Sources Sought Notice for the Acquisition of Common Sensor Payload (CSP) Production and System Support

Sources Sought Notice for the Acquisition of Common Sensor Payload (CSP) Production and System Support **This sources sought is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid (IFB), request for quotation (RFQ), request for proposal (RFP), or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this request 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. 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 or to otherwise pay for the information submitted. Responses will not be returned nor will receipt be confirmed.** The Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) is conducting market research on behalf of the US Army's Office of the Program Manager Electro-Optic Infrared-Payload (PM EO/IR-Payloads). PM EO/IR-Payloads is conducting a market survey with the intent to locate potential industry sources capable of providing the following for the Common Sensor Payload (CSP) (NSN 5855015645450, NSN 5855016415099): acquisition of payloads and spares, repair, sustainment, engineering support, and software support. 1. DESCRIPTION AND APPLICATION: The CSP is a multi-sensor day/night imaging payload composed of a Turret Unit (TU) and an Electronics Unit (EU). The TU incorporates an Eye-safe Laser Rangefinder (ELRF), Laser Designator (LD), Laser Target Marker (LTM), and Laser Spot Tracker (LST). An Electro-Optic (EO) sensor within the TU provides Standard and High Definition color or monochrome imagery during daytime conditions and an Infrared (IR) sensor provides Standard and High Definition imagery during various environmental conditions, both day and night. Both TU and EU are flight qualified hardware for the Gray Eagle Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) with potential for use on other aviation platforms. 2. REQUIRED CAPABILITIES: The Government requires CSP systems, spare and repair parts, logistics and engineering services as described below. The intent of this Sources Sought Notice is to assess industry's availability to provide CSP products and support services that could be applied to meet this requirement. The Government envisions a Non-Developmental Item (NDI) solution for CSP. 3. SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS: CSP is utilized as an EO/IR/LD sensor that provides a robust, advanced state of the art sensor suite to collect critical information for all members of the air-ground maneuver team. The CSP is utilized on Gray Eagle platforms (Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), Aerial Exploitation Battalion (AEB), and Army Special Operations Aviation Command (ARSOAC)) and provides near real time imagery for detection and classification of targets/threats in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) and Outside of the Contiguous United States (OCONUS) for operational missions. Required support: a) Sustainment support, including but not limited to procurement and provisioning of system spares and replacement parts, manuals, support equipment, and diagnostic tools. Support by providing qualified technicians to serve as Field Service Representatives (FSR) to diagnose and troubleshoot failures both CONUS and OCONUS, support depot maintenance, packaging and demilitarization, and provide training and reach-back technical support as needed. b) Repair, retrofit, and modification of fielded CSP hardware c) CONUS and OCONUS Engineering Support, including but not limited to technical reach-back support for CSP hardware and software/firmware (SW/FW) for the payload and components, as well as engineering design activities. d) CSP payload replacement and replenishment (up to approximately 40 systems) e) Technical insertion of a hardware and software enhancement which: 1. Makes CSP a Metric Sensor. The CSP would thereafter provide, in the metadata, the horizontal and vertical error associated with the coordinate position within the reticle overlay. 2. Increases the operator's situational awareness and reduces their cognitive burden. The system will have all HD sensors with the addition of a Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) camera capable of imaging a laser designation spot. The system will have a day/night capable medium Field of View (FOV) so the operator can maintain an awareness over a larger area for target detection while simultaneously using the targeting camera to provide a target identification. Additionally, the CSP will have an Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) system which will automatically detect and cue the operator to potential targets. Interested vendors are required to provide an approach on how to meet the above requirements and be able to demonstrate CSP requirements, capabilities, and qualification. The Government desires a system that supports the current two level maintenance structure (Field and Depot). The planned acquisition is a three (3) year base contract with one (1) two (2) year option Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract. The Government anticipates contract award in 2QFY18. The contract is to be a hybrid contract to include Cost-Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF), Cost (No Fee) for travel, material, and ODCs, and Firm Fixed Price (FFP) elements. This is