Appendix A CPNT_SOO.pdf

v.20221211

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

Complementary PNT (CPNT) Technology Testing and Evaluation

I. Purpose:

This is a mul ple award solicita on. The U.S. Department of Transporta on (DOT) is planning a test, evalua on, and performance monitoring effort for posi oning, naviga on, and/or ming (PNT)‐ dependent safety systems and cri cal infrastructure sectors. Taken together with efforts of other Federal partners through the execu ve branch interagency process, this ini a ve will enhance the resilience of the Na on’s PNT‐dependent systems by s mula ng the implementa on and adop on of technologically mature Complementary PNT (CPNT) services to achieve safer, more secure cri cal infrastructure for the

Na on.

The U.S. DOT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) located in

Cambridge, MA, is soliciting proposals from vendors with operationally ready CPNT services and who are interested in fielding those services for test and evaluation in the Rapid Phase of U.S. DOT’s CPNT Action

Plan.1 This Request for Quotation (RFQ) is a solicitation for proposals that meet the high‐level requirements listed in Sections II‐VI. Proposals received by the RFQ submission deadline will be evaluated for selection and subsequent award. The U.S. Government will not pay for any effort expended in responding to this solicitation.

The Volpe Center seeks proposals from industry to deploy very high Technical Readiness Level (TRL) ≥ 8

PNT services at operational or operationally equivalent field ranges.2 Performance of proposed PNT functions should meet levels needed by one or more national critical infrastructure sectors as outlined in the Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP).3 The primary objective of the Rapid Phase execution is to evaluate the performance of deployed CPNT under nominal and challenging conditions that include unintentional and intentional threat conditions. Evaluation conditions will include situations where

Global Positioning System (GPS)/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) service is disrupted or manipulated, and CPNT‐specific threat vectors are introduced. Proposals are encouraged to be tailored to critical infrastructure PNT user requirements with the expectation that Rapid Phase evaluation results will be shared with Sector Risk Management Agencies (SRMAs) through the Federal interagency process to drive CPNT adoption.

A successful Rapid Phase outcome is the earliest possible provisioning of the following three elements necessary for characterizing a CPNT service performance:

1. Vendor installa on of an opera onal CPNT service;

1 U.S. Department of Transporta on, Complementary PNT Ac on Plan, September 2023, h ps://www.transporta on.gov/pnt/complementary‐pnt‐ac on‐plan.

2 Federal Highway Administra on Exploratory Advanced Research Program, Technology Readiness Level Guidebook, FHWA‐HRT‐17‐047, September 2017, h ps://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/37824.

3 U.S. Department of Transporta on, “Radionaviga on Systems Planning,” updated October 30, 2023, h ps://www.transporta on.gov/pnt/radionaviga on‐systems‐planning

2. Government data collec on and ground truth reference system, methodologies, and algorithms to evaluate performance and resilience of the CPNT service under nominal and disrupted condi ons; and,

3. Suitable proving ground(s) that are at, or representa ve of, opera onal cri cal infrastructure.

The Volpe Center is prepared to make multiple awards should multiple qualified bidder proposals meet the solicitation requirements. Responses to the RFQ should include the bidder's preferred test range model(s) out of the following three proposed models, where the proposed CPNT service is or can expediently become operationally ready to meet the Rapid Phase timeline objectives (no later than six

[6] months a er award).

1. Federal Government‐hosted test range

2. Critical infrastructure test range

3. Vendor fielded test range

The test range capabili es being implemented by the Government or provided by the offeror shall include the capacity to evaluate CPNT services with quan ta ve performance metrics. The CPNT service user equipment (UE) output signals should be provided over standard interfaces. UE output informa on should be saved into standard or otherwise well documented and readable formats. Addi onally, the offeror should provide recommenda ons on, and support for, threat tes ng implementa on (e.g., provide informa on about the type of jamming and spoofing the CPNT service is most vulnerable to and a recommenda on on how to inject such threats via wireless or wired coupling into the input signal to the user equipment to test resiliency). The offeror should also describe the available fault monitoring capabili es of the service in general and of the UE in par cular and how fault monitoring alarms are reported or otherwise accessed by the user.

CPNT technology vendors should demonstrate through a proposal—specifically its narrative—that it can meet the Government objectives (see section V) to participate. Failure to do so could disqualify the offeror from participation in the Government’s rapid phase.

II. Scope:

The Volpe Center is looking to procure CPNT services that are mature and commercially available that can be deployed, tested, and evaluated at a test range for the purpose of supporting PNT functions for critical infrastructures owners and operators with an emphasis on Federal applications.

