RFI/Sources Sought- Drone as First Responder Program

The City of Fort Worth, Texas is issuing a Request for Information to identify qualified vendors and available solutions for a citywide Drone as First Responder program, with responses due October 14, 2026. This is market research and sources sought; pricing responses are nonbinding and will not constitute a basis for award in any future procurement.

Fort Worth seeks information on technologies, operational models, implementation approaches, regulatory requirements, system integrations, and estimated costs to support full-city coverage potentially implemented over approximately three years. The City is evaluating an average response-time objective of approximately 90 seconds within proposed service areas and seeks recommendations for the number, placement, and configuration of deployment sites supported by coverage and performance modeling.

Respondents should address automated or remotely piloted dispatch capabilities in dense urban environments, aircraft operating specifications, concurrent mission capabilities, interoperability with manned aircraft and patrol-deployed UAS, and command-and-control systems. System integration is required with CentralSquare CAD and Axon Evidence.com platforms. Cybersecurity requirements include U.S. data residency for criminal-justice data, CJIS Security Policy alignment, encryption standards, multifactor authentication, role-based access control, and audit logging capabilities.

Respondents must identify NDAA compliance and DIU Blue UAS status of material hardware components and describe country-of-origin considerations. The RFI requests budgetary information addressing estimated costs for major solution components, one-time implementation costs, estimated annual recurring costs, phased implementation over three years, incremental costs for adding sites and services, and five-year and ten-year total cost of ownership with supporting assumptions. Training and maintenance requirements and regulatory compliance pathways should be addressed. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation, contract, or commitment by the City to issue a future procurement.