STE NGC RFI 1_4March2024.pdf

Synthetic Training Environment (STE) Next Generation Constructive (NGC)

Request for Information (RFI)

I. DISCLAIMER

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), Project Manager Synthetic Environment (PM SE) requests that all interested parties from Industry, Government, and Academia respond with their feedback in support of advancing the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment (STE) Next Generation Constructive (NGC) delivery. This RFI shall not be considered an Invitation for Bid, Request for Task Execution Plan, Request for Quotation, or a Request for Proposal. There is no obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI or its responses. Responses to this RFI will be treated only as information for the Government to consider. There is no payment for direct or indirect costs that are incurred in responding to this RFI. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government will not pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI. Responses must address the requirements outlined below.

The Government will utilize RFI responses to shape future acquisition activities to achieve NGC objectives that may include follow-on technical discussion, one-on-ones, and further clarifications.

II. Summary of Effort

The U.S. Army will establish a modular, best-of-breed contracting approach and model for the agile development of the NGC training simulation. NGC will enable the Army to close command staff training gaps against near-peer threats within a Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) environment scaled through the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) level. This seamless delivery of NGC is built off the STE

Software (SW) foundation that is further augmented, extended, and integrated to achieve Army training readiness needs.

The STE ecosystem enables the Army to fully realize standard of training proficiency. The STE was deliberately envisioned, from the beginning, to incorporate the live, virtual, constructive, and gaming environments as one complete training capability. The STE must have the ability to evolve and adapt with technology allowing for the replication/representation of current and future force structure, weapons effects, warfighting functions, Joint, Interagency, and Multinational (JIM) capabilities, human interaction, dense urban environment, and near-peer threat capabilities. The STE will be capable of training units across the full range of Military Operations in multiple domains (maritime, land, air, space, and cyberspace) and dimensions (physical, information, and human). The STE will be capable of training units across the full range of Competition and Conflict Continuum.

The Synthetic Training Environment-Software (STE-SW) integrates One World Terrain (OWT) within the

Training Simulation Software (TSS) and Training Management Tool (TMT) capabilities. STE SW will provide and continuously integrate/develop common software services/capabilities across the STE ecosystem consisting of Live Training Systems (LTS), Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Trainer (RVCT), Soldier Virtual Trainer (SVT), and NGC capabilities. Using modern software acquisition pathway, STE-SW leverages agile software development practices with iterative roadmap capability deliveries providing capability aligning to Army software modernization directives. STE SW rapidly integrates Government-

Off-the-Shelf (GOTS), Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), and open source technologies, solutions, standards, and products that align to a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) architecture. Defined within the STE-SW Product Development Kit (PDK) that has been made available to industry through several iterations, STE enables extensibility, pluggability, and composability.

An RFI Industry Day for Next Generation Constructive, to be held on 13 March 2024, will set the stage for the Government to portray NGC needs, capabilities, and iterative delivery roadmaps that will be informed by RFI responses. PM SE and the STE Cross Functional Team (CFT) intend to provide an overarching STE laydown, holistic NGC overview and roadmap, STE SW architectural & technical approach, and RFI next steps.

The Army currently faces a constructive capability gap in training large scale combined arms collective training to meet the readiness of the Army Operating Concept (AOC), Multi-Domain Operations, as well as integrated and collaborative training requirements with Joint Forces and Multi-National Partners.

Many of these current gaps require significant artificial manual injects/white cards across the physical, information, and human dimensions that only increases the significant overhead, complexity, and integration for combined arms staff training with Joint & Mission partners. Coupled with this, current constructive training capabilities lack a more cohesive and modular architecture and do not rapidly and continuously integrate/deliver software intensive capabilities employing cloud native technologies. This leads to increased waterfall development timelines and legacy manual block upgrades that are not aligned with Army software modernization directives.

To immediately address these gaps, the STE NGC is currently in the early acquisition phases of evaluating industry capabilities, services, and products/tools to set the conditions for achieving an initial division level low overhead constructive training capability by 4QFY26. This capability will be based off the STE

SW technical software foundation. For further elaboration during the NGC RFI Industry Day, the

Government will cover initial acquisition approaches, extension of the STE SW core foundation, and early relevant focus areas not only for potential award/execution in FY25, but also future iterative expansions of NGC capabilities which will follow agile development, security, and operations (DevSecOps) software development methodologies. This will enable Industry to inform the Government on approaches, technologies, recommendations, and innovative methodologies that will rapidly deliver NGC over time.

