SSS_F16_Ethernet_Switches_22FEB2024.pdf

Purpose

NOTICE: This is not a solicitation, but a Sources Sought Synopsis to determine potential sources for information and planning purposes only.

The purpose of this Sources Sought is to conduct market research to determine if responsible sources exist to assist in determining if this effort can be competitive and/or a total Small

Business Set-Aside. The proposed North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS)

Code is 336413, which has a corresponding Size Standard of 1,250 employees. The

Government will use this information to determine the best acquisition strategy for this procurement. The Government is interested in all small businesses to include 8(a), Service-

Disabled Veteran Owned, HUBZone, and Women-Owned small business concerns. The

Government requests that interested parties respond to this notice if applicable and identify their small business status to the identified NAICS code. Additionally, please provide any anticipated teaming arrangements along with a description of similar items offered to the

Government and to commercial customers for the past three years. Any responses involving teaming agreements should delineate between the work that will be accomplished by the prime and the work accomplished by the teaming partners.

The U.S. Government is requesting information in an effort to identify vendors with the expertise, capabilities, and experience to provide ethernet switches qualified to install on all models of F-16 aircraft. Participating vendors shall meet the following requirements:

1. Current manufacturer of Ethernet Switches already qualified for USAF installation/operation

2. Qualified for F-16

3. The manufacturer’s development and production facilities are located within the United

States.

4. The manufacturer’s production facilities have sufficient maturity to support a minimum of

25 test assets for evaluation purposes and production capabilities to deliver at minimum

200 production units within 18 months after contract award with follow-on deliveries of up to 100 units per year. The U.S. Government requires variable pricing for an Indefinite

Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract.

5. The manufacturer must meet US DoD security protection requirements.

1 Applicability

The intent of this sources sought is to achieve requirements that apply to all USAF F-16s block

30/32/40/42/50/52 C and D models. If there are reasons for a unique switch capability or customization it will be called out.

2 Requirements

2.1 Physical Requirements

2.1.1 Locations and physical space

2.1.1.1 Block 30/32 C Model

There are up to 4 switches in this configuration. The first is embedded in the

CFCC LRU and is not being upgraded as a part of this modification. The SIU switch/router is not being considered for replacement since it is new. The 2nd and

3rd Gigabit es (GES) would be potentially replaced…

In the aft avionics bay

2.1.1.2 Block 30/32 D Model

There are up to 4 switches in this configuration. The first is embedded in the

CFCC LRU and is not being upgraded as a part of this modification. The SIU switch/router is not being considered for replacement since it is new. The 2nd and

3rd Gigabit es (GES) would be potentially replaced…

Switches are in the aft avionics bay

2.1.1.3 Block 40/42/50/52 C Model

There are up to 4 switches in this configuration. The SIU switch/router is not being considered for replacement since it is new.

1 One switch in the forward avionics bay

Two switches in the aft avionics bay

2.1.1.4 Block 40/42/50/52 D Model

being considered for replacement since it is new.

1 switch in the forward avionics bay

There are two switches in the aft avionics bay

2.1.1.5 Block 40/42/50/52 C Model with IVEWS

being considered for replacement since it is new.

There is one switch in the forward avionics bay

There are two switches in the aft avionics bay in a unique location after IVEWS installation.

2.2 Performance Requirements

2.2.1 Ports

All ports shall be non-blocking and capable of running at the rated speeds in full duplex mode simultaneously.

2.2.1.1 Post Block:

Minimum of (16) 1G copper ports and (4) 10G copper ports in the FWD bay location

Minimum of (28-32) 1G copper ports and (6) 10G copper ports in the AFT bay location

2.2.1.2 Pre-Block:

Minimum of (32) 1G copper ports and (6) 10G copper ports in the AFT bay location

2.2.2 Power

Switches shall consume 28V DC power from the A/C.

The switch shall have the ability to change configuration of the port mirror, network configuration and ideally all other configurable features without a reset (Objective)

2.2.2.1 Soft Reset:

The switch shall provide the ability to perform a soft reset via an authenticated

Ethernet command (see 2.3)

2.2.3 Common Requirements

2.2.3.1 Rapid spanning tree protocol (RSTP) IEEE 802.1w [6 sec default with faster possible]

The plan is to connect the switches in a loopback configuration to provide a redundant back link between switches see Figure 1: Switches in loopback configurationFigure 1 & Figure 2 – Red link is redundant and unused until there is a failure of another link. These backlinks will be 10G copper.

