00_SCAR RFI W15P7T-24-R-0035_08232024.docx

RFI NUMBER W15P7T-24-R-0035: Single Channel Assured voice and data Radio Page2

I. INTRODUCTION

1. This request for information (RFI) is being issued to conduct market research to identify potential interested sources with novel capabilities, rapid-production, and cost-effective sustainment strategies in support of the Army Single Channel Assured voice and data Radio (SCAR). The result of this market research will contribute to determining the performance specification and method of potential procurement for the SCAR. Based on responses received, requirements may be set-aside for small businesses (in full or in part) or procured through full and open competition. Multiple awards may be made. The information provided may be used by the Army in developing its acquisition strategy or refining the Performance Work Statement and/or Performance Specification. All small business set-aside categories will be considered. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 334220 with a Small Business Size Standard of 1250 employees.

2. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided regarding submissions. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Information and materials submitted in response to this request will not be returned. Responses must be unclassified: DO NOT SUBMIT CLASSIFIED MATERIAL.

3. Certain attachments referenced in this RFI are marked as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) with Limited Dissemination Controls and/or Export Controls. Therefore, only vendors who are current DoD contract holders are eligible to receive Controlled information. The dissemination of Export-Controlled information is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act or the Export Administration Act of 1979. Export-controlled items shall not be disseminated outside the U.S. Government or to U.S. Government contractors without first verifying the recipient’s eligibility and authority to receive export-controlled information by verifying they have a current, valid DD Form 2345. Interested vendors must provide their CAGE Code, DoD contract number, a copy of the DD Form 2345, and their Joint Certification Program (JCP) number to Contracting Officer Katia Lacoste (katia.lacoste.civ@army.mil), Contract Specialist Lee Alexis (Lee.Alexis.civ@army.mil), and Contract Specialist Aaliyah Coles (aaliyah.m.coles.civ@army.mil) . Once the contract number, CAGE Code, and JCP data has been verified the Controlled documents will be sent via DoD SAFE to interested parties.

4. The Government does not intend to award a contract based on this request for information or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this market survey. This request for information is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an Invitation for Bid, Request for Quotation, or request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this Request for Information 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 or 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.

5. The information provided and received in response to this announcement is subject to the conditions set forth in FAR 52.215-3 -- Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes. The Government has not finalized a formal acquisition strategy.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NOTICE ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

II. PURPOSE

1. The U.S. Army Program Executive Office, Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, Project Manager Tactical Radios, and the Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground are seeking information from industry to assist with the potential procurement of a Single Channel Assured voice and data Radio (SCAR). This request for information is being issued to conduct market research to identify:

a. Potential interested sources with low cost, alternatives to expensive higher order tactical transport networks;

b. Commercial or non-developmental production-ready products available for delivery during calendar year 2025;

c. Cost-effective sustainment strategies for SCAR products; and,

d. Obtain industry feedback on the draft SCAR Performance Specification and Compliance Matrix

2. The Army has implemented an ambitious project to field “near real time” state-of-the-art radio capabilities in support of enhanced tactical-edge networking through the Integrated Tactical Network (ITN). SCAR products have been fielded to a variety of Brigade Combat Teams as part of ITN fieldings. The intent of this market research is to assess the state-of-the art of the technology available in SCAR products that could be applied to meet existing and future operational and programmatic requirements set forth in the Draft SCAR Performance Specification. The Army is conducting market research to determine the status of currently available non-developmental and/or commercial SCAR products and technologies capable of high-rate production at a low unit price. The Army is primarily interested in:

a. Technologically mature, National Security Agency and Joint Interoperability Test Command certified SCAR solutions

b. Capable of simultaneous voice and data communications between multiple echelons of battlefield leadership with peers, subordinates, tactical enablers (i.e., aviation and fires), Coalition and Host Nation

c. An advanced networking waveform interoperable with the Army ITN

d. Solutions with minimal maintenance and inspection requirements at the organizational level that are easily repairable for deployed units

e. Recommendations for implementing a notional sustainment strategy (Example: Mix of Interim Contractor Logistics Support transitioning Organic repairs and maintenance of core depot line replaceable units to Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) under Public/Private Partnership Agreements)

f. Solutions rated at Manufacturing Readiness Level 9 or 10 that provide improved performance and sustainment capabilities

g. Address your roadmap to compliance with NSA standards to include security architecture characteristics and adaptability to evolving NIAP certification requirements for Secure But Unclassified-Encrypted products.

h. Identify the peak and average power draw of your system (e.g., amperage and voltage and not simply total wattage.

3. Information gathered from this market research will be used to inform plans for a potential competitive acquisition of SCAR to include production, engineering and sustainment. SCAR contractual efforts would likely involve hardware and software qualification testing, Joint Interoperability Test Command certification, Performance Verification Testing, new equipment training, warranty and repair oversight, and technical documentation for configuration management.

III. SUBMISSION DETAILS

1. All material submitted in response to this market survey must be unclassified. Interested parties possessing the capacity to deliver products meeting the requirements outlined above and in the Draft Performance Specification are requested to provide a White Paper with complete descriptions of existing products or products that will be available for delivery by Calander Year (CY) 2025. Industry responses must include sufficient documentation to support claims that product performance satisfies the requirements contained in the Draft Performance Specification. Such documentation must include the Performance Specification Compliance Matrix and, if applicable, the SCAR RFI Comment matrix. Responses may include system technical specifications, product brochures and related literature, performance test data, system drawings and/or photographs, or any other data to support the state of system development and/or production readiness.

