Power Control and Management Subsystem (PCMS)

The purpose of this amendment is to add an attachment containing questions and answers received/exchanged during this Sources Sought. The purpose of this amendment is to change the Primary POC (Point of Contact) for this Sources Sought. The Primary POC is: Contract Specialist Tim Volkert timothy.w.volkert.civ@mail.mil 309-782-1956. SOURCES SOUGHT FOR POWER CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT SUBSYSTEM (PCMS) THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. THIS NOTICE IS ISSUED SOLELY FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) OR A PROMISE TO ISSUE A RFP IN THE FUTURE. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS NOTICE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND IS NOT BINDING ON THE GOVERNMENT. 1. Purpose Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS), Product Lead, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PL WESS), Fort Belvoir, VA are seeking information from large and small businesses experienced in providing and supporting military satellite control in order to gauge industry capacity and capability for providing the operational implementation of a Power Control and Management Subsystem (PCMS) for Wideband Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) terminals. Additionally, PCMS will participate in the PM DCATS Industry Day Event which fosters information exchange regarding future acquisitions and mission objectives, increases and encourages competition, provides insight into the Army's operational and functional needs, and addresses the feasibility of future requirements and potential projects for awards Q4 FY17 through FY20. The anticipated date for the PM DCATS Industry Day Event is 08 June 2017. 2. Background PL WESS provides worldwide support for the Joint Warfighters by providing dedicated strategic satellite ground components and long haul terrestrial microwave communication systems, technical control facilities, command center upgrades, and deployed forces infrastructure. The Government is analyzing technical risk areas and producing technical specifications and an objective architecture for a PCMS. The PCMS will be a fully integrated subsystem of the Wideband Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Operations Management System (WSOMS). PCMS will be used over military Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites, and potentially used over leased transponders of commercial wideband satellites in C, Ku, and Ka bands. The PCMS will enable more efficient use of communications resources, and aid in link anomaly detection and resolution. The major goals of the PCMS are to provide link power control and power and bandwidth monitoring for all communications links of enterprise and tactical terminal Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications networks. This will include out-of-beam spectrum collection and processing to support Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) detection, and providing a text orderwire to tactical terminals (positive control). A Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for the PCMS has been prepared by the Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT) and is provided as part of this RFI to provide additional information on PCMS architecture, requirements, and operations. 3. Required Capabilities The following general capabilities are required of the PCMS: a. PCMS will have the ability for link by link Automatic Power Control (APC) at the terminal and the capability to detect and compensate for signal degradations such as rain fade. b. PCMS will allow the Wideband SATCOM Operations Center (WSOC) controller to conduct automatic or manual power control adjustments, as well as leave in place the capability of local power control adjustments. c. APC will analyze predicted values against measured channel and Automatic Level Control (ALC) values. d. PCMS will interface with the modems or modem controllers to attain performance metrics and the modem configuration. This includes receive measurements on the communications link that is received by the modem. e. PCMS must have the capability to perform downlink spectrum visual capture for all coverage areas and collect, process, and display terminal performance, downlink spectrum visual capture data, and unauthorized users on WGS satellites. f. PCMS power control algorithms must support uplink power control as well as closed loop power control. Closed-loop operations must be performed with loop delays of 10 seconds or less, and fade rates of up to 30 dB per minute. g. PCMS equipment at the WSOC will require classification at the Mission Assurance Category II level and will execute in a Virtualized Environment (VE), communicate via the WSOMS Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN), and have a user interface on the shared Red WSOC workstations. h. PCMS will utilize existing WSOC Cross Domain Solution (CDS) equipment and available channels to affect the interfaces between the PCMS in the WSOC and the PCMS components of the earth terminals to which it will interface. i. PCMS will require appropriate data exchanges and interfaces with the following WSOMS subsystems in the WSOC: the Common Network Planning Software (CNPS), Wideband Remote Monitoring Sensor (WRMS), Remote Monitoring and Control Element (RMCE), Joint Management Operations Subsystem (JMOS), Global Satellite Critical Control Element (GSCCE), and Wideband SATCOM Trend Analysis and Anomaly Resolution System (WSTARS)/WSOMS Mediated Interoperability Infrastructure (WMII) to support PCMS functions. j. Operations of PCMS in a VE, with extensive data interfaces to existing WSOMS subsystems with red & black signal and power circuitry design, and installation of racks and associated equipment will require significant interaction with other vendors to ensure compliant integration. k. The implementation of the PCMS will include available Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET) and/or Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network (NIPRNET) connectivity of Enterprise terminals, subject to supporting the overall communications and message delivery needs of the PCMS. l. PCMS requires a communications solution between the WSOC, Enterprise terminals, and tactical terminals which supports the numerous X- and Ka-band beams of WGS satellites. The communications solution must provide the following: (1) Text orderwire communications to support remote spectrum display transmissions, and positive control traffic (2) Support for PCMS spectrum image collection, processing, formatting, and transmission in beams not directly visible to a WSOC (3) Utilize Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (SSMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or related interference-tolerant modulation schemes to protect PCMS communications (4) Support single-carrier capable tactical terminals without generating harmful levels of multi-carrier Intermodulation Distortion (IMD) products. m. Orderwire communications will be based on various use-cases/scenarios, determination of required bandwidth and data rate, and dynamic and static data routing. n. Installations will be required in tactical terminals with Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) constraints. Vendors will be required to