Request for Information (RFI) for the Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring (SSAEM) Program

16a. Description: The Defense Weather Systems Directorate (DWSD) Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring (SSAEM) program office, on behalf of the United States Air Force, is seeking information from companies who could provide a production capability of seven (7) space-based Radio Frequency (RF) beacons flight articles and one (1) Engineering Development Unit (EDU) for remote sensing of ionospheric scintillation and line-of-sight Total Electron Content (TEC), and the associated payload to space vehicle integration and test support, and an option for commercially priced controlled storage facilities needed for the program. The RF beacon flight article is defined as a standard RF beacon. The addition of the language "flight article" should not imply that we are requesting anything other than the standard RF beacon. Measurements of signals transmitted by a RF beacon flight article can be used to measure ionospheric properties such as the TEC along the signal propagation path, amplitude and phase scintillation indices at the transmitted frequencies. The TEC observations can be ingested into global assimilative models to improve ionospheric specification, and the scintillation observations can be used to estimate ionosphere-induced degradation of communication/navigation signals across the electromagnetic spectrum. 16b. Purpose: This is a Request for Information (RFI) for market research purposes. The purpose of this RFI is to seek information on existing technologies, or existing technologies with possible minor modifications that can be used to meet the sensing capabilities described in paragraph 16d, incorporating the listed Government assumptions. Cost and schedule are major considerations; therefore, the Government is interested in estimated cost and schedule information for individual requirements defined in paragraph 16d. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI# SMC-11-41 is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotations) 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. We are not at this time seeking proposals. Responders 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 responding party's expense. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked PROPRIETARY will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer from any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Proprietary information or trade secrets should be clearly identified. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The Government will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if one is issued. 16c. Acronyms: DWSD - Defense Weather System Directorate EDU - Engineering Development Unit GFY - Government Fiscal Year GHz - Gigahertz GLONASS - GLObal NAvigation Satellite System GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Signal GPS - Global Positioning System IORD - Integrated Operational Requirements Document L-band - Band of frequency in the L frequency range MHz - Megahertz MS - Microsoft POC - Point of Contact Ps - Probability of success RFI - Request for Information RS422 - Short form and former official title of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard ANSI/TIA/EIA-422-B and its international equivalent ITU-T Recommendation T-REC-V.11, also known as X.2. SSAEM - Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring SWaP - Space, Weight and Power TEC - Total Electron Content TRL -Technology Readiness Level USAF- United States Air Force UHF - Ultra High Frequency 16d. Sensing Capability Information Sought: The Government is seeking information that provides an approach/information concerning the design and manufacturing of the RF beacon flight articles that would enable transmissions in the following frequency bands: - Coherent continuous wave UHF (e.g., 400 MHz) signal - Coherent continuous wave L-band (e.g., 1067 MHz) signal - Coherent continuous wave S-band (>2 GHz) signal The Government is also interested in responses containing approaches/ideas/designs that might provide additional value that could include modulation of the continuous wave signals. To mitigate interference issues with a potentially co-manifested radio occultation sensor, the L-band frequency should be selected to avoid the Global Navigation Satellite Signal (GNSS) bands (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS) and particular care should be taken in the instrument design to ensure that no spurious emissions in the GNSS bands exist. While this RFI is focused on a space-based transmitter, the Government understands that the capabilities of potential ground receivers are a factor in the RF beacon flight article design. Responses to this RFI should include a discussion of the assumptions made relative to the ground-based component of the transmitter-receiver system. Furthermore, the implications of any proposed waveforms on the complexity of the ground-based receiver systems required to exploit the transmitted signals should be discussed. The Government is requesting responses from respondents with established manufacturing processes and equipment for producing the desired RF beacon flight articles. The Government is seeking responses that demonstrate technology and design maturity along with the associated manufacturing readiness. The respondent should provide Level II cost and delivery schedule estimates by fiscal year as well as their assumptions associated with providing: - Seven (7) RF beacon flight articles - One (1) Engineering Development Unit (EDU) - One (1) power and data interface simulator - Ground Support Equipment (GSE) - Space vehicle integration and test support - Controlled environment storage option - Priced by month - Packaging and shipping containers - Launch and early operations anomaly support The required funding profile across the fiscal years involved to meet the program schedule should be provided. The following Government assumptions should be used for cost and schedule estimation: 1. Cost/schedule estimate will be at 80% confidence level and responders may also include figures from various confidence levels, with appropriate justification; 2. Solutions will be low risk by using high TRL components (i.e. minimum of TRL 6), the Government is willing to assess lower TRL with appropriate justification; 3. No Government facilities or property will be provided; 4. Anticipated contract award during 4th quarter Government Fiscal Year (GFY) 2012; 5. Sensor delivery dates: (a) Engineering Development Unit (EDU) 4th quarter GFY 2013; (b) First RF beacon flight article 1st quarter GFY 2014; (c) Remaining 6 RF beacon flight articles 2nd quarter GFY 2014; 6. Spacecraft integration/pre-launch support: through launch in 4th quarter GFY 2015; 7. Estimate storage option based on a monthly rate; 8. Costs should be broken out to the lowest level possible; 9. Program level costs will include Systems Engineering, Program Management, Design, Manufacturing, Integration, Assembly and Test support, etc; 10. For contract type recommendations see Section 5. Again, these assumptions are given for cost estimation and planning purposes only and the Government is only seeking information for market research purposes. In your approach/responses please include the following, as well: - Discussion of any cost drivers, cost tradeoffs, and schedule considerations - Information pertaining to utilization of small business subcontractor/s, if applicable. 