Request for Information docx phones.pdf Sept 242025.pdf Signed.pdf

Request for Informa on Connectivity for USMMA Midshipmen on Sea Year

Market Research purposes only

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) a requirement for flexible maritime communication solution that ensures continuous connectivity between the Academy and students on Sea Year, located anywhere on Earth for the Midshipmen. See attached Statement of Objective (SOO): Connectivity for USMMA Midshipmen on Sea Year.

All interested contractors are requested to provide their capability statements and respond to the following questions:

1. Provide complete name, address, POC name and phone and email, indicate large or small business under which NAICS code to meet this need. How can you provide reliable communication on land and at sea all over the globe?

2. Please provide global coverage maps and identify any regional gaps, including nearshore and offshore coverage details up to two hundred miles from the coast.

3. What service types are available (voice, Short Message Service text, low-rate data, emergency distress signaling), and what are the typical and maximum data throughput and latency figures by device class?

4. What are your standard service level agreements for availability, call success rate, latency, and data throughput, and how are these measured and reported?

5. What outage notification, escalation, and mean time to repair commitments do you provide?

6. Are your mobility services operational at high speeds (for example, greater than one hundred seventy-five miles per hour) and in vehicular, air, and maritime environments?

7. What emergency distress and assistance features do you provide, including location reporting, and what integration options exist for real-time mapping and dashboards?

8. What tracking features are supported (update intervals, breadcrumb history, geofencing, check-in and check-out), and can you meet update intervals of less than two minutes?

9. What is your message delivery reliability (for example, the probability of successfully sending a single message within twenty minutes at ninety percent or greater in the Continental United States and offshore), and how does this vary by region?

10. Please describe your security controls: encryption for data in transit and at rest, key management approach, data storage locations, data retention policies, and options for customer-controlled encryption keys.

11. Can you provide United States-based internet gateway points of presence and terrestrial connectivity back to customer networks as needed?

12. What is your 24/7 technical support model with English-speaking technicians, what training offerings are available, and how do you support untrained field users?

13. Do you assist with host nation agreements and frequency clearances where required, and how is this incorporated into network monitoring workflows?

14. What contracting and ordering options are available for United States Government customers (including General Services Administration schedules or other contract vehicles), how do you support small-business participation, and what limitations might restrict your ability to bid?

15. Do you offer educational discounts?

16. Describe regulatory, export-control, and lawful-intercept obligations in customer jurisdictions.

17. What volume discounts, minimum commitments, and billing/payment terms apply?

18. What is the typical onboarding timeline for 250 - 500 users?

19. List known limitations, operational risks, and recommended mitigations for mission-critical deployments.

20. How do you ensure continuous service during satellite handovers, maintenance, or outages (redundancy, multi-constellation support, backup ground stations)?

21. What Application Programming Interfaces are available for provisioning, monitoring, billing, and integration with a customer-owned Network Monitoring System?

22. Can you support a single, government-owned, web-based Network Monitoring System with mission planning overlays and consolidated control of current and future services?

Device-Specific Questions

23. Which satellite handset models and accessories do you offer?

24. Do you offer centralized device management through a web-based portal?

25. Please describe device ruggedization, including waterproofing, operating temperature range, resistance to salt water and salt air, physical keyboard and tactile input, and Bluetooth capability and companion application features.

26. What are your warranty terms, repair and replacement timelines, spare device strategy, and lead times for fulfilling bulk orders?

27. Do you support tethering or hotspot access to the SatPhone from a computer/laptop?

28. Is there a way to view phone location(s) in real time? Is there a global view to see all devices at once?

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29. List all types of phone service that your company provides that can be used for maritime service in remote locations all over the world.

Service Specific Questions

30. Do you offer pooled data plans across devices and priority or roaming options? Please include example pooled data block sizes (for example, one terabyte, five terabytes).

31. What Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are available for provisioning, monitoring, billing, and integration with a customer-owned Network Monitoring System?

32. What centralized dashboards or portals are available for service monitoring, device tracking, and usage analytics?

33. Can your service be integrated with existing government systems for billing, provisioning, and reporting?

34. What flexibility is available in scaling service plans up or down based on seasonal or mission-specific needs?

35. Are there options for short-term or mission-based service contracts?

36. What are the terms for service cancellation, suspension, or transfer?

37. How do you handle service provisioning and de-provisioning for rotating personnel or temporary deployments?

38. Small Business and Socioeconomic Status: Does your company qualify as a small business, or other relevant designation under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) under the below NAICS code?

39. Provide your GSA number and SIN number applicable to this requirement (if any).

40. NAICS code for this action is 517410 –You may suggest any other NAICS code you think best fits this requirement. It is the responsibility of the Government to make the determination.

41. Any suggested estimated cost for this action? Base plus four options.

All interested vendors are requested to submit your capability statement and responses to above questions by October 24, 2025, 1pm EST to durba.ray@dot.gov.

Thank you, Durba Ray, Senior Contracting Officer

DOT/MARAD