SDN Family of Systems (FOS) RFI

This request for information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government use of such information. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in developing its acquisition strategy. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this request for information or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI. Industry is referred to USSOCOM's previous solicitation number H9222211R0036 and prior contract number H9222212D0020 for a competitive procurement of the Special Operations Forces Deployable Node-Family of Terminals (SDN-FoT) which included SDN-Medium and SDN-Heavy terminals, and previous solicitation number H9222210R1006 and prior contract number H9222210D1006 for a competitive procurement of the Special Operations Forces Deployable Node-Lite (SDN-L) terminals. Industry is further referred to solicitation number W56KGU14RA011, detailing an earlier RFI conducted on behalf of USSOCOM by the US Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), for additional technical information regarding next generation SDN-Lite capabilities. It is the Government's intent to consolidate the entire family of systems (FoS) and re-compete by means of a single contract award for the next generation of SDN-Lite, Medium, and Heavy terminal capabilities. Industry should be aware that technical requirements for the FoS are still evolving. USSOCOM is seeking information from potential suppliers capable of providing a non-developmental, production ready SDN FoS. The FoS will be comprised of several satellite ground terminal variants, including but not limited to: ? a sub-one meter aperture terminal operating in the X, Ka and Ku frequency bands, ? a 1.0-1.2 meter aperture terminal operating in the X, Ku and Ka bands, ? and a 2.0 meter aperture terminal operating in the C, X, Ku, and Ka bands. Terminals operating in the military X and Ka bands should have current Army Forces Strategic Command (ARSTRAT) certifications authorizing access to the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) and Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) space segments. Terminals not yet certified but in the process of ARSTRAT testing or review should be identified. Additionally, terminals operating in the commercial C and Ku frequency bands shall be compliant with requirements imposed by Intelsat, Inmarsat, EUTELSAT, SES and others for operation over those constellations. Available terminals operating in Ka-band should be identified as to whether they are capable of operations in the military Ka, commercial Ka or both. Additionally, terminals capable of Ka operations should be identified as whether they are certified by Inmarsat for operations over the I5/Global Express space segment. USSOCOM desires that the next generation FoS utilize a common graphical user interface (GUI) across all variants. The USSOCOM satellite communications (SATCOM) network currently employs iDirect modem technology and does not foresee this changing in the near future. Therefore, next generation FoS terminals shall have embedded iDirect modems interoperable with current USSOCOM iDirect modem/Hub implementations. The attached draft Brand Name Justification (BNJ) identifies the iDirect part numbers that will be included in the next generation systems. Terminals larger than the sub-one meter aperture variant shall provide automatic satellite acquisition and tracking. Compliance with MIL-STD-810 for vibration, shock, humidity, salt fog, sand and dust, rain and high and low temperature (operating and storage) are also required. Respondees should address their maximum production capacity for all terminal variants and provide warranty terms and conditions. This announcement is a request for information only, and does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP). USSOCOM anticipates publishing a Draft RFP including FoS requirements and a statement of work (SOW) for industry review and comment in October 2016 prior to a Final RFP being issued in January 2017. The anticipated NAICS Code is 334220. Responses are limited to no more than five pages (however, data sheets for existing products are not included in the page count). References to vendor Web pages will not be accepted. Interested parties should limit their responses to the information requested above. All responses to this RFI shall be unclassified. Respondees shall also indicate if they are classified as a small business under NAICS Code 334220. Responses are to be submitted via email to jonathan.katz@socom.mil by 8 July 2016.