BAA-21-R-NCFT Call 0001 Topic 1 N2101-A CMOSSMORA Digital RHs for Communications Systems.pdf

Solicitation: BAA-21-R-NCFT Call #: 0001 Topic #: N2101

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) on behalf of the Army Futures Command (AFC), Network Cross-Functional Team (Network-CFT)

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: BAA-21-R-NCFT

Originally published on beta SAM: 30 OCT 2020 Last Updated: N/A

CALL ANNOUNCEMET NUMBER: 0001

CONTRACTING POINT OF CONTACT:

Mr. Brian C. Bosmans Procurement Coordinator/Contracting Officer/Agreements Officer E-mail: brian.c.bosmans.civ@mail.mil

CALL SCHEDULE: Note, all dates are subject to change.

Event Date & Time BAA Released on beta.SAM.gov 30 Oct 2020 Call 0001:

White Paper (WP) Submission Opens 17 Nov 2020 WP Submission Closes (open for 3 weeks) 07 Dec 1200 EST Government begins notifying Vendors of WP evaluations: 8 Jan 2021

• Selected for Further Consideration (Invitation to participate in the no-cost technological demonstration)

• Not Selected for Further Consideration Technological Demonstration 26-28 Jan 2021 Government begins notifying Vendors of results of technological demonstration: 29 Jan 2021

• Selected for Further Consideration (Invitation to submit proposal)

• Not Selected for Further Consideration

Government begins accepting proposals from selected Vendors 8 Feb 2021 Government begins notifying Vendors selected for award (if any) 1 Apr 2021

*White papers received after the due date/time shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c) (3).

BAA TYPE: This is a call for WPs only, and will be governed by the two-step process described in General Information of the BAA-21-R-NCFT. Offerors that submit a proposal without first submitting a WP will not be eligible for award.

WP INSTRUCTIONS: Detailed instructions on format for WPs and the two-step submission process can be found in the overarching BAA.

TWO-STEP BAA, CALL ANNOUNCEMENT

BAA-21-R-NCFT, WHITE PAPER CALL # 0001

Title: C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) Mounted Form Factor (CMFF) Radio Heads (RHs) Date: 16 Nov 2020 mailto:brian.c.bosmans.civ@mail.mil

*Please note the Government reserves the right to skip step two of phase one and go directly to Phase Two after white paper evaluations.

WP SUBMISSION: WPs shall be submitted via email to the Network-CFT Mailbox, usarmy.apg.futures-cmd.list.ncft-market-research@mail.mil and via the JCM Joint Tactical Networking Center (JTNC) site, via https://jtnc.force.com/. Please use the subject line: Network-CFT BAA (i.e., Call for WP Number and Topic/Subtopic Number (example: Call for WP 0001, Subtopic #: N2104A).

TECHNOLOGY AREAS OF INTEREST:

The U.S. Army Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), in support of Network Modernization priorities, is issuing this call for WPs in association with Topic Number N2101 Unified Network. To be eligible for consideration and possible contract award, the WP shall be of basic research, applied research, and/or that part of development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement in the following “Technology Areas of Interest” specific to this call:

A. TOPIC NUMBER: N2101: Unified Network N2101-A: CMOSS/MORA Digital RHs for Communications Systems

Operational Description of the Problem:

The Department of the Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground is seeking information on Digital RHs that are capable (or have a path to capability) of implementation with C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) (which includes the Vehicular Integration For C5ISR/EW Interoperability (VICTORY) and Modular Open RF Architecture (MORA) standards). CMOSS/MORA supports emerging Army Futures Command (AFC) efforts to promote and adopt capabilities that enable the reduction of C5ISR systems size, weight and power - cooling (SWaP-C), ensure commonality and interoperability (offeror agnostic) across multiple platforms and the reduction of overall C5ISR systems cost.

The Digital RH performs the signal conditioning functions such as power amplification, filtering, RF tuning, and transmit/receive switching. The Digital RH concept also encourages the colocation of both high power amplifier (HPA) for the transmitter and low power amplifier (LNA) for the receiver in a Digital RH module external to the vehicle with the antenna. Besides SWaP-C improvements, communications systems performance can be optimized with this configuration as well.

CMOSS is defined as a layered suite of standards that enables the development of modular C5ISR/ EW capabilities. The Digital RH concept is described in more detail in the MORA specification.

Department of the Army has an ongoing effort to develop a CMOSS-compatible C5ISR/EW network-in-a-box chassis for an expeditionary Army unit for experimentation in Project Convergence 21. This effort will focus around a CMOSS Mounted Form Factor (CMFF) Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Rapid Prototype can demonstrate C5ISR/EW capabilities in the CMOSS paradigm in a CMOSS chassis. This

Important Please assess the entire solicitation carefully prior to any response. The Network-CFT BAA utilizes a two-phase process to solicit offers and select a source for award.

