Human Portable RNID Devices CT FEMA

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Test and Evaluation Division (CBRN T&E), require assistance in understanding the current state of human portable RN ID devices.

GENERAL INFORMATION: This RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes to identify sources that can provide support for the CBRN T&E Komodo Dragon Characterization Test (KD CT) event. In accordance with FAR 15.101(c), RFIs may be used when the Government wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, and capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to these RFIs are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose, nor does it restrict the Government to an ultimate acquisition approach. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with their RFI response. Respondents will not receive additional information in response to their submittal to the RFI and will not be notified of the resulting market research.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS: Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in its RFI response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated PWS or solicitation.

Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interest. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Part 9.5.

NAICS CODE: 334519 – Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE (PSC): 6665 (Hazard-Detecting Instruments and Apparatus) and 6695 (Combination and Miscellaneous Instruments)

ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: March 2027

ANTICIPATED ACQUISITION STRATEGY: N/A 

ATTACHMENT: See Attachment 1

RFI RESPONSE SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS:

RFI submissions should be limited to SPRDs, RIIDs, SBRDs, and other technologies as stipulated above to no more than two (2) pages that address all the listed bullets below. Interested parties may submit separate responses for more than one device. Responses must be in PDF format. In response to this RFI, the results of which will be used for the KD CT, interested parties should provide the following information regarding their human portable RN ID device(s):

• • Company name and address; CAGE code; Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number; Point of Contact (POC) name, title, email, and phone.
  • Technical description of the device including detection method and device’s current TRL as it relates to the DHS definitions (see weblink above).
  • Datasheet, photograph, and/or schematic of the device [not included in page count].
  • Availability of a replay tool in a “black box” executable format that allows for batch processing of synthetic spectral files for device(s).
  • Ability to provide 6 units of each device for all tests or 3 units of each device if opting out of potential destructive tests. These will be submitted under Bailment Agreement terms to FEMA for testing.
  • Specification of useful data returned in exchange for participating in this test campaign (applicable only to each vendor’s own devices).
  • Any questions regarding the Directed Test Program and/or its KD test campaign (answers will be provided during a virtual Vendor Q&A Session on 9 December 2026, to be announced separately.)

Interested contractors shall submit their RFI responses electronically to Issac Chapple, Contracting Officer, at Isaac.Chapple@fema.dhs.gov, no later than 12:00PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), 18 December 2026. Questions regarding this RFI are due no later than 4 December 2026

“RFI Response for CBRN T&E Komodo Dragon Directed Test” shall be in the subject line of your e-mail.  All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Pages shall be 8.5 by 11 inch and shall use a type pitch that is no smaller than a standard 11-point font type, with the exception of charts, graphs, or tables, which shall use a pitch not smaller than 10-point font. Responses shall not exceed 2 pages in length including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page. Do not include promotional materials.

RFI Responses shall include the following information in the order below: 

A.  Cover Page with the following information:

1.   Company Name 

2.   Company Address 

3.   UEI Number 

4.   Company Point of Contact - Name, Title, Phone, and Email address  

5.    Statement of current business size status (i.e., HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteran-owned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business concern). Also, business size in relation to the NAICS code size standards assigned to this acquisition.

6.           GSA Schedule Number, Contract Number, and Period of Performance and/or DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicle Category Name and Contract Number, if applicable

B.   Contractor Capability Statement (No more than 2 pages in length)

1.   Summarization of relevant projects showing capabilities

2.   Past performance in applicable areas

The responses received will assist FEMA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves potential test participants. Each respondent, by submitting a response, agrees that any cost incurred in response to this RFI, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of the respondent. FEMA shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI.

