Attachment (1) - RFI - PROCURMENT INSTALLATION AND TRAINING FOR A MARITIME COMMUNICATION CONTROLLER (MCC).pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

TITLE: PROCUREMENT, INSTALLATION, AND TRAINING FOR

A MARITIME COMMUNICATION CONTROLLER (MCC) AT TRACEN PETALUMA

This is a RFI only. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback regarding its submission; other than acknowledgement of receipt – if a request for acknowledgement is requested by the submitter.

This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. DHS is not currently seeking proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense.

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.

1.0 DESCRIPTION

The MCC is a three-cabinet system installed on the USCG National Security Cutters (NSC) that intelligently routes, amplifies, and filters Radio Frequency (RF) transmit and receive signals between below-deck shipboard radios and topside antennas.

Cabinet #1 is dedicated to starboard-side radios and antennas. It houses the RF switching, amplification, filtering, and control needed to direct RF signals to/from starboard-side radios and starboard-side antennas.

Cabinet #2 is the receive and control cabinet. It houses the control server and LAN Switch as well as the time delay components and Interference Cancellers necessary to achieve simultaneous communications.

Cabinet #3 is dedicated to port-side radios and antennas. It houses the RF switching, amplification, filtering, and control needed to direct RF signals to/from port-side radios and port-side antennas.

The United States Coast Guard C4ISR program (CG-9335) USCG needs a training solution for the Maritime Communications Controller (MCC) system that is installed on the NSC. When procured, this solution is to be installed at the USCG Training Center (TRACEN Petaluma).

Lockheed Martin is the sole designer, developer, and producer of this MCC system and is the only known source that possesses the totality of engineering and technical data required to procure, install, and provide training necessary to manage the MCC system effectively.

This existing MCC is a next generation system that replaces legacy Radio Frequency Distribution System (RFDS) system (which is going through diminishing manufacturing supply issues) on NSCs. The RFDS legacy system was previously developed by L3 Harris via a USCG Contract for the NSC program. Lockheed Martin developed a three-cabinet MCC system that resides in the footprint of the legacy RFDS system and meets USCG NSC communications requirements utilizing Commercial Off the Shelf systems (COTS).

TRACEN Petaluma trains, develops, and supports leaders ready to perform Coast Guard missions. This procurement is initiated to provide a hands-on training solution away from the cutter environment. This will, in turn, increase readiness by optimizing performance of the communication operations in support of all the missions on the cutters.

This RFI covers a new MCC system to be installed at TRACEN Petaluma, which will ideally be as close to an exact replica of the existing MCC system. It will support the operational fleet by providing the skills, knowledge and practical experience required to maintain and troubleshoot this system.

This new MCC system installed at TRACEN Petaluma will provide External Communications system maintenance Class “C” school students with the ability to receive initial and advanced hands-on maintenance training instruction in a realistic setting that is reflective of the USCG technical manuals. This will allow students to learn basic and sophisticated techniques of system fault detection, fault finding (FD/FI), maintenance, and communication routing.

Furthermore, The MCC installed at TRACEN Petaluma will provide RF routing and switching of transmit and receive signals to/from antennas, high-power amplification of radio transmissions, low-noise amplification of receive signals to radios and co-site cancellation of interference caused from own transmission during simultaneous communications. The MCC system software will provide an intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Fault Detection – Fault Isolation (FD/FI) on internal LRUs and external interfaces while allowing simultaneous communications between NSCs and other assets (ships, shore, & aviation).

The MCC Required Systems:

RF Routing Component – Provides routing of RF signals between radios and topside antennas. It provides Transmit/Receive (T/R) switching, routing of transmit signals to High Power Amplifiers (HPAs), and signals received from topside antennas to radios.

Transmit Component – Provides High-Power amplification, filtering, and transmit multi-coupling to transmit antennas.

Receive Component – Provides co-site interference cancellation and low-noise amplification of receive signals.

Time Delay Component – Provides precision-controlled time delay of transmission reference signals to make co-site interference cancellation achievable.

Control & Management Component – Provides remote configuration of system components and monitoring of system component statuses and RF signal monitoring.

AC Power Distribution Component – Provides interface and distribution of 115VAC shipboard power to system LRUs compliant to MIL-STD-1399 and UPS backed up power to critical Cabinet 2 LRUs such as the Control Server and LAN Switch.

MCC General Requirements:

The contractor shall accomplish the following:

1. Convert the existing available space located at TRACEN Petaluma with an integrated, hands-on real hardware and components as well as simulated and virtual systems and components. All virtual/simulated systems shall accurately reflect the real or actual system. All systems and components are required to communicate with each other during the MCC procedural steps and respond correctly to inputs from real, simulated and/or virtual switches, circuit breakers, power levers, condition levers. To accomplish this, the contractor shall also:

2. Install the following systems/components (GFE)

A) Port side radios and antennas B) Starboard Side radios and antennas C) Racks

D) GUI

E) MCC controller software program

3. Assemble and configure the racks/components at TRACEN Petaluma in Petaluma, California.

4. Ensure the MCC system meets the ELO, critical tasks and USCG identified faults assembly.

2.0 PURPOSE OF RFI:

The purpose of this RFI is to ascertain industry’s ability to provide an MCC system to TRACEN Petaluma that demonstrates the functionality of the system currently installed on NSC 10 to support the TRACEN Petaluma training mission. This will enable TRACEN Petaluma to develop a training program for incoming cutter fleet communications personnel and optimize readiness.

The contractor shall provide a 3 rack MCC solution with the following Lockheed Martin part numbers and software version for TRACEN:

Cabinet #1 20534811-501 Cabinet #2 20534812-501 Cabinet #3 MCC Software Build 1.2

20534813-501

The contractor shall:

1. Develop and install this 3-rack MCC solution at TRACEN facility in Petaluma, CA.

2. Provide Communication Plan Manager that interfaces with MCC for training purposes.

3. Generate associated drawings.

3.0 RFI RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

Only electronic submissions will be accepted. Electronic files larger than 5 MB shall be broken down into multiple files with no one file exceeding 5 MB. Each electronic submission shall include:

RFI Number in the subject line.

Response to this RFI limited to 2 pages.

A Point of Contact (POC), phone number, email address of the person to be contacted regarding any correspondence between the Government and the Vendor. The POC shall be capable of addressing questions or issues associated with the submission and content of the RFI.

A brief summary of email content, vendor name and the firm’s mailing address.

Interested parties having the expertise and capabilities are invited to submit detailed information related to this RFI via email to Matthew.L.Wallace@uscg.mil, Andrew.Gordon@uscg.mil, and Adrian.D.Ferguson@uscg.mil. Deadline for submitting questions is 12:00 pm EST on 21 February, 2024.

Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid DHS, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. Responses to this RFI may be evaluated by Government technical experts drawn from staff within DHS and other Federal agencies. The Government may use selected support contractor personnel to assist in the evaluation. These support contractors will be bound by appropriate non-disclosure agreements to protect proprietary and source selection information. This action will be governed under DHS law enforcement sensitive guidelines.