RFI TO Content Generation Tools.docx

TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPABILITIES OFFICE

EXTENDED REALITY (XR) CONTENT GENERATION TOOLS FOR FLIGHTLINE MAINTENANCE

SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS/REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

15 NOV 2024

1. NOTICE

This Sources Sought Synopsis/Request for Information (RFI) is issued for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation or commit the government to award a contract now or in the future. Submitting information for this RFI is voluntary, and participants will not be compensated. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government’s use of such information. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the AF in developing its acquisition strategy, statement of work/statement of objectives, and performance specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained within their response as instructed later in this posting.

2. BACKGROUND

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Transformational Capabilities Office (TCO), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, is conducting market research to identify potential sources that can develop and employ tools to assist users with Technical Orders and supplemental information for content generation, editing, and integration with third party XR applications. Specifically, this capability is envisioned to enable accomplishment of the technical orders by Department of Air Force maintainers who are not a specialist in the scope of the Technical Order. This capability would assist in minimizing content management of the supplemental information to Technical Orders (TOs) intended to enable their accomplishment. These tools can leverage capabilities of artificial intelligence/machine learning provided there is a description of how these algorithms will be trained and maintained to facilitate comprehension and ensure accuracy with the limited available data from existing TOs.

3. SCOPE

The Air Force and the Department of Defense (DoD) have had numerous efforts and testing/evaluation of augmented reality (AR) capabilities. Limitations for the DoD primarily fall into cybersecurity, management of AR content to include creation, change processes and sustainment of content, and supporting policy and processes for use of AR modules in lieu of traditional PDF-based Technical Orders in operational environments. Currently there are limited tools for developing and employing the management of user-generated TO content or capabilities on the flightline.

We are seeking technologies that enable Multi-Capable Maintainers (MCM) to perform repairs outside of their core career field expertise/training, increasing mission resiliency and ability to triage critical aircraft repairs more accurately and rapidly. The Air Force requires the development and employment of tools for managing user-generated content and minimize the burden of creating supplemental TO content to enable the accomplishment of the TOs by the MCM. This market research will inform future Air Force efforts to explore solutions in this problem space. These future efforts will conclude with a final demonstration showcasing the technology’s applicability in an operationally-relevant setting.

Characteristics:

Capabilities of interest include but are not limited to:

· Streamlined and simplified content generation from the instructions in the TO

· Immersive imaging of the structural features of interest to facilitate rapid understanding of the task being prescribed by the TO

· Methods to address aircraft to aircraft variability for task accomplishment for a maintainer not trained in the specific career field relevant to the TO

· Simplified reporting processes to verify TO task was accomplished as intended

· Streamlined Technical Order to content mapping using 3-Dimensional (3D) drawings or video editing (but not limited to these formats)

Requirements:

· Interface must be intuitive and responsive, simplified, easy to use, and match Air Force policy

· Hardware agnostic

· Operating System (OS) agnostic (for the most part; iOS, MAC OS, Windows, Android)

· Browser agnostic (Chrome, Edge, Safari)

· System must utilize 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) for access by conclusion of Period of Performance (PoP)

· Video files must be downloadable

· Videos stamped with TO Title and associated step from source document

· Video files may not contain proprietary watermarks

· Users must have option to compress video files

If describing the use of AI/ML Tools:

· If AI/ML tools are anticipated being used for this application, please provide information on how that can be done to include required training data, verification of the AI/ML outputs, how the AI/ML will address variability/complexity of aircraft, and how quantitative metrics of accuracy of the AI/ML outputs will be determined

4. INSTRUCTIONS TO POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS

Interested parties who desire to participate in this SSS/RFI are encouraged to submit responses that clearly demonstrate an ability to meet the stated requirements, or a portion of the requirements if interested as a sub-contractor. Responses shall include the following information and address the questions below:

Company/Institute Name:

Address:

Point of Contact (to include phone number and email address):

CAGE Code:

Web Page URL:

Size of business pursuant to NAICS Code 541715. Based on the above NAICS Code, state whether your company is:

Economically Disadvantaged Women-

Service Disabled Veteran Owned

The NAICS code for this requirement, if applicable to the company’s capabilities, should be included in the company’s NAICS code listing in SAM.

State whether the company is domestically or foreign owned (if foreign, please indicate the country of ownership).

State whether the respondents is interested in being a prime or subcontractor for this requirement.

