RFI Environmental Control Systems Replacement_2026.pdf

MINUTEMAN III SYSTEMS PROGRAM OFFICE

Environmental Control Systems – Replacement Program

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

June 2026

*Notice: This is an RFI No proposals are being requested or accepted with this request. This is not a solicitation for proposals and no contract shall be awarded from this Request.*

1. Purpose The purpose of this RFI is solely to gather information and feedback from potential sources as part of market research for the Environmental Control Systems–Replacement (ECS-R) program requirements in support of Minuteman III (MMIII) System Program Office (SPO) at Hill AFB, Utah. The information obtained from the RFI will help the government to understand capabilities and technical innovations available in the marketplace. It will also help the government to determine if responsible sources exist, and whether this effort can be a competitive and/or a total Small Business Set-Aside. The government will use the information obtained through this and any other RFIs to determine the best acquisition strategy for future procurements.

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. Responders are advised that the government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. The government is interested in all small businesses to include 8(a) Service-Disabled Veteran Owned, HUBzone, and Women-Owned small business concerns. Additionally, please provide any anticipated teaming arrangements, along with a description of similar systems offered to the government and to commercial customers for the past three years. Any responses involving teaming agreements should delineate between the work that will be accomplished by a prime contractor and the work accomplished by any teaming partners.

2. Background

The current ECS provides environmental control and equipment cooling for the Minuteman III (MMIII) Missile Alert Facilities (MAF) and Launch Facilities (LF). The ECS provides temperature and humidity control ensuring an acceptable operating environment for all equipment and personnel inside the Launch Tube (LT), Launcher Equipment Room (LER), Launcher Support Building (LSB), Launch Control Center (LCC), Launch Control Equipment Building (LCEB) (present in Wing III/V only), and the Launch Control Support Building (LCSB) (present in Wing I only).

Additionally, the ECS ensures Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) agents do not penetrate the LCC or affect LCC personnel.

The ECS is controlled by the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and is completely autonomous once the temperature parameters have been set. ECS subsystems interface with the PLC through various control panels that receive control commands and provide system feedback needed to maintain the required temperature. During maintenance, maintainers will interact with the PLC and control panels through the display panel located on the control panel as necessary to troubleshoot and support the system.

The ECS is distributed throughout the MMIII weapon system at the three operational wings, which are Minot Air Force Base (AFB), Malmstrom AFB, and F.E. Warren AFB. Each wing has 15 MAFs. A MAF is divided into the LCC and the LCEB or LCSB. Each MAF controls 10 LFs. Each LF is divided into the LT, the LER, and the LSB. The ECS also supports the Strategic Missile Integration Complex (SMIC) at Hill AFB and various test/prototype LFs and LCCs at Vandenberg AFB. In total there are three wings, 45 MAFs, 450 LFs, 3 Wing Trainers, the SMIC, and the facilities at Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB). Table 1 lists the main ECS components by location.

The G&C Chiller system provides specialized cooling equipment used to monitor and control the temperature of the Missile Guidance Set (MGS). The G&C Chiller system consists of a chiller unit, electronic control amplifier, pump assembly, and a control value installed in a rack located in the upper LER.

3. Scope

The government is planning to award a contract for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase to develop, build, and test a materiel solution to verify that all ECS operational requirements are met.

ECS-R equipment is listed in the following table:

ECS-R Equipment

LF

Brine Chiller Programmable Logic Controller Condenser Fan Motor Ventilation Control Panel Air Handler Fan Motor Brine Chiller Control Panel Damper Actuators Air Handler Control Panel Fiber Optic Cables Emergency Control Panel Emergency Remote Monitoring System Launch Tube Heater Control Panel

MAF

Brine Chiller Programmable Logic Controller Air Handler Ventilation Control Panel Air Handler Fan Motor Brine Chiller Control Panel Condenser Fan Motor Air Handler Control Panel Make-up Air Fan Motor Emergency Control Panel Exhaust Fan Motor Damper Actuators CBR/NBC Filter Assembly Fiber Optic Cables

G&C Chiller Unit Amplifier Tank Pump

4. Request for Information (RFI)

Contractors that are interested may provide a succinct response addressing the below areas:

Preface: Company Information Section I: Contractor Experience Section II: Technical Capability Section III: Contract Type Preface: Company Information

Please provide a cover sheet with the following information:

Company Information Company Name:

Designated Point of Contact:

Name:

Title:

Email:

Phone:

Mailing Address:

Business Type/Size:

CAGE code:

DUNS number:

Facility Security Clearance:

Table 1: Company Information Template

Section I: Contractor Experience (3 pages max)

1. Describe your firm’s experience/past performance in developing and producing Environmental Control Systems or similar systems for a DoW weapon system or large data center.

2. Indicate years of experience for each phase of the Department of Defense acquisitions process (i.e., Technology Maturation & Risk Reduction, EMD, and Production & Deployment).

