Geolocation Estimates and Emitter Metadata

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP); NGA has a need to discover and characterize activity at known and previously unknown locations; many of these locations host equipment that emits energy on the Radio Frequency (RF) bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The survey of large areas for RF emissions supports NGA’s mission to deliver analytic insights to policymakers and warfighters, leveraging the unique capabilities of the commercial GEOINT industry.

The objective of this effort is to leverage the capabilities of the commercial GEOINT industry to produce and deliver to NGA global datasets that utilize automated techniques to detect, characterize, and geolocate emitters of RF energy. These datasets, covering large geographic areas, will enable NGA to discover and monitor activity and equipment that emit energy in the HF to Ka band including Automated Information System (AIS), Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), satellite phones, L-Band communications, and radars of all functions. NGA requires data over large geographic areas of northern latitudes including China, Russia, Iran, as well as mid-latitudes including Africa, and Central and Southern America.

The data is intended to support NGA’s research and analysis of issues including illicit trafficking of narcotics, weapons, and wildlife, as well as military equipment and activity. NGA intends to discover and monitor these activities at both fixed sites as well as emitters at sea, in the air, and on land in dispersed areas. The objective of this effort is also to enhance NGA’s ability to respond to developing world events in a dynamic and agile manner with a data service that can deliver data from different geographic areas quickly and provide periodic revisits of an area. Ideally the latency between collection and delivery is ASAP.

For each base and option task, NGA will provide one or more contiguous areas of interest (AOI). These AOIs may be located as far north as 68 degrees N latitude and as far south as 23 degrees S latitude. While some variation on the exact coverage areas is expected due to orbital mechanics, the data delivered should cover at least 85% of the defined areas on a daily basis.

Frequencies to be monitored:

NGA will provide a specific range of frequencies to be monitored for emitters, or signals of interest. The frequency ranges will be located between 30 MHz (VHF band) to 18 GHz (Ku band), and may be unique per area of interest. NGA will consider the following definitions of frequency ranges, consistent with IEEE:

VHF-UHF: 0.03-0.3 GHz

L-band: 1-2 GHz

S-band: 2-4 GHz

C-band: 4-8 GHz

X-band: 8-12 GHz

Ku band: 12-18GHz

K band: 18-27GHz

Ka band: 27-40GHz

The geolocations of emitters of specific frequencies, such as Iridium®, covered in the above frequency ranges are required to be included in the data delivered.

Guaranteed revisit:

The AOIs and frequencies to be monitored must have minimum revisit rates of twice per day.

The total anticipated period of performance is a base year plus 4 option years.  The solicitation will be issued under full and open competition.  The applicable NAICS code is 541360 and the product service code is T099. 

The Government intends to award a single-award IDIQ contract utilizing Part 15 Lowest Price Technically Acceptable source selection procedures.