a market survey to identify all parties interested in taking part in this entire effort as a prime contractor. The incumbent is Raytheon Company, 2501 W University Drive, McKinney, TX 75070-2813. Raytheon currently maintains support/configuration management of the CSP hardware and maintains the software source code. The Government has limited documentation on hardware modules and the software source code. Consequently, the Government does not have the detailed documentation or source code to provide to a third party. A technical data package is not available. Interested Contractors shall have a Secret Facility Clearance with Secret Safeguarding Requirements. Interested parties with the ability to satisfy the above characteristics and capabilities should submit a white paper, not to exceed 20 pages, discussing your company's ability to meet the above requirements. The response should include a complete discussion of the ability to meet the above stated characteristics and capabilities, contractor's facility availability, and staffing capabilities. The supporting documentation must be in sufficient detail to enable the Government to determine if the respondent either has the required product, hardware, software, sensor spares, sensor repairs, sensor FSR support, or the capabilities and production qualifications required for this effort. Descriptive literature of the commercial product, if available, should be provided and will not be included in the above page count. Responses should also include a cover letter (not included in the page count) providing: Company: Address: Point of Contact: Phone Number: Fax Numbers: Email Address: CAGE Code and DUNS Number: If your company holds a GSA Schedule contract (874 or other), please provide the Schedule number. Also include the following in your response (within the 20 page submission limit): 1. Provide a brief summary of the company. 2. Address your team's experience working with EO/IR/LD sensor technology. Provide details regarding teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy the CSP requirements as described above. For any previous effort, please provide contract number, point of contact (POC), email address, phone number, and a brief description of your direct support of the effort. 3. Provide test results from previous Government testing that has been successfully completed; include contracting agency and contract number. 4. Address your team's maturity and ability to provide support for CSP upgrades in a timely manner following contract award. Specifically, provide an estimate of time to deliver the first upgraded production CSP following contract award. 5. Provide Top Five Long Lead Item Components (and Projected Lead Times) for CSP production. 6. Describe your firm's SECRET facility. 7. Do all the employees supporting this requirement have a security clearance? 8. What are the core competencies of your employees that would support these requirements? Also provide the total number of individuals currently employed by your company that would be supporting the requirements. 9. Please identify your company's business size standard based on the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 541330 for example. For more information, refer to http://www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards: Large Business Concern Small Business (SB) Concern 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Woman-Owned Small Business Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Veteran-Owned Small Business Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business THE FOLLOWING ONLY APPLIES TO THE SMALL BUSINESS RESPONDENTS and will not count against the page limitations stated below: In addition to the above, small businesses responding should provide the following information: a) If you are a small business and plan to perform as the prime contractor, please inform how you will meet the limitations on subcontracting Clause 52.219-14. b) Under the current SB size standard, do you anticipate your company remaining a small business, under the stated NAICS code 541330? c) If you are a small business, can your company sustain if not paid for 90 calendar days? d) Does your firm possess an approved Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) accounting system? PLEASE NOTE THAT IF A CHARACTERISTIC OR CAPABILITY IS NOT ADDRESSED THE GOVERNMENT WILL ASSUME THE RESPONDENT DOES NOT OR CANNOT MEET THE SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS MARKET SURVEY. Responses are due no later than 4:00 PM EST (local time at Fort Belvoir, VA) prior to the close of this SSN and reference this synopsis in the subject line of email and on all enclosed documents. Email responses should not exceed 10 Megabytes (MB). If responses are larger than 10MB, they may be broken down into smaller files (< 10 MB) and emailed separately. Responses received after this date and time may not be reviewed. Send responses electronically to: Kristen L. Weiman, Contracting Officer, email: Kristen.l.weiman.civ@mail.mil AND Ryan Welch, Assistant Product Manager, email: ryan.p.welch2.mil@mail.mil All requests for further information must be in writing or via email to the POCs above; telephonic requests for additional information will not be honored. Acknowledgement of receipt will be issued.