Program Manager Tactical Radios (PM TR) Frequency Hopping Request for Information (RFI)

1.0 Description 1.1 As part of its responsibilities for the maintenance and evolution of current and future tactical waveforms for Software Defined Radios (SDRs), Program Executive Office Command Control Communications - Tactical (PEO C3T) Program Manager Tactical Radios (PM TR) has been researching potential improvements to the modulation and coding for the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). Under this program, PM TR has identified potential changes to the waveform that could require frequency hopping by various radios. To avoid hardware impacts that could be associated with these potential changes, PM TR is interested in determining the Radio Frequency (RF) characteristics of currently supported tactical radios that are, or will be, certified to run SRW, including radios already procured and those that may be proposed for future procurement. 1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Solicitation or a promise to issue a Solicitation in the future. This notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Furthermore, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this notice; all costs associated with responding to this notice will be solely at the interested parties' expense. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future Solicitation, if issued. If a Solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. It is the responsibility of the potential responder to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. If your company is interested in this planned procurement, then it is advised that you monitor the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at HTTP://WWW.FBO.GOV. 2.0 Background This RFI will be the first step in continuing industry engagement in support of enhancing the performance of the SRW. The Government plans to consider all Industry inputs as it prepares for, and executes, its implementation of new modulation and coding schemes for SRW. The Government also plans to leverage industry recommendations on the development of an enhanced SRW waveform. This RFI will be the first step in continuing industry engagement in support of enhancing the performance of the SRW. The Government plans to consider all Industry inputs as it prepares for, and executes, its implementation of new modulation and coding schemes for SRW. The Government also plans to leverage industry recommendations on the development of an enhanced SRW waveform. 3.0 Requested Information This RFI presents the following questions for reply by interested vendors: 1. What is the entire useful continuous bandwidth that is currently supported by your front end RF components? What is the reduction in useable bandwidth at higher rates due to limited non-orthogonal collisions of the frequencies (if any)? 2. What is the current in-band frequency hopping, within a single frequency band, rate supported by your radio system in terms of hops per second? If the answer depends on the frequency band provide individual answers for Very High Frequency (VHF), Ultra High Frequency (UHF), and L-band, respectively. 3. Does your radio currently support out-of-band frequency hopping between UHF, L-band, and/or VHF? What is the current optimum number of sub-bands? How many sub-bands can be simultaneously used (in L band)? How many non-contiguous sub-bands can be simultaneously used (in L band)? Are there any restrictions on certain bands mentioned? 4. What is your overall settling time in microseconds from when the modem receives a request to change frequencies before the radio is able to correctly receive the RF signal over the air once it has hopped? What is the time required after hopping before transmission of a signal is available to be transmitted? Does the hop distance or bands affect this time? If so, how? 5. What is the minimum and maximum latency in microseconds between the command to switch frequencies from the higher layers of the waveform on the General Purpose Processor (GPP) to when the modem begins to take that action? What is the max latency for a frequency change signal from the modem or Digital Signal Processor (DSP)? 6. Can frequency changes be scheduled by the radio for a time in the future, and if so what is the accuracy in microseconds for those actions to take place? Is there a number of hops that can be planned, and over what window/period (e.g. 50 hops and <.5 seconds into the future)? 7. Does your radio employ multiple timing clocks to maintain frequencies, and if so how many and are there limitations on their use for both in-band and out-of-band hopping? 4.0 Responses 4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper. 4.2 All white papers pertaining to the document posted today shall be submitted no later than 06 July, 2016, 12 PM EDT to michael.m.gomes.civ@mail.mil. Responses may be in Microsoft (MS) Office 2007 or greater or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) formats. Email messages shall be less than 10 MB in size. If larger files are submitted, they must be broken into separate email messages. Reference W15P7T-16-R-0026 in the e-mail subject. All communications SHALL be submitted ONLY in writing AND directly to the email addresses identified. Contractors shall not contact any other Government Personnel other than the person identified above. Contacting any Government personnel other than the individual identified above could result in an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) and could result in an offeror being excluded from competition and/or award. 4.3 Proprietary information, if any, MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate Proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. If any vendor does not currently have a Proprietary Data Protection Agreement (PDPA) that would permit the PM TR support contractor listed below to review and evaluate white papers submitted in response to this RFI, the vendor is requested to sign PDPAs with the support contractor for this purpose. The PDPA protects the vendor from the support contractors listed below from sharing the submitted information outside of this effort. The following is a list of support contractor companies who will review the responses: MITRE Corporation Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) 4.4. Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 4.4.1. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax 4.4.2. Either 1) copies of executed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the contractor supporting PM TR and supported PEOs and PMs in technical evaluations or 2) a statement that the respondee will not allow the Government to release its proprietary data to the Government support contractor. In the absence of either of the foregoing, the Government will assume that the respondee does NOT agree to the release of its submission to Government support contractor. 5.0 Questions Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Specialist, email address: michael.m.gomes.civ@mail.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the FBO website; accordingly, questions shall NOT include classified information, and proprietary questions should be avoided if at all possible. If a vendor's question relates to a proprietary aspect of its response, and the question would expose proprietary information if disclosed to the public, the proposer may submit the question via email to michael.m.gomes.civ@mail.mil conspicuously marking it as "COMPANY PROPRIETARY". With the question, the vendor shall submit a statement explaining why the question is sensitive/company proprietary. If the Government does not concur regarding the proprietary nature of the question, the question will be answered via FBO after the vendor has been notified. 6.0 Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide information pertaining to PM TR's request regarding RF component information. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The U.S Army has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. The Government does not guarantee that all questions submitted in response to this RFI will be answered. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. ---Change 1--- The purpose of this change (Change 1) is to extend the due date for responses to the Request for Information (RFI) posted on June 21, 2016. Responses to the RFI shall be submitted by 12pm Eastern Time, July 15, 2016.