RFI - Exterior Gunfire Detection System_FINAL.pdf

THIS NOTICE IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE

NOTICE ID#

Exterior Gunfire Detection System (EGDS)

FY2025

Request for Information Posted Date: 10/22/2024

Request for Information Response Date: 11/21/2024 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time

Request for Information:

Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) Acquisition Directorate (AD) is conducting market research to identify the availability, interest, and capability of qualified businesses to provide Exterior

Gunfire Detection Systems (EGDS) to the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA).

This Request for Information is being issued for market research purposes ONLY and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or as an obligation on the part of the requestor to acquire any products or services.

The Government does not intend to pay for the information requested herein. All information provided is for Government planning use only. Please mark proprietary information as "Proprietary for Government

Use Only." Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

Submission to any contact other than the one listed in this notice may result in your response not being considered. Submissions after the closing date of this notice may be considered only at the Contracting

Officer's discretion.

This Request for Information is to gain knowledge regarding the availability and capabilities of business concerns. The Government DOES NOT intend to award a contract based on the responses to this Request for Information.

The work anticipated may require contractors to comply with Security Clearance requirements by the time a proposal for contract performance starts. Please review this notice closely. WHS/AD/PFPA does not sponsor any clearances.

Important Notice to Small Business Concerns: While not responding to this RFI Announcement does not preclude participation in any future RFP if one is issued, it is highly recommended that all interested and capable firms respond in order to be considered during this market research and acquisition planning phase.

Currently, no solicitation exists. If a solicitation is generated from this RFI, it will be synopsized on either the PIEE Solicitation Module or the Government Point of Entry (GPE) SAM.gov by the appropriate

Government Contracting Office unless an exception to synopsize exists. It is the responsibility of the potential responders to monitor SAM.gov for additional information pertaining to this subject. Interested firms may also ask the Contracting Officer for a copy of the solicitation in accordance with FAR 19.202-

4(c).

The Government encourages responses from "all" interested, capable sources, including small business concerns (8(a) Certified concerns, Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) concerns, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), Women-Owned Small

Businesses (WOSBs) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs)) are encouraged to respond to this notice. Small businesses are defined based on the size standard associated with the NAICS code. For more information, visit https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards, and check your size using the SBA Size Standards Tool: https://www.sba.gov/size-standards/index.html.

The Contracting Officer will use the responses received from this RFI to determine the appropriate acquisition strategy, such as if it is appropriate to either solicit as a small business set aside or an unrestricted competition through SAM.gov or an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) government-wide contract vehicle.

The Contracting Officer must determine if there is a reasonable expectation of obtaining offers from two or more responsible small business concerns that are competitive in terms of market prices, quality, and delivery in accordance with FAR 19.502-2(b) and FAR 19.203. If at least two (2) qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, any competitive procurement that may result will be conducted as a small business set aside. When responding, please also include any capabilities that will be performed through teaming arrangements (i.e., subcontracting and/or joint ventures).

1. Background

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) is the DoD agency responsible for the law enforcement and physical security of the Pentagon Reservation and other DoD-owned and leased facilities in the National Capital Region. PFPA is interested in industries' current capabilities in the area of commercial-off-the-shelf, purpose-built exterior gunfire detection systems (EGDS).

The Pentagon Reservation encompasses approximately 270 acres in Arlington County, VA. Unlike most DoD installations, the Pentagon Reservation is in the middle of a densely populated urban area.

Three major highways border the Pentagon: I-395/Shirley Highway, I-110/Richmond Highway, and

Route 27/Washington Boulevard. These highways carry over 300,000 vehicles per weekday and serve as primary arterials in and out of Washington, DC.

Across I-395 to the south of the Pentagon are the Pentagon City, National Landing, and Crystal City urban neighborhoods. This area is a mix of commercial, retail, and high-density residential high-rise buildings that are undergoing construction or renovation as part of Amazon HQ2 / National Landing area redevelopment. The proximate location of these high-rise buildings overlooking the Pentagon

Reservation, the long flat faces of the Pentagon itself, and the low-lying areas of the Reservation create a unique acoustic environment featuring both echoes and nulls.

To the west of the Pentagon across Washington Boulevard is Arlington National Cemetery (ANC).

