RFI FoB 04-23-25.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Family of Basebands (FoB)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not promise a Statement of Intent or constitute a

Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue either in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever.

Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested parties’ expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if issued. If a Statement of Intent or RFP is released, it will be synopsized on the Beta SAM website. It is the responsibility of the potential responder to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

DESCRIPTION. The Project Manager for Tactical Network (PM TN) in support of Next

Generation Command and Control (NGC2) seeks to identify small form factor, modular and scalable at the edge computing and transport cloud applications using low latency high throughput links that meet NGC2 Transport, Infrastructure, and Architecture requirements for

On-the-Move (OTM) and At-the-Quick-Halt operations. Systems will support module style plug and play with Standardized A-Kit/Vehicle Envelope (SAVE) chassis and leverage a universal baseband platform that is M55181/2-01 and M55181/4-01 power connection compatible for the

OTM and quick dismountable kit. Solutions will be able to support Modular Open Systems

Architecture (MOSA). PM TN also seeks mountable and transport capable SATCOM solutions to meet both PLEO and GEO options for transport. These will be both platform and dismounted solutions to enable warfighters across the formations.

The key need is an integrator who can assist with:

• Tailoring configurations to Government chosen technologies.

• Supporting large-scale testing and deployment of selected technologies.

• Analyzing results and iteratively refining the design, incorporating new configurations or

Government selected technologies, in collaboration with PDSS.

BACKGROUND. Baseband nodes conduct basic routing, switching, firewall and call controller functions. Today, across the PM TN portfolio, there are nine (9) discrete baseband node variants.

The goal is to reduce this number from nine (9) variants to two (2).

Powerful, small form factor baseband nodes that, if approved, would replace the Product

Manager Mission Network’s (PdM MN) current at the halt (ATH), on the move (OTM) and other smaller systems currently fielded, and receive a tech refresh every 3-5 years. Nodes should not require active cooling / heating (such as air conditioning nor heating requirements) The typical node should minimally include a server to run virtual appliances, such as a hypervisor, virtual routers, virtual firewall, virtual call controller and virtual security appliances. The node must also include a Tier 2 switch and a power conditioning / backup solution. The term "'add on modules" is a term we are currently using to describe the capability of having the flexibility to adjust base nodes on the fly. Example for an add on module: Radio of Over IP (RoIP) solution in where a node can be easily modified to take on a different mission sets in the fielded environment. This "add on module" can be added into the existing footprint case, or can be addressed by having an additional case, in which any additional add on modules can be included.

Note: If the additional case design is your initial research and recommendation, then the connections between the base node and add on module case must be simple and "field proof".

We are looking at every angle of solving the DoD current 13 server solution, down to an estimated 2 different main node variations: Medium and Large (can be the same node, with different levers, such as an increase of User Access Cases) and then the small ATH variant

(designed for a 3-5 person crew, can be basic routing and switching and with all services being hosted remotely). The goal is not to limit industry’s technical solutions, we want to understand all of the possibilities that each company can bring to the table.

REQUESTED INFORMATION

1. Can your company provide Family of Baseband support as identified in the Description and Background sections above? If yes, please describe how.

2. Does your company have experience providing baseband support as described in the

Description and Background sections above? Please describe how, whether you were successful or not and what program each effort was supporting.

3. Do you consider this effort to be a commercial requirement as defined in FAR 2.101?

Please explain the reason if yes or no.

4. What set of baseband equipment does industry have that is small form factor and what peripherals, add-on modules, or extensions are available for these systems? What do you have available today for near team (1 Year) and what additional capabilities do they bring?

5. Are you aware of any research on the best way to adjust for "add on " modules to a base server, so that the base node can be the same hardware set for both the medium and large node? What technologies do you have that will allow the Users to easily change out/ add or subtract different modules?

6. Looking at software licensing changes, especially in a popular hypervisor, we are looking at limiting additional costs with excess cores what technology does your company have that keeps the same small form factor but yet focusses on clock speed? What research do you have that suggest increasing clock speed and not increasing cores is just as efficient?

