AFN-EUROPE_HC1021-14-R-0002_RFP.doc

Section A - Solicitation/Contract Form

SECTION SF 1449

Section SF1449 - CONTINUATION SHEET

ATTACHMENT LIST

ATTACHMENT A: CLIN STRUCTURE

ATTACHMENT B: CONTRACT DATA REQUIREMENTS LIST (CDRL) COMMUNICATION OUTAGE REPORT

ATTACHMENT C: SATELLITE OUTAGE SERVICE REPORT

ATTACHMENT D: PAST PERFORMANCE EFFORT DOCUMENT

GENERAL INFORMATION

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS RFP SHALL BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN 1000 CET ON 26 JUNE 2014. ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED IN WRITING VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS AND GENERAL MAILBOX:

ERICA POTTHAST, Contracting Officer, Erica.g.potthast.civ@mail.mil ANGELINA HUTSON, Contract Specialist, Angelina.hutson.civ@mail.mil Disa.stuttgart.ditco.mbx.pl512@mail.mil PROPOSALS REGARDING THIS RFP SHALL BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN 1000 CET ON 14 JULY 2014. SUBMITTAL OF TECHNICAL, PAST PERFORMANCE, AND PRICE PROPOSALS VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO THE INDIVIDUALS AND GENERAL MAILBOX LISTED ABOVE.

Section B - Supplies or Services and Prices

Months

Space Segment - 36 MHz Ku Band

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

FOB: Destination

NET AMT

Months

Uplink Terminal

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

Terrestrial Connectivity

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

Operation Management

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

CDRL - Report

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NSP - Not Separately Priced

NET AMT

Lot

Network Transition

Network Transition of DTH Services (PWS 6.5 AFN Europe Network Transition of Services). The period of performance is 74 days from award.

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

FFP

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

FFP

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

FFP

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

FFP

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Space Segment, 36 MHz (monitoring & control included) for coverage in European AOR, Azores, United Kingdom, Afghanistan & Qatar. (PWS 6.1 AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Uplink DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.4 AFN Europe Network Restoral Services).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Terrestrial Connectivity DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.4.1Terrestrial Network Restoration).

NET AMT

Months

FFP

AFN-E Managed Transmission Services - Operation Management (monitoring & control included) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service (PWS 6.2-6.3 AFN Europe Network Operations Management and 6.7 Preventative Maintenance and Operations).

NET AMT

Lot

FFP

Contract Data Requirements List - Communication Outage Report (PWS 6.8 Outage Reporting) and Satellite Availability Report (PWS 6.6 Satellite Availability Report)

NET AMT

Section C - Descriptions and Specifications

PWS

The American Forces Network-Europe (AFN-E) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service Performance Work Statement (PWS) as of: June 12, 2014

1. Contracting Officer Representative Primary COR.

Organization:

Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DODAAC):

Address:

Phone Number:

Fax Number:

E-Mail Address:

Contracting Officer Representative Alternate COR.

Organization:

DODAAC:

Address:

Phone Number:

Fax Number:

E-Mail Address:

2. Task Order Title: The American Forces Network-Europe (AFN-E) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service.

3. Background. The Office of the Secretary of Defense – Public Affairs operates the American Forces Network (AFN). AFN is a worldwide radio and television broadcast network serving over one million American service men and women, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians and their families overseas, stationed in 175 countries. AFN-Broadcast Center (AFN-BC), Riverside, California transmits, via satellite and fiber optic cable, popular American radio and television programs for delivery to the worldwide audience to include AFN European regions.

AFN is a service of the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), a component of the Defense Media Activity (DMA). AFN-BC transmits 10 full-time television channels, 24 digital radio channels, and five serial data services within the satellite stream to the AFN Atlantic and European regions. AFN currently utilizes the Cisco PowerVu system for video compression and for conditional access (CA). Of the approximately 150,000 Integrated Receiver Decoders (IRD) and set-top boxes (STB), approximately 65,000 are MPEG-4 DVB-S2 compliant.

This telecommunications network utilizes commercial satellite bandwidth, contractor-provided hub equipment, teleport services and contractor-provided antennas to communicate Department of Defense policies, priorities, programs, goals and initiatives through the medium of radio and television and to provide U.S. radio and television news, information and entertainment programming to support and improve quality of life and morale, situational awareness, and sustain readiness.