ANC hosts 20 to 30 funeral services per weekday, with each including a 21-gun salute. ANC also makes use of 105mm howitzer cannons for special ceremonies and events.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, one of the top 30 busiest airports in the United States, is located within 1 mile of the Pentagon. The "River Visual" approach to this airport creates consistent low-level (~200 ft) commercial airliner traffic in the immediate vicinity of the Pentagon.

The airport also makes regular use of compressed gas-operated 'cannons' to deter migratory birds and reduce the probability of bird strikes. Additionally, the Pentagon has its own military heliport with frequent low-altitude military rotary wing traffic.

https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards https://www.sba.gov/size-standards/index.html https://www.sba.gov/size-standards/index.html

Unlike most DoD installations, large portions of the exterior of the Reservation are open to the public.

The Reservation has the area's largest Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) bus and rail terminal, is a pickup and drop-off point for area "slug lines," and hosts a publicly accessible Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Additionally, the Reservation will periodically facilitate the

Army Ten Miler, Marine Corps Marathon, Rolling to Remember, and other large public events.

2. Procurement History for Similar Services

This is a new requirement.

3. Description

This Request for Information (RFI) aims to identify currently available solutions in the marketplace that can accurately and rapidly detect gunfire incidents. Understanding the current state of EGDS in the market allows PFPA to develop realistic, achievable requirements for future down-select efforts.

4. Anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code:

The anticipated NAICS Code for this Requirement is NAICS Code 561621: " Security Systems

Services (except Locksmiths)" with a size standard of $25.0 Millions.

5. Anticipated Product Service Code: N063, PSC Installation of Equipment—Alarm, Signal, and

Security Detection Systems.

6. Anticipated Place of Performance

The services will be performed within the National Capital Region.

7. Submission

The Government requests interested vendors to respond to this RFI. Specific questions and topics for response are included below. Capabilities statements shall not exceed 25 pages in "Times New

Roman" 12-inch font on 8.5 x 11 paper, left justified, and one-inch margins all around. Respondents must submit documents in Word or PDF format. Zipped files will not be accepted.

Vendors can choose to answer questions in series or develop a more holistic response that answers the information requested in a free-flowing narrative. Vendors may include photographs, graphics/diagrams, maps, or other visual content as they see fit to augment their text.

Responses to this notice will be reviewed for their applicability to the Government's needs and may be determined as "relevant" or "non-relevant." The Contracting Officer may deem incomplete/insufficient responses received from an interested firm as "not relevant." At a minimum, the interested firm should provide complete/sufficient responses to the information requested below in Section A. Administrative Information, B. Technical Capability, and C. Subcontracting

Information.

A. Administrative Information:

Please fill out the table below with information about your firm and answer all the questions in this section.

***Please note that in order to do business with the U.S. government as a prime contractor, your firm must be registered with SAM.gov by the time of award of any resultant contract.

1. Business name:

2. Business Address:

3. Business Point of Contact (POC):

4. POC Telephone:

5. POC Email:

6. Business Website:

7. Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE)

Code (if any):

8. SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) (if any):

9. Business size for NAICS – Description of

NAICS:

10. All socioeconomic categories as defined in

FAR Part 19 (e.g., 8(a), SDB, HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.):

B. Technical Capability

Please submit a tailored capability statement addressing your firm's capability to support the work outlined in Section 8 Please provide a response to the following information and a point of contact, phone number, and email addresses of individuals who can verify the capabilities discussed in the responses, C. Subcontracting Information

The following information will assist WHS/AD in establishing a basis for developing set-asides and/or subcontracting opportunities, if necessary.

a. Identify which, if any, critical task areas your firm will collaborate with a subcontractor or team partner (i.e., small business) (if applicable).

b. If you intend to subcontract, please include the estimated percentage for Small Business subcontracting opportunities for each critical task area.

Example table to be used:

Task Number

Tasking categories Anticipated % of

Subcontracting

If known, potential subcontractor, teaming partner, joint venture arrangement, etc.

D. Supplemental Information Requested

This Supplemental Information Section will assist the Government to refine the Requirement, if appropriate, and it does not count toward the page limit or capabilities assessment.

a. Recommended NAICS codes and/or PSC Codes for this effort with justification. Responses may be used to develop and/or determine which NAICS/PSC is most suitable.

b. Recommendations that can be used to help develop a Performance Work Statement (PWS).

c. Please indicate how much time your firm would need to prepare a competitive response to an

RFQ.

d. Recommended/suggested contract type (i.e., FFP, Cost, T&M, LOE) etc.

e. Please state whether these services are commercially available, whether yes or no, and why.