5. GENERAL INFORMATION

The Sources/RFI respondents will be responsible for developing a solution to meet the capability gap and the following tasks:

a. Please provide a description of your current capabilities as they relate to the operational challenge(s) and scope.

b. Please provide an explanation for how your current capabilities would fit into flightline maintenance scenarios for use by a MCM.

c. Specific Questions the Government is seeking clarity on:

i. How would they integrate or support integration of their solution into other software/hardware options?

ii. How will their intended solution meet security/cybersecurity concerns?

iii. How will their intended solution meet the desired ease of use and accessibility to ensure maintainers can accomplish TOs with limited connectivity?

d. Data Rights: The Government would ideally want unlimited data rights but willing to discuss alternatives.

e. Manage all program data in accordance with Air Force data protection standards (i.e., provide and implement satisfactory operational security (OPSEC) plan

6. RESPONSES, COMMUNICATION, AND ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

a. The government may contact respondents to obtain additional information or clarification to fully understand a company’s response. This may include discussions, site visits, demonstrations, etc. to further the Government’s understanding of a proposed solution, as well as a company’s understanding of the Government’s requirements.

b. The government is seeking knowledge on how best to utilize this investment and does not expect to spend more than $1-3M for the operational challenge stated within this RFI. Provide a rough cost estimate (i.e. rough order of magnitude (ROM)) based on the tasks outlined in paragraph 5 as an annual re-occurring cost for a 24-month effort, and the assumptions (manpower and materials) driving contract costs. If preferred, a verbal response may be given via telecom.

c. Please provide specific details and rationale as to how compliance with FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting, would be achieved in the event the Government sets this requirement aside for small business. Include specific details regarding teaming arrangements, etc. If subcontractors are to be used, provide the anticipated percentage of effort to be subcontracted and whether small or large businesses will be used. If this effort is not set-aside for small business, small business utilization will be considered. Large and small businesses should provide a reasonable expectation for small business utilization as a percent of total contract value as well as supporting rationale for the recommended percentage.

d. Indicate whether the company is currently preforming this type of work/whether the capability can be obtained under an existing Government contract. Provide the contract number(s) and Government points of contact accordingly.

e. Respondents shall limit submissions to 10 pages or less and should include technical and descriptive text to provide sufficient detail on how they would satisfy the requirements outlined in paragraph 5 and 6. The submitted documentation becomes the property of the U.S. Government and will not be returned.

f. Respondents who submit proprietary data shall clearly mark the data with appropriate markings on the cover sheet and on each applicable page. Any proprietary data submitted may be handled by contract support services personnel who have signed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). Any proprietary information received in response to this request will be properly protected from any unauthorized disclosure. The Government will not use proprietary information submitted from any one firm to establish the capability and requirements for any future systems acquisition, to not inadvertently restrict competition. Any material that is not marked proprietary will be considered publicly-releasable.

g. The Government does not intend to award a contract based on this RFI. A determination not to compete this action based on responses received is solely within the discretion of the Government.

h. Broad industry participation for this Sources Sought is encouraged. U.S. and non-U.S. firms are permitted to respond to this SSS/RFI.

i. Responses to questions from interested parties will be promptly answered and posted on Sam.gov, unless some release of proprietary information is involved, or the answer addresses a question peculiar to a company or that company’s response.

j. This notice may be updated as additional information becomes available. Please check the Sam.gov site for updates to this announcement and register to receive e-mail notices of any updates to the Sam.gov announcement. For more information on this Sources Sought, please contact the AF POCs below. E-mail communications are preferred.

k. Please note that all prospective contractors must be registered in System for Award Management (SAM) database to be awarded a Department of Defense contract. To learn more about this SAM requirement and how to register, please visit the SAM internet website at https://sam.gov/ .

l. Responses shall be accepted by e-mail of the paper submittal in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF formats. Responses shall be received by 16:00 EST, 4 weeks after the posting of the RFI on the SAM website. For ALL responses to this RFI, please email Jacqueline Gomez and CC Brooke Burtis.

m. This notice may be updated as additional information becomes available. Please check the Sam.gov site for updates to this announcement. For more information on this RFI, please contact the point of contact identified below. E-mail communication is preferred.

Jacqueline Gomez Campaign Manager

AFRL/RSTE, 937-255-6031

jacqueline.gomez.4@us.af.mil

Brooke Burtis Alternate Campaign Manager

AFRL/RSTE

Brooke.burtis@us.af.mil

Distribution Statement A. Approved for public release: distribution is unlimited.

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