22R0005 Amendment 2.docx

N6893622R0005

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION A - SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM

The following have been added by full text:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Q&A)

Note: The solicitation response due date is not being extended. The Government will not be accepting any more questions. As stated on page 3 of 25 of the solicitation N6893622R0005 “All questions shall be received by 01 Dec 2021, 05:00PM PST”.

Contracting Questions:

Q1: Please clarify if proposals will be evaluated on a “Brand Name or Equal” basis, or a “Lowest Price Technically Acceptable” basis. Page 31 of the RFQ indicates that responses will be evaluated on a “Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable” basis (FAR 52.212-1). However, page 14 of the RFQ incorporates the “Brand Name or Equal” clause by reference (FAR 52.211-6). These two clauses would appear to conflict.

A1: FAR Clause 52.211-6 has been removed.

Q2: Vendor advises the contracting office that we expect our offering price to significantly exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold of $250k.

A2: The Government expect this requirement to exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold.

Q3: Vendor advises the contracting office that lower pricing can be offered if the government includes the FAR 52.232-30 clause for “Installment Payments for Commercial Items”.

A3: Vendor may include Installment Payments request in their quote. However, prior to authorizing commercial finance payment the Government is require to assess the vendor’s financial condition and make a determination that it is appropriate or customary in the commercial marketplace to make financing payments per FAR Subpart 32.2. FAR Clause 52.232-29, Clause 52.232-30, and Provision 52.232-31 has been inserted in the solicitation. Vendors that request for commercial finance payment will be evaluated in accordance with Provision 52.232-31.

Technical Questions:

Q1: Please clarify if the 80lbs/50lbs threshold and objective requirements are for each individual rackmounted item, or if this limit applies to the overall rack assembly.

A1: The requirement is Per Unit.

Q2: Please clarify if the “ruggedized rack” should be transportable solely by carrying handles, or if lifting points and/or wheels are also desired.

A2: Handles are desired, but if weight becomes a safety factor, then lift points and/or wheels are desired.

Q3: Please clarify if the 2 RF acquisition channels must be synchronized with a common start trigger or a common timebase (e.g. a shared 10MHz reference).

A3: Phase-coherence between channels is desired, but not required.

Q4: Please clarify if it is acceptable for the 2 playback channels to use different RF signal generation hardware than the hardware used for RF recording. Both record and playback hardware would share a common pool of SSD signal storage in this scenario.

A4: It is acceptable to use different RF generation hardware.

Q5: Please clarify if the 1GHz instantaneous bandwidth specification must apply for any tuned center frequency within the 1GHz to 18GHz range.

A5: Yes, this requirement is expected from 1GHz to 18GHz.

Q6: Can the government provide a threshold or objective specification for signal storage capacity?

A6: Expected to provide recording of at least one sample RF pulse string (10GHz, 10us PRI and 1us PW, 30mins ) with the ability to expand storage to 2-4hrs each channel in the future by adding SSDs.

Q7: Can the government provide a threshold or objective specification for bit depth?

A7: Vendor should make the design choice for the bit depth and submit for evaluation.

Q8: Can the government provide threshold or objective specifications for RF reception performance?

A8: Vendor should provide performance specs of their design for evaluation.

Q9: Table 1 - Structure: Does the Ruggedized Rack require wheels?

A9:Not required, but desired.

Q10: Table 1 - Structure: Does the Ruggedized Rack require front and back doors?

A10: Yes.

Q11: Table 1 - Controller: Does the RF Record, RF Playback, and virtual instruments require Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for manual instrument control?

A11:Yes.

Q12: Table 1 - Controller: Does the Controller’s Application Programming Interface (API) need to support MATLAB, C, C++, Python and LabVIEW software for the RF Recording, RF Playback, and virtual instruments control?

A12: Desired, but not required.

Q13: Table 1 - Controller: Does the Controller need to provide file conversion capability between data formats to support other RF Record and RF Playback data formats, and third-party signal analysis software?

A13: Desired, but not required.