8. Critical Task Elements. The Government has identified specific areas of interest and corresponding questions for industry to respond to in their RFI response.

Area of Interest: Corporate Experience and Business Model

The Government is interested in understanding the industry's ability to field solutions for customers in complex urban environments. The Government is also interested in understanding how the industry makes its offerings available to customers and their pricing models.

Key Questions for Industry: Corporate Experience and Business Model

• What is your existing experience in providing EGDS to civilian and commercial US customers cities/counties or for large campuses for corporations, universities, hospitals, or airports)? Describe a cross-section of your deployments for these customers, if applicable.

• What is your existing experience providing EGDS solutions for the Department of Defense or

Federal customers?

o Were these implementations within the Continental United States (CONUS) or Outside the

Continental United States (OCONUS)?

o Were these implementations done on a demonstration basis, or are they enduring, long-term deployments?

• Is your system hardware and software first-party developed and manufactured, or do you assemble a system of components from third-party manufacturers and suppliers?

• Is your EGDS product/capability a full-service, end-to-end offering that includes hardware, software, implementation, operations, and sustainment? Or do you sell EGDS software and hardware for others to implement and maintain? Or software only with the assumption of relying on third-party, potentially customer-provided acoustic sensors?

• Is your EGDS software/sensors for sale under commercial terms, or are they only available via a leasing arrangement?

• What are the variables that influence your pricing? Is pricing based per sensor, based on number of square miles covered, term length, support agreement, or other factors?

• What is your typical acceptance testing or commissioning process for customers?

• What is your experience working with a customer's systems integrator to test, deploy, and maintain your EGDS product for customers?

Area of Interest: Detection Capabilities

The Government is interested in understanding the industry's current gunfire detection sensitivity and geo-location accuracy.

Key Questions for Industry: Detection Capabilities

• What type(s) of ammunition are your sensors capable of detecting in real-world environments?

Specifically, the Government is interested in your capability to detect the following ammunition types:

Detection Capability

Yes With Limitations No

.22 Long Rifle (LR)

9mm Luger (9x19mm)

.357 Magnum

.40 Caliber S&W

.45 Caliber ACP

10mm Auto

.223 Remington / 5.56mm NATO

.308 Winchester / 7.62mm NATO

.300 Winchester Magnum

• Can your system differentiate the type of ammunition or weapon based on acoustic characteristics?

o If so, what is your estimated accuracy in differentiating each of the above ammunition types?

• What is your typical deployment in terms of the number of sensors per acre or square mile for urban areas?

o What is your observed impact of line-of-sight between EGDS sensors on detection accuracy?

o What is your observed impact of line-of-sight between sensor and gunfire location on detection accuracy?

• In urban environments, gunfire may echo off buildings and terrain features. How do your system/sensors discern the originating location versus an echo/reverberation?

o If possible, please provide an example of a time when you worked with a customer to address echo (or similar) issues to improve geo-location accuracy. What were the issues, and how did you resolve the nuisance alarms while retaining the probability of detection?

• Do you have a single model of sensor, or do you have multiple models of sensors? For example, a different sensor for roof mounts versus pole mounts.

o What are the differences between models?

o What is the space, weight, and power requirements for your sensors?

o Can sensors be powdered and coated to meet government exterior appearance standards?

• Does your system support ad hoc deployment of acoustic sensors? For example, could a sensor be added to a towed trailer and deployed as needed to augment detection capabilities during special events, or was a fixed sensor temporarily inoperable?

• What are the periodic preventative maintenance requirements for your sensors? Please describe:

o Preventative maintenance activities are required.

o The frequency of those activities (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually) o Can only the EGDS vendor perform maintenance, or can a trained third-party maintainer?

Area of Interest: Nuisance Alarm Discrimination

While the Government places a premium on accurately and quickly detecting actual gunfire, it also wishes to minimize nuisance alarms (false positives). Excessive nuisance alarms can lead to "alarm fatigue," loss of vigilance, and frustration by the Security Operations Center and law enforcement responders.

Urban environments frequently have many audio sources that can trigger false positives in gunfire detection systems. These sources include but are not limited to, aircraft and helicopters, vehicular traffic and automobile backfires, and construction noise. As discussed previously, there are also sources of gunfire, like ANC ceremonial salutes, that are lawful and not of force protection concern that should be filtered out/ignored.

