Inactive

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 1.0 Description. The United States Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Long Range Systems Division AFLCMC/EBJ, Joint Air to ... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 1.0 Description. The United States Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Long Range Systems Division AFLCMC/EBJ, Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program is conducting market research to identify interested vendors with mature technical solutions and the resources to develop and produce a Global Positioning System (GPS) M-code receiver for JASSM. Furthermore, the Government requests feedback on the acquisition strategy where the JASSM program office contracts directly with the GPS vendor and funds their interaction with the weapon prime contractor thru an associate contractor agreement. The Government is also interested in the technical approach, potential risks and a development/integration schedule. 1.1 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is for informational planning purposes and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government for any actual procurement of materials, machinery, or services. This notice does not constitute a solicitation or a promise of a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to a contract for any supply or service. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI are solely at the responding parties' expense. Respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any proprietary information or trade secrets contained within their response. The Government will not be liable for, or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly marked or clearly identified. Proprietary information received in response to this RFI will be safeguarded and handled in accordance with applicable Government regulations. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The Government will not be obligated to pursue any particular alternative because of this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if one is issued. Specific responses to the approaches will not disqualify or have an impact on participation and evaluation on future solicitations, if issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Beta.SAM.gov website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. 2.0 Background. The JASSM is developed by Lockheed Martin-Missiles and Fire Control (LMMFC) in Orlando, Florida. The weapon consists of a weapon airframe, Imaging Infrared (IIR) seeker, Global Positioning System-aided Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) guidance and control, propulsion, Bomb Impact Assessment (BIA) transmitter, warhead, and fuze. JASSM is a highly survivable, long-range standoff missile for attacking fixed and relocatable highly valued targets. The weapon enables U.S. Air Force bombers and fighters to destroy enemy war-sustaining capabilities from outside the ranges of enemy air defenses. This autonomous precision strike weapon can attack both fixed and relocatable targets ranging from non-hardened (soft) above ground to moderately hardened buried targets. JASSM is integrated on the B-52H, B-1B, B-2A, F-15E and F-16C/D aircraft. 2.1 Planned Production: Potentially 3000+ receivers. 2.2 Delivery Period: The Government requests a white paper by Dec 30, 2020. 2.3 Limitations: No foreign participation is allowed for this RFI. All respondents must have the necessary organizational and technical experience, or the ability to obtain them in the necessary timeframe. Competence in these areas shall be demonstrated through written description of the vendors past and/or current experience. 2.4 Security Requirements: The prospective supplier must have the ability to process and store collateral secret material. 2.5 Requested Information. The Government is interested in open, non-proprietary, standardized electrical & physical interfaces. Potential vendors are requested to evaluate the possible use of an open-systems architecture where practical. Potential offerors shall describe their technical approach to include what existing programs will be leveraged for developing the JASSM GPS M-code receiver. Respondents shall have a GPS M-code receiver and ASIC M-code chip technology readiness level (TRL) /manufacturing readiness level (MRL) 5 (as defined in http://acqnotes.com/acqnote/tasks/technology-readiness-level and https://www.dodmrl.com/MRL_Deskbook_2017.pdf) as a point of departure prior to the end of the 3rd quarter of calendar year 2021. This point of departure design shall be for U.S. Department Of Defense (DOD) tactical missiles and/or bombs and shall be adaptable for integration on the aircraft listed in paragraph 2 above. Provide the data accomplished or the funded plan to achieve the specified work that elevates the point of departure design to the desired TRL/MRL specified in the white paper. Potential offerors point of departure for an M-code ASIC must be certified or is scheduled for GPS Directorate security team certification. If not certified, please provide the date and schedule for certification. It is highly desirable that potential offers have an active (active defined as delivering U.S. Department of Defense M-code receivers) production line in 2025. Provide the production capacity currently planned and funded and the surge capability the line possess independent of JASSMs potential production needs for 2025-2033. 