Bandpass Filtering RFI_2 March 2023_Re-release.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) / SOURCES SOUGHT (SS) NOTICE

HANDHELD RADIO ANALOG BANDPASS FILTER

(U) The Government is requesting information on existing bandpass filtering within handheld radios and development that is ongoing for bandpass filtering to support handheld radios.

(U) THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) AND NOT A SOLICITATION. This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only and will follow a three-phase timeline (please see below timeline section). No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government’s use of such information.

This request does not constitute a request for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the Government in developing an acquisition strategy, or performance work statements, or specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their responses. The Government is not required to award a contract based on this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI.

(U) By submitting information in response to this RFI, respondents consent to the release and dissemination of submitted information to any Government entity. The Government expects to have contractor support during its review of RFI responses from Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH). Industry Partners (IP) are encouraged to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with BAH for their submissions. An IP that chooses to enter into an NDA with BAH shall coordinate with and submit its corporate NDA to the POC listed below, specifically referencing this RFI's number and title in the NDA’s scope. If an NDA is signed, the NDA shall be submitted with the RFI response information.

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) POC: Courtney Koy Telephone: 202.327.1461 Email: Koy_courtney@bah.com

(U) NO phone calls and/or requests for a Solicitation will be accepted or acknowledged.

Company brochures are NOT desired.

(U) Technical questions regarding this RFI should be directed to Renee Grace (renee.grace@gsa.gov) and Melissa Hanson (melissa.hanson@gsa.gov) no later than 11:00 AM EST on 17 March 2023. Phone calls will not be accepted.

(U) The Government requests responses to this RFI be submitted NO LATER THAN 31 March 2023 at 3:00 PM EST. All interested parties should submit in writing (no more than 12 pages, single-spaced) their capabilities, experience, and familiarity with providing the services stated below. Responses to identified capabilities should be clearly marked within the mailto:Koy_courtney@bah.com mailto:renee.grace@gsa.gov response with the ability to meet threshold and/or objective requirements clearly identified within the response. A response of 'no' or 'not provided with the given architecture' is an appropriate answer. The complete response to this RFI is limited to a total of 12 pages. The Government is not seeking marketing materials in response to the RFI. The responses should be in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) or in a format compatible with Microsoft Office. Please submit your responses via email to Renee Grace (renee.grace@gsa.gov) and Melissa Hanson (melissa.hanson@gsa.gov) no later than 3:00 PM EST on 31 March 2023.

Phone calls will not be accepted.

SCOPE:

(U) This request is for handheld radio dynamic/tunable analog bandpass filtering to support evolving handheld radio systems that will operate over a larger frequency band. Current tunable analog bandpass filtering for handheld radios only supports a percentage of the total bandwidth that is ~15% of the frequency band of the filter. This percentage needs to be lower to enable small radios with wider frequency ranges while still providing effective interferer rejection. In addition, the ability to change the center frequency and implement filtering must match the speed of new handheld radios that will identify interference, respond to the interference, and move to a different frequency at a rate that mitigates intentional interference.

(U) The Government understands that for some listed capabilities, there may be no product that can deliver the listed capability. This RFI will be used to determine available capabilities as well as the ability to utilize current technology that requires development to reach the listed capability. The objectives and thresholds serve to validate the ultimate performance required for a production model.

(U) The Government is seeking capabilities at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 or greater within the scope of this technology. TRL4 is defined as “Component/subsystem validation in laboratory environment: Standalone prototype implementation and test. Integration of technology elements. Experiments with full-scale problems or data sets.” While TRL 4 technology is sought, responders with only some of the listed capabilities are encouraged to submit to this RFI.

PURPOSE:

(U) The Government is requesting information on handheld radio analog bandpass filtering to accelerate the development of handheld radio filtering to meet expected demand for better performance that matches new radio capabilities. As a result, the Government is seeking information on material solutions not currently in handheld radios. This effort will improve radio communications for tactical operators.

TIMELINE:

(U) Phase 0 – Request for Information: Handheld Radio Analog Bandpass Filter Request for Information (RFI) submitted to Industry 02 March 2023.

(U) Phase 1 – RFI Responses: Industry Partners with technology capabilities that potentially meet the areas of interest are encouraged to submit RFI responses no later than (NLT) 31 March 2023. Note: The Government will respond to questions about the RFI that are provided to the Contracting Officer NLT 17 March 2023. All correspondence (questions and answers) will be by email to the Contracting Officer.

(U) Each response to the Handheld Radio Analog Bandpass Filter RFI will be reviewed on the ability to meet the threshold and/or objective for each of the performance criteria. Responses should focus on three areas: technical merit, innovation, and extensibility.

(U) Technical merit will review the following:

• Feasibility of successfully implementing the solution in a relevant operational environment

• Technical approach is appropriate for reaching proposed deliverables (threshold and/or objective functional characteristics (KPPs) listed in the performance criteria)

• Maturity of current state is clearly defined to include current Technology Readiness Level

(TRL), approach for reaching prototype, and approach for reaching final production

• Risks are outlined with suitable methods of risk reduction explained

(U) Innovation will review the following:

• Applying unique or novel approach to solving problems

• New systems or products that provide efficiency, effectiveness, and/or rapid results

• Degree to which the solution improves current capabilities

(U) Extensibility will review the following:

• Ability to add new functionality or modify existing functionality to meet new operational constraints/challenges

• Ability to integrate with solutions from academia or other organizations

• Ability to scale functionality to meet objective requirements

(U) Phase 2 – Immediate Post RFI Actions: RFI responses that were reviewed to have the highest potential to satisfy the technology requirements for Handheld Radio Analog Bandpass Filtering may be contacted for additional information requests. For technology that did not meet the potential to satisfy technology requirements, industry partners will be notified by email with additional detail NLT 28 April 2023.

(U) Phase 3 – Follow-on Efforts: The Government will decide if further testing or a potential future competitive acquisition is desired based on review of the RFI response.

Table 1: HANDHELD RADIO ANALOG BANDPASS FILTER (Unclassified)

Capability Attribute Performance Threshold Objective

Physical Characteristics

Size Cubic Inches Shall allow integration in a small form-factor handheld radio (T=O) Weight Ounces Shall allow integration in a small form-factor handheld radio (T=O)

Frequency Band Operating Filter shall be tunable across 1.3 GHz – 4.2 GHz Frequency Band (T) Filter shall be tunable across 400 MHz – 6 GHz Frequency Band (O)

Filtering Efficiency Performance Shall filter equal to or less than 5% of the Operating Frequency Band

(T) (equal to 150MHz for 1.3 GHz – 4.2 GHz)

Shall filter equal to or less than 1.35% of the Operating Frequency Band (O) (equal to 40MHz for 1.3 GHz – 4.2 GHz)

Response Time Milliseconds Shall respond to handheld radio filtering changes within 10 milliseconds (T)

Shall respond to handheld radio filtering changes within 100 microseconds (O)

Attenuation Frequencies Out of Band Shall attenuate out of band frequencies by a minimum of 50 dB (T) Shall attenuate out of band frequencies by a minimum of 70 dB (O)

Passband Gain Passband Ripple dB Shall have no more than 2dB of passband ripple (T) Shall have no more than 1dB of passband ripple (O)

Figure 1: Bandpass Filter Example

ACRONYMS

BAH Booz Allen Hamilton IP Industry Partners KPP Key Performance Parameter NDA Non-Disclosure Agreement RFI Request for Information TRL Technology Readiness Level