• Phase One – Step One: Submission of White Papers *Step Two: Technological Demonstration (By Invitation Only)

• Phase Two – Submission of Proposals (By Invitation Only) mailto:usarmy.apg.futures-cmd.list.ncft-market-research@mail.mil mailto:usarmy.apg.futures-cmd.list.ncft-market-research@mail.mil https://jtnc.force.com/

BAA call for CMOSS Digital RHs aligns with and supports this effort.

Technical Description of the Problem:

The Department of the Army is particularly interested in communications system Digital RHs that implement the MORA Signal Resource Component Types: MORA Device <MT92010-V2.4>, MORA Signal Resource Manager <MT92013-V2.4>, and MORA Signal Port Manager <MT92016-V2.4>, to support information exchanges between the Digital RH and CMOSS/MORA capable Software Defined Radio (SDR) cards in a CMOSS 3U OpenVPX chassis. The Army C5ISR Center has studied various options and has selected the 3U OpenVPX form factor for SDR cards used in CMOSS. It is preferred that the Digital RH leverage a proxy implementation where the MORA Signal Port Manager is hosted on the Digital RH itself while the MORA Device and MORA Signal Resource Manager are hosted on a processor in the chassis. This simplifies Digital RH design as the Digital RH is only required to have one network connection which is to the MORA Low Latency Bus (ML2B), although the offeror is still required to provide the proxy implementation of the MORA Device and MORA Signal Resource Manager which should use the MORA Device Operations Interface (i.e., MORA Data Messages (MDM)) to communicate with the MORA Signal Port Manager on the Digital RH. Alternatively the offeror is allowed to implement all three MORA component types on the Digital RH itself as long as they communicate appropriately over separate network connections for the ML2B and VICTORY Data Bus

(VDB).

Additionally, the Department of the Army is particularly interested in Digital RHs that can support the following wireless communications services:

• Combat Network Radio (CNR) (e.g. MIL-STD-188-200, MIL-STD-188-241, MIL-STD-188- 242)

• TrellisWare Technologies product line (e.g. TSM™, TSM-X™, WREN™)

The Digital RHs should support the following EMS bands: VHF (30-88 MHz), UHF (225-450 MHz), L-Band (1-2 GHz), and S-Band (2-4 GHz).

Finally, the Department of the Army is interested in Digital RHs that demonstrate novel approaches for:

1) Simultaneous multichannel operation from a single Digital RH enclosure using a single multiband antenna. For example concurrent operation of CNR and TSM™ services.

2) Interfacing to and/or providing advanced multiband antenna architectures.

3) Highly efficient and linear HPA architectures for robustness and reduced size, weight and cost.

4) Enabling Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and high process gain Direct Sequence

Spread Spectrum (DSSS) wireless communications services.

Required Capabilities:

• Network connection to the MORA Low Latency Bus (ML2B) via 1000BASE-T or 10GBASE-T interface.

• Separate network connection to the VICTORY Data Bus (VDB) via 1000BASE-T or 10GBASE- T interface if not using a proxy approach.

• Implement MORA Signal Port Manager <MT92016-V2.4> on the Digital RH to support MDM for data and control path information exchanges between the Digital RH and CMOSS SDR cards.

• Implement MORA Device <MT92010-V2.4> and MORA Signal Resource Manager <MT92013- V2.4> (either on the Digital RH or using a proxy implementation) for discovery and management of Digital RH signal resources.

• Implement MORA 2.4 digital MDM for the control path (which controls Digital RHs functionality to include digital T/R switch control). The RF/analog data path may through RF coax cables.

• Support of the CNR and TSM™ wireless communications services.

• Support VHF (30-88 MHz), UHF (225-450 MHz), L-Band (1-2 GHz), and S-Band (2-4 GHz) frequencies.

Desired Capabilities (Listed in order of priority):

• Implement all required capabilities (thresholds) above.

• Implement MORA 2.4 digital MDM for BOTH the data path and the control path (which controls Digital RH functionality to include digital T/R switch control) information. Support both analog RF (i.e., coax cables) and digital RF (i.e., MDMs) for the data path.

• Support simultaneous multichannel operation. For example, concurrent operation of CNR and TSM™ services from a single Digital RH enclosure using a single multiband antenna.

• Support of other LOS/BLOS wireless communications services. Selected services include

DAMA TACSAT, MUOS, MN-MIMO, UNW, HNW, MMC-T/BFT, DTCS/EMSS, MN-

MIMO, 4G/5G, Link-16, HF, P25, SATURN, AEHF.

• Interface to and/or provide advanced multiband antenna architectures.

• Implement highly efficient and linear HPA architectures for robustness and reduced size, weight and cost.

• Enable FHSS and high process gain DSSS wireless communications services.

