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*UPDATE: 1 WEEK EXTENSION GRANTED BY REQUIRING ELEMENT* INTRODUCTION The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL, is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market researc... *UPDATE: 1 WEEK EXTENSION GRANTED BY REQUIRING ELEMENT* INTRODUCTION The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL, is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research, IAW FAR Part 10 to identify potential sources having an interest and industry technologies available to support and provide the modifications for the procurement of avionics upgrades for Egyptian Air Force (EAF) Beechcraft 1900C Aircraft. The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), Redstone Arsenal, AL, and the Fixed Wing Project Office (FWPO) anticipates a potential requirement to satisfy the procurement of avionics upgrades for Egyptian Air Force (EAF) Beechcraft 1900C aircraft. The contractor’s response must meet the requirements as outlined in this announcement. This effort is in direct support of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement, if a requirement materializes. Based on the responses to this sources sought notice/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses (in full or in part) or procured through full and open competition. Multiple awards made be made. All small business set-aside categories will be considered. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding submissions. DISCLAIMER THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) TO BE SUBMITTED. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY. 1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: The contractor shall modify the avionics for six (6) Beechcraft King Air 1900C Aircraft. These aircraft have had post-production modifications installed which must be preserved in the avionics modification. These post-production modifications include the AeroData Flight Inspection System (AFIS-113) and the Lica Electro Optical System (ADS-80). 2. ELIGIBILITY: All responses shall address the following: a. Business Size per NAICS 336413 and Classification Code 1680. b. Identify POC including phone and email address. c. Identify if your firm will provide Aircraft Components, Spares, and Accessories for a King Air 1900C Aircraft. d. Provided documentation supporting the General Requirements as outlined in this announcement. e. Delivery Date after contract award. f. Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate which shall assume the EAF will deliver the aircraft to the location in Europe where the modification shall take place and take delivery of the aircraft at the same location. g. Provide name of Integrator at European location, if not your company. 3. REQUIRED CAPABILITIES: The information described below will also be required to fulfill this procurement. a. The supplier must replace existing avionics with avionics which will allow the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) to fly in civil airspace under instrument flight rules (IFR) without the need for a host country waiver due to lack of avionics capabilities required for entry into that airspace. b. The airspace of intended EAF aircraft operations includes Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, and overwater airspace controlled under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations. c. These EAF aircraft will not fly above Flight Level 290 (29,000’) so avionics equipage requirements above those altitudes need not be met. d. Modifications shall be certified for airworthiness by either the FAA or EASA regulations. 4. NEW AVIONICS SUITE: The new avionics suite must accommodate requirements listed below which are grouped into threshold and objective categories. Threshold requirements are those which are mandated in order to fly in the desired civil airspace under IFR and must be addressed by the supplier in their response. Objective requirements are those which will make flight either more efficient or increase the effectiveness or safety of the fight crew, do not have to be met by the supplier’s response, but may be offered if desired. After each requirement, a rationale is provided to explain what the requirement demands and explains the consequences of not having it. 4.1 Threshold Requirements: a. VHF Communication Radios: Very High Frequency, Amplitude Modulated (VHF-AM) communications radios in the frequency range of 118.0-136.0 MHz for communications with air traffic control (ATC). The frequency spacing for this range of operations shall be selectable between 25 kHz and 8.33 kHz spacing. Two such radios are required on every aircraft for redundancy. Rationale: Eurocontrol now requires aircraft to communicate within Europe on ATC frequencies which are spaced 8.33 kHz from each other. This is to enable more frequencies to be available within the 118-136 MHz range. Outside of Europe, the required frequency spacing is 25 kHz. b. HF Communications Radios: High Frequency (HF) communications radio in the frequency range of 3.0 to 30.0 MHz for communications with ATC in remote areas such as oceanic routes or routes which are beyond the range of VHF communications. Control of the HF Radio system is to be fully integrated with the display system with no standalone controller. Rationale: Flying in remote airspace outside the range of radar and VHF communication makes air traffic control difficult. ATC needs position reports from the flight crews periodically so they can provide advisories to deconflict traffic. HF radio is one of the oldest methods for providing Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communication, though it is not as effective as satellite communications. Even aircraft with Satellite communication for ATC are required to have an HF radio as a backup. c. Transponder with EHS and ADS-B: Enhanced Surveillance (EHS) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) capable transponders capable of meeting the European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 1207/2011 which calls out the detailed performance requirements of the data transponders are required to transmit to ATC. Rationale: Eurocontrol now mandates aircraft to equip and utilize transponders which automatically transmit a variety of digital data derived from the aircraft avionics. This data pertains to the aircraft’s identification, location, altitude, velocities, flight status, and intentions. Some of this data is coded only once in the transponder, some data varies with each flight depending on conditions, and