REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Vehicles

DESCRIPTION: 1. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Mobility and Training Aircraft Directorate's Heavy Airlift Division, Mobility Flex Procurement (AFLCMC/WLMK), in an effort to inform the potential Agility Prime fielding strategy, is conducting market research regarding the current operational utility cost-benefit for eVTOL aircraft that are available or anticipated to be available for fielding no later than 2025. 2. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. It is important to note that this RFI is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute an RFP or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI is to better understand the current eVTOL vehicle cost-benefit. This RFI does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for any supplies or services. AFLCMC/WLMK is not seeking proposals at this time. Responders 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 responder's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if issued. The U.S. Government has not made a commitment to procure any of the supplies or services discussed herein, and release of this RFI shall not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur costs for which reimbursement would be required or sought. This notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award an Other Transaction Agreement or Contract, nor does it restrict the U.S. Government to a particular acquisition approach. Any information provided to the U.S. Government as a result of this RFI is voluntary. Respondents will not be notified of the results from this RFI. All submissions will be used for review in the context of this RFI or related potential future solicitations and will be held and used for these purposes only. BACKGROUND: 1. For the purposes of this RFI, the U.S. Government is evaluating a business case for eVTOL aircraft as it compares to vehicles currently in the DoD inventory. The U.S. Government is exploring multiple aspects of cost and methods to obtain runway independent personnel transport capability which may include but are not limited to system purchase, lease and/or obtaining capability as a service. A significant portion of expense for legacy vehicles is captured in Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs and the U.S. Government does not have interest in pursuing vehicles with higher O&M costs than legacy or conventional rotary wing assets. The U.S. Government desires to collect cost information and basic associated capability metrics to use for comparison with other available air transportation assets. The U.S. Government is interested in supporting and accelerating the implementation of eVTOL operations for a variety of reasons, primarily as an introduction to potential future military operations and as such is exploring providing incentives to align operations to enable dual use operations as described herein. The U.S. Government is interested in exploring the business case using eVTOL aircraft for Distinguished Visitor (DV) transport and test and training range logistics support missions by supplementing current DoD capabilities in each of those mission areas. 2. It is likely that the DV transport mission is a closely aligned military mission to the commercial design intent of these vehicles, and as such will provide a mutually beneficial early use case for the military and commercial industry. The Air Force currently operates DV transport missions in multiple locations around the world. The U.S. Government is interested in exploring commercial interest in aligning initial commercial operating locations with these Air Force squadrons which would enable U.S. Government use of eVTOL for DV transport missions while allowing commercial use of the vehicle otherwise. DV Transport Mission Description: This military mission set of interest is use of an eVTOL for transport of personnel in, around and between urban areas, analogous to a commercial air taxi model. Common DV Transport Mission Requirements a. Monthly flight hour requirement: from approximately 5 to 30 hours per month b. Transport of 3-6 passengers and personal belongings (totaling up to 200lbs per passenger) is considered a single mission with no requirement to perform simultaneous missions c. Centralized hub for operations with delivery out to multiple spokes - some of which may be outside of round-trip range for eVTOL, requiring charging or equivalent, prior to round trip completion d. Passenger groups of more than the capacity for a single aircraft must arrive to the destination at the same time e. Aircraft are not required to be based or stored on military base f. Availability window is Monday through Friday, 0600-1800 local time g. Mission lead time notice is greater than 48 hours Intra-Urban DV Transport Mission Requirements a. Typical sortie distances range from 15 to 30 nautical miles per one-way trip b. Dense urban overseas locations should be considered for this mission Inter-Urban DV Transport Mission Requirements a. Typical sortie distances range from 30 to 90 nautical miles per one-way trip with desired capability to complete 115 nautical miles per one-way trip b. Dense urban stateside locations should be considered for this mission 3. Current aircraft technical and manufacturing maturity suggests that the Test Range Logistics Support mission is executable with eVTOL aircraft in the late 2023 timeframe. Supporting this assertion is the Air Force's ability to independently evaluate airworthiness risk and when residual risk may be reduced to an acceptable level, provide well defined flight authority approval within restricted airspace. Successful execution of these range logistics missions would provide a key milestone for moving the aircraft into the more demanding DV Transport Mission. Test Range Logistics Support Mission Description This military mission set of interest is use of an eVTOL for transport of personnel or test equipment around DoD test ranges. Test Range Logistics Support Mission Requirements a. Monthly flight hour requirement: from approximately 5 to 30 hours per month per range with potential for operations from multiple ranges b. Transport of 2 personnel or up to 500lbs of equipment is considered a single mission c. Capacity to execute simultaneous missions is not required d. Maximum sortie distance is 75 Nautical Miles per one-way trip e. Operations would originate out of a fixed main operating location and service up to three spoke locations. f. The test range locations are not necessarily near a viable commercial market. 4. Request that viable candidates respond to one or more of the following cost scenarios on the accompanying spreadsheet. Other contextual information is as follows: Scenario A: Government Owned, Government Operated Government Purchase of aircraft, Vendor provided maintenance support (a.k.a. Contracted Logistics Support or CLS), Government Pilots Requirements: Vendor provides training to government pilot/operators equivalent to commercial requirements and standards. Vendor will provide contracted logistics support for all vehicles sufficient to maintain an availability rate of 0.75 or greater and in sufficient quantities to execute the missions described herein. Vendor to provide a recommended number of air vehicles required to execute any or all of the mission sets outlined above. Scenario B: Contractor Owned, Government Operated Government Lease of Air Vehicles, Vendor provided maintenance support, Government Pilots Requirements: Vendor provides access to a serviceable vehicle from Monday-Friday, 0600-1800 local time. Vendor provides training to government pilot/operators equivalent to commercial requirements and standards. Vendor must pre-position maintenance personnel and spares in sufficient quantities to support a 0.75 or greater availability rate. Vendor supports aircraft launch operations out of established operational locations with availability of supporting infrastructure. Scenario C: Contractor Owned, Contractor Operated Contracted Aircraft Services where the Government contracts for aircraft service on a flight hour basis Requirements: Vendor provides all necessary supplies, personnel, and management functions to support personnel transport as a service. Vendor is responsible for all aircraft and equipment maintenance and hangar facilities. Vendors should not expect government provided hangar facilities. Vendor may pursue independent commercial operations during periods when a government requirement is not scheduled. RESPONSES: 1. Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI using the attached spreadsheet - eVTOL Vehicle RFI RESPONSE SPREADSHEET filling in the tabs - Company Info and Instructions, Overarching Questions, (a) Gov't Purchase, (b) Gov't Lease, (c) Contracted Aircraft Services as applicable based on the selected scenario(s), in addition to submitting the requested support data. Additional supplemental short white papers clarifying company responses are acceptable but not in lieu of the requested spreadsheet format and instructions. All vendor information in response to this RFI shall be no higher than Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and no classified RFI responses will be accepted. CUI Responses are required to be sent encrypted. 2. Responses are due no later than 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on 04 November 2022. Please send the filled-out eVTOL Vehicle RFI RESPONSE SPREADSHEET electronically to the Contracting/Agreements Officer, Angela C. Pereira Duque at angela.pereira_duque.2@us.af.mil and to the Contract/Agreements Specialist, Gene Wollet at gene.wollet@us.af.mil. ATTACHMENT: 1. eVTOL RFI RESPONSE SPREADSHEET. 2. RFI_Question_and_Answer_Supplement.