Inactive

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION: No award will be made as a result of this request. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only; this is not an Invi... THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION: No award will be made as a result of this request. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only; this is not an Invitation for Bid (IFB), a Request for Proposal (RFP), or Request for Quotation (RFQ). No solicitation document exists and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses to this RFI. The Government will not be liable for payment of any preparation expenses and information and materials received in response to this RFI and is in no way obligated by the information received. Any costs incurred by interested companies in response to this announcement will NOT be reimbursed. The information provided may be used by the Army in developing a future acquisition strategy, Performance Work Statement, Statement of Objectives and/or Performance Based Specification(s). Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified proprietary information. If a solicitation is issued, it will be synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) at https://sam.gov/. It is the responsibility of the potential interested parties to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. NOTE: The use of RFI Number W909MY-22-R-HAHI is for tracking purposes only and shall be referenced in any responses to this RFI. All interested parties are encouraged to respond by submitting a white paper by the date specified in this RFI. BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION: The U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground Belvoir division, on behalf of the United States Army Futures Command, Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR) Research & Technology Integration Directorate (RTI), in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 releases this RFI. The purpose of this RFI is to request information to determine the state-of-the-art in low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) Visible – Shortwave IR (VisSWIR) HSI systems for high-altitude applications. RFI Submission Instructions PLEASE NOTE THAT IF A CHARACTERISTIC OR CAPABILITY IS NOT ADDRESSED THE GOVERNMENT WILL ASSUME THE RESPONDENT DOES NOT OR CANNOT MEET THE SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS MARKET SURVEY. The Government requires three (3) documents; Cover Letter, Technical Narrative, and completed specifications table in your response. The document formats shall be: A. COVER LETTER The response shall include a Cover Letter. The Cover Letter should briefly state the interested parties’ interest in the Advanced Soldier Sensors Displays for Dismounts. The cover letter shall also include the following information: Subject: High-Altitude Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) Payload: Brief Summary of the company Company name Company CAGE Code: Company DUNS Number. If your Company holds a GSA Schedule contract (541 or other), please provide the Schedule number Date of incorporation Number of years in business Number of employees Mailing address Company Website address The singular point of contact for all information pursuant to this RFI. Phone Number Email address Company email: Company Representative and Business Title: Company Socioeconomic Classification: Please identify your company's business size standard based on the primary North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 333314. For more information, refer to http://www.sba.gov/content/tablesmall-businesssize-standards: Small Business (SB), (8) (a), Woman-Owned (WOSB), Economically-Disadvantaged Women-Owned (EDWOSB), Veteran-Owned and Operated (VOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVOSB), or Historically Underutilized Small Business-Zone (HUB Zone), Historically Black College and Universities/ Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) In addition to the body of the cover letter, respondents shall provide short concise answers to the following questions. Name/type of technology or model Technology maturity: Existing technology or technology concept Brief overview of company history, limited to 3 paragraphs If you identify your company as a Small Business (to include any of the additional Small Business socioeconomics certifications above), then is your company interested in a prime contract? If so, does your company possess the capabilities to provide the entire range of these requirements? If not, please list which requirements your company can provide? Under the current SB recertification regulations, do you anticipate your company remaining a small business, under primary stated NAICS code 333314? If you are a small business and plan to be a prime contractor (manufacturer) on this effort, are you able to comply with the Limitations on Subcontracting such that you will not pay more than 50 percent of the amount paid by the Government for contract performance, excluding the cost of materials, to subcontractors that are not similarly situated entities? If you are a small business and plan to be a prime contractor (nonmanufacturer) on this effort, are you able to comply with the Non-Manufacturing Rule IAW 13 CFR 121.1204 to include the following requirements: (i) Provide an end item that a small business has manufactured, processed, or produced in the United States or its outlying areas; (ii) Be primarily engaged in the retail or wholesale trade and normally sell the type of item being supplied; and (iii) Take ownership or possession of the item(s) with its personnel, equipment, or facilities in a manner consistent with industry practice; for example, providing storage, transportation, or delivery. If you are a small business, can you go without a payment for 90 days? If not, how do you plan on obtaining the necessary cash-flow otherwise? If you are a small business, does your company have experience as a prime contractor