2.6 Describe your proposed approach to reducing acquisition risk and schedule via prototype demonstrations in a relevant environment. The Government requests potential offerors propose a low risk schedule based on a time 0 for contract award to include major development events (systems requirements review, preliminary design review, critical design review, qualification test, flight test, production readiness review) and receiver delivery to the JASSM production line. 2.7 Identify existing digital systems engineering applications by program name and DOD contract number. Also, identify potential opportunities and planned digital engineering applications to collaborate with the JASSM prime contractor on the proposed development. Potential offerors will be able to discuss with the prime contractor during white paper development specific opportunities for applying digital engineering opportunities. Identifying existing company DOD open architecture products by program by name and potential open system architecture applications for this development is desirable. 2.8 Provide the technical data package for the design and the IP assertions for the specific package in order to support the Government’s assessment of the digital developmental environment. 3.0 Responses. Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper. The Government desires a question and answer session to aid potential offerors in their decision process to determine whether or not to submit a white paper. Please contact Sarah Marcial (sarah.marcial@us.af.mil) to establish a question and answer session. Additional information may be provided during the question and answer session to assist potential vendors. Responses shall be limited to 10 pages for Section 2 and submitted via e-mail only to sarah.marcial@us.af.mil. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. If a respondent does not currently have a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that would permit the support contractors listed below to review and evaluate white papers submitted in response to this RFI, the respondent is requested to sign NDAs with the below listed support contractor. Respondents must officially establish NDAs with support contractors via email to the PCO, sarah.marcial@us.af.mil. To validate the documentation release, the request must include: the company name, mailing address, email address, point of contact, phone number, current CAGE number and System for Award Management (SAM) registration. The written request must include acknowledgement of the respondent's responsibility under the U.S. export contract laws and regulations. The following is a Whitney, Bradley and Brown (WBB) point of contact who will review the responses and will determine other WBB employees that will participate in the white paper review. Company: WBB Name: Jeff Gates Telephone: 850-461-1505 Email--Jeffry.Gates@wbbinc.com 4.3 Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 4.3.1. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 4.3.2. Recommended contracting strategy. 4.3.3. One (1) copy of each executed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the contractors supporting in technical evaluations or a statement that the respondent will not allow the Government to release its proprietary data to the Government support contractors. In the absence of either of the foregoing, the Government will assume that the respondent does NOT agree to the release of its submission to Government support contractors. 4.3.4. Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541512, Computer Systems Design Services, with a size standard of 1,500 employees. Respondents should indicate their size in relation to this size standard and indicate socio-economic status (i.e. SB, 8(a), HUBZone, EDWOSB, WOSB, or SDVOSB). Respondents are further requested to indicate their status as a Foreign-owned/Foreign-controlled firm and any contemplated use of foreign national employees on this effort. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto for any subsequent action. All prospective contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database to be awarded a DOD contract. No set-aside decision has been made. Note that a key factor in determining an acquisition to be a Small Business Set Aside is that small business prime contractors must perform at least 50% of the effort, as defined in FAR Clause 52.219-14. Respondees are cautioned, however, that this is a general description only. Additional standards and conditions apply. Please refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 19 for additional detailed information on Small Business Size Standards. The FAR is available at http://www.acquisition.gov. 4.3.5 The facility security clearance of the offeror. 4.3.6 The number of pages in Section 1 of the white paper shall not be included in the page limitation, i.e., the 10 page limitation applies only to Section 2 of the white paper. 5.0 Industry Discussions. Armament Directorate representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Most likely discussions will be virtual due to Covid 19 restrictions. Potential offerors shall have the ability to communicate via unclassified telephone and potentially up to collateral secret via voice over internet phone (VOIP) or secure telephone equipment (STE). Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements. 6.0 Questions. Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer, email address (sarah.marcial@us.af.mil). Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by return email. Questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after [December 28, 2020] will be answered. 7.0 Summary. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide a GPS M-code receiver to integrate into JASSM. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Department of the Air Force has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought.