REQUEST FOR INFORMATION --- Acquisition of Proliferated-Low Earth Orbit (P-Leo) Commercial Satellite Communications Services

*****UPDATED 14 APR 2020***** RFI Description and Attachment is updated to clarify that the cover letter is excluded from the 10 page limit. This RFI is for informational purposes only. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quotations (RFQ) or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Potential respondents are advised the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Proprietary information or trade secrets shall be clearly identified. DESCRIPTION The United States Space Force (USSF) Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO) acquires commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) services on behalf of mission partners in the United States Department of Defense, Federal, State and Local government partners, allied nations and other entities, hereinafter collectively referred to as - customers. USSF CSCO plans to establish a new contract for P-LEO COMSATCOM services for customers. This contract is envisioned to be organized into two (2) segments (e.g., contract framework): Segment A, - Service Plans; and Segment B, - Service Contract Line Items (CLINs). The envisioned details for each of these Segments follow. Segment A shall comprise various defined Service Plans that are reflective of government user groups capability needs within the context of commercially available services. In essence the Service Plans, in the aggregate, represent the scope of the contract. Each Service Plan shall contain a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that is associated with a fixed rate ultimately payable to the Contractor. Service Plans may vary widely in what and how much they offer (e.g., airtime access, coverage regions, ground segment connectivity (backhaul architecture), information security services, managed services, field service representatives, user terminals/devices, etc.), the volume and rate of service offered and the interval of time covered by each Service Plan. Additionally, Segment A may contain - ala carte options that customers can add to their Service Plan to build a customized Service Plan. The Contractor will be responsible for all Service Plan provisioning. The Contractor will be responsible for furnishing an online portal that provides an administrative view for USSF CSCO (holistic of all Service Plans) and customer view (specific to the customer's Service Plan(s)) that encapsulates details of the Service Plan, utilization, health and status of the satellite system(s) and terrestrial links, etc. The portal shall be sufficiently flexible to link Contractor Service Plan data to other portals used by the Government. The Offeror will be responsible for tracking all billing and changes made to a customer's Service Plan. The Offeror will also be responsible for calculating a customer's total price, inclusive of the customer's total Service Plan price and options (adjusted for any changes made in the billing period to include credits or debits associated with the SLA), and reporting that total price and supporting details to USSF CSCO so that USSF CSCO can direct bill the customer and recover costs. Under Segment A, USSF CSCO would - roll-up the total cost of the Service Plans and pay the Contractor at the Enterprise level (e.g., USSF CSCO will collect revenue levied by rates in a Government Working Capital Fund and use the centralized funding to pay the contractor under a - family plan arrangement as well as to pay other bills). This approach will enable USSF CSCO to optimize our customers collective buying power by managing the independent Service Plans at the Enterprise level. This approach also facilitates long-term customer commitment and predictable cash-flow for the Contractor. Segment A Service Plans will be structured to satisfy common needs, suitable for purchase by multiple customers. Segment B shall also comprise various defined Service Plans as described above. The Contractor will be responsible for all Service Plan provisioning. The Contractor will be responsible for furnishing an online portal that provides an administrative view for USSF CSCO (holistic of all Service Plans) and customer view (specific to the customer's Service Plan(s)) that encapsulates details of the Service Plan, utilization, health and status of the satellite system(s) and terrestrial links, etc. The portal shall be sufficiently flexible to link Contractor Service Plan data to other portals used by the Government. However, in Segment B, each Service Plan shall be negotiated as a separate CLIN on the basic (master) contract and procured as an independent task/delivery order. The task/delivery order shall be independently funded by the customer. This approach is similar to prevailing COMSATCOM acquisition models. The intent of Segment B is to enable straight-forward procurement of capabilities for customers with unique mission requirements. Segment A and Segment B Service Plans and ala carte options for each may be the same or vary between Segments A and B. The contract is anticipated to be multi-award in order to include access to multiple P-LEO systems that have demonstrated commercial viability. INFORMATION REQUESTED USSF CSCO requests interested parties address the following questions: State the nature of your company's P-LEO COMSATCOM business. (e.g., P-LEO satellite owner/operator, value-added reseller/integrator of P-LEO COMSATCOM services, P-LEO COMSATCOM equipment vendor, etc.). Would you be interested in being a prime contractor or subcontractor/teaming partner to this type of acquisition? If you are a P-LEO network owner/operator, please describe your system and showcase any advantages or benefits you believe are inherent to its design and/or architecture. What general remarks and suggestions does your company have regarding the contract framework USSF CSCO outlined above? If you believe a different acquisition framework would be better for customers, please describe. Based on the above explanation, please suggest one or more Service Plans you believe might be relevant and that you could potentially offer to the Government. Describe the base included services, potential service options, billing cost concept (flat-rate per unit time, charge per-bit, tiered pricing, etc.), service level agreement, terms of service and any other attributes of the plan you deem relevant. Please briefly outline your approach to providing the requested administrative view and customer view portals. What does the Government need to provide you in order for this to be successful and what challenges do you anticipate with this approach? What recommendations would you suggest for how a source selection team should rate value in different proposals/from different offerors? How can USSF CSCO ensure that proposed value from a Best Value Trade Off (BVTO) awardee is realized over the life of a contract? What obstacles prevent, or could prevent, your company from providing the best service possible to USSF CSCO and our customers? How would you recommend USSF CSCO address such obstacles? When developing pricing for Service Packages as described above, what factors influence the resultant commercial rates and what could/should the Government do that would enable you to offer better value and lower pricing? What specific efficiencies do you believe can be leveraged in creating service offerings for the DoD market? What risks may be involved in realizing these efficiencies and pooling DoD customer requirements? Please provide any other relevant feedback. SUBMISSION DETAILS Responses should include: Business name and address. Name and business title and contact information of company representative. Respondent's perspective, organized and structured according to the questions stated in the previous section. Responses shall be limited to a single document of no more than 10 pages. The cover letter is excluded from the page limit. The document should be single-spaced, have one-inch margins, US letter-size (8 1/2 by 11 inches) page, use 12-point font, and be formatted for compatibility with Microsoft Word 2003 (or later) or Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 (or later). Submissions should be named according to the following convention: _P-LEO RFI_.. Submissions should not exceed a 5 MB e-mail limit for all items associated with the response. Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. All government and contractor personnel reviewing responses will have signed non-disclosure agreements and understand their responsibility for proper use and protection from unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information as described 41 USC 423. The Government will not be liable for any damages incurred if proprietary information is not properly identified. Questions about this RFI should directed exclusively by e-mail to stephanie.vandine@us.af.mil and AFSPC.ESD.HQAFSPC@us.af.mil. Companies wishing to respond to this RFI should send responses via electronic mail no later than Friday, 17 April 2020 at 4:00 PM Eastern Time to stephanie.vandine@us.af.mil and AFSPC.ESD.HQAFSPC@us.af.mil.