administering Contracts? If you answered yes, please provide as much of the following information as possible; Contract number(s); Dollar value; and similarity of scope and effort. Have you experience as a prime producing commercial items that may be of similar scope, complexity and nature? Please provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy these requirements. Interested parties are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member's CAGE and size status based upon the NAICS code / Size Standard of the work that the team member may be doing. Has your Company performed this type of effort or similar type effort (to include size and complexity) in the past, if so provide Contract Number, Point of Contact (POC), e-mail address, phone number, and a brief description of your direct support of the effort? B. Technical Narrative Instructions The Technical Narrative shall be submitted as two files. The content of each file shall be identical. The primary submission shall be MS Word*.docx format. A copy in Adobe *.PDF is also required. Page Size: 8.5 x 11.0 inches Margins: 1 inch all around Font: Arial or MS Sans Serif Font Size: 12 point The technical narrative submitted shall NOT exceed 20 pages. Test data, drawings, model outputs, etc. can be provided as attachments and does not count toward the 20-page limitation. For the purposes of this RFI, the payload refers to an overall system concept, to include sensor, electronics, pointing and stabilization solution, and packaging. For clarification (T) stands for threshold and (O) is objective. a. Proposed solutions should be a single payload capable of operation on a high-altitude unmanned aircraft meeting SWaP requirements as described in the attached Specification Table. A full description of the SWaP parameters must be provided in the Specification Table with estimations broken out by major components and/or subsystems. If the solution provides for sufficient additional SWaP allocation then the proposal may include a secondary sensor to complement the VisSWIR HSI (e.g. longwave infrared HSI, context imager, etc.), but this is an objective requirement. b. To demonstrate the performance of the payload, interested parties must provide Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) curves covering the entire 0.4 – 2.5um spectral range. For modeling purposes, parameters should include mid-latitude summer, 20 solar zenith, 50% reflective target. The curves should address all optical elements that would exist in a final system, to include the payload window. Additional VisSWIR HSI parameters are included in the Specification Table. c. The payload should be stabilized against platform motion and capable of scanning designated target areas within a field-of-regard as defined in the Specification Table. The system should be capable of operation in both an interrogation mode to scan specific areas of interest, or a search mode to scan a maximal area to search for targets of interest. The nominal range to target is 18 km. Solutions using a gimbal, scanning mirrors, or other approaches are acceptable, however, the pointing and stabilization system (PSS) must be included in the SWaP totals and performance models in (b) should account for all optical element required to accommodate the PSS. d. The overall Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the system described in this response should be ? TRL 4 but with a path to mature the system to TRL 7. Include, in the Specification Table, a TRL for your overall system, VisSWIR HSI, PSS, and other major subsystems and components. Provide justification for each TRL rating. Include an estimated cost and schedule to mature the system to TRL 7. Provide justifications for your estimated cost and schedule. Also, list and describe any technical or performance risks associated with maturing the payload design to a TRL 7. Include relevant experience and history with similar systems to justify your ability to successfully develop/mature the payload given the associated risks. e. The payload should include real-time processing capable of ingesting, calibrating and performing detection and identification of targets of interest. The software and hardware required for this capability should be described in the response and included in the SWaP allocation and overall system TRL. C. Specifications Table The Specifications Table shall be submitted as a single MS Excel .xlsx using the file from the RFI. The vendor shall fill in columns E and F. The specifications filled in column E should be representative of the solution proposed in the technical narrative and column F will be filled in based on whether the results were gotten from modelling or measured values. Response Submission Responses shall be e-mailed to the Points of Contact listed below. Paper copies of the submittal will also be accepted. Email responses should not exceed 5 Megabytes (MB). Send responses electronically to (Include "RFI number W909MY-22-R-HAHI " in the subject line.) Susette O’Neal, Contract Specialist, email: susette.a.oneal.civ@army.mil and Lisa Gregory-Robinson, Contracting Officer, email: lisa.m.gregory-robinson.civ@army.mil. All information marked as proprietary information will be safeguarded to prevent disclosures to non-government personnel and entities. Responses are due no later than 12:00 PM EST (local time at Fort Belvoir, VA) on 21 January 2022. All requests for information must be in writing or via email; telephonic requests for additional information will not be honored. You may forward request for additional information and/or responses to Susette O’Neal, Contract Specialist, email: susette.a.oneal.civ@army.mil and Lisa Gregory-Robinson, Contracting Officer, email: lisa.m.gregory-robinson.civ@army.mil. a. Dr. Ryan Close, email: ryan.r.close.civ@army.mil b. Alex Neblett, email: alexander.m.neblett.civ@army.mil Please direct ALL responses/questions to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist but include the Technical POCs on the CC line. Data