profile mobile terminals against PCMS capabilities, and conduct feasibility analysis of retrofitting current mobile SATCOM terminals with remote PCMS capabilities. o. Ease of integration into various families of tactical terminals is required; physical, network, and application level interfaces with existing terminal Control, Monitor, and Alarm (CMA) elements will be required. p. The PCMS system will modify existing security domains in the WSOC and Enterprise/tactical terminals; re-certification of these domains will be required by the PCMS program. It is envisioned that PCMS will be required to use new channels inserted into the existing WSOC CDS equipment (Radiant Mercury) to support data flows between classified and unclassified domains. Any EMI detection processing will occur in the classified domain. q. One instance of a PCMS Network Control Terminal (NCT) in a WSOC shall be capable of working with one WGS satellite, 300 links or subnets, and up to 15 PCMS terminal servers at Anchor stations. r. Enterprise terminals (such as the AN/GSC-52B(V), Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET), and tactical terminals (such as the AN/TSC-156, Navy WSC-X family of terminals, and Air Force ground tactical terminals) are candidate terminals for monitoring by PCMS. s. PCMS is not intended to monitor or control Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) terminals, although a management interface to the WIN-T network control function is desired. 4. Requested Information Interested parties must submit a white paper, MAXIMUM OF 20 PAGES, containing the following information: a. Name, address, and Contractor and Government Entity (CAGE) code of your company. b. Point(s) of Contact (Name address, phone number, and e-mail). c. Identify current products your company offers which most closely match the capabilities specified above. Provide specification sheets, photographs, illustration and technical descriptions that describe those products and services. Provide certifications or test results from independent test organizations. THIS MATERIAL WILL NOT BE COUNTED AGAINST THE MAXIMUM PAGE COUNT FOR THE WHITE PAPER, BUT SHALL NOT EXCEED 20 PAGES. d. Identify length of time the product(s) has been produced. e. Provide evidence that the product has been provided to the general public. f. Identify your current plans and processes for handling upgrades and dealing with obsolescence issues. g. State your willingness to modify existing items to meet requirements. h. How will you have a plan to minimize, if not eliminate any identifiable long lead item issues such as materials, equipment components, software development, etc. i. Provide your warranty terms and practices, and annual returns under warranty. j. Provide descriptions of current services and capabilities for calibration, repair and overhaul. k. Identify your company's past and current customers to which your company provided similar products and services, including a customer/company name and point of contact, phone number, and address/e-mail where they can be contacted. l. Where applicable, identify specific products/systems and the scope/magnitude of effort that demonstrate the following capabilities: i. Deliver system and software engineering services, and the data products normally required by the Government for the delivery of systems such as the PCMS. ii. Perform cyber security and associated security requirements necessary to obtain and maintain an Authority to Operate (ATO) for equipment/systems fielded to military users. iii. Conduct analysis and supporting technical studies necessary to integrate a PCMS with other WSOMS subsystems in the WSOMS System of Systems (SoS) environment, and with Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems. iv. Develop and deliver Technical Data Packages, including drawings and software documentation. v. Systems/products you manufactured/produced that demonstrate producing modular systems and component solutions vi. Provide planning, managing, and implementing integrated product support (e.g. generating data for Government product support functions, provisioning spares and repair parts, providing technical manuals, conducting Instructor and Key Personnel (IKP) training, as well as New Equipment Training (NET), operations and maintenance for fielded and evolving PCMS systems, both field and depot level support. vii. Provide Post Deployment Software Support (PDSS) for fielded and evolving Information Technology (IT) based C4ISR systems that include, at a minimum, the capabilities to: evaluate and disposition customer-generated problem reports, implement an Information Assurance Vulnerability Management (IAVM) process for the deployed PCMS, deliver and install all new version releases of the PCMS mission software to the impacted operational sites, and employ configuration management and quality assurance procedures essential to the on-going integrity of PCMS mission software. 5. Submission Instructions To aid the Government, please mark and segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Questions shall be submitted via email in written form only in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) or compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 suite of software. All questions should be directed to: Primary Point of Contact: Karen A. Beckford Contracting Specialist karen.a.beckford.civ@mail.mil Phone: (309) 782-5074 Or Secondary Point of Contact: David J. Burke Contracting Officer david.j.burke45.civ@mail.mil Phone: (309) 782-7532 Responses to this sources sought announcement are due no later than 02 June 2017, 1100 hours Central Standard Time (CST). All responses shall be sent via email to the primary point of Contact provided below: David J. Burke Contracting Officer david.j.burke45.civ@mail.mil Phone: (309) 782-7532 DISCLAIMER: This sources sought does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP), or an Invitation for Bids (IFB), nor does its issuance restrict the Government as to its ultimate acquisition approach. The Government will neither award a contract solely on the basis of this notice, nor pay for any information that is submitted by respondents to the sources sought request. The Government reserves the right to contact the submitting parties, on an as required basis, for further clarification on material provided. The Government will evaluate the information provided, use it to document the market research and develop the RFP. In addition, the Government will use its evaluation of the information and other research to determine the sources that appear qualified to perform the work required by the Government. The submission of this information is for PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. The information received WILL NOT obligate the Government in any manner, nor will the Government reimburse companies for any costs associated with submittal of responses to this sources sought. ALL DOCUMENTS IDENTIFIED BELOW ARE INCLUDED HEREIN AS A PART OF THIS SOURCES SOUGHT. ALL DOCUMENTS ARE IN DRAFT STATUS AND SUBJECT TO REVISIONS AND FINAL APPROVAL PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF THE RFP. a. **DRAFT** PCMS Concept of Operations b. **DRAFT** PCMS Customer Requirements Statement c. **DRAFT** PCMS System Specification d. **DRAFT** Infrastructure Information Exchange ext needed