Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Request for Information

Purpose: The purpose of this Request For Information (RFI) is to assist the Army as it conducts market research of outdoor in-street/in-building coverage solutions. This RFI provides industry an opportunity to educate the Army on their LMR products/services, innovations and processes for expanding in-street/in-building coverage solutions to areas of substantial distance from a donor antenna site or RF Site. In response to this RFI please provide the following: 1) Provide a list of potential solutions that will provide in-street/in-building coverage across a substantial geographic area (in excess of 1 km) that is a substantial distance from an RF coverage area without the installation of a trunked repeater system. 2) Given the use of high power amplifiers and low loss fiber optic cabling, what is the greatest distance that a Bi-Directional Amplifier (BDA) can be placed from a donor antenna using current Radio Frequency (RF) and fiber optic solutions? 3) What would be the maximum coverage area attainable using BDAs in an outdoor environment? Please include expected receive powers for a high power BDA over varying antenna heights as well as expected in-building and in-street coverage, assuming a flat topography with normal residential clutter. The intent is to maximize the distance between the donor antenna and the BDA antenna and to maximize the in-street/in-building coverage area of the BDA in an effort to provide First Responder coverage to small geographical areas. Include the benefit of directional antennas and antenna height to assist in signal level and RF isolation from the donor antenna area. Please provide specification and example coverage maps for all outdoor coverage solutions, including predicted receive powers. This Market Research is not a solicitation as defined by FAR 2.101, and the Government is not requesting offers or proposals at this time. Any responses to this RFI received by the Government will not be accepted to form a binding contract. This is a Request for Information and does not constitute a solicitation or request for proposal. This market survey is for planning purposes and no award will be made as a result of this RFI. If a solicitation is issued, the Government does not guarantee that it will be issued to RFI respondents. The Government is also requesting that restrictive or proprietary markings not be used in response to the RFI. Please provide an information paper not to exceed five (5) pages (not including BDA, antenna specification sheets and coverage map examples); which details an outdoor coverage solution using BDA and donor antennas. Submit your information papers by electronic mail (email) to the contracting officer at a.c.baker2.civ@mail.mil with a carbon copy (CC) to the contracting specialist at araka.e.schroeder.civ@mail.mil.