The current AFN Europe Ku-Band Direct-to-Home contract service is provided from a satellite located at 9.0 degrees East geosynchronous orbital slot serving the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the entire European Union. The AFN-BC in Riverside California originates the AFN Europe source feed under separate contract and delivers this feed to the contractors uplink location via international C-Band satellite Intelsat 10-02, 359 degrees east, right-hand circular polarization (RHCP). The Government has plans to install two diverse path fibers to the new teleport location under separate contract approximately 90-180 days after contract award. This dual diverse path fiber will provide a back-up delivery of the AFN-BC asynchronous serial interface transport stream signal to the contractor’s teleport location.

4. Objectives. The Defense Media Activity requires a complete telecommunications network utilizing commercial satellite bandwidth, contractor provided hub equipment, teleport services and contractor provided antennae to communicate DoD policies, priorities, programs, goals and initiatives through the medium of radio and television and to provide U.S, radio and television news, information and entertainment programming to DoD service members and civilians overseas in Europe and the Middle East to support and improve the quality of life and morale, situational awareness and sustain readiness.

This acquisition will provide total integration of Ku-Band Direct-to-Home (DTH) services to include bandwidth, teleport services, equipment and support for the AFN Europe 325,000 customer base stationed within the European Union, United Kingdom, Azores, State of Qatar and Afghanistan.

The Government is planning to migrate current DVB-S television services to DVB-S2 services and converting standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) video. The final state of this technology is expected to be based on the DVB-S2 transmission format carrying multiple channels of high definition encoded as MPEG-4 planned for the spring in 2015.

5. Scope. This Performance Work Statement (PWS) outlines the contractor’s requirements to provide end-to-end 36 MHz Ku-Band satellite transmission services to include commercial satellite bandwidth, contractor-provided hub equipment, teleport services and contractor-provided antennae to downlink, provide terrestrial connectivity, uplink, management, operations, maintenance, monitoring & control (M&C) and space-segment in support of the AFN-E DVB-S/S2 DTH Satellite Services network.

All services are required 24-hours per day, 7 days per week, continuous. The contractor shall manage, operate and maintain all services end-to-end to provide all of the required connectivity and space capacity to include the terrestrial and AFN-E satellite backup/restoral capability. Signal availability for all services shall be 99.9%.

The Government provides a single multichannel per carrier (MCPC) multiplexed SD and HD transport stream signal that is DVB-S/S2 compliant via international satellite IS 10-02, 359.0 degrees East geosynchronous orbital slot, RHCP (right hand circular polarization). The supplied DVB transport stream has a useful bitrate of 38.71 Mbits/second, a symbol rate of 28.0 MSps, and is coded at ¾ FEC. The Government has plans to provide this same signal (as a secondary back-up) to the contractor’s teleport delivered as a pair of redundant ASI transport streams via terrestrial fiber after contract has been awarded (90 – 180 days to install the dual fibers). No government land or U.S. military facility will be made available for connectivity and uplink earth station.

The footprint of the proposed satellite must be identical to, or overlap the existing satellite coverage area and provide adequate DTH signals to 60cm satellite antennae center beam and by 1.5 meter antennae in the outer reaches of the footprint to include the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union.

6. Performance Requirements. The contractor shall manage, operate and maintain end-to-end telecommunications services to provide required connectivity, space capacity, and terrestrial and satellite backup/restoral capabilities sufficient to deliver television, radio and data programming to AFN-E customers as elucidated herein. The Government may encrypt its signal sources on a service by service basis. The contractor shall ensure that both encrypted and unencrypted signals are transported to AFN-E customers untouched or unmodified.

6.1 Task 1 – AFN Europe Direct-to-Home Satellite Network. The contractor shall provide complete end-to-end DVB-S and/or DVB-S2 36 MHz satellite transmission service and assure technical sufficiency of the service from the demarcation point to the end customer receive terminal inclusive of all uplinks, space segment and equipment in accordance with the requirements stated herein. These services are required 24-hours per day, 7 days per week, continuous. Satellite signal availability for all services shall be 99.9%.