Figure 1: Switches in loopback configuration

Switch 1

Switch 2Switch 3

Figure 2: 2 Switch loopback

2.2.3.2 Link Aggregation IEEE 802.1AX

Switches shall support link aggregation for the backlinks and any subsystems with multiple links to a switch. (Objective)

2.2.3.3 Virtual local area networking (VLAN) IEEE 802.1Q

Switch shall support IEEE 802.1Q.

2.2.3.4 Quality of Service (QoS) IEEE 802.1P

Switch shall support IEEE 802.1P.

2.2.3.5 Network time protocol (NTP) v4

Switch shall support the latest stable and recommended version of NTPv4.

2.2.3.5.1 Network time security (NTS) (Objective) [RFC 8915]

[Objective] Switch shall support NTS.

2.2.3.6 Precision time protocol (PTP) v2.1 (IEEE 1588-2019)

Switch shall support PTPv2.1.

2.2.3.7 Auto MDIX

Switch shall support Auto MDIX.

2.2.3.8 L2/L3 Routing

Switch shall support L2/L3 routing of traffic between networks, subnets and VLANs.

2.2.3.9 Other capabilities being evaluated for potential inclusion:

• High-availability seamless redundancy (HSR)

• Time sensitive networking (TSN)

• Port access limiting – physical and/or logical

• Others industry would suggest or already provide…

• VLAN mirroring

• Flow mirroring

2.2.3.10 Configuration and Control

2.2.3.10.1 Port Mirror

Switch shall have a port mirror capability that allows mirroring of ingress and/or egress at each port.

How many port mirrors are supported?

Switch 1 Switch 2

2.2.3.10.2 Port mirror control

Shall support the ability to turn on/off, read and/or change what ports are collected and where it is sent with an authenticated Ethernet command or configuration file update. Ideally during run time without need for a power cycle.

Are there controls to prioritize data on the mirror? Or does data just drop randomly when the link is full?

2.2.3.10.3 Periodic performance message indicating bandwidth usage, processor utilization, packet drops, collisions, etc. – at least 1 hz and on command

Intent is an indication of performance that can be logged and used as a part of SW troubleshooting to determine if network performance impacted things. This could be done many ways. We are interested in ideas on how to best meet this intent.

2.2.3.10.4 Shall be able to return to factory default configuration easily and quickly

2.2.3.10.5 Shall provide the ability to read MAC address table from an ethernet connected/authenticated device

2.2.3.10.6 Shall provide a way to determine the installed location of a switch by some physical means (ex strapping or grounding of some pins in connector) – as network grows need to be able to add new switches, assign switch IP address and set some basic configuration data

2.2.3.10.7 Shall provide switch information over ethernet that contains at a minimum:

• SW version

• Configuration

• Location

2.2.3.10.8 Shall not falsely report issues with ports/devices

We have had problems falsely reported on a port due to startup times of the end device and lack of response during BIT test of the switch.

2.2.3.11 Maintenance app

There shall be an ability to send the following information via ethernet to a maintenance application on the aircraft or a maintenance device. For each physical port:

• If a device is connected

• Negotiated Speed

• Duplex status

• # of dropped packets

• Current bandwidth usage of upload and download (in Mbps and/or percent)

• If there is a short or open on a line and the length from the switch to the problem if possible – caveat for expected wiring configuration see 2.2.3.11.1

2.2.3.11.1 Ability to check wiring status against expected (configuration file)

Note: we have 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps links

• Some links are wired with 4 wires and are limited to 100 Mbps by both the wire and the connected device

• Most links are wired with 8 wires to the switch o There are cases where only 4 wires are wired to the connected device, the remaining wires are capped/stowed – to allow for future upgrade of the device to 1 G by connecting the remaining wires at the end device o There shall be a way to load/update a configuration file or similar that allows the expected configuration of a port to be set – to cover the above case where 8 wires are connected at the switch, but only 4 are connected on the device

▪ This directly supports the maintenance app and our ability to correctly diagnose issues on the network from things that are designed in.