some data is constantly changing. The constantly changing data must be acquired from other aircraft systems such as GPS, Air Data Computer, weight on wheels sensors and other avionics. d. ILS with FM Immunity: Europe requires that VHF navigation systems which provide VHF Omni Range (VOR) and Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) capabilities must be designed with Frequency Modulation (FM) Immunity to protect against interference from commercial VHF FM radio stations. These systems operate in the range from 108-118 MHz with the glide slope receivers operating in the UHF band. Rationale: Europe is a densely populated continent and the number of commercial FM radio broadcast has utilized most all of the allowable VHF FM frequency spectrum from 87.0-108 MHz. Radio stations broadcasting at the upper end of this spectrum may produce signals which would interfere with an aircraft’s ability to properly receive an ILS localizer signal on the lower end of the VHF navigation band above 108 MHz. FM Immunity is not an enhanced or additional capability, but a means of preserving an existing ILS localizer capability in the presence of commercial FM radio signals to prevent interference. e. GNSS Enabled with SBAS: Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the American Global Positioning System (GPS) or the European Galileo System, determine the aircraft’s position and velocity around the world to a high degree of accuracy utilizing signals broadcast from a constellation of medium earth orbit satellites. Rationale: Terrestrial based navigational aids, such as VOR and NDB, are rapidly being decommissioned worldwide in favor of satellite based GNSS navigation. The requirements for ADS-B transponders in Europe and the United States imposes an additional requirement for GNSS equipment to provide upgraded performance and availability which may only be possible using GNSS with Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS). SBAS systems, such as WAAS in North America and EGNOS in Europe and North Africa, augment basic GNSS signals with timing corrections measured on the ground in certain regions, uplinked to Geostationary Satellites, then downlinked to aircraft in flight to cancel most of the error in GNSS calculations providing a more accurate position and velocity determination. The addition of the geostationary SBAS satellite to the constellation also provides a higher degree of availability and error alerting. f. TCAS Version 7.1: Traffic and Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) {also known in Europe as Aircraft Collision Avoidance Systems (ACAS)} work with the aircraft transponder to alert the flight crew to the presence of air traffic which is close enough to pose a mid-air collision hazard. Rationale: Europe is the only region in the world which requires TCAS Version 7.1 standard verses Version 7.0 that is all which is required in the rest of the world. The difference between 7.1 and 7.0 is a slight difference in the Resolution Advisories (RA) which are audibly transmitted to the crew via the intercom. The Version 7.1 standard is required by European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 1332/2011. g. Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS): TAWS systems alert aircrews when they are flying too close to the ground in order to help prevent Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) accidents. These systems sense the aircraft altitude in relation to the surrounding terrain elevation based on the aircraft position and a database of terrain elevation. When the aircraft flies into an area of rising terrain and the difference between the aircraft’s current altitude and the terrain elevation is below an allowable tolerance, the system issues verbal warnings to the flight crew to take corrective action. The TAWS function shall be fully integrated with avionics system to reduce total system weight. Rationale: Aircraft which carry more than six passengers are required to be equipped with a TAWS system in the US and Europe. h. Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR): Aircraft which carry more than 19 passengers must be equipped with a CVR and FDR. CVR and FDR must be housed in a crash survivable housing and they may be combined into a single unit. For overwater flights, the CVR and/or FDR must also be equipped with and underwater locator beacon (ULB) which is capable of transmitting for 90 days after a water crash. Rationale: A CVR and FDR are required to record the flight crew’s voice and pertinent airplane data to aid in post-crash accident investigations. i. ARC-210 Multiband Radio: Two of the six aircraft already have two ARC-210 radios installed and the EAF would like the other four aircraft equipped with similar capability. The model of ARC-210 installed, 629F-12A, are export variants. Rationale: Customer requested. j. Stormscope: Some aircraft are equipped with WX 500 stormscope. Avionics system will be capable of displaying as required stormscope data. Rationale: Aircraft that currently have this capability utilize this to augment active weather radar information for increased convective activity situational awareness. k. Cursor Control Device: The avionics system shall utilize a cursor control device for display management and data entry. Rationale: Much of the flight environment and envelope is conduct in unstable and turbulent air. Data entry must be reliable and consistent to maintain low flight crew work load. A cursor control device allows a solid anchor point for entry of data by flight crew 4.2 Objective Requirements: a. New Autopilot: The autopilot on these aircraft is old and may be in danger of component obsolescence. Rationale: While there is no requirement for autopilot imposed by civil aviation authorities outside of RVSM airspace, autopilots are a tremendous workload reducer for the flight crews. Older autopilots may lack some features found in new autopilot which enable it to work more seamlessly with newer navigation system to enable fully coupled IFR approaches. b. Glass Cockpit: A glass cockpit is composed of multiple electronic LCD display screens which present aircraft instrumentation and navigation information to the flight crew in an easier to read manner. Rationale: Older instrument panels are populated with a variety of instrumentation scattered across the panel. The overall reliability of the instrumentation is somewhat less than that of a glass cockpit due to the reduced number of components and increase reliability of the newer LCD displays over