6.1.1 Subtask 1 – AFN Europe Satellite Signal Compatibility. The connectivity and uplink systems supplied by the contractor must be capable of passing the AFN-BC network DVB-S/S2 digitally compressed signal delivered as an ASI stream via supplied Power-Vu Cisco AFN decoders. All teleport terrestrial links must be compatible with the Cisco ‘PowerVu Plus’ ASI transport stream.

6.1.2 Subtask 2 – AFN Europe Satellite Service and Coverage Requirements. The contractor shall provide 36 MHz interference free, fully protected, non-pre-emptible transponder(s) satellite coverage sufficient to ensure not less than 1 dB of rain fade margin to the existing Ku-Band downlink footprint or an identical footprint to the existing Ku-Band satellite. The proposed satellite solution must be positioned at 9 degrees East Longitude geostationary orbit or no more than the 13 degrees East Longitude geostationary orbital slot to minimize any repointing of satellite antenna to the over 325,000 existing DTH customers. The DTH-Europe coverage area is defined as the existing satellite footprint to include the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union.

6.1.3 Subtask 3 - Required Signal Strength. The AFN-E satellite signal(s) shall allow for DTH service acquisition with a 60 centimeter diameter Ku-Band satellite antenna in Germany and Italy, and no larger than a 1.5 meter diameter satellite antennas in the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union. The downlink signal should be vertically polarized in order to minimize any repointing impact to DTH customers. The contractor shall submit a Link Budget detailing how the proposed space segment and uplink meets above requirements. (See attached DTH-Europe Coverage Map requirement)

6.1.4 Subtask 4 - Required Signal Parameters. The satellite service delivered to Europe and the Middle East shall be Ku-band linear vertical polarization. The footprint of the Ku satellite shall cover the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the Europe Union. The minimum downlink EIRP for Germany and Italy is 52 dBw for reception on a 60 cm antenna. The minimum downlink EIRP for the Azores, State of Qatar and Afghanistan is 49 dBw for reception on a 1.5 meter antenna.

6.2 Task 2 – AFN Europe Network Operations Management. The contractor shall provide full-time (24/7/365) management, operation, monitoring, control and maintenance of all uplinks, downlinks and confidence downlink monitoring of the space segment. The contractor shall provide full-time (24/7) management, operation, monitoring, and maintenance of fiber connectivity, connectivity from downlink to the uplink, and uplink of the AFN-Europe DVB-S or DVB-S2 signals. (Note: the term “downlink” as used here should not be confused with the customer receive terminal described elsewhere.)

6.3 Task 3 - AFN Europe Network Monitoring and Control (M&C). The contractor shall continuously monitor the performance of the end-to-end service. The M&C capability shall include, at a minimum, frequency and spectrum analysis, unauthorized user-new carrier detection, signal parameters monitoring on an as-changed basis, and out-of-tolerance measurements and alarms. Out-of-tolerance measurements shall include, as a minimum, carrier C/KT, transponder power (EIRP) per carrier, carrier center frequency, carrier bandwidth, and carrier spectrum. The integrated receiver/decoder IRD monitoring shall include, as a minimum, EB/NO, bit error rate, and signal strength of the confidence downlink signal. Contractors shall provide a detailed description of the M&C services. The M&C Architecture will allow M&C information to be available at the winning vendor's Network Operations Center in Near-Real-Time. Near Real Time is defined as the timeliness of Data or Information, which has been delayed by the time required for electronic communication and Automatic Data Processing. This implies that there are no significant delays from the occurrence of an event until its identification at a monitoring facility.

6.4 Task 4 - AFN Europe Network Restoral Services. The contractor shall provide restoral capabilities of any part of the service to include complete space capacity, downlink, terrestrial connectivity to the uplink, and the uplink itself. The uplinks, downlinks and terrestrial connectivity shall have redundancy of all required equipment/systems, connectivity at the earth station gateways, and these equipment/systems and connectivity must be immediately available. Restoral capability of any part of the service and for the service overall shall be within one hour of the initial onset of an outage. The contractor shall meet a 99.9% customer satellite availability requirement. Any service outage in excess of one hour will result in a deduction of bandwidth service charges (see Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DARS) 52.239-9000 Outage Credits (February 2006). The backup/restoral satellite transponder and satellite capacity shall be available within six hours after it has been determined by the contractor that the primary transponder and/or satellite has failed. The backup/restoral transponder and satellite capacity shall meet the same specifications as for the primary satellite capacity.

