REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Radios-as-a-Service: An Alternate Model to Acquire Radio Capabilities

1 Description? 1.1 The Project Manager Tactical Radios (PM TR) seeks industry feedback and interest regarding an alternate approach to acquire tactical radio capabilities directly from vendors and the potential for vendors to provide fielding, training, maintenance, and upgrades. The intent of looking at a different model is to provide a more economical and agile approach to rapidly field and support new radio capabilities [e.g., meeting future National Security Agency (NSA) security requirements etc.]. Therefore, industry feedback is sought on the feasibility of an alternative model to the current model of buy and sustain radios to provide world class capabilities to the warfighter. Consideration factors include industry's abilities to: provide radios that seamlessly integrate into the Army's Integrated Tactical Network, meet the demand of Minimum Mission Essential Wartime Requirements (MMEWR), surge to full requirements level on unit Modified Table of Organizations and Equipment (MTOE), completely maintain radio hardware and software, improve, and deploy radio hardware and software through an upgrade cycle, and rapidly align with future NSA security requirements. 1.2 THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION: The Government is not obligated to make an award as a result of this request. This Request for Information (RFI) is for informational purposes only; this is not an Invitation for Bid (IFB), a Request for Proposal (RFP), or Request for Quotation (RFQ). No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation will not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses to this RFI. The Government will not be liable for payment of any preparation expenses in response to this RFI, and is in no way obligated by the information received. Any costs incurred by interested companies in response to, or as a result of this announcement will NOT be reimbursed. The information provided will be used by the Government for the purpose of conducting market research. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response(s). It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor the website for additional information pertaining to this RFI.? 2.0 Background The Army has a high demand for tactical communications gear with enhanced capabilities that can evolve to stay ahead of future security threats. Historically, the Army has purchased and sustained the tactical radios that provide these desired capabilities. With this model, the Army has also assumed responsibility for repairs, maintenance, sustainment, upgrades, and replacements. These responsibilities include relatively simple updates (e.g., applying security patches), as well as more substantial efforts (e.g., crypto modernization involving module or radio replacement). Due to the large quantity of radios needed and the resulting affordability challenges, the Army has been required to keep legacy radios in the field much longer than desired (e.g., decades). The Army is seeking new, innovative methods to acquire radios that increase its velocity of fielding and enhancing capabilities to address emerging threats and meet NSA mandates. Radios-as-a-Service (RaaS) is being considered as an alternative acquisition model for vendors to provide tactical radios to the Army on demand, provide software updates for these radios as needed, refresh hardware as needed, rapidly improve capabilities, and provide periodic maintenance for these radios. The Army seeks assistance from industry to determine the feasibility, logistics and appropriate means to make radios as a managed service impactful and economically sensible. 3.0 Responses 3.1 White Paper: Interested parties are required to respond to this RFI with a white paper. White papers shall be submitted in a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) compatible format. Respondents are requested to provide the information in paragraph 3.3, and to address the questions posed in paragraph 3.4. Respondents may provide supporting documentation along with their submissions. Responses shall be limited to no more than 15 pages for the entire submission (including company information, answers to technical questions, supporting documentation, etc.). Title page and Table of Contents will be excluded and will not count toward the 15 pages. No further questions related to the RFI will be accepted, as questions were due by 12:00 PM, on 20 Mar 2023. RFI responses are due NLT 14 Apr 2023, at 12:00 PM EST, and must be submitted via email only to the following Government Points of Contact (POCs): curtissa.m.bond.civ@army.mil, nikiya.s.walden.civ@army.mil and sharon.a.peterson15.civ@army.mil. 3.2 Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and 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. In addition to Government civilians, Government support contractors may review and evaluate the whitepaper submission(s). If this was a concern for your company, it was to have been addressed along with your questions/concerns submitted to the Government (via email only) prior to 12:00 PM EST, on 20 Mar 2023. 3.3 Company Information.?The response should provide the following information: 3.3.1 Contact Information: Company name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 3.3.2 Security Clearance:?State the security clearance level of the company facility. 3.4 Technical Questions. Respond to the following questions: 3.4.1 Identify your current radio solutions that have been procured by PM TR, or are being marketed for future procurement by PM TR to meet Army needs? 3.4.2 What capabilities can you deliver through a RaaS agreement? [e.g., military and Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) waveforms, frequency, data, and voice]. 3.4.3 Describe how you would structure a RaaS agreement. How might your approach to RaaS provide the Army a more affordable avenue for delivery radio capabilities? Consider the following in your response: a. Length of agreement b. Scope of security classifications [e.g., COTS, Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU), Secret and Below (SAB), Controlled Cryptographic Item (CCI)] c. Inclusion/exclusion of A-Kit ancillaries (e.g., platform-specific cables) d. Inclusion/exclusion of B-Kit ancillaries (e.g., antennas, handsets, batteries, cables) e. Procurement options (e.g., buy out, lease extension, on-demand) 3.4.4 Describe your approach on maintaining configuration management and how roles and responsibilities can be defined between Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Government? 3.4.5 As a minimum, radios should receive time-critical security patches and important bug fixes to be applied by the unit. As a goal, radios should also receive technical refreshes (e.g., new radio functionality, useability enhancements) and/or updates to maintain NSA security compliance. What scope (e.g., software only, hardware) of tech refreshes would be appropriate for radios and why? 3.4.6 What is your current capacity in terms of radios delivered per month for an alternate model? If a need arises to surge in the delivery of radios, what timeframe and surge capacity could you support? 3.4.7 Would you design the radios differently if you were providing the radios as a service? Describe the positive and negative outcomes that potentially arise from these changes? 3.4.8 Does your company currently have any customers with which you have as-a-service, or alternate agreement? If so, describe the general workflow and highlight key components of your existing agreement(s)? 3.4.9 Describe your fielding and sustainment strategy. What is your experience and/or capability to be able to provide fielding integration, training, installation, and field support? 3.4.10 Currently, radios that are unable to be repaired/maintained by Army units, are being sent to a regional support center if OCONUS, or an Army depot if in CONUS. a. If required, would you be able of perform the maintenance functions of a depot? b. If so, what capacity would you be able to support in terms of radios per month; and what would be your nominal turn-around time? Note that the current guideline for repairing or replacing radios is 72 hours. c. If maintenance were to be included in an alternate agreement, describe your ideal maintenance workflow. Describe how this differs from your current Return Material Authorization (RMA)/Warranty Repair process, if applicable. 3.4.11 What are your thoughts on RaaS, as it relates to feasibility and cost-effectiveness? 3.4.12 The Army is considering conducting a pilot with a unit to test the feasibility of an alternate model. Describe your approach to executing such a pilot? 4.0 Meetings and Discussions The Government representatives may or may not choose to meet with respondents to this RFI. Such meetings and discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements. 5.0 Questions No further questions related to this RFI will be accepted, as questions were due by 12:00 PM on 20 Mar 2023. 6.0 Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to investigate RaaS. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.? The 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.? All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.