For this solicita on, a CPNT service refers to a technology capable of providing cri cal infrastructure users and operators posi oning, naviga on and/or ming informa on that is derived independently from GNSS.

Three test range models encompassing 1) Federal, 2) cri cal infrastructure, and 3) commercial/vendor‐ provided will be used to test and evaluate CPNT technologies. The CPNT technologies will be evaluated under a wide range of condi ons and scenarios. The test range capabili es will include the capacity to evaluate CPNT services with quan ta ve performance metrics, par cularly regarding resilience, performance, vulnerability threat vectors, and fault monitoring.

1) A Federal test range located on Joint Base Cape Cod (JBCC), the same site as the 2020 DOT CPNT

Demonstra on, will be made available for those Vendors who prefer this op on.

2) Cri cal infrastructure test ranges are ranges that have a government affilia on (including

Federal, State, and local) either through partnerships or contractual rela onships. The offeror may include a cri cal infrastructure test range as part of its proposal, or it will be assigned a er award.

3) A commercial/vendor‐provided test range will be used when the other two models are not appropriate and/or beneficial to the Government. For example, some CPNT technologies require costly installa ons requiring numerous transmi ers over large areas, which can take months of planning, permi ng, and assembly to construct. Many CPNT technology vendors already have built such opera onal installa ons, and it may be more cost and me efficient for the

Government to u lize these exis ng test ranges. Vendor proposed test ranges should be considered in proposals and the Government team will travel to and install addi onal equipment to support vulnerability and stress tes ng.

Exis ng established partnerships are encouraged. Partnerships can include vendor‐to‐vendor, vendor‐to‐ test range owner, vendor‐to‐cri cal infrastructure consumers/users, and/or any combina on thereof.

Partnerships should be included in the proposal and the narra ve should clearly iden fy each organiza on’s role.

For proposals that include selec on of test range models 1 or 2, vendors may be paired with cri cal infrastructure operators through partnerships iden fied either in the proposal or by the Volpe Center a er award. Field campaigns to provision, operate, and evaluate the proposed CPNT service(s) will begin promptly upon successful award. Field campaigns may range in dura on from several months up to several years. Based on user requirements, threat vector tes ng will be conducted to assess the resilience of the system.

III. Period and Place of Performance:

The period of performance (PoP) will extend one year from the award and work will be performed at one of the identified field test ranges.

IV. Background:

U.S. critical infrastructure depends on resilient PNT services for safety, national security, and economic strength. That dependence is increasingly recognized by U.S. Federal, State, and local government agencies as well as by industry, academia, and, broadly, the public through increased media attention and economic indicators. PNT functions are now acknowledged as an information source in economic and national security activities on par with other critical information sources and with many of the same vulnerabilities to natural and human threats. With the active support and engagement of Congress, the

U.S. Federal Executive Branch has been promulgating significant policy that pertains to performance, dependence, and resilience of PNT services. Current National Space Policy, Space Policy Directive 7, and

Executive Order 13905 on strengthening national resilience through responsible use of PNT services form the core Federal guidance on PNT services.

The focal point of this specific initiative on PNT resilience is documented in the U.S. DOT CPNT Action

Plan, which formulates a strategy to drive adoption of PNT technologies that are complementary to the cornerstone PNT capability of GPS. The CPNT Action Plan calls for specific activities based on the recommendations from prior work documented in U.S. DOT’s 2020 Complementary PNT and GPS

Backup Technologies Demonstration Report to Congress and stakeholder engagement in a series of industry and critical infrastructure roundtables, the most recent of which was held August 4, 2022.

V. Objectives:

The following is a set of objectives the CPNT service proposal must provide and/or meet to participate.

1) Proposals must describe the CPNT service and its underlying technology, to include at least the following:

a. Nature of service, i.e., posi oning, naviga on (or velocity), and/or ming.

b. Usage of GNSS (GPS and/or foreign), e.g.,

i. None,

ii. Once or infrequently but not required to func on, or

iii. Rou nely but capable of holdover (specify dura on) combined with robust ability to sense GNSS disrup on and switch to holdover (describe)

c. Radio frequency (RF) transmissions, to include band(s), power levels, and license (if applicable)

2) Proposals must describe how the CPNT technology achieves the required minimum TRL of eight (8), as described in the Federal Highway Administra on Technology Readiness Level

Guidebook. The TRL requirement applies to the full end‐to‐end solu on including the PNT service infrastructure and user equipment.

