Request for Information - Operational Imperative #2, Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS)/Air Force Joint All Domain Command and Control

I. DISCLAIMER THIS NOTICE IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Responses will be treated as information only and will not be evaluated as a proposal. Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. A return response from the government with regard to RFI submissions is not guaranteed. The RFI respondees are advised that the 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 interested party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation from future announcements or contracts. Respondents should indicate which portions of their response are propriety and should mark accordingly. NOTE: This RFI is not associated with any previous or ongoing RFPs or Fair Opportunity Proposal Requests issued by the DAF RCO ABMS Program Office. II. BACKGROUND The Secretary of the Air Force has established seven new operational imperatives, major focus areas for the Department of the Air Force in 2022: Defining Resilient Space Order of Battle and Architectures (defensive and offensive) Achieving Operationally-Optimized Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) / Air Force Joint All Domain Command and Control Defining the Next Generation Air Dominance System of Systems (air moving target indication, other sensors, communications, command & control, weapons, and uncrewed aerial vehicles) Achieving Moving Target Engagement at Scale (air, sea surface and ground mobile targets) Defining Optimized Resilient Basing, Sustainment, and Communications in a Contested Environment Evaluating Readiness of the DAF to Transition to a Wartime Posture Against a Peer Competitor Defining the B-21 Long Range Strike Family of Systems The above imperatives will set the tone for the Department's future and senior leaders across the Air Force and Space Force have been appointed as operational and acquisition leads for each imperative to perform analysis within an aggressive timeline to generate FY24 POM recommendations for the Secretary by the end of March 2022. This RFI supports the analysis for ONE of these imperatives, specifically Operational Imperative #2 to inform future budget and program decisions. Additional separate RFI's may be issued in support of other imperatives. Where possible, the Department would like to understand within your responses how your technology and operational concepts for this imperative could enable, connect, and contribute across all 7 imperatives. We would also like to understand the scalability and adaptability of your proposed concepts. III. SPECIFIC INFORMATION OF INTEREST A. Problem Statement: Today's tactical engagements are heavily reliant on centralized battle management and situational awareness shared between battle management and surveillance platforms (e.g. E-3, E-8, CRC) in order to provide awareness of enemy locations, determine targeting responsibilities, and support management and allocation of weapons and resources. As threat capabilities challenge battle management nodes beyond their effective range of engagement, disconnected air and space assets are unable to share awareness, coordinate activities, and effectively allocate fires to achieve the desired outcome. B. Request for Information: The DAF ABMS team is looking for concepts/capabilities to address the following challenges. Where possible, companies should include the results of operational analyses to articulate the quantifiable operational benefit(s) of the proposed concepts/capabilities and tools/methods used to conduct the modeling, simulation, and analysis (MS&A). Increase the sharing of targeting, sorting, and engagements on the tactical edge between weapons, weapons delivery platforms, and battle managers, while preserving survivability and freedom of action, allowing for effective Battle Management that reduces duplicative targeting and engagement, and increases weapons allocation efficiency. Improve automated movement of data throughout the Battle Management decision-making process that will reduce the time between finding targets and issuing an engagement order, reducing the number of human-induced errors in the process. Provide resilient, collaborative connectivity and tools to enable distributed Battle Management with multiple interacting tactical C2 nodes and enhance their survivability. Additional Information: Companies are also encouraged to highlight additional Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) challenges and associated concepts/capabilities if relevant mission analysis that demonstrates the operational return on investment (e.g improved exchange ratios, more efficient resource allocation, etc.) is complete and available to the Government. Please articulate expected fielding timelines with particular emphasis on deliveries prior to 2030. IV. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS and FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS A. Due Date: Responses are requested by 4pm Eastern on 25 Feb 2022. Any response received after this date will also be considered but may not be included in initial reporting or assessments. B. Response Content and Format: The response to this RFI should be no more than 8 pages total in a pdf, Excel and/or Word format and structured as follows: 1. COVER SHEET to include the following company information not to exceed 1 page. Company Name, CAGE Number (if applicable), Address, Point of Contact E-Mail Address, Phone, Company Web Page URL. State whether your company is a small business such as 8(a), small disadvantaged business, woman-owned business, HUBZone small business, Veteran-owned business, or service disabled veteran owned business. Also include a statement as to whether your company is domestically or foreign owned (if foreign, please indicate the country of ownership). 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of the potential concept/capabilities not to exceed 1 page. 3. SPREADSHEET completed (see attachment to this RFI - counted as 1 page). 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION of the concept/capabilities not to exceed 5 pages. Submissions should describe the concept/capabilities to include the company's perspective on the technical maturity, expected Rough Order of Magnitude cost broken down by lifecycle phases (e.g. development, test, production, and sustainment), barriers/challenges/roadblocks and the associated timeline to deliver the concept/capabilities. In addition, describe the resources to be employed, ancillary and operational issues such as certifications, algorithms, and any engineering/software development methodologies to be used. Identify the type of support, if any, needed from the Government to include facilities, equipment, data, and information or materials. V. POINT OF CONTACT Non-Government advisors may be used in the evaluation of responses and have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the Government. Additional NDAs will not be required; instead, a response to this RFI will be considered an implicit acknowledgement and acceptance of the fact that non-Government advisors will be assisting the Government in this process. The Government understands that information provided in response to this RFI is presented in confidence and may contain trade secret, commercial or financial information, and it agrees to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure to the maximum extent permitted or required by- a. 18 USC 1905 (Trade Secrets Act); b. 18 USC 1831 et seq. (Economic Espionage Act); c. 5 USC 552(b)(4) (Freedom of Information Act); d. Executive Order 12600 (Pre-disclosure Notification Procedures for Confidential Commercial Information); and e. Any other statute, regulation, or requirement applicable to Government employees. RFI responses should be submitted electronically, via the appropriate communication channels (email preferred or a DoD SAFE link can be provided): Primary: Alternate: Ms. Katie Rasmussen Mr. Joseph Craven kathleen.rasmussen.2@us.af.mil joseph.craven.1@us.af.mil Phone Number: (937) 255-8421 Phone Number: (937) 255-2762 Electronic submissions are highly preferred. In the event electronic submission is not possible, please contact the primary point of contact above for address information. Companies are encouraged to keep all elements of the response unclassified. In the case where a respondent has a need to submit a classified appendix, such material shall not be transmitted across open-source media like public phone, fax, internet, or e-mail. If a respondent has any reason to believe their concept/capabilities may reference ideas or operations that require special protection, please contact the primary point of contact.