Technical Constraints/Dependencies:

Vendor provided CMOSS/MORA Digital RHs should be capable of operation with government provided test clients within the CMOSS/MORA reference implementation to control and exercise Digital RH functionality if CMOSS/MORA SDR cards/capabilities are not available.

Enclosures (References):

For the CMOSS specifications/standards, they can be obtained from:

VICTORY (https://www.victory-standards.org/index.php/publicly-available-documents) MORA (https://www.victory-standards.org/index.php/publicly-available-documents)

Useful Explanatory Documents (“pdf” attached):

GVSETS Paper_MORA-Standardizing_the_RF_Chain_24June19_DIST_A CMOSS Overview 15Sep20 DistA MORA_Specification_V2.4_DRAFT_20200903_DIST_A

WP QUESTIONS/ANSWERS: Government will publish WP Q&As in the JCM. Instructions for the Q&A session shall be posted to the JCM when the call is issued.

WP PREPARATION, SUBMISSION, AND REVIEW PROCESS: Instructions for submissions of WPs, including response content and format, are covered in Section B of the baseline BAA, BAA-21-R-https://www.victory-standards.org/index.php/publicly-available-documents https://www.victory-standards.org/index.php/publicly-available-documents

NCFT. The submitted white paper should not exceed eight (8) pages.

TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL): For all the subtopic areas listed above, the maturity of the proposed technology should be at a TRL 6 or higher (please see enclosed TRL definitions). The end state of the effort should be a set of demonstration/proof-of-concept systems that can be tested in a field environment.

WP EVALUATION CRITERIA:

The Government will evaluate WPs to determine which have the potential to best meet the Network-CFT’s needs utilizing a two-part evaluation criteria as follows:

• Part One (1): WPs will be evaluated using “Go” or “No-Go” gate criteria listed below.

The “Go” or “No-Go” requirements are listed below which will determine if the WP will receive further consideration. If during the evaluation one of the “Go” or “No-Go” requirements is not met, that evaluation will automatically receive a “No-Go” determination and will not receive further consideration.

o Affordability. The Government will review the Offeror’s Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate for affordability. Affordability targets for any single award will be capped at $2M, however the Government will review the ROM’s to determine the best value based on the proposed approach. .

o TRL. The Government will review the Offeror’s TRL to ensure it meets requirements as detailed in the Call for WP. Offeror must meet at a minimum TRL 6 at delivery.

o Schedule. The Government will review the Offeror’s proposed schedule to ensure the Offeror meets the period of performance, when the Government specifies a Not-to- Exceed schedule. The Not-to-Exceed schedule for this effort is 24 Months (one 12 month base period and one 12 month option period). If either the base or option period proposed exceeds 12 months, the white paper will be considered “No-Go” and not receive further consideration.

• Part Two (2): WP will be evaluated using the following factors, which are listed in descending order of importance:

o Importance to Agency Programs (Relevance/Potential for Impact). The Government will review the Offeror’s description of the technology proposed on how it solves the capability/gap/problem presented, the relevance to the Highly Desired/Desired Capabilities, scalability of the solution, and assess its worth in relation to the stated “Technology Areas of Interest.” WPs will be scored as highly likely, likely, or marginally likely to address the stated operational and technical descriptions of the problem.

o Technical Merit/Challenge (Innovative or Revolutionary Technology (Scientific & Engineering Viability)). The Government will review the Offeror’s technology proposed to satisfy the technical challenges and design objectives by reviewing the Offeror’s enabling technology (innovative or revolutionary approach); feasibility;

technical risk and mitigation plan; alternatives (other technical data/information conveyed); technology maturation (the ability to achieve technology maturity); and time to field solution. WPs will be scored as fully or partially meeting or exceeding the stated Highly Desired and Desired capabilities.

o Schedule. The Offeror’s schedule will be evaluated based on the reasonableness of the allocation of time to meet major activities/milestones, deliverable, metrics measures of success, potential risks, and mitigation plans. WPs will be scored as having a preferable, acceptable, or questionable schedule for delivery.

TECHNOLOGICAL DEMONSTRATION EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Note: The process outlined below is subject to change.

“Technology demonstration” entails a prototype sample presented by an offeror to showcase the proposed characteristics of the offered product described in the whitepaper as well as expand on aspects of the product that cannot be adequately be described by specifications, purchase descriptions, or white paper (e.g. ease of use, quality of user experience, etc.). Demonstrations of capabilities not yet ready for a practical demonstration may be provided by an in-person paper or slide show presentation. This demonstration is also a opportunity to clarify and expand upon concepts not fully explored in the white paper and to field Government questions about the proposed prototype solution.

The Contractor must present the technology demonstration during the time specified in the Invitation to Demo. Individual time slots will be allotted to the Contractors selected to attend. If the Contractor fails to present the technology demonstration on time the Government will reject the invitation to continue through the selection process

1. Unless otherwise specified in the solicitation, technology demonstration shall be:

(1) Presented at no expense to the Government.

