Info for RFI for a Helmet Mounted Cueing System (HMCS) to be Mounted on an HGU-68/P Navy/Marine Corps Helmet and Integrated into AV-8B Harrier II+ Radar Aircraft

Update (Q & A) - 12 December 2018
Below are two questions that were raised by industry and the Government's answers to them.

Industry Question 1: Specific to weight, the RFI states that the HMCS when installed on the HGU-68 helmet shall weigh less than or equal to 4.5 pounds. Does this weight include oxygen mask or not (could be a significant difference)?
Government Answer 1: The weight includes the Navy standard helmet HGU-68/P, the HMCS hardware, and the 02 mask with 2 inches of O2 hose and 4 inches of Helmet Vehicle Interface cable.

Industry Question 2: Also, the RFI states 48 aircraft, but not necessarily the number of HMCS (i.e., one per pilot, shared systems)?
Government Answer 2: The Government currently plans to procure 48 HMCS systems.

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Title:

Info for RFI for a Helmet Mounted Cueing System (HMCS) to be Mounted on an HGU-68/P Navy/Marine Corps Helmet and Integrated into AV-8B Harrier II+ Radar Aircraft

Description:

In order to conduct market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 and to promote early exchange with industry in accordance with FAR 15.201, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) issues this Request for Information (RFI). This RFI will be used to assess industry interest and capability to provide a non-developmental HMCS to be mounted on an HGU-68/P Navy/Marine Corps Helmet and Integrated into AV-8B Harrier II+ Radar Aircraft, within defined performance parameters and schedule requirements. THIS RFI IS NOT A SOLICITATION. IT IS MERELY A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT.

The requirements for the HMCS to be mounted on an HGU-68/P Navy/Marine Corps Helmet and integrated into AV-8B Harrier II+ Radar aircraft are described below. Please ensure that your RFI response contains sufficient detail to allow the Government to assess whether your product/capability can meet the AV-8B Requirement within the timeline allotted to meet Fleet needs. Respondents submit information at their own risk; submission of a response to this request will NOT obligate the Government in any manner. The Government will NOT reimburse the respondent for any cost associated with information submitted with this request. Proprietary or restricted information should be marked as such and will be protected and used only for the purposes of this RFI. Do NOT submit classified information in your RFI response. This RFI does NOT constitute an invitation for bid or request for proposal. Any procurement action for the HMCS will be the subject of a separate, future announcement. The Government may request follow-on communication, including one-on-one meetings, as a result of this RFI. The Government will NOT reimburse the respondent for any cost associated with participation in these communications and/or one-on-one meetings.

Technical requirements:

The following requirements are provided to allow respondents to ensure that an existing non-developmental product line will fulfill specific performance parameters, interface requirements, environmental operating conditions, and fielding schedule constraints. As background, the AV-8B Harrier II Plus aircraft is a Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft employed by the United States Marine Corps as a close air support attack aircraft in support of Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs). The aircraft is multi-role and equipped with air-to-air weapons to provide escort protection to other MEU aircraft, and to provide Fleet air defense of ships assigned the MEU.

Performance parameters are as follows:

-When installed on the HGU-68/P helmet, the HMCS kit shall demonstrate the ability to remain attached during wind blast up to 550 Knots Equivalent Air Speed (KEAS). Additionally, the cueing display must not deflect and make contact with aircrew's eyes during exposure to these wind loadings.

- HMCS shall be survivable in temperature ranges from minus 55 degrees Celsius to plus 95 degrees Celsius for storage (non-operating).

- HMCS shall be continuously operable in temperature ranges from minus 40 degrees Celsius to plus 57 degrees Celsius, with intermittent operations up to plus 71 degrees Celsius.

- HMCS shall be operable from sea level up to an altitude of 40,000 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL).

- HMCS shall be operable from either aircraft 28 VDC or 115 VAC, 3-phase, 400 Hz power, and be in compliance with the requirements stated by MIL-STD-704C.