III. MODERNIZING COMPLEX PROGRAMS

A. The Government realizes that modernizing and integrating complex simulation systems like the constructive training simulations is not a “one company task.” The Government anticipates that it will take a “team of teams” composed of modular “Best-of-Breed” partners from all Warfighting Functions

(WfF), DoD modeling and simulation enterprise, and other relevant communities with Industry-

Government-Academia supporting them to continuously integrate/deliver.

B. It is the intent of the Government to develop a modular contracting solution that enables the establishment of a “best-of-breed” contracting approach through employment of a portfolio of contract vehicles. The Government would utilize this modular contracting approach and vehicles to deliver integrated products such as software, services, infrastructure, agile architecture and integration, CI/CD testing and release. This effort will also align with the soon to be published Army Software

Modernization Directive.

C. The Government intends that this approach leverage, inherit, and continue the current development efforts of the STE SW efforts that are layer in associated modules, services, models and capabilities to compose an integrated NGC product that is seamlessly supports re-use and holistic instantiation across the STE ecosystem.

IV. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Provide a White Paper response that includes:

A. Expertise in constructive training domain as it relates to software intensive architecture, services, models, behaviors and tooling.

B. Relevant knowledge in taking/harnessing legacy software capabilities into a modern Modular Open

Systems Approach (MOSA) software infrastructure through iterative development and delivery.

C. Experience in working with Joint Land Component Constructive Training Capability (JLCCTC), One

Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF), Synthetic Training Environment Software (STE-SW), and/or other relevant Army/Joint training models.

D. Ability to work in a “best-of-breed” multi-vendor team using agile construct with other developers/vendors, Government, and Systems Integrators.

F. Approaches and paths to simplify delivery of scaled NGC capabilities over more traditional legacy constructive simulation approaches that require “copy paste” delivery across each fielded site. This could include more effective web-based, cloud-native, or hybrid infrastructure approaches while factoring in potential limitations (data, throughput, bandwidth, mission command interoperability, cross domain solutions, cost, etc).

G. Knowledge, implementation, and availability of relevant Army/DoD joint and Multi-Domain Operation

(MDO) models for effects.

H. Proposed recommendations for modular and “best-of-breed” contracting approach.

I. Contractual paths/POCs to currently access your services/products.

J. Approaches to more readily compose and scale STE-SW to support NGC across multiple classification enclaves (Unclassified through Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI)) and future foreign military sales (FMS) with Multi-National Partners.

K. Specific intellectual property (IP), data rights, source code access, and licensing proposed for solution/services.

L. Specific authoritative data and technical data that would be required.

M. Any recommendations, concerns, comments, or other information for Government consideration.

V. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

A. COVER SHEET to include the following company information not to exceed one page: Company Name, CAGE Code (if applicable), Address, Point of Contact (POC), POC E-Mail Address and Phone, Company

Web Page URL. State whether your company is a small business such as 8(a), small disadvantaged business, woman-owned business, HUBZone small business, Veteran-owned business, or service-disabled veteran owned business. Also include a statement as to whether your company is domestically or foreign owned (if foreign, please indicate the country of ownership).

B. RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS. The Government is requesting interested sources to submit a White Paper providing comments, concerns, and constructive inputs in response to each item requested in Section IV of this RFI. White Paper shall be arial font, size 12, and not to exceed 15 pages (title page/acronym lists are not included in this page count).

C. Questions or requests for clarification shall be submitted via email no later than 1700 EST 1 April 2024 to all points of contact included in Section VII of this RFI with the email subject line ‘Next Generation

Constructive RFI #1 Questions’. All White Paper responses shall be submitted to all points of contact included in Section VII of this RFI no later than 1700 EST 15 May 2024 with the email subject line ‘‘Next

Generation Constructive RFI #1 Response”.

VI. RFI Feedback:

After the Government reviews all vendor submissions there may be additional need for further follow-on questions. If so, the Government reserves the right to contact those vendors and ask for clarifications.

VII. Points of Contact for RFI Responses:

Contract POCs:

Cara Borowski, Contract Specialist: cara.l.borowski2.civ@army.mil

Laura Gregory, Contract Specialist: laura.l.gregory7.civ@army.mil

Marvin Hagan, Contracting Officer: marvin.j.hagan.civ@army.mil

Program POCs:

Juan Garcia, Next Generation Constructive Lead Engineer: juan.garcia22.civ@army.mil

Kristopher Brewer, PM SE Special Projects Lead: kristopher.j.brewer2.civ@army.mil

VIII. List of RFI Attachments:

To be provided after NGC Industry Day mailto:cara.l.borowski2.civ@army.mil mailto:laura.l.gregory7.civ@army.mil mailto:marvin.j.hagan.civ@army.mil mailto:juan.garcia22.civ@army.mil mailto:kristopher.j.brewer2.civ@army.mil