(2) Operated and maintained by the Contractor during technology demonstration evaluation.

2. The Government will not be liable for any damages to technology demonstration during evaluation or shipping.

Rules & Expectations The Contractor’s technology demonstration will be observed during a 45 minute session. Time slots will be provided to afford Contractors time to prepare for the demonstration at the venue.

The technology demonstration evaluation will consist of the following:

Activity Time Allotted Setup/Tear Down: Up to 5 min Technology demonstration Fixes: 10 min if needed Presentation: 45 minutes Total Technology demonstration Time:

45-60 Minutes

The Government will allow the Contractor to prepare their equipment in a classroom prior to beginning of the event. It is recommended not to show up more than 60 minutes prior to demonstration time to prevent crowding of the classroom.

The Government will allow each Contractor up to 5 minutes to move their equipment from the classroom to the demonstration area which is approximately 30 feet from the classroom door.

The Government will allow each Contractor up to 10 minutes to fix any problems encountered between the classroom and demonstration area. After 10 minutes has elapsed, the timer will start for the 45 minute formal evaluation.

The Government will provide the Contractors a space to deliver their technology demonstration. This area will consist of a table, podium, and a projector with screen. The Contractors should expect 3-4 Government leaders presiding over the demonstration event with supporting technical evaluators seated behind.

Contractors invited to attend the event will only be allowed in the demonstration area during their allocated time until the day has concluded.

Please note, that due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the Government reserves the right to eliminate the technical demonstration and go directly to a Request for Proposal, OR hold the technical demonstration virtually.

EXPECTED NUMBER OF AWARDS: The Government reserves the right to award as many (or as few) contracts as it deems appropriate. There are no set percentages of funding allocated to each investment category.

AWARD INFORMATION: The Army may elect to award a base period with an option period as follows:

• Base Period: Design and Build a Prototype (12 Months)

(a) The Offeror shall deliver the prototype(s) necessary to prove their technology proposed.

o A Safety Assessment Report (SAR) shall be delivered with the prototype.

(b) The Offeror shall provide training after prototype delivery that will allow the Government to conduct an operational assessment of the technology proposed.

o In support of the training/operational assessment, the Offeror shall conduct a training for Government personnel (i.e., N-CFT, PEO C3T, and other C5ISR representatives) onsite at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) and provide draft training materials.

Note: Training during Phase 1 is for the program office and support organizations only.

Soldier touch-point training will occur during Phase 2 as delineated below.

Before the completion of the base period, the Government will conduct an assessment of the technology proposed, looking at the broad areas of technical performance and suitability for experimentation with Army units. Based on this assessment, the Government may decide to exercise the option period.

• Option Period: Follow-On Training and Experimentation (12 Months)

(a) The Contractor shall provide follow-on training and experimentation for the prototype solution at a location in the Continuous United States (CONUS) with an equipped Army unit. Contractors shall provide:

o A training and experimentation session at a U.S. military installation and/or facility.

Contractor shall propose the number of days required to train an Army unit on their proposed solution(s).

o User and training manuals.

o Technical support necessary to make repairs and replace parts as required to keep the proposed technology operational throughout this phase.

The Rough-Order-of-Magnitude (ROM) shall be broken out by base and option period, as the Government may only fund the base period and not the option period.

ANTICIPATED FUNDING: Base period awards under this call are expected to range from $0 to $2M;

however, the Government reserves the right to award smaller or larger contracts or assistance instruments.

The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the WPs received, subject to the availability of funds.

NOTE: The funding profile is an estimate only and not a contractual obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. Potential offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

ANTICIPATED TYPE OF CONTRACTS/INSTRUMENTS: The Government reserves the right to award the instrument best suited to the nature of research proposed.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The contract(s) will have one (1) 12 month base period and one 12 month option period. The option period is not guaranteed and is subject to funding availability.

CALL AMENDMENTS: Offerors should monitor the beta SAM site, via https://beta.sam.gov/, and Joint Communications Marketplace (JCM) Joint Tactical Networking Center site, via https://jtnc.force.com/, for additional notices to this Call that may permit extensions of the WP submission date or otherwise modify this announcement.

APPLICABILITY OF BASELINE BAA: All requirements of BAA-21-R-NCFT apply. For complete information regarding BAA-21-R-NCFT, refer to the BAA announcement as posted on beta SAM. It contains information applicable to all calls issued under the BAA and provide information on the overall program, proposal preparation and submission requirements, proposal review and evaluation criteria, award administration, agency contacts, etc. If there is conflicting information, this call for white paper and instructions contained herein takes precedent over the BAA.

http://www.fbo.gov/ https://jtnc.force.cm/

Rules & Expectations