7. Regarding question # 6 above, if you have higher core speed and less cores, where is now the bottleneck within the design of the server? If we decided to limit cores and increase clock speed per core, we need to ensure we can take full advantage of the clock speed and not have a static processor that cannot achieve its advertised speed because of a memory or bus limitation

8. If high node numbers are replaced in the DoD footprint, what type of logistic footprint do you have and how do you tackle limited hardware change over a 3–5-year period, with obsolescence and end of life (EOL) playing a factor? What are the options for upgrading storage, memory, processing over time? At what level of maintenance would this happen? (Please provide, if available, a road map for upgrades/sustainment that would look at total revamp.)

9. What are the environmental parameters your proposed equipment set will operate between? (Please provide the high and lows.)

10. Does your company have the power subsystems in the same small form factor? For companies not interested in building the Node, we are looking at providing battery backup and conditioning, for both AC and 28V DC vehicle power.

11. How can AI for machine learning help us become agile on these new nodes? Example- if we add a module (Radio Over IP), how can AI be leveraged so that configuration (both on the module and the virtual route/ physical switch) is updated on demand.

12. What connections are organically supported, IE GIG Ethernet, Fiber…. etc.?

13. Can your company provide a technical brochure for each of the systems you currently support and future variations (ensure no proprietary information is provided)?

14. NGC2 expands the functional requirements of baseband beyond the traditional compute, memory and storage requirements. Previously, baseband requirements focused on processor speed, memory size and storage capacity. This limited scope primarily supported routing/switching/firewall and call controller capabilities. Today, NGC2 introduces requirements for Apps and AI, possibly shifting from Hypervisor and virtual machine architecture. Modern baseband solutions must consider containers and GPU-accelerated heavy nodes to effectively support NGC2 operations and initiatives.

a) FoB will be an integral part of NGC2’s Transport Layer architecture enabling connectivity with modernized transport systems and maximizing the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) for efficient and effective operations while supporting the robust data requirements for the NGC2 ecosystem.

Describe your company’s FoB roadmap to support NGC2 architecture.

b) What FoB products are available to support stationary ATQH and OTM operations? Can they be dismounted from a vehicle and relocated into hardened facilities to support survivability as required?

c) How can FoB be designed to create a seamless, adaptable, and intelligent (AI) tactical network ecosystem that integrates intelligent routing and switching technologies across various network segments?

RESPONSES. Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI. Responses shall be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer, Tiffany Conway at

Tiffany.L.Conway2.civ@army.mil and the Contract Specialist, Jolene Sloley at

Jolene.m.sloley.civ@army.mil no later than 21 May 2025 at 5pm. Responses shall provide the following minimum administrative information: Name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail of designated point of contact.

Responses shall be limited to 25 pages. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information (included in the page limit). Please be advised that all submissions become

Government property and will not be returned.

Respondents may provide supplemental information such as product brochures, specification sheets, photographs, illustration and technical descriptions that describe your company’s current products that most closely match these capabilities described above. Supplemental information will not count towards the 25-page limit. Contractors are encouraged not to include marketing informational materials that do not relate to the products recommended for consideration, as they will be discarded. However, responses may include universal resource locater (URL) links to technical documentation materials (i.e., technical data sheet). It is also encouraged that responses are in 12pt Times New Roman or Arial font.

QUESTIONS. Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer Tiffany Conway at Tiffany.L.Conway2.civ@army.mil and the

Contract Specialist, Jolene Sloley at Jolene.m.sloley.civ@army.mil no later than 07 May 2025.

Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received will be answered.

SUMMARY. THIS IS AN RFI ONLY to identify sources that can provide the Family of

Basebands (FoB) and is not binding on the Government. The Army has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

mailto:Tiffany.L.Conway2.civ@army.mil mailto:Tiffany.L.Conway2.civ@army.mil