16e. Desired Technical Goals: The RF beacon flight article should have a reliability of 95% probability of success (Ps) for the 5-year mission life. The altitude of the spacecraft carrying the RF beacon flight article will be 840 km or less. The command interface to the host spacecraft will be RS422. Measurement goals for TEC and scintillation measurements are provided in the following bullets. Scintillation measurement goals apply at each of the RF beacon flight article frequencies. - Measurement: Slant Path TEC; Measurement Range: 0-1000 TEC; Measurement Accuracy: 0.01/3.0 TEC (relative/absolute); Absolute TEC measurements are to be considered an objective requirement. - Measurement: Scintillation Indices; Measurement Range: S4: 0-1.5 and ??: 0-1 radians; Measurement Accuracy: S4: 0.05 and ??: 0.05 radians The Government is interested in limiting the size, weight and power (SWaP) of the RF beacon flight article as follows: - <5.0 kg (electronics and antenna included) - <14 W - Electronics volume <15'86 cm Responses that suggest excursions outside of the SWaP limits, or which do not fully meet the measurements goals, are still of interest, but should include discussions of the rationale and relevant technical trades involved. 16f. Sample Response Outline: The following is a suggested outline and suggested page counts for a response to this RFI. This outline is intended to minimize the effort of the respondent and to structure the responses for ease of analysis by the Government. Nevertheless, respondents are free to develop their responses as they see fit. Section 1 - Technological Alternatives Briefly describe one or more technological alternatives, including the reliability, flight heritage and technology readiness characteristics of the alternatives (3-5 pages per alternative). Section 2 - Feasibility Assessment Briefly describe the feasibility of each alternative and the design tradeoffs involved as matched against the functional requirements and risks (1 page per alternative). Section 3 - Cost and Schedule Estimates Provide cost and schedule estimates for each alternative. The desired business information is an 80% confidence estimate of cost and schedule risk. Responders may also include figures from various confidence levels, with appropriate justification (2-3 pages). The assumptions in paragraph 16d may be used for cost and schedule estimation. Section 4 - Corporate Expertise Briefly describe your company, your products and services, history, ownership, financial information, and any other information you deem relevant. Responses from small and small disadvantaged business firms are highly encouraged. Firms responding should indicate if they are a small business, a socially and economically disadvantaged business, 8(a) firms, historically black colleges or universities, and minority institutions. Please describe current and relevant experience that relates to the purpose of this RFI, including management and operations approach, and any lessons learned (3-5 page count). Section 5 - Additional Materials Please provide any other materials, suggestions, and discussions you deem appropriate. Include any recommended structure of the requirements in the event the Government plans to issue an RFP. Also, current department policy requires the use of Fixed Price (FP) contracts to the maximum extent possible. Please include in your response how your company could accomplish this effort under a FFP contract and assess the challenges, constraints, and risks that could arise from this contract type. 16g. References Library: Reference documents: - NPOESS Integrated Operational Requirements Document (IORD) II, 10 December 2001 - National Security Space Architect Space Weather Architecture Study, 11 June 1999 16h. Submission of Responses: ALL RESPONSES SHALL BE SUBMITTED VIA EMAIL. Responses to this RFI should be submitted using MS Word (12 point Times New Roman) no later than TBD to the SSAEM Workflow inbox at the following e-mail address: SSAEM@losangeles.af.mil. Please limit responses to 20 pages written (single-sided) or 20 MS PowerPoint slides. Responses to all or part of the above RFI will be accepted. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked. The Government will NOT be responsible for any proprietary information not clearly marked. Responses to the RFI should include the following: - Submitter's Name - Street Address, City, State, NINE-Digit zip code - Point of Contact (POC) - POC Email, telephone and facsimile numbers You may also submit supplemental hardcopy materials such as brochures, etc. (5 copies each) to Mr. Don Ruffin, at 483 North Aviation Boulevard, Building 272, El Segundo, CA 90245. Classified responses, if required, must be coordinated before delivery with Mr. Don Ruffin, at don.ruffin@losangeles.af.mil. Please include the signed Enabling Agreement for Government Support Contractors upon submission of your responses, see Attachment 1. Responses from Small and Small Disadvantaged Business firms are highly encouraged. Firms responding should indicate if they are a small business, a socially and economically disadvantaged business, 8(a) firms, historically black colleges or universities, and minority institutions. Applicability of these specifications can be referenced at http://www.census/gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch and http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files when determining what designations to use. Responses received after TBD may not be considered in the Government's analyses. The NAICS code is 336415. The Government may elect to conduct one-on-one exchanges with industry to obtain clarification of the RFI responses. One-on-one exchanges will be conducted only with companies that provided an RFI response, and only 4 members of each respondent group will be permitted during discussion. Please note that the Government is under no obligation to conduct these sessions. 16i. Points of Contact Primary: Mr. Don Ruffin, Program Manager, Phone 310-653-3905, Fax 310-653-3337, Email don.ruffin@losangeles.af.mil Secondary: Ms. Lorraine Lewis-Wilson, Contracting Officer, Phone 310-653-6983, Email lorraine.lewis-wilson@losangeles.af.mil