6.4.1 Subtask 1 – Terrestrial Network Restoration. The contractor shall provide backup/restoral for any terrestrial connectivity to the uplink. The terrestrial connectivity restoral capability shall be immediately available upon the initial determination that the connectivity has failed.

6.4.2 Subtask 2 – Restoral Plan. The contractor shall propose a detailed restoral plan that shows all of the equipment and systems to be used for immediate restoral.

6.4.3 Subtask 3 – Preventative Maintenance Inspections (PMI). The contractor shall develop and perform preventive maintenance procedures and inspections on equipment and systems located at the proposed earth stations.

6.4.4 Subtask 4 – Prime and Backup Power sources. The contractor shall provide prime and backup power for all contractor supported uplink facilities.

6.5 Task 5 - AFN Europe Network Transition of DTH Services.

The contractor shall guarantee that no break in AFN-E uplink services shall occur during transition from the current/existing service to the new uplink service if a different satellite is proposed. The contractor shall be prepared to provide, as a minimum, dual illumination of the satellites for fourteen (14) calendar days prior to activation of the service. The contractor shall provide a minimum 60 calendar day dual illumination period after the award of service due to the large number of military installations that will need to realign their antennas

6.5.1 Subtask 1 – Transition Plan. The contractor shall propose a detailed transition plan that shows how services will transition from the existing service to the satellite new service. The contractor should show how the fourteen (14) calendar days prior to activation of the service and minimum 60 calendar day dual illumination will occur if changing satellites. The transition plan will not be required if the AFN-E service continues using the existing teleports, satellite and transponders inclusive.

6.6 Task 6 – Satellite Availability Reports. The contractor shall provide proposed transponder and satellite availability reports for all required space segment as part of their solution for the end-to-end AFN Europe DTH satellite service. The transponder reports of the proposed transponder shall be of the previous 30 days. The satellite availability reports shall include operational status to present.

6.7 Task 7 – Preventative Maintenance and Operations. The contractor shall maintain all contractor-provided equipment and facilities in support of this PWS. The contractor's proposal shall include a maintenance and operations plan, preventative maintenance plan and procedures by services, by location, and by response time.

6.8 Task 8 – Outage Reporting. The contractor shall provide a monthly Communications

Outage Report for the service (see Attachment C). The report shall detail each outage of the signal or the degraded nature of the signal, the date and time, the reason for the outage or degraded signal, the duration of the outage/degradation, restoration and corrective actions taken, and the credit applicable. All outages or degraded signal of ten (10) minutes or more shall be reported. One copy of the report will be provided monthly to the Contracting Officer and one copy shall be provided to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The contractor shall specify format to be approved by the Government.

6.8.1 Subtask 1 – AFN BC Outage Reporting. The Contractor shall notify the AFN-BC (Riverside California) within 10 minutes of onset of any outages by calling the 24/7 help-desk at (951) 413-2339 and shall also notify AFRTS engineering via e-mail at technologist@dma.mil and COR within 30 minutes of the outage.

6.9 Task 9 – Relocation of Satellite Sites/Equipment. The contractor shall remove, relocate and reinstall a downlink satellite receive terminal within 60 days from receipt of written request from the Contracting Officer. This requirement may require packing and unpacking. Sites/Equipment shall not be moved from the general location in which installed unless the Contractor has been notified by the contracting officer that a move is to be made. The non-recurring charge (NRC) for relocations of sites/equipment for a distance greater than 2 kilometers is to be negotiated at the time of request. These downlink TVRO terminals are typically commercial, off-the-shelf television, receive only antennas consisting of a reflector, low-noise block down-converter (LNB), mounting structure, coaxial cable, and an AFRTS authorized integrated receiver-decoder.

