AGS_RFI_SOO.pdf

SOO– FEMA Air Evacuation Ground Support and Airfield Assessments

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STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE (SOO)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Air Evacuation Ground Support Services (AGS)

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission;

other than acknowledgment of receipt – ONLY IF a request for an acknowledgement is requested by the submitter. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not seeking proposals at this time. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.

All submissions become the property of the Federal Government, and will not be returned.

Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such.

1.0 BACKGROUND

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) extensive planning of evacuation procedures has the potential to prevent the unnecessary loss of life in the days prior to a landfall of a hurricane or other major disaster. The planning and execution of an evacuation relies on many modes of transportation to include ground, air, and water and rail methods.

The support FEMA would require would be aviation ground support services at designated airports (both within and out of the affected area) to assist in the safe and timely mass evacuation of passengers with Critical Transportation Needs (CTN). This support includes assisting in the host state arrival of evacuees from another state and the coordination of arriving air assets and logistical air resource support at the airfield in the event of a major disaster.

In the event of a declared emergency or major disaster (i.e. a Category 3 or higher hurricane) air evacuation operations will be conducted at designated airports. Support would be required on the ground and ready for operations NLT than 48 hours prior and up to 96 hours after the event at the pre-designated airports. FEMA, along with state and local authorities will be responsible for transporting CTN residents to safe locations outside of the affected area. CTNs are residents that do not have the means to self-evacuate

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2.0 CURRENT STATE

Preparedness Planning:

Preparedness Planning would include Federal, State and local governments in a unified effort that results in validated, executable plans for aircraft ground support and customer service support. Operational and tactical tasks are developed through the planning process that would include a capability inventory based upon on-location airfield site surveys. This process would help to develop staffing plans and equipment requirements.

The contractor will conduct an airfield site survey and a contractor site plan will be developed and delivered to FEMA. The on-site survey will be conducted in cooperation with the airport authority and other appropriate authorities. This planning would include the development and refinement of operational and tactical plans that integrate specific capabilities (personnel and equipment) into the overall effort.

The Contractor would be generally knowledgeable of State and local government evacuation plans and have an in-depth understanding of airport authority plans. With this understanding, the contractor would develop a report of an analysis of the situation, followed by a detailed plan outlining the tasks to be performed, staffing and equipment requirements to perform the services under this contract. Identification and qualification of all personnel is in accordance with standard industry practice as required for the performance of this work.

The contractor will work with the Government on advanced planning. Advanced planning will identify an estimated number of total flights moving an estimated number of CTN passengers during the planned emergency evacuation. A planning assumption will identify an aircraft maximum on ground (MOG) and working MOG. Airport Authority Operations in coordination with the Incident Command Post (ICP) and the contractor would determine parking spots for evacuation aircraft. ICP would inform the TSA screening facility staging area to release a specified number of passengers based on the aircraft’s available seats. Passenger and baggage will load in 1.5 hours for narrow body aircraft and 2 hours for wide body. Aircraft will not delay takeoff for loading of baggage. Any baggage that cannot be loaded will be flown on a later mission going to the same destination. Any baggage that is left behind at termination of operations would be put into a storage area. The airport should have sufficient parking space to sequence MOG to facilitate operations.

Additionally, the contractor would be expected to provide:

Aviation ground support equipment (i.e., push tugs, boarding stairs, belt loaders, etc.) to assist the air evacuation

Personnel to provide aircraft servicing support to include marshalling, towing, and wheel chair support

Airplane servicing requirements (i.e., fueling, cabin services security checks, lavatory, etc.)

Operational Support

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The planning assumption is that an air evacuation of up to 20,000 CTN evacuees from an incident area will occur during a hurricane evacuation. FEMA’s intent is to Mission Assign the

Department of Defense (DoD) Air Mobility Command (AMC) to contract aircraft for this evacuation. AMC will secure the appropriate number of aircraft transport non-ticketed CTNs with baggage within a 28 hour operating window to designated Aerial Ports of Debarkation

(APOD). The aircraft will be a combination of narrow body and wide body airframes. This evacuation process may require the need to identify a temporary terminal and screening facility for evacuation of CTNs before the onset of an event such as a hurricane.