3. Provide a comprehensive summary of your organization’s past performance executing the Air Force Test & Evaluation (T&E) process. Responses must specifically detail demonstrated experience in the following areas:

1. Nuclear hardness testing

2. Test execution within simulated operational environments

3. Test execution with Air Force T&E personnel at government-operated facilities

4. Provide detailed examples from previous contracts of how your company has planned for and mitigated issues involving Supply Chain and the procurement of long-lead items.

5. Describe previous experience with the Air Force Risk Management Framework process and obtaining an Authorization to Operate (ATO) for a DoW weapon system.

Section II: Program Management and Technical Capability (No Page Limit)

1. Describe your firm’s experience working through the Air Force Systems Engineering and Technical processes to meet performance specifications for a DoW acquisition program.

2. Describe your firm’s experience with the Air Force review and approval process for System Engineering and Technical Milestones and Documents.

3. Detail your organization's demonstrated experience in developing and integrating innovative technologies into Environmental Control Systems. Provide explicit examples of past performance where your firm successfully matured and incorporated advanced technical features to mitigate operational issues such as filtering, clogging, and air flow problems.

4. Detail the analytical tools and methodologies your company employs to establish risk baselines and quantify impacts across cost, schedule, and technical domains. Responses should include representative case studies demonstrating how proactive planning and discrete mitigation strategies were used to maintain program stability.

5. What potential risks do you see in terms of cost, schedule and performance with this Statement of Work (SOW)?

6. If awarded, what would your company expect the team size to be throughout the ECS-R contract (e.g., engineers, program managers, electricians, etc.)?

7. Describe your firm’s software development capabilities and cybersecurity resources required to accomplish this effort?

8. Identify your firm’s current assessment level for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

9. Provide a comprehensive obsolescence management and technology insertion strategy tailored for a lengthy EMD timeline. Explain how your firm mitigates the risk of delivering outdated systems, detailing your approach to integrating the latest technologies prior to final delivery and ensuring that hardware, software, and sub-components possess a maximum remaining service life.

10. Discuss any concerns you may have with these requirements and provide recommendations.

Section III: Contract Information (5 pages max)

1. Provide recommendations on contract types and potential incentive structure for the EMD contract and potential Production and Deployment (P&D) efforts.

2. Provide a notional schedule from contract award through the completion of production and deployment. Your response should include estimated durations and a sequence of all major engineering gates, technical reviews, and key milestones reasonably expected for a program of this complexity.

3. Provide an estimate cost range as a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) from contract award through qualification testing; including individual ROM pricing for:

a. Engineering and design

b. Development

c. Testing

d. Forecasted per unit cost (tiered pricing if applicable)

5. Additional Information

1. Response Instructions & Disclaimers Response Format Interested parties are requested to respond with a white paper in the following format:

• Microsoft Word for Office 365 (2025 compatible)

• 1-inch margins

• 12 point font, or larger

• Respondents should submit answers to the questions in Sections I, II and III

Submission Instructions and Deadline Responses are requested no later than 7 July 2026, 1600 Mountain Standard Time (MST).

Responses shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Specialist Questions Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted via email to the government contracting point of contact listed below:

Mr. Daniel F. Scheer Contracting Officer 801-586-0039 daniel.scheer@us.af.mil

Government responses to questions will be posted to the SAM.gov website.

Disclaimer This RFI does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or any obligation on behalf of the government. Vendors that do not respond to this RFI can and will be allowed to respond to the future ECS Request for Proposal (RFP). The responses to this RFI are not an offer and cannot be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. No contract award will be made on the basis of this RFI. The government will not pay for any information received in response to this RFI, nor will the government compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing the information. Vendor participation is not a promise of future business with the government. Any information provided in response to this RFI will be used for informational purposes only and will not be returned. All information submitted by respondents to this RFI, including appropriately marked proprietary information, will be safeguarded and protected from unauthorized disclosure.

All personnel reviewing the RFI information have been briefed regarding Non-disclosure and Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) issues.

Acronym List

AFB Air Force Base AFNWC Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center ATO Authorization to Operate CMMC Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification DoW Department of War ECS Environmental Control Systems ECS-R Environmental Control Systems - Replacement EMD Engineering and Manufacturing Development G&C Guidance and Control ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile LCC Launch Control Center LCEB Launch Control Equipment Building LCSB Launch Control Support LER Launcher Equipment Room LF Launch Facilities LSB Launcher Support Building LT Launch Tube MAF Missile Alert Facilities MGS Missile Guidance Set MMIII Minuteman III MST Mountain Standard Time NBC Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical OCI Organizational Conflict of Interest P&D Production and Deployment PLC Programmable Logic Controller POE Program Office Estimate RFI Request For Information RFP Request For Proposal ROM Rough Order of Magnitude SFB Space Force Base SOW Statement of Work SPO System Program Office T&E Test and Evaluation