KD CT, will include Replicative Assessment of Spectrometric Equipment (RASE) and will give preference to vendors/devices with replay tools[1], incorporate a cyber security assessment, and start in the 2nd quarter of FY27. Additional RASE information is available on GitHub at https://github.com/LLNL/RASE#readme-ov-file. Replay tools allow CBRN T&E  to process spectral data to determine the identification capabilities of the instrument. It should be noted by vendors that CBRN T&E plans to use injected data with the replay tool. Vendors should note there will be environmental and potentially destructive tests conducted during KD CT. Vendors may choose to opt out of potentially destructive tests without being excluded from other tests, with no data set being provided to the vendor for those tests.  For the cybersecurity assessment, CBRN T&E will request copies (binary) of all communication software and mobile device applications used to configure, operate, or provide reachback/transmit detector information. Cyber testing will also include a vendor questionnaire to establish the baseline cybersecurity posture of the device(s) along with technical interchange meetings (TIMs) to clarify responses. Where applicable, CBRN T&E will perform a cooperative vulnerability penetration assessment on the device(s). CBRN T&E will also request a Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) to establish supply chain risk/vulnerabilities associated with the supporting software developed for the SUT operations.

The final KD products will inform FEMA’s and other FSLTT agencies’ future procurement of human portable RN ID devices and address requests from front line operators.

The purpose of this RFI is to assist the KD test team in understanding the current state of human portable RN ID devices—spectroscopic personal radiation detectors (SPRDs), radioisotope identification devices (RIIDs), spectroscopic backpack radiation detectors (SBRDs), and other technologies that weigh less than 22 lbs (10 kg) and provide a response within two minutes of being exposed to a radiation source. The KD CT test will require 6 units of each device submitted for all testing during a this phase. Alternatively 3 units of each device may be submitted if a vendor chooses not to participate in potential destructive testing. For the CT phase, the KD team will review responses to this RFI and invite vendors to participate in the CT and cyber assessment.

The KD test team is interested in learning of commercial off the shelf (COTS), Government off the shelf (GOTS), and prototype [total device technology readiness level (TRL) 7 and above according to https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/product_realization_chart.pdf] human portable RN ID devices that offer performance capabilities that meet and/or exceed the ANSI and IEC requirements under which they are typically categorized. For each phase of the KD test campaign, the DT Program intends to pursue Bailment Agreements with providers to secure systems for its tests. Participating vendors will be provided with the data sets collected during KD as they pertain to their instruments.

COMPANY-TO-COMPANY NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (NDA)

Responses to this RFI will be reviewed by technical experts within DHS and other federal agencies.  DHS uses support contractor personnel to assist in the review of RFI responses.  The support contractors are bound by NDAs with the Government.  Nonetheless, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at Subpart 9.505-4(b) requires that whenever a Government contractor gains access to proprietary information of other companies in performing advisory and assistance services for the Government, the companies must agree to protect the information from unauthorized use or disclosure for as long as it remains proprietary and refrain from using the information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished.

The FAR further requires that the contracting officer obtain copies of these agreements and ensure that they are properly executed.

Accordingly, any submission in response to this RFI that contains proprietary information must include a signed company-to-company NDA with the following companies:

1. Mayvin, Inc.

NDA requests should be directed to

CWMD_NDA@mayvin.com

1. Johns Hopkins University

Nat Yi

240-228-2957

Nat.Yi@jhuapl.edu

1. I3PG

Patricia Pleasanton, FSO

813-760-1411

PPleasanton@i3pg.net

The Government does not dictate the form or content of the NDA; that is a business decision between the companies.  However, a sample NDA is included as an Attachment (See Attachment 2). Use of the sample agreement, or one substantially similar to the sample, will expedite signature. It is important for all respondents to understand that without signed NDAs with all above-named contractors, your RFI submission cannot be reviewed.  It is the vendor’s responsibility to provide these signed NDAs in order to be responsive to this RFI. The companies named above are under no obligation or compunction to agree to other more onerous company-provided NDAs, and potential responders that submit onerous NDAs for signature assume the risk that the above-named companies will not agree to such terms.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your response to this RFI does not contain proprietary information, and is not marked as such, there is no requirement for the company-to-company NDAs.

[1] A replay tool is vendor provided standalone software that processes recorded data with the same detection and/or identification algorithms as embedded in their instrument so as to generate analysis results (e.g., alarms, identifications) that reproduce those presented to the operator