Mass Properties Requirements:

- In order to stay within acceptable neck loadings for aircrew with a nude weight of at least 136 lbs. using the AV-8B Stencil SJU-4 ejection seat, the HSMC when installed on the HGU-68/P helmet shall weigh less than or equal to 4.5 lbs.

- The Center of Gravity (CG) of the combined HGU-68/P and HMCS (not including the mass of any surrogate head-form) in the X axis and the Z axis can be no further than 2 inches in either axis, with a resultant vector formed from the X and Z axis points of no more than 2.5 inches from the Occipital Condyles. Refer to the Attachment 1 graphic for coordinate system orientation relative to the Occipital Condyles.

- The CG in the Y axis should be as close to zero as possible to mitigate any potential for asymmetric loading. Refer to the Attachment 1 graphic for coordinate system orientation relative to the Occipital Condyles.

Interface Requirements:

- The HMCS "kit" shall be adaptable to the standard Navy/Marine Corps HGU-68/P aircrew helmet.

- The HMCS shall be compatible with Navy ANVIS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVG). Pilot must be able to wear and operate NVG simultaneously with HMCS.

- The HMCS shall provide target designation to the AV-8B avionics suite via 1553 data bus.

- HMCS cable routing shall be compatible with the Stencil SJU-4 ejection seat escape system. Cable routing shall NOT limit pilot mobility, impede seat escape system components, or impart excessive disconnect loads to pilot.

- Due to current display computer limitations, HMCS and its associated control shall have resident symbol libraries that can be commanded to write to the HMCS display directly by the aircraft mission computer.

Schedule Requirements:

- A quantity of 6 HMCS integration assets are required by 15 January 2020 to integrate with the H7.1 Operational Flight Program (OFP). Please advise as to the date by which you must receive a contract award in order to deliver 6 HMCS integration assets by 15 January 2020.

- The Government wishes to being outfitting of aircraft with HMCS kits by November 2022 and to fully outfit and field up to 48 AV-8B Harrier II+ Radar Aircraft with HMCS by December 2023.

- Logistics and drawing data must be provided by November 2021 to allow for inclusion of the HMCS in Navy/USMC technical manuals and publications for operational use.

Cost Information Required:

•- Please submit a rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost estimate for the non-developmental HMCS.

•- Please submit a rough order of magnitude estimate of the Production Unit Cost per year as well as for the top level drawings and data required for Navy/USMC Fleet user publications

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Business Information:

All prospective offerors are encouraged to respond to this sources sought/RFI by e-mail to ryan.sirna@navy.mil. As you may be providing proprietary data, you are cautioned that NAVAIR has an unclassified e-mail network. If this constraint precludes e-mail submittal of your response, then you may submit the response by regular mail to the following address:

Naval Air Systems Command

Attn: Ryan Sirna, AIR-2.2.4.2.3

47123 Buse Road

Building 2272, Suite 453

Patuxent River, MD 20670-1547

Phone Number: (301) 342-7586

NAVAIR will limit distribution of your response to U.S. Government personnel. No further distribution will be made, and hard copies of your response will be placed in a file cabinet when they are not being reviewed. The response shall include 1) Technical detail as requested above, 2) Estimated cost detail as requested above, 3) Description of the non-developmental product line that may work for the AV-8B integration, 4) What specific technical skills does your company possess which ensure capability to perform the task, 5) Your ability to deliver HMCS hardware per the technical, interface, and schedule requirements discussed above that is also fully compliant with the domestic specialty metals restrictions at DFARS 225.7003-2 as implemented by the clause at DFARS 252.225-7009, "Restriction on Acquisition of Certain Articles Containing Specialty Metals (OCT 2014)", and 6) Provide company name and address, cage code, business size and status, and a point of contact. The submission shall not exceed twenty (20) pages and is requested no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, 17 December 2018.

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