RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION SOLUTION

Request for Information (RFI) Radio Frequency Identification Solution I. Description: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposal, or Request for Quotes. In accordance with FAR 15.201, responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback concerning its submission. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. The Government is not seeking proposals at this time. Additionally, the Government will not provide reimbursement for any information that may be submitted in response to this RFI. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Note that responses should not take the form of a proposal and will not be understood as such. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. Full requirements will not be provided. This RFI is intended to provide the Government with market research. II. Strategy: A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) strategic goal is to become more efficient for IT asset management: to be able to effectively count, locate and track asset movement within the datacenter. Although this RFI is focused on data center IT assets, near term solutions must be expandable to other non-IT assets including planes, boats, firearms, canines, horses, non intrusion technology. CBP would like to perform a Proof-of-Concept (POC) to confirm RFID usage at the data center is feasible and can support asset management of data center assets. If the POC is successful, CBP would like to grow the use of RFID within the organization to support asset management. The information derived from the Request For Information would allow CBP to plan a Capability Demonstration and develop a Concept-of-Operations (CONOPS). Dependant upon the progress and information obtained during the POC, CBP reserves the right to change direction. The POC should show how manual asset validation, which requires too much labor and only addresses lost assets after the fact, can be eliminated or significantly reduced. III. Purpose: CBP has a significant number of IT assets that must be managed effectively. The primary requirement for asset management is to properly identify these assets. Manufacturer bar codes and CBP-applied asset number tags are two ways assets are currently identified. The serial numbers link the asset to CBP's inventory tracking system. These labels are both labor intensive in nature and support a limited amount of information for the asset. Therefore, CBP initially seeks an IT RFID Asset Tracking Solution, which provides both real-time location visibility with rules-based alerting and reporting of critical or highly valued equipment and material with a guaranteed 100% in room level accuracy as well as the necessary middleware to provide passive location services for fixed or expendable assets. This capability must interface with existing COTS solutions within the CBP enterprise and this capability needs to be expandable for assets other than IT. As part of this effort, CBP is gathering information on technology that can address one or more of the following objectives: Objective #1: RFID inventory enterprise management system. Describe an RFID tracking system that enables warehouse centric automated receiving and inventorying as well as floor inventory methods post asset deployment. The system description must also include security considerations relative to tag data integrity issues. Such a system will track asset locations and asset moves and must be able to support asset retirement. Responses to this objective must include the following considerations: Ability to support automated receiving such that the asset database can initiate an automated custody transaction between supplier and customer with no need for manual input relative to inventory control Ability to automatically record when assets are moved, placed into service, or redeployed for a new purpose Ability to create a rich audit trail that integrates with existent inventory control systems Ability to integrate with web-based Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) procedures Ability to track assets using active and/or passive RFID or equivalent technology Ability to support tamper-proof mechanisms in order to avoid tag removal from assets Discuss use and application of standards such as ISO 1800-6c/EPC Global Gen 2 Discuss form factor considerations Discuss RFID identification scheme practices Discuss tag RF interference mitigation Discuss tag attachment and placement methods Discuss tag commissioning/decommissioning methods Discuss false positive remediation Discuss scalability of proposed solution Discuss implementation and use of RFID enabled tables Discuss experience with integrating asset manufacturer applied tags into an existing RFID enterprise environment Discuss pre-deployment practices such as environmental spectrum analysis methods Discuss application testing (proof-of-concept) to ensure successful future deployment and implementation Discuss portable RFID printer practices Discuss the nature and efficacy of asset search and location methods/services Discuss distributed inventory implementations including cubicle inventory methods Objective #2: Data Center RFID real time or near real-time configuration and change management system. Describe an RFID data center implementation that possesses the ability to automatically record new production assets, asset moves, and asset redeployment. Responses to this objective must include the following considerations: Discuss implementation and use of RFID control point monitoring solutions such as door threshold portals Discuss periodic inventory methods such as the use of RFID enabled roll carts Discuss data center rack level inventory implementations Discuss data center chassis level inventory implementations Discuss data center RAM level inventory implementations Discuss Data Center RFID environmental measurements, such as rack/chassis temperatures and humidity levels, and under-floor moisture readings Discuss implementation methods of linear and circular fixed antenna systems Discuss integration of tag raised floor location with third party software applications like Autodesk's CAD suite Discuss experience in developing software designed to associate read events with points of origin (tag location) Discuss alignment of RFID system with employee security access systems Discuss support for real-time inventory visibility (heat mapping) IV. How to Respond: The offeror shall provide the following information in their technical capabilities statement: Company Information to include the company size, the CAGE code, the socioeconomic status, and Point of Contact information (name, email address, telephone, and fax numbers) Background/Corporate Experience Overview of the Proposed Solutions Technical Specifications and Capabilities of the Proposed Solutions References to include both Federal and commercial references Pricing Information to include a rough order of magnitude, infrastructure required and the per asset cost Provide components available through Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Response needs to be limited to 10 pages, and contain technical information versus marketing materials Technical questions will be addressed until 1700 hours EST, December 7, 2010. Responses are due 1300 hours EST, December 17, 2010.