6.10 Task 10 – Addition of New Satellite Sites/Equipment. The contractor shall be responsible for the installation of all satellite systems and equipment including all electrical and signal connections required to make it fully operational at all supported locations. The contractor shall provide all equipment racks, required electrical power and physical space for satellite systems and equipment to support the general requirement at all non-Government teleport sites. The contractor shall install additional/new satellite terminals at sites with associated equipment upon request of the Contracting Officer. The NRC for installation of new sites/equipment is to be negotiated at the time of request.

7. Performance Standards.

Monthly Outage reports and on-site surveillance of signal at AFN-E HQ’s.

8. Place of Performance. All work shall be performed at the contractor’s earth station teleport facility or if otherwise specified by contract modification. No government land or U.S. military facility will be made available for connectivity or satellite uplinks.

9. Period of Performance. 2 year base period and 5 one-year option periods.

10. Delivery Schedule.

Standard Distribution*

*Standard Distribution: 1 copy of the transmittal letter without the deliverable to the Contracting Officer; 1 copy of the transmittal letter with the deliverable to the Primary COR.

11. Security. All work will be UNCLASSIFIED.

12. Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government-Furnished Information (GFI).

The Government will provide Cisco Power-Vu commercial and business model AFN Network authorized receive and decryption equipment to support this contract. The contractor shall provide all other equipment and services as may be necessary to uplink and modulate the AFN-E signals, up convert intermediate frequency signals to transmit frequencies, and amplify, filter and transport the signals as required for transmission over contractor-provided ground and space based infrastructure. The contractor shall be responsible for the installation of all GFE including all electrical and signal connections required to make it fully operational at all locations. The Government may, during this contract, add to or replace the above equipment in order to upgrade the service or change to another digital compression technology.

12.1. GFE Removal of Property. Upon expiration of the lease or any or all items in the CLIN structure, the contractor shall agree to remove GFE property within 60 days. The contractor shall coordinate with the Government to arrange the GFE property transfer to a follow-on contractor or back to the Government.

13. Approvals and Permits. The contractor shall obtain all necessary approvals and permits for any construction, modification, installation, and transmission required for this service, to include but not limited to those required by the local, state and federal Governments, site owners, and by any other applicable Government or commercial agencies. The contractor shall provide to the Government a signed copy of permits and written agreements prior to commencement of service. These permits and agreements shall assign specific responsibilities for provisioning, maintaining, and interfacing operations. The Government reserves the right to terminate for cause the contract if required permits, licenses and agreements are not obtained and if documentation of these approved permits, licenses and agreements is not provided to the Government within sixty (60) calendar days after award of the contract.

13.1. Government Access to Contractors Facilities. The Government shall be granted access to contractor's facilities for the purpose of access to GFE. The Government will notify the contractor no later than 24 hours prior to the required access.

13.2 Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs). In the event that a re-configuration of services is required, a minimum of 30 days’ notice shall be provided to the Government and evidence of equivalent net present value shall be provided by the contractor. The notification shall consist of an ECP. The ECP shall include link budgets, draft transmission plan, and a transition plan for the re-configuration of the service. The ECP will not be accepted by the Government until the Government determines that the action is in the Government’s best interest.

13.3 Identification of Possible Follow-On Work. The Government may require a modification to the existing bandwidth requirements or adding additional satellite services such as modifying bandwidth requirements, additional space segment, commercial teleport, equipment, tail segment extensions, terrestrial connectivity, earth terminal leases, O&M, etc., in support of present and future AFN-E mission locations and requirements during the contract’s potential seven-year performance period. Details and cost to be negotiated with the contractor as required. Changes and/or additional satellite services will be incorporated into the contract through a modification upon completion of negotiations and Contracting Officer’s determination the price is fair and reasonable. However, the Government retains the right to modify or procure any additional services in other manners should it be in the best interest of the Government to do so.

13.4. Identification of Potential Conflicts of Interest (COI). Per the solicitation, the contractor must submit an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) mitigation plan that delineates whether or not any OCI exists. For this requirement, no relationships or activities may exist that would cause an OCI and prevent the contractor to objectively perform work or present an unfair competitive advantage.

14. Section 508 Accessibility Standards. The following Section 508 Accessibility Standard(s) (Technical Standards and Functional Performance Criteria) are applicable (if box is checked) to this acquisition.

