U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Land Border Operational Awareness Request for Information (RFI)

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION (CBP) LAND BORDER OPERATIONAL AWARENESS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposal, or Request for Quotes. In accordance with FAR 15.202(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Additionally, the U.S. Government will not provide reimbursement for any information that may be submitted in response to this RFI. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Further, CBP offers no assurance that any solicitation will result from the information provided in response to this RFI. BACKGROUND CBP currently has a number of management systems and executive information systems that report on CBP's internal operation and performance and are used to provide CBP management a series of dashboards. These systems: - Identify and implement appropriate metrics for a CBP-wide operational awareness capability similar to ComStat system used by many police departments in a phased approach - Provide a uniform mechanism for timely reporting of a total of 131 different operational measures covering the subject areas of Cargo, Passenger, Enforcement, Antiterrorism, Currency, Border Violence, and Seizures. - Cover the entire CBP enterprise including the Office of Field Operations (OFO), Office of Border Patrol (OBP) and Air & Marine Division(AMD). These systems are used by CBP to both report the level of congestion at the Ports of Entry (POEs) and to predict at which ports and when congestion will occur. Severe congestion at POEs, particularly at the land borders, can cause major economic impacts. CBP is able to accurately predict congestion at the air and sea POEs because both air and sea carriers are required to file passenger manifests prior to their arrival at the POE and thus, CBP knows when and where they will arrive. There is no such prior notice requirement for persons planning to cross a land border in a vehicle. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit information from industry as to effective approaches that CBP might be able to employ that will allow CBP to predict when congestion is likely to occur at a land border crossing. CBP is conducting market research to gain a greater understanding of the full range of candidate technologies that either individually or collectively could allow CBP to estimate the number of vehicles approaching the US border and their rate speed. DESCRIPTION OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI): CBP believes that given information related to the traffic flows - e.g., number of vehicles, speed of vehicles, road conditions, etc., it will be able to reasonably predict when congestion will occur before the lanes at the POE actually begin to back up. It is the purpose of this RFI to identify technologies and approaches that could be used to acquire information relating to the flow of traffic on the approximately ten (10) miles of roads leading up to the US POE. CBP is requesting information from industry as to passive approaches to determining the number and speed of vehicles approaching the Northern US land border POEs. CBP believes that almost any aspect of the moving vehicle may be used to detect its position and speed. CBP is agnostic as to the technology or technologies that are used to meet this requirement, and just because CBP has identified some technologies that may be able to support this requirement, does not imply that CBP believes that these are the only, or even the best, technologies to meet this requirement. Technologies that CBP is aware of include, but are not limited to: - Photographic evidence of the passage of a vehicle (e.g., License Plate Readers [LPRs]) - Radar (e.g., speed sensors) - Magnetic detectors (e.g., loops installed in the roadway) - Radio emissions (e.g., Bluetooth or other radio emissions) CBP will require technologies that can provide the needed information for vehicles traveling - at speed up to ten (10) miles from the POE as well as be able to determine the number of vehicles in the lanes at the POE and at points in between. While CBP is agnostic as to the technology proposed, because of privacy concerns, it is critical that whatever technology is proposed not transmit any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) regarding the occupants of the car. In addition, to an interest in technologies that might be used to estimate vehicle numbers and speed, CBP is also interested in approaches to: - Installing one or more of these technologies in Canada - Operating the technical solution - Collecting and managing the potentially multiple streams of information that will be collected - Transmitting the collected information to CBP - Integrating the collected information into CBP systems for display in CBP management dashboards It would not necessarily be in CBP's interest to own, install, operate, maintain, or support the system. Therefore, CBP is also interested in industry input into approaches that might allow CBP use of the required information without CBP involvement in the installation, operation, maintenance, or support of any data collection, analysis, and integration that may be required. HOW TO RESPOND: Information provided in response to this RFI must be submitted no later than 14 calendar days from the date of posting, in the form of a - white paper. Please note that the collection of this data does not obligate the U.S. Government to the incorporation of the solicited comments nor does it obligate the Government to the procurement of the services. Proprietary information should not be included in the RFI response. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Interested parties shall provide the following information when responding to this RFI: 1. Concept - What is the private sector's perception of the viability of this initiative? Is there interest in providing this capability? 2. Architecture - Please provide an architectural diagram showing the major elements of the solution including all types of sensors that are included as part of the solution as well as all communication and processing elements. 3. Data Protection - What are the best approaches for obtaining data while protecting confidential and proprietary data? How can CBP be assured that no PII will be transmitted? 4. Technology - What are the projected hardware, software and communications capabilities and capacity needed to support this effort? 5. Time Frame - How long would it take to establish a pilot capability? What is a reasonable time frame for establishing fully operational capabilities (i.e, solution at all Northern Border ports and lanes)? 6. Partnerships and Team Make-up - What are the most likely private sector entities to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP)? 7. Government Involvement - What support or other involvement will be needed from CBP, if any in making arrangements to install this capability in Canada? How will the cooperation of the appropriate Canadian government entities be obtained? 8. Costs - What would be the estimated cost to implement a pilot for a POE. What would be the estimated fixed cost for the POE and what would be the variable costs for each lane where the pilot is implemented? 9. Business Model - What type of business model would be most appropriate for this effort? 10. Security Protocols - What security technologies and standards should be applied to private sector entities for participation in BWT? 11. Extensions - Is this a scalable solution (i.e., if CBP deems additional information beneficial at a later date, what other types of information could be captured, would this incur additional cost and what type and magnitude of costs would be incurred?) 12. Other - What other information and ideas does the private sector offer for pursuing this initiative?