older instrumentation. Glass cockpits lend themselves to upgrades via software updates making modifications somewhat easier compared to older, analog instrumentation installations where instruments and warning lights would have to be physically relocated on the panel. Some new navigation capabilities like moving map displays are not possible without electronic displays. c. Selective Calling (SELCAL): SELCAL is a feature of HF radio which alerts the pilot to an incoming call from ATC. It is not an ATC requirement. Rationale: When navigating over long distances, flight crews have to monitor the HF radio audio for any calls from ATC directed to their aircraft. This requires the crew to listen to hours of radio static to monitor ATC for these calls. A SELCAL box allow the flight crew to not have to listen to this static. When a call from ATC goes out to our specific aircraft tail number, the SELCAL box alerts the crew to the presence of an incoming HF radio call so the crew can answer without having to monitor the on-frequency radio static for all that time when there is no call. d. Satellite Communications (SATCOM): Satcom is a BLOS communication system for ATC which has superior audio quality to HF radio. ATC requires some form of BLOS communications when flying in remote areas beyond VHF range. HF is acceptable, but SATCOM is generally preferred. Rationale: SATCOM provides better audio quality compared to HF. SATCOM requires a subscription to a service provider which can be quite expensive. The same hardware which enables BLOS coms with ATC can also be used to provide the cabin passengers with satellite telephone service as well as digital communication to access e-mail and other internet services. e. Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance (LPV): LPV is a Flight Management System (FMS) capability which requires an SBAS enabled GNSS system to provide ILS like guidance to an airport which has no ILS system installed. Rationale: The terrestrial portion of ILS systems are expensive. A single ILS to one runway can cost as much as $1M and it requires constant monitoring and periodic maintenance. Consequently, they are only installed at the biggest and busiest airports. An aircraft with an SBAS enabled GNSS, such as WAAS GPS, EGNOS GPS, or EGNOS Galileo, has the positional accuracy and reliability to execute ILS like approaches to ILS like minimums to airfields with no terrestrial navigational aids installed. This reduces the cost to the air navigation service provider and enables approaches to low minimums to small airfields at greatly reduced costs. An airfield would have to have a charted approach to take advantage of this technology and the approach would have to be included on the non-corruptible database installed in the FMS. Currently, only airfields in the US, Canada, and Europe offer this capability thanks to WAAS and EGNOS. The service volume of EGNOS includes Northern Africa, but unless an airfield has a charted approach to LPV minimums, the capability cannot be used. f. Controller Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC): CPDLC is essentially text messaging between the flight crew and ATC. CPDLC is enabled by a communications manager and either a VHF radio or Satellite radio. Digital message are composed and received on a display panel in the cockpit which is usually the FMS. Eurocontrol Mandates this service for aircraft which fly above FL290, but it is not required by aircraft which fly below FL 290. Equipping for CPDLC requires the aircraft’s Cockpit Voice Recorder record the digital communications in addition to the voice communications. Rationale: Congested airspace such as that which exists in Europe makes placing and receiving radio calls to ATC difficult at times. There is a limited number of VHF frequencies available for voice communications for ATC so the volume of traffic on each frequency can be quite large. CPDLC allows the transmission and reception of digital message over the same frequencies and enable messages to be targeted to specific recipients. This reduces the amount of voice traffic on frequency and provides ATC instructions in written form which prevents the need to “Say Again” when the message is not completely understood. This is especially true for communications between pilots and controllers for which English is not their first language. Pilots and controllers may have an unusual, or difficult to understand accent when speaking English which is the required language for air traffic control. Although use of CPDLC is not mandated below FL290, it is available which may make pilot to controller communications more clear and efficient. 5. WARRANTIES: Supply warranties with start and expiration dates for parts that require warranties. SUBMISSION DETAILS Interested businesses should submit a brief capabilities statement package (no more than ten 8.5 X 11 inch pages, font no smaller than 10 point) demonstrating ability to provide the products/systems listed in this Technical Description. Documentation should be in bullet format. No phone or email solicitations with regards to the status of the RFP will be accepted prior to its release. Your response to this Sources Sought, including any capabilities statement, shall be electronically submitted to the Contract Specialist, Antoine C. Denson, Senior Contract Specialist, Clarissa E. Cooney, Contracting Officer, Roosevelt Augustus; and, International Programs APM, Richard Trudeau in either Microsoft Word or Portable Document Format (PDF), via email antoine.c.denson.civ@mail.mil, clarissa.e.cooney.civ@mail.mil, roosevelt.augustus.civ@mail.mil, richard.e.trudeau.civ@mail.mil No Later Than 4:00 p.m., Central Time Zone on 12 February 2021 and reference this PANRSA-21-P-0000 003968 number in subject line of e-mail and on all enclosed documents. Information and materials submitted in response to this request WILL NOT be returned. DO NOT SUBMIT CLASSIFIED MATERIAL. If your organization has the potential capacity to provide the required products/systems, please provide the following information: 1) Organization name, address, primary points of contact (POCs) and their email address, FAX, Web site address, telephone number, and type of ownership for the organization; and 2) Tailored capability statements addressing the requirements of this notice, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. All data received in response to this Sources Sought that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary will be fully protected from any release outside the Government.