Technical Standards

FORMCHECKBOX

1194.21 - Software Applications and Operating Systems

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1194.22 - Web Based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications

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1194.23 - Telecommunications Products

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1194.24 - Video and Multimedia Products

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1194.25 - Self-Contained, Closed Products

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1194.26 - Desktop and Portable Computers

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1194.41 - Information, Documentation and Support

The Technical Standards above facilitate the assurance that the maximum technical standards are provided to the Offerors. Functional Performance Criteria is the minimally acceptable standards to ensure Section 508 compliance. This block is checked to ensure that the minimally acceptable electronic and information technology (E&IT) products are proposed.

Functional Performance Criteria

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1194.31 - Functional Performance Criteria

QASP

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

The American Forces Network-Europe

June 12, 2014

1. Contract or Task Order Title: The American Forces Network-Europe (AFN-E) DVB-S/S2 Direct-to-Home Satellite Service.

2. Work Requirements:

· Task 1 – Direct-to-Home Satellite Network

· Subtask 1 – Satellite Signal Compatibility

· Subtask 2 – Satellite Service and Coverage Requirements

· Subtask 3 - Required Signal Strength

· Subtask 4 - Required Signal Parameters

· Task 2 – Network Operations Management

· Task 3 – Network Monitoring and Control (M&C)

· Task 4 – Network Restoral Services

· Subtask 1 – Terrestrial Network Restoration

· Subtask 2 – Restoral Plan

· Subtask 3 - Preventative Maintenance Inspections (PMI)

· Subtask 4 - Prime and Backup Power sources

· Task 5 – Network Transition of DTH Services

· Subtask 1 - Transition Plan

· Task 6 – Satellite Availability Reports

· Task 7 – Preventative Maintenance and Operations

· Task 8 – Outage Reporting

· Subtask 1 – AFN BC Outage Reporting

· Task 9 – Relocation of Satellite Sites/Equipment

· Task 10 – Addition of New Satellite Sites/Equipment

3. Primary Method of Surveillance:

Random sampling and customer input will be used for Items 2, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10. There will be 100% inspection for Items 1, 3, 5, and 6.

· 100 Percent Inspection. This is usually only the most appropriate method for infrequent tasks or tasks with stringent performance requirements, e.g., where safety or health is a concern. With this method, performance is inspected/evaluated at each occurrence. One hundred percent inspection is too expensive to be used in most cases.

· Random Sampling. This is usually the most appropriate method for recurring tasks. With random sampling, services are sampled to determine if the level of performance is acceptable. Random sampling works best when the number of instances of the services being performed is very large and a statistically valid sample can be obtained. Computer programs may be available to assist in establishing sampling procedures.

· Periodic Inspection. These services are monitored weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, annually, etc. Periodic types of activities are perfect for periodic inspection because not only are they infrequent, but there is normally a predetermined, specified time frame within which the tasks must be accomplished. Therefore, you know exactly when to conduct the evaluations. Periodic inspections automatically become 100 percent evaluations or "100 percent checks." Inspections should be divided and scheduled by frequency: annual, semiannual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and as required. Sometimes services are required for which the time or frequency cannot be predicted, such as accident investigations, one-time special tasking by higher headquarters, etc. These would be labeled "as required inspections." Others are known and predictable such as the quarterly status report or the monthly travel report currently included in some DISA service contracts.

· Customer Input. Although usually not a primary method, this is a valuable supplement to more systematic methods. For example, in a case where random sampling indicates unsatisfactory service, customer complaints can be used as substantiating evidence. In certain situations where customers can be relied upon to complain consistently when the quality of performance is poor, e.g., dining facilities, building services, customer surveys and customer complaints may be a primary surveillance method, and customer satisfaction an appropriate performance standard. In all cases, complaints should be documented, preferably on a standard form.

4. Scope of Performance:

This requirement will establish end-to-end 36 MHz Ku-Band satellite transmission services to include commercial satellite bandwidth, contractor-provided hub equipment, teleport services and contractor-provided antennae to downlink, provide terrestrial connectivity, uplink, management, operations, maintenance, monitoring & control (M&C) and space-segment in support of the AFN-E DVB-S/S2 DTH Satellite Services network.