Key Questions for Industry: Nuisance Alarm Discrimination

• How does your system differentiate between true gunfire, firing of blanks, and nuisance alarms?

• How can your system be configured or otherwise tuned to attenuate nuisance alarms?

o If possible, please provide an example of a time when you worked with a customer to address nuisance alarm issues. What were the issues, and how did you resolve the nuisance alarms while retaining the probability of detection?

• Can your system be "trained" on background/ambient noise?

• If an area is known to contain lawful gunfire (like the ANC example discussed previously) can detections within that specific geo-fenced area be ignored?

Area of Interest: Hosting, Connectivity, and Cybersecurity

The Government has far stricter information technology and cybersecurity requirements than most commercial customers and municipalities. The Government wishes to understand what hosting options companies offer, how connectivity can be established between servers and sensors, and the industry's compliance with various cybersecurity hardening and attestation standards.

Key Questions for Industry on Server Hosting:

• How is the server software for your EGDS hosted? Below is a table of several "typical" hosting models.

o Which hosting model have you used before or have active customers using?

o What hosting models are not supported by your system/company?

o What is the cost and capability differential between the hosting models you support?

o Is there a particular preference or benefit to one hosting model over another?

Hosting Model General Description

Vendor hosted software-as-a-service

Vendor hosts manages and maintains all server software as a service. This hosting may be on servers operated directly by the vendor or run by the vendor in a commercial cloud (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google).

Parts of the vendor's solution may rely on cloud service provider native offerings/features (e.g., AWS Simple Queue Service, Simple Notification

Service, S3, GPU-backed instances, etc.)

The vendor provides all EGDS support and configuration with no Government involvement.

Government commercial cloud deployment

Vendor software can be installed in a cloud account that is managed/owned by the

Government (e.g., Joint Warfighter Community

Cloud AWS, Azure, or Google).

Parts of the vendor's solution may rely on cloud service provider native offerings/features (e.g., AWS Simple Queue Service, Simple Notification

Service, S3, GPU-backed instances, etc.)

EGDS vendor may potentially not have administrative access to this hosting environment.

Government system administrators would likely perform all administrative/maintenance functions.

Government on-premises deployment

Vendor software is installed in a government-owned, Government-operated on-premises data center on bare metal servers or VMware virtualized infrastructure.

Cloud service provider native offerings would not be accessible or acceptable.

EGDS vendor would not have direct administrative access to this hosting environment.

Government system administrators would perform all administrative/maintenance functions.

• For Government on-premises deployment and Government commercial cloud deployments, what are the typical server requirements (Operating System, CPU, Memory, Storage, GPUs)?

Key Questions for Industry on Connectivity:

• How do your sensors connect to the EGDS server?

o What connectivity options (e.g., 4G/5G cellular, 802.11 Wi-Fi, Ethernet) do your sensors support?

• Could your system and sensors operate on a standalone Government network with no Internet connectivity? For the purposes of this question, assume any periodic software updates can be provided via an alternative method.

Key Questions for Industry on Cybersecurity:

• What cybersecurity-specific testing or certification has your software and sensors undergone?

o Has your software/hardware undergone any type of penetration testing or other formal evaluation? If so, what types of evaluation or testing?

• Do you have a software bill of materials available for your server software and sensors?

• Has any component(s) of your system undergone review in accordance with the National Institute of Standards 800-53 Risk Management Framework and received an Authority to Operate (ATO) approval from a DoD or Federal agency?

o If so, from which agency and for which component(s) of the system?

• Describe the privacy considerations inherent in your system/sensors.

o Do your sensors continuously record audio? Or do they only record when a potential gunshot is detected?

o Where are audio recordings stored?

o How long are audio recordings retained?

o Who has access to recordings?

o Is recorded audio used for gunshot detection model training refinement?

Area of Interest: Integrations and Performance

Key Questions for Industry: System Performance

• In your existing customer deployments, what is the median time from gunshot until an

Operations/Dispatch Center is alerted?

o What are the determinate factors (number of sensors, bandwidth/latency) in time from detection until an Operations Center is notified?