Q14: Table 1 - Controller: Does the RF Recorder and RF Playback System require the ability to frequency lock to an external 10MHz source?

A14: Desired, but not required.

Q15: Table 1 - Controller: Is the RF Recorder and RF Playback System required to provide a 10MHz reference output to allow frequency locking of external support test equipment?

A15: Desired, but not required.

Q16: Table 1 - RF Recording. Do both RF Recording channels need to operate concurrently?

A16: Yes.

Q17: Table 1 - RF Recording. Do the RF Recording channels need to be time synchronized to within +100 picoseconds?

A17: Desired, but not required.

Q18: Table 1 - RF Recording. Do the RF Recording channels need to be aligned in amplitude across the operating frequency range?

A18: Desired, but not required.

Q19: Table 1 – RF Recording. Does each RF Recording channel require a dedicated Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA)?

A19: Desired, but not required.

Q20: Table 1 – RF Recording. Does each RF Recording channel require a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) triggering mode for initiating RF Recording?

A20: Desired, but not required.

Q21: Table 1 – RF Recording. Does each RF Recording channel require a 32TB SSD RAID?

A21: Desired minimum SSD space is to allow 30mins of sample recording on each channel for acceptance. The desire is to also have user upgradable memory.

Q22: Table 1 – RF Recording. Is the RF Recording System required to provide offline analysis capability of recorded files?

A22: Desired, but not required.

Q23: Table 1 - RF Playback. Do both RF Playback channels need to operate concurrently?

A23: Yes.

Q24: Table 1 - RF Playback. Do the RF Playback channels need to be time synchronized to within +100 picoseconds?

A24: Desired, but not required.

Q25: Table 1 - RF Playback. Do the RF Playback channels need to be aligned in amplitude across the operating frequency range?

A25: Desired, but not required.

Q26: Table 1 – RF Playback. Do the RF Recording and RF Playback channels need to operate concurrently?

A26: Yes, you should be able to playback on one channel while recording on another. To be clear, there is only a requirement for two channels to operate at once.

Q27: Table 1 – RF Playback. Does each RF Playback Channel require a 32TB SSD RAID?

A27: Desired minimum SSD space is to allow 30mins of sample recording on each channel for acceptance. The desire is to also have user upgradable memory.

Q28: Table 1 – RF Playback. Does the RF Playback require User-controlled data looping capability for extended duration RF Playback?

A28: Desired, but not required.

Q29: Table 1 – RF Playback. Does the RF Playback require the capability to support RF playback of synthesized data files?

A29: Desired, but not required.

Q30: Table 1 - Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer: Does each RF Recording channel require a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer operating concurrently?

A30: Desired, but not required. Dual trace capability is an alternative.

Q31: Table 1 - Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer: Does the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer require RF Recording capability?

A31: No, but it should not prevent the RF from being recorded.

Q32: Table 1 – Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer: Does the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer require concurrent recording of the Spectrogram, Histogram, and Spectrum plots?

A32: Desired, but not required.

Q33: Table 1 - Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer: Does each Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer need to support the same Instantaneous Bandwidth as the RF Recording channels’ Instantaneous Bandwidth?

A33: Desired, but not required.

Q34: Table 1 – Instantaneous Bandwidth (IBW). Can the RF Recording channel support 1GHz of Instantaneous Bandwidth above 2.2GHz center frequency, 500MHz between 1.3GHz and 2.2GHz center frequency, and 200MHz between 1GHz and 1.3GHz center frequency?

A34: No.

Q35: Table 1 - Instantaneous Bandwidth (IBW). Can the RF Playback channel support 1GHz of Instantaneous Bandwidth above 2.2GHz center frequency, 500MHz between 1.3GHz and 2.2GHz center frequency, and 200MHz between 1GHz and 1.3GHz center frequency?

A35: No.

Q36: Did Market Research indicate sufficient Small Business concerns to support this requirement?

A36: No, market research did not indicated sufficient business concerns to support this requirement.

SECTION I - CONTRACT CLAUSES

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