecture and allow for new capabilities and sensors to be integrated affordably and reach the fleet within a shortened time frame. The government facilities will provide the environment to baseline and enable the maturation of a FACE Reference Architecture to influence FVL and FA-XX software architectures and provide a collaborative environment for programs and industry to integrate their components into an open architecture for future demonstration and experimentation. The FACE labs will consist of a FACE environment and development station that will host multiple General Purpose Processors. The station will replicate a generic mission system using flight representative hardware. It will allow for sensor packages to be connected and the corresponding software to be hosted on multiple FACE computing environments and general purpose processors. NAVAIR is conducting ongoing market research to determine industry interest in and ability to participate in the FACE demonstration through further market research, industry days or other contractual means. This will allow industry to bring their products to the FACE laboratory for integration, architecture development and demonstration. This demonstration will allow both large and small companies to deploy their products in a fully functional, standardized FACE software environment that will represent an actual implementation. An Air Combat Electronics (PMA209) industry day will be conducted on March 13, 2013 and will include an overview of the effort to demonstrate how the FACE Technical Standard can influence the FVL/FA-XX software Reference Architecture. If established, the planned start date for industry participation is January 2014. The Government's goals for this effort are to: a) Verify and validate the FACE Technical Standard to ensure the Government can meet their objectives. b) Verify and validate the FACE Data Model to ensure the Government can meet their objectives. c) Influence future platform architectures. d) Promote collaboration with industry. e) Allow industry to plug new capabilities into the FACE labs. f) Promote innovation of new capabilities. g) Identify potential integration issues. h) Identify barriers to competition. i) Understand the effects of the FACE business model. j) Validate that the FACE Development and Conformance Test Tools are effective. ? 3. Submission Content: The response to this notice should include, but is not limited to, the following: a) Information on what current or potential efforts you wish to demonstrate. b) Information on your ability, time-line and requirements to support the effort. c) Information on your plan to meet FACE conformance requirements. d) Information on preferred contractual means and justification as to why it is preferred. e) Identify any limiting factors and/or risks which impact your ability to respond to or participate in this market research and any follow-on demonstration efforts. f) A description of your capabilities to conduct the above requirements, in whole or in part and to produce/deliver/test a FACE conformant product or product line that satisfies the requirements of "Technical Standard for FACE, Edition 2.0." g) Indicate if there is interest in participating as a sub-contractor and if your information, and which parts, can be shared with other interested parties. h) Provide any additional documentation that you believe would be beneficial, including current participation in active SBIRs, to support this effort. 4. Format Requirements: a) Information should be submitted (in Adobe electronic format) and is due no later than May 08, 2013, 11:00AM EST. b) Response should be provided in 12-point Times New Roman font on a single-sided, double-space page with 1 inch borders and should not exceed 20 pages. c) All responses to this notice should include the following: Company Name, Point of Contact, Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers, Email Address, DUNS number, CAGE code, and Small Business Size Status. d) Respondents are reminded to properly mark any proprietary information, and NAVAIR will control it as such. Do not send any classified information. e) Responses should be submitted to the contracting officer, contact information provided below. 5. Additional Information a) NAVAIR will review responses and may schedule an industry day to facilitate additional information exchanges about the program. b) Any and all costs incurred in responding to this market research, shall be borne by the respective respondents. NAVAIR will not reimburse any costs and will not be liable for any costs associated with responses to this market research. c) After completion of the Air Combat Electronics (PMA209) industry day, which will be conducted on March 13, 2013, this notice will be updated to include the FACE presentation and any additional information provided for FACE during the industry day. d) The following NAICS codes may also be applicable to this notice: NAICS Code Description 511 Software Publishers 334 Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing 336 Transportation Equipment Manufacturing e) The following Classification codes may also be applicable to this solicitation: PSC Description A Research and Development 10 Weapons 14 Guided Missiles 59 Electrical and Electronic Equipment Components 60 Fiber Optics Materials, Components, Assemblies and Accessories 6. Points of Contact Contracting Office Address: Building 2272 47123 Buse Road Unit IPT Patuxent River, Maryland 20670 United States Point of Contact: Jose Blanco Contracting Officer contact@example.gov +1 (555) 000-0000 7. Questions Questions regarding this notice shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to Jose Blanco, Contracting Officer, contact@example.gov. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting frequently asked questions on the Federal Business Opportunities website (https://www.fbo.gov) accordingly; questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government will accept questions up to or before March 29 2013 2:00 PM EST, questions received after this date will not be answered. 8. Summary THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY, and is being used as an instrument to identify potential sources that can provide the capabilities described under Paragraph 2.0 "Background". The information provided in this notice is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. NAVAIR has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and the government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this sources sought. All cost associated with this sources sought will be solely at the expense of the respondents. Additionally, all submissions become government property and will not be returned. No basis for a claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this sources sought.