All services are required 24-hours per day, 7 days per week, continuous. The contractor shall manage, operate and maintain all services end-to-end to provide all of the required connectivity and space capacity to include the terrestrial and AFN-E satellite backup/restoral capability. Signal availability for all services shall be 99.9%.

The Government provides a single multichannel per carrier (MCPC) multiplexed SD and HD transport stream signal that is DVB-S/S2 compliant via international satellite IS 10-02, 359.0 degrees East geosynchronous orbital slot, RHCP (right hand circular polarization). The supplied DVB transport stream has a useful bitrate of 38.71 Mbits/second, a symbol rate of 28.0 MSps, and is coded at ¾ FEC. The Government has plans to provide this same signal (as a secondary back-up) to the contractor’s teleport delivered as a pair of redundant ASI transport streams via terrestrial fiber after contract has been awarded (90 – 180 days to install the dual fibers). No government land or U.S. military facility will be made available for connectivity and uplink earth station.

The footprint of the proposed satellite must be identical to, or overlap the existing satellite coverage area and provide adequate DTH signals to 60cm satellite antennae center beam and by 1.5 meter antennae in the outer reaches of the footprint to include the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union.

5. Performance Standards:

· The contractor shall provide complete end-to-end DVB-S and/or DVB-S2 36 MHz satellite transmission service and assure technical sufficiency of the service from the demarcation point to the end customer receive terminal inclusive of all uplinks, space segment and equipment in accordance with the requirements stated herein. These services are required 24-hours per day, 7 days per week, continuous. Satellite signal availability for all services shall be 99.9%.

· The connectivity and uplink systems supplied by the contractor must be capable of passing the AFN-BC network DVB-S/S2 digitally compressed signal delivered as an ASI stream via supplied Power-Vu Cisco AFN decoders. All teleport terrestrial links must be compatible with the Cisco ‘PowerVu Plus’ ASI transport stream.

· The contractor shall provide 36 MHz interference free, fully protected, non-pre-emptible transponder(s) satellite coverage sufficient to ensure not less than 1 dB of rain fade margin to the existing Ku-Band downlink footprint or an identical footprint to the existing Ku-Band satellite. The proposed satellite solution must be positioned at 9 degrees East Longitude geostationary orbit or no more than the 13 degrees East Longitude geostationary orbital slot to minimize any repointing of satellite antenna to the over 325,000 existing DTH customers. The DTH-Europe coverage area is defined as the existing satellite footprint to include the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union.

· The AFN-E satellite signal(s) shall allow for DTH service acquisition with a 60 centimeter diameter Ku-Band satellite antenna in Germany and Italy, and no larger than a 1.5 meter diameter satellite antennas in the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the European Union. The downlink signal should be vertically polarized in order to minimize any repointing impact to DTH customers. The contractor shall submit a Link Budget detailing how the proposed space segment and uplink meets above requirements.

· The satellite service delivered to Europe and the Middle East shall be Ku-band linear vertical polarization. The footprint of the Ku satellite shall cover the Azores, United Kingdom, State of Qatar, Afghanistan and the Europe Union. The minimum downlink EIRP for Germany and Italy is 52 dBw for reception on a 60 cm antenna. The minimum downlink EIRP for the Azores, State of Qatar and Afghanistan is 49 dBw for reception on a 1.5 meter antenna.

· The contractor shall provide full-time (24/7/365) management, operation, monitoring, control and maintenance of all uplinks, downlinks and confidence downlink monitoring of the space segment. The contractor shall provide full-time (24/7) management, operation, monitoring, and maintenance of fiber connectivity, connectivity from downlink to the uplink, and uplink of the AFN-Europe DVB-S or DVB-S2 signals.

· The contractor shall continuously monitor the performance of the end-to-end service. The M&C capability shall include, at a minimum, frequency and spectrum analysis, unauthorized user-new carrier detection, signal parameters monitoring on an as-changed basis, and out-of-tolerance measurements and alarms. Out-of-tolerance measurements shall include, as a minimum, carrier C/KT, transponder power (EIRP) per carrier, carrier center frequency, carrier bandwidth, and carrier spectrum. The integrated receiver/decoder IRD monitoring shall include, as a minimum, EB/NO, bit error rate, and signal strength of the confidence downlink signal. Contractors shall provide a detailed description of the M&C services. The M&C Architecture will allow M&C information to be available at the winning vendor's Network Operations Center in Near-Real-Time. Near Real Time is defined as the timeliness of Data or Information, which has been delayed by the time required for electronic communication and Automatic Data Processing. This implies that there are no significant delays from the occurrence of an event until its identification at a monitoring facility.