2. Any limitations to ramping up to high-rate production and system integration considerations must be addressed along with proposed resolutions to potential production impediments. Industry responses should also submit their projected production capabilities to include critical subcontractor and vendor production capacity along with estimated unit prices assuming a notional 30 September 2025 award date. Please be sure to address: Corporate capabilities, past and current relevant performance information, available facilities and assets AND provide Point of Contact Information: Company; Address; Point of Contact Name; Phone Number; Fax Number; Email Address; CAGE Code; Unique Entity ID.

3. Please identify your company's business size based on the applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code of 334220. The Small Business Size Standard for this NAICS code is 1250 employees. For more information refer to https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards (i.e., Other than small business OR Small Business also categorized as a: Small Disadvantaged Business; Woman-Owned Small Business; Historically Underutilized Business Zone Small Business; Veteran-Owned Small Business or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business ).

4. If you identify your company as a Small Business or any of the Small Business socio-economic categories as stipulated in Question #3, then is your company interested in participating in the SCAR as a prime contractor or a subcontractor? If your company intends to subcontract this requirement, what areas of the Draft Performance Specification does your company anticipate performing?

5. If you are a Small Business, answer questions 6 and 7. All others skip to question 8.

6. If your company is awarded a contract as a small business set-aside, you will be required to perform at least 50% (percent) of the work, do you anticipate any challenges meeting this requirement?

7. If you are a Small Business can you go without a payment for 90 days?

8. Does your company have experience as a prime contractor administering Multiple Award Contracts (MACs)? If “yes” is the work on the MAC similar in size, scope, and complexity to that included in the Draft Performance Specification? If so then please provide as much of the following information as possible: MAC contract number(s) and ceiling value(s); Delivery and/or task order number(s) along with the individual order aggregate value.

9. Please provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy SCAR requirements described in this RFI. Interested sources are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member's size status based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing.

10. If your company intends to Prime this effort, what percentage of work does your company intend to perform based on the Draft Performance Specification?

11. Is your company currently providing similar products/services to another government agency or other non-Government customer? If so, please identify the agency or non-Government customer and include contract numbers and customer contact information. If unwilling to share customer's identity, please address whether your company offers the same or similar services commercially.

12. Describe your company’s intended technical and management approach for executing a SCAR program. Please include as much detail as possible detailing design; procurement of subsystems and components; rigorous contractor test and integration data; supporting technical documentation; and, operation and sustainment considerations.

13. Provide your company’s Rough Order of Magnitude unit cost estimate for the following range quantities. Provide ROM broken out by each SCAR component as applicable (i.e., RT, ancillary equipment, license(s), etc.) and explicitly identify any cost driver(s):

0-40

41-500

501-750

751-1000

1001-1500

1501-2000

2001-3000

3001-4000

4001-5000

5000+

14. Provide your company’s estimated delivery schedule using the following:

Quantity

15. Provide your company’s annual minimum production quantity to maintain a production line.

16. Describe your company’s supporting program schedule that represents a “low risk” approach to meeting the objectives outlined above.

17. Describe your company’s assessment of the associated risks for this program and respective risk mitigation approaches.

18. Name, telephone number, fax number, street address and e-mail address for Program, Technical and Cost points of contact information.

19. Submit responses to the Procuring Contracting Officer, Katia Lacoste, and Contract Specialists, Lee Alexis and Aaliyah Coles, in Portable Document Format (PDF), via email at katia.lacoste.civ@army.mil and lee.alexis.civ@army.mil and aaliyah.m.coles.civ@army.mil respectively no later than 1600 hours on 23 September 2024 and reference synopsis number W15P7T-24-R-0035 in the subject line of e-mail transmittal and on all enclosed documents. White paper submissions are to be single spaced, 12-point type with at least one-inch margins on 8 1/2” X 11” page size and may not exceed 50 pages (excluding the Draft Performance Specification Compliance and Comment Matrices).

20. Commencing late September 2024, the Government may afford respondees an opportunity to discuss the contents of their White Papers during an industry one-on-one session where it is envisioned the parties will engage in an active information exchange and dialogue to aid in the Government’s market research.

21. NOTICE: Prospective respondents are hereby notified that the Government will utilize Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) support contractor services during the review of RFI responses. Non-Disclosure Agreements for SETA contractors have been established. In the event that RFI responses includes proprietary information, respondees are also required to sign and provide a proprietary protection agreement in accordance with FAR 9.505-4(b) with the RFI response to allow support contractor access to the proprietary information. The contractor company and point of contact for establishing the proprietary protection agreement are:

SigmaTech LLC, Peter Eck, peter.j.eck2.ctr@army.mil Netwerx LLC, Haisheng Wang, WangHS@netwerxinc.com Defense Acquisition Support Services LLC, Dan Sullivan, daniel.sullivan4@dasservicesllc.com

IV. ATTACHMENTS

The following CUI attachments are available upon request, only via the procedures outlined in paragraph 3.

1. Draft SCAR Performance Specification

2. Draft SCAR Performance Specification Compliance Matrix

3. SCAR RFI Comment Matrix