Whisper System Software Maintenance & Development

N00173-23-RFI-EN01 - - Whisper System Software Maintenance & Development Special Notice: This is a Request for Information (RFI) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e). The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this RFI, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. Objective: The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is searching for potential sources that are capable of applying cyclostationary theory to maintain and enhance the existing Whisper software performance, to repair bugs, add features as determined by NRL's mission, and leverage hardware upgrades, as specified and procured by NRL. In addition, this is required to improve system real-time performance and reliability of signal characterization. The requirements are performance based and can be acquired in the commercial marketplace, although the requirements are unique. The unique requirements are that the contractor must be experienced with the existing Whisper software, whose algorithms are based on cyclostationary theory and whose function is based on the Multi-Signal Scene Analyzer, running on a RHEL6.x OS, and furthermore experienced with the existing Whisper GUI. The contractor must furthermore be experience with the implementation of the existing software in such a way to maximize the processing power of the existing Intel processors to minimize processing time. Last but not least, the contractor must have engineering knowledge of the cyclostationary process and software to be able to implement appropriate elements of the software within a graphical processing unit with the intent of minimizing processing time. The attached draft Statement of Work (SOW) titled, "Whisper System Software Maintenance and Development" set the requirement. Location of Work to be performed: The primary place of performance is the NRL Pomonkey Facility, a field site of the NRL and located in La Plata, Maryland Resources: To aid industry in evaluating their ability to perform the requirement, the following documents have been attached and available at the link below: Draft Statement of Work (SOW) Contractor Response Format: Required content and submission organization: 1. Cover Sheet - RFI number, company name and address, socio-economic status, NAICS code, DUNS number, Cage code, technical point of contact, printed name, title and email address and date. (Not included in the total page count) 2. Technical description of the proposed concept or capability, and including a concise description of the specifications. This section should not exceed 5 pages, single-spaced, 12 point font, including charts, graphs, or other illustrations. 3. The RFI will be evaluated solely for market research purposes. Consequently, the Government is primarily interested in Qualified Sources (Prime Contractors) providing specific technical details indicating how that source can meet the Government's needs. 4. Small Business Concerns, Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Concerns, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Concerns, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Concerns, Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Concerns and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) Concerns are all highly encouraged to respond to this RFI. 5. Please specify if subcontracting possibilities exist and/or if all tasks can be performed in house and 6. NRL will consider any comments regarding the draft SOW and Personnel Qualifications to provide clarification for final draft of the documents. Past Performance Information: Please provide in the response a list of Navy, DoD or Federal contracts supported during the past 24-months with a brief description of the service provided for each contract. Only list contracts with effort similar to those detailed in the draft SOW. Type of contract: Award a Firm Fixed Price Contract with a Base Year and two Option Years period of performance is anticipated. Assumptions: Please provide a list of assumptions, if any, which were considered in formulating the response. Submission of Information: Responses are requested no later than March 17, 2023 at 4:30 PM Central Standard Time. Any response received after this date will also be considered, but may not be included in initial reporting or assessments. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Proprietary information should be marked accordingly. Information received in response to this RFI shall be safeguarded adequately from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 15.207 Please include - N00173-23-RFI-EN01 in the subject line of your email response. Contact Information: Submit the responses electronically to the Contracting Specialist, Erica Turner at erica.turner@nrl.navy.mil no later than March 17, 2023 at 4:30 PM Central Standard Time. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Other Business Opportunities: Other business opportunities for NRL are available at NRL's website at: https://www.nrl.navy.mil/doing-business/contracting-division/