Maritime Surface Reference and Instrumentation Remote Control Platform

SOURCES SOUGHT/REQUEST FOR INFORMATION The Department of Defense, United States Air Force (USAF), Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Air Force Test Center (AFTC), is currently conducting market research seeking capabilities statement from potential sources, including small businesses (SB), 8(a), HUBZone, Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned (EDWOSB), Woman-Owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVOSB) small businesses that are capable of providing the Maritime Surface Reference & Instrumentation Remote Control Platform (RCP) described below: 1. Safety: - Emergency Location: Shore-activated light or beacon and redundant RF communications to allow persistent tracking at all times via Iridium RUDICS or similar satellite communication capability. - Health Sensors: Pressure and temperature sensors need to be available in dry boxes. Dry boxes & or payload bays need to be protected from water intrusion and monitored for water intrusion as to not damage installed test instrumentation. In the event of a dry box/payload bay failure, a warning message must be transmitted to allow rapid response to the issue. - Hazard avoidance in response to Automatic Identification System (AIS) traffic. 2. General: - Endurance: Capable of operating at least 10 months without physical intervention. - Speed: Sustained 2 to 3kts while allowing maneuverability of the platform. - Depth Rating: Continuous operation in wash and spray with brief submergence to 5ft - essentially must be able to operate continuously exposed open ocean(gulf) environment as well as be able to survive while being submerged, in cases of bad weather, storms, or hurricanes. - Observability: Minimal visual/radar signature but with optional flag and marker lights, low- profile configuration. - Size: Overall platform (shippable via air to test locations) not to exceed 12 ft in length. - Weight: Overall platform/system should not exceed 450 lbs. - Operation and navigation: Must be controllable remotely via 802.11 b/g/n, GSM, and Iridium RUDICS channels. Must be able to transmit data via Inmarsat channels. Must provide latest FIPS certifications on communications. Must be able to operate in a minimum water depth of 30 ft. - Maintainability: Available annual maintenance and refurbishment from vendor. - Modularity: Removable/configurable masts for beacons, antennas, or other instrumentation payloads/packages with an ability to tow instrumentation above and/or below the surface. - Provide integration capability for powering and controlling custom payloads. - Coating: Anti-fouling paint or copper based paint to minimize oceanic organism growth. - Delivery: Within 90 days. ***Limited to United States based companies only.*** 3. Payload: - Payload Weight: At least 100lb. - Payload Volume: 3 cf total volume needed. It is possible to split the payload bay into two bays to meet the 3 cf need. - Ability to house surface and sub-surface gimbaled EO/IR sensors or SDR/RF specialized payloads. - Wave height sensor capability, weather station, and deployable recovery device. 4. Navigation: - GPS: High precision differential (2-8 cm). AIS Receiver. - Navigation: Accuracy to within 10ft CEP50. Station Keeping: 150 ft radius CEP90. Navigation and station keeping -programmable waypoint course, follow course, and hold/loop. Independent and active controllability. 5. Power: - Continuous Power: At least 20W. - Battery Storage: At least 3.56 kWh. - Solar Collection rate: At least 120W/hour. 6. Communications: - Ability to have constant communications with the RCP as well as have multiple communication paths to the vehicle to serve as redundant methods of communication. - Satellite: Iridium RUDICS or better capable, high-bandwidth Inmarsat SATCOM or better capable with modular antenna payload. - Cellular: GSM capable. - Local: 802.11 b/g/n capable. - Network: DISA 7. Operation: - Mission Control: Chart based GUI with waypoint and course generation. - Monitoring: Status/location, programmable inclusion and exclusion zones. - Visibility: Visible and min-vis capable, operation on surface level (within 3 inches) versus below or above the surface level. All interested vendors shall submit a response demonstrating their capability to provide these items to the Primary Point of Contact listed below. Proposals are not being requested or accepted at this time. As stipulated in FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No solicitation (Request for Quote) exists at this time; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. The decision to solicit for a contract shall be solely within the Government's discretion. The NAICS Code assigned to this acquisition is 334511, Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing with a size standard of 1,250 employees. Respondents should indicate their size in relation to this size standard and indicate socio-economic status (i.e. SB, 8(a), HUBZone, EDWOSB, WOSB, or SDVOSB). Respondents are further requested to indicate their status as a Foreign-owned/Foreign-controlled firm and any contemplated use of foreign national employees on this effort. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto for any subsequent action. All prospective contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database to be awarded a DoD contract. No set-aside decision has been made. Note that a key factor in determining an acquisition to be a Small Business Set Aside is that small business prime contractors must perform at least 50% of the effort, as defined in FAR Clause 52.219-14. Any information submitted by respondents to this sources sought is voluntary. This sources sought notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government reimburse any costs associated with the submission of information in response to this notice. Respondents will not be individually notified of the results of any government assessments. The Government's assessment of the capability statements received will factor into whether any forthcoming solicitation will be conducted as a full and open competition or as a set-aside for small business, or any particular small business program. CAPABILITIES STATEMENT: All interested vendors shall submit a capabilities statement that explicitly demonstrates their capability to provide/perform the requirement stated in this notice. The capabilities statement should be brief and concise, yet clearly demonstrate an ability to meet the stated requirement. The response must not exceed 15 pages. Small businesses with only partial capabilities of this requirement are encouraged to submit their capabilities statement demonstrating the portion of the requirement they are capable of providing/performing. This information will allow the Government to identify areas of possible breakout or possible subcontracting opportunities. All responsible sources may submit information that shall be considered by the agency. If late information is received, it may be considered, depending on agency time constraints. All routine communications regarding the announcement should be directed to the contractual point of contact listed in this posting. The Government may or may not use any responses to this sources sought as a basis for a subsequent project/requirement. Any project/requirement developed from the sources sought responses may be the subject of a subsequent acquisition; any such subsequent acquisition will be posted in beta.sam.gov separately. Responses to this sources sought will not be returned. The Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, or provide feedback to the respondents with respect to any of the information submitted under this sources sought. No requests for a bid package or solicitation will be accepted; a bid package or solicitation does not exist at this time. In order to protect the integrity of any possible future acquisition, no additional information will be provided and no appointments for presentations will be made in reference to this sources sought. Only Government employees will review submitted responses to this sources sought. Respondents are advised that employees of commercial firms under contract with the Government may be used to administratively process submissions and perform other administrative duties requiring access to other contractor's proprietary information. These administrative support contractors include nondisclosure agreements prohibiting their contractor employees from disclosing any information submitted by other contractors or using such information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished. RESPONSES ARE DUE NO LATER THAN 12:00 P.M. NOON (CST) ON 27 January 2020. Responses are to be submitted electronically to the following e-mail address: kristina.brannon.1@us.af.mil.