• Does your solution make use of vendor employees to triage potential gunshots before they are passed on to the customer?

o Is this a mandatory requirement for your system or a value-added option?

o How does this triage by vendor employees work?

o What is the median time for gunshot detection analysis by vendor staff, if used?

• How does your system identify the probability of the location of a gunshot?

o What is the median location probability?

• How does your system convey to the operator when there are multiple gunshots?

o For example, would two gunshots within 1 second that originate from the same 10-meter area be a single event/incident or two discrete ones? What if the two gunshots were estimated to be 100 meters away but occurred at the same time?

Key Questions for Industry: PSIM Integration

• The Government makes use of EverBridge Command Center (formerly known as CNL

IPSecurityCenter), a commercial-off-the-shelf physical security information management (PSIM) solution, to unify alarm and video monitoring and response. It would be PFPA's intent for EGDS alarms to be received and handled within this system. Do you have an existing integration to the

EverBridge Command Center?

• How does your server communicate with external systems that would consume EGDS detections?

o Webhook, web socket, or API polling?

• What event/alert information or commands could or would be provided from the EGDS to the

EverBridge Command Center via your integration? Example information/commands exchanged over the integration may include:

o ECC to acknowledge and close EGDS alarms o EGDS to provide ECC with gunshot detection information, such as

▪ Latitude, longitude, elevation, circular error probable

▪ Weapon type

▪ Audio files for listening/download

▪ Number of sensor(s) involved in trilateration of detection o ECC to EGDS system health check o EGDS to provide ECC with individual sensor health or status

Key Questions for Industry: Tactical Assault Kit.

• The Government is considering expanding its use of Tactical Assault Kit (TAK). One potential use case scenario is for Emergency Response Team Sniper/Counter-sniper personnel at the

"tactical edge" to be able to receive gunfire locations within a TAK client, similar to the above-described PSIM integration. Do you have an existing integration to TAK server?

o If so, what is the extent of this integration?

• If not with TAK server, have you previously employed your system with sniper/counter-sniper teams? How did it function or operate?

Key Questions for Industry: Multi-Jurisdictional Detection and Alerting.

• The PFPA's force protection responsibility extends beyond the immediate Pentagon Reservation to include DoD-owned and leased facilities within the National Capital Region, not under the authority of a military department. Immediate notification of gunfire in the vicinity of these facilities that may impact PFPA-protected personnel is consequently of paramount importance.

Conversely, PFPA would like to make other jurisdictions aware of gunfire-impacting facilities where PFPA deploys EGDS. Does your system support cross-agency notification or alert sharing of gunfire detections?

Area of Interest: Vendor Demonstration Capabilities

The Government likes to make use of demonstrations of operational systems. These engagements afford the Government the opportunity to observe the system and hear from active users about the system and their experience using it.

Key Questions for Industry: Vendor Demonstration Capabilities

• Do you have a vendor-operated corporate location where your system can be demonstrated to the

Government? If so, please provide relevant information.

• Do you have a customer location where your system can be demonstrated to the Government? If so, please provide relevant information.

• What events, trade shows, or conferences (e.g., ISC West, International Association of Chiefs of

Police, Campus Safety Conference) does your company attend, if any?

Area of Interest: Vendor Input

The Government is in the process of understanding the marketplace and would like to solicit input from the Government to shape future requirements and eventual solicitations and down-selects.

Key Questions for Industry:

• What requirements discussed above should be removed or refined further?

• What requirements or factors not discussed should the Government consider?

• What capabilities, technologies, or features exist that the Government may not have considered or mentioned above? Are these currently available or in development?

• What would you recommend as evaluation factors for any future downselect?

• What NAICS and PSC Codes do you recommend for this potential procurement? Responses may be used to develop and determine which NAICS/PSC is most suitable.

• Please highlight any unduly restrictive information.

• Please indicate how long your firm would need to prepare a competitive response to an RFQ.

• Would your firm need a transition period? If yes, how long? e.g., 15 days/30 days.

• Are there any task areas you see as moderate to high risks in providing the services requested?

9. Point of Contact

Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. All correspondence shall be via email. Questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. An unattributed list of questions and answers will be published at the same web location as this Request for Information.

Any questions for clarification may be emailed to both:

Contract Specialist: Barbara Middleton, barbara.a.middleton11.civ@mail.mil

Contracting Officer: Yolnie Merriweather, yolnie.t.merriweather.civ@mail.mil