· The contractor shall provide restoral capabilities of any part of the service to include complete space capacity, downlink, terrestrial connectivity to the uplink, and the uplink itself. The uplinks, downlinks and terrestrial connectivity shall have redundancy of all required equipment/systems, connectivity at the earth station gateways, and these equipment/systems and connectivity must be immediately available. Restoral capability of any part of the service and for the service overall shall be within one hour of the initial onset of an outage. The contractor shall meet a 99.9% customer satellite availability requirement. Any equipment service outage in excess of one hour will result in a deduction of bandwidth service charges. The backup/restoral satellite transponder and satellite capacity shall be available within six hours after it has been determined by the contractor that the primary transponder and/or satellite has failed. The backup/restoral transponder and satellite capacity shall meet the same specifications as for the primary satellite capacity.

· The contractor shall provide backup/restoral for any terrestrial connectivity to the uplink. The terrestrial connectivity restoral capability shall be immediately available upon the initial determination that the connectivity has failed.

· The contractor shall propose a detailed restoral plan that shows all of the equipment and systems to be used for immediate restoral.

· The contractor shall develop and perform preventive maintenance procedures and inspections on equipment and systems located at the proposed earth stations.

· The contractor shall provide prime and backup power for all contractor supported uplink facilities.

· The contractor shall guarantee that no break in AFN-E uplink services shall occur during transition from the current/existing service to the new uplink service if a different satellite is proposed. The contractor shall be prepared to provide, as a minimum, dual illumination of the satellites for fourteen (14) calendar days prior to activation of the service. The contractor shall provide a minimum 60 calendar day dual illumination period after the award of service due to the large number of military installations that will need to realign their antennas

· The contractor shall propose a detailed transition plan that shows how services will transition from the existing service to the satellite new service. The contractor should show how the fourteen (14) calendar days prior to activation of the service and minimum 60 calendar day dual illumination will occur if changing satellites. The transition plan will not be required if the AFN-E service continues using the existing teleports, satellite and transponders inclusive.

· The contractor shall provide proposed transponder and satellite availability reports for all required space segment as part of their solution for the end-to-end AFN Europe DTH satellite service. The transponder reports of the proposed transponder shall be of the previous 30 days. The satellite availability reports shall include operational status to present.

· The contractor shall maintain all contractor-provided equipment and facilities in support of this PWS. The contractor's proposal shall include a maintenance and operations plan, preventative maintenance plan and procedures by services, by location, and by response time.

· The contractor shall provide a monthly Communications Outage Report for the service. The report shall detail each outage of the signal or the degraded nature of the signal, the date and time, the reason for the outage or degraded signal, the duration of the outage/degradation, restoration and corrective actions taken, and the credit applicable. All outages or degraded signal of ten (10) minutes or more shall be reported. One copy of the report will be provided monthly to the Contracting Officer and one copy shall be provided to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The contractor shall specify format.

· The Contractor shall notify the AFN-BC (Riverside California) within 10 minutes of onset of any outages by calling the 24/7 help-desk at (951) 413-2339 and shall also notify AFRTS engineering via e-mail at technologist@dma.mil and COR within 30 minutes of the outage.

· The contractor shall remove, relocate and reinstall a downlink satellite receive terminal within 60 days from receipt of written request from the Contracting Officer. This requirement may require packing and unpacking. Sites/Equipment shall not be moved from the general location in which installed unless the Contractor has been notified by the contracting officer that a move is to be made. The non-recurring charge (NRC) for relocations of sites/equipment for a distance greater than 2 kilometers is to be negotiated at the time of request. These downlink TVRO terminals are typically commercial, off-the-shelf television, receive only antennas consisting of a reflector, low-noise block down-converter (LNB), mounting structure, coaxial cable, and an AFRTS authorized integrated receiver-decoder.

· The contractor shall install additional/new satellite terminals at sites with associated equipment upon request of the Contracting Officer.