3) Proposals must provide a preference of field test range model(s) [listed below] and a desired loca on, if applicable.

a. Federal Government‐hosted field test range.

b. Cri cal infrastructure field test range(s).

c. Commercial/vendor fielded test range(s), which must be accessible to representa ves of the U.S. Government, including for equipment installa on.

4) Proposals must provide a schedule covering the period from award to nominal opera on of the end‐to‐end CPNT service at the indicated field test range preference and loca on. In the spirit of the rapid phase described herein, nominal opera on should be achieved as early as possible and no later than six (6) months a er award.

5) Proposals must provide addi onal contextual informa on about the applicability of the CPNT technology:

a. The intended opera ng environment, which includes both the solu on infrastructure (if applicable) and user environment. User environment includes, but is not limited to, urbaniza on level, terrain, weather condi ons, sky visibility, outdoor/indoor/below grade condi ons, and size, weight, and power (SWAP) constraints.

b. Poten al users (industry/market sectors and/or infrastructure type), example use‐cases, poten al safety and economic benefits, service provisioning availability and cost.

c. Technology specifica ons shall include standards support for each use case, e.g., a ming system for 5G base sta ons should meet the applicable Interna onal

Telecommunica on Union Telecommunica on Standardiza on Sector (ITU‐T) standards;

transporta on applica ons should meet the applicable requirements in the FRP.

Descrip on of CPNT service performance should include:

i. Accuracy performance (as defined in the FRP).

ii. Integrity performance (as defined in the FRP).

iii. Con nuity performance (as defined in the FRP).

iv. Availability performance (as defined in the FRP).

d. Addi onal specifica ons necessary for understanding the technology in its intended opera ng environment and for developing tes ng infrastructure should be provided, including as applicable the following:

i. Interface descrip on and protocols (e.g., supported repor ng output rate, power, data communica on protocols, service, and alert signal output specifica ons/standards). Relevant CPNT UE reported informa on should be logged in standard or otherwise well documented and readable formats.

ii. The cost of coverage in terms of dollars per unit area at the field test range(s) of interest.

iii. If vendor has previously performed tests under nominal or challenging condi ons and characterized the error distribu ons and other relevant outputs of the system and/or UE, then such data is highly desirable as part of the response to the RFQ as it allows the Government team to both review an ini al vendor‐based assessment of the technology and to be er assess the TRL level of the technology.

iv. Performance in GNSS challenged environment, characterized by resilience to a

GNSS signal threat space (inten onal and uninten onal), e.g., jamming and spoofing, spoofing threat vector, signal blockage, and mul path (if applicable).

v. Performance in CPNT technology challenged environments (jamming and spoofing) characterized by resilience to a signal threat space (inten onal and uninten onal), e.g., jamming‐to‐signal power ra o (J/S) level that degrades the signal used by the CPNT technology to derive the posi oning and/or ming components reported to the user.

vi. Informa on Assurance of the supply‐chain, opera onal security, system control and maintenance.

6) Proposals must provide a descrip on of how the CPNT technology is capable of being tested, as well as the adversi es applied to the UE input signals, under nominal and stressed opera ng condi ons that includes denial and/or manipula on of:

a. GNSS UE input signals,

b. CPNT UE input signals, or

c. Both GNSS and CPNT UE input signals.

7) Proposals must describe any partnerships and the role of each organiza on.

Note: proposals will be given priority in the order of GNSS independence as described in item 1) b above.

VI. Operating Constraints:

The test range furnishings include:

1) Electrical Power

2) Internet

3) Towers with locations, sizes, payloads, and mounting options as determined by the U.S.

Government considering inputs from vendor

4) Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)

5) Mobile host platforms for UE demonstration (if needed)

The U.S. Government or U.S. DOT sponsored test range site operator will be responsible for providing support to deploy the CPNT technology.

Proposals should include the critical infrastructure sector/application that the CPNT technology supports

(e.g., Energy, Communications, and Transportation, including Aviation, Maritime, Rail, and other surface transportation). The responses should also consider the context of PNT risk profiles from Executive

Order (EO) 13905 (i.e., National Institute of Standards and Technology Internal or Interagency Reports

(NISTIR) 8323 Foundational PNT Profile: Applying the Cybersecurity Framework for the Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Services). The CPNT technology(ies) will be tested against normal operations and threat vectors developed from the critical infrastructure risk profile(s).

Based on the normal operations and critical infrastructure risk profiles, U.S. DOT will provide scenario development and support and a U.S. DOT data collection and reference system at each test range site.

Vendors proposing CPNT services utilizing RF transmissions must have authority to operate in all proposed spectrum bands.