2.2.3.11.2 Shall be able to send maintenance fault information over Ethernet to an authenticated device

2.2.3.11.3 Shall support up to 4 concurrent management logins from different devices

2.3 Security Requirements

Shall support and use CNSA 1.0 algorithms as appropriate for the use case or application

2.3.1 Shall support a secure method of logging into the switch both over ethernet (Threshold) and from an out of band interface (Objective?)

2.3.1.1 Shall support a secure method of loading OFP/Firmware over Ethernet

2.3.1.2 Shall support a secure method of changing configuration/behavior (port mirror etc.)

over Ethernet

2.3.1.3 Shall support a secure method of changing password(s)/key(s) – likely as part of firmware load

2.3.1.4 Shall support a secure method to rescue/reset to a factory default password and configuration

2.3.2 Zeroize based on the OFP zeroize discrete (Objective?) or an authenticated ethernet message (Threshold)

Shall remove all buffered data and any USG controlled OFP or data from the switch

(volatile or non-volatile memory) by an approved method from NIST 800-88 for the memory type. The switch could simply go to the default configuration and an

OFP/config reload would return the switch to full capability

2.3.3 Secure boot method that chains each boot stage to the last via digital signature

Shall validate firmware and OFP load files via digital signature prior to saving files into non-volatile memory during a load event and again prior to execution on start-up

2.3.4 Protection measures (under consideration to be added)

We are interested in what protections are available and relevant use cases to be taken into consideration as potential threshold or objective requirements

2.3.4.1 DDoS protection

2.3.4.2 MAC spoofing

1) Quality Assurance Plan

i. The Contractor shall have a Quality Assurance Plan that complies with

SAE AS9100 and AS9102. This program, as a minimum, shall include inspection, validation, evaluation, corrective action, and procedures necessary to effect quality of all products provided under this contract.

ii. The program shall allow inspection by the Government and shall be applicable to all subcontractors and members of the contractor's team, as appropriate.

iii. Quality Assurance shall demonstrate that the government’s designs are adhered to, and that material used conforms to the approved designs/drawings provided by the government.

b. Delivery Requirements

i. For each Ethernet switch requirement, the government may request a

Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) from the contractor at no cost to establish costing and budget requirements to procure the /switches and

Integration support.

ii. A Delivery Order (DO) will be issued to the contractor to delineate the

Governments requirements and standards.

iii. Delivery Requirements will be specified on each solicitation and delivery order placed against this contract.

iv. A Status Report shall be provided documenting the effort towards achieving the contract objectives and subsequent Delivery Order (D.O.)

objectives.

c. Parts

i. Parts ordered via this contract will be in units of 1 to 552 each and will be determined by each delivery order.

2) This Is A Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS) Only

a. This SSS is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This SSS does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. This is a sources sought only, which, as part of market research, is being issued in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 15.201(e).

b. The Air Force is not, at this time, seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this SSS. All costs associated with responding to this SSS will be solely at the interested parties’ expense.

This is a request for information seeking sources capable of meeting the requirements listed above. When responding please include:

Company Name and Cage code.

A POC's email address and phone number.

Experience providing ethernet switches and ethernet capabilities to military aircraft

Experience in meeting strict delivery schedules.

Suggested NAICS Code.

Business Size Classification for NAICS and qualifications if any and any sub-category.

Type of Small Business Classification (ex. Small Business, 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran Owned, Hubzone, and Women-Owned, etc.) per NAICS Code 336413.

Provide an electronic response/attachments through e-mail to Benjamin Price, Kirsten Rivera. On the e-mail subject line include “F-16 Ethernet 2.0”

Place of Performance:

Contractor facilities United States

Primary Point of Contact:

Benjamin S. Price Contracting Officer benjamin.price.12@us.af.mil Phone: 801-775-5338

Secondary Point of Contact:

Kirsten Rivera kirsten.rivera@us.af.mil Phone: 801-586-5695 mailto:benjamin.price.12@us.af.mil mailto:kirsten.rivera@us.af.mil