In addition to evacuation of CTNs, there will also be a simultaneous evacuation of an expected surge (approximately 30,000) of ticketed passengers (including tourists). The airline industry has pledged to fly all ticketed passengers out of the commercial terminal in the event of a required evacuation. This will be accomplished by adding additional sequences to the current flight schedule and/or aircraft with greater passenger capacity, but may include additional aircraft contracted through AMC. Those ticketed passengers will depart as they normally would through the terminal. As a result, the commercial flight ground support personnel and equipment is assumed to be unavailable to support the additional and potential rapid robust surge of CTN evacuation flights.

The evacuation flights for CTNs will share the airfield tarmac, but may use a separate

Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screening facility. TSA may deploy additional screeners and security from the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) to support the increased passenger and baggage screening demands. These evacuees will be transported to the airport via surface transportation contracted by state, local or federal authorities. The surface transportation may commence at H-48 where “H” equals the time at which the tropical storm force winds reach the coast.

All AMC contracted aircraft planning, including command and control, will be done from the

Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC) with visibility in the Group Decision Support System

(GDSS) at the Incident Command Post (ICP). Projected aircraft turn time is 1.5 hours for narrow body aircraft and 2 hours for wide body aircraft.

The expected situation will be such that off-airport food, lodging, gas, supplies, etc. will probably not be available. The local airport workforce will be concerned with their own safety and the welfare of their families to include compliance with possible mandatory evacuation orders. The use of additional workforce from outside of the potential impacted area will be a necessity. All evacuation support personnel must arrive totally self-sufficient. Coordination will be required with the airport authorities to find a lodging area on the airport grounds, but the contractor will be responsible for sheltering and overall welfare of their onsite personnel.

The Unified Evacuation Group (federal, state, local) is responsible for the coordination of CTN evacuees departing the airport. This will be conducted in the TSA screening facility. The process includes:

1. Provision of reception area for hydration, food, restrooms, etc. prior to embarkation.

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2. Security screening for air movement. TSA will employ appropriate screening techniques to ensure the safety of the air transportation system.

3. Aircraft passenger manifest. With the assistance of the contractor, the evacuation group will coordinate the manifesting of the CTNs and provide boarding instructions. The evacuee luggage will be scanned by TSA and then moved to the appropriate aircraft. The manifest will be made available by email/fax upon departure, provided electronic transmittal is possible under conditions at hand, and/or a hard copy that would be made available to a designated person upon arrival. Every attempt will be made to include individual registration information.

4. The evacuee luggage will be scanned by TSA and then moved to the appropriate aircraft.

Screened luggage will remain segregated until arrival at the final destination.

5. Airport shuttle buses, escorted by appropriate local personnel, will move evacuees to aircraft for loading.

With the exception of companion/service animals, there will be no pet transportation on the emergency evacuation aircraft.

3.0 OBJECTIVES

Through this RFI, FEMA is seeking responses to determine the capability of the market to provide current and future mass evacuation and support with the following:

1. Preparedness Planning

2. Training and Exercises

3. Pre-Event Operations

4. Operations and Aircraft Ground Support Services

5. Operations and Passenger Support Services

6. Post-Event Operations

7. CTN Return Operations and Aircraft Ground Support during a disaster operation

8. CTN Return Operations and Passenger Support during a disaster operation

FEMA would want to know if vendors have the capability of coordinating with internal FEMA

& State partners in the coordination of ground support for evacuation.

For airports where evacuation plans have not been done, what does the vendor feel is a realistic turn-around time for ground support? What would a realistic turn-around time be for an airport with an evacuation plan?

The list above is not all-inclusive, so please address any other topics addition to any other information you feel is pertinent to our request.

4.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The Continental US and Alaska, Hawaii, and all U.S. territories and possessions.

5.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

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The period of performance is for one (1) 12-month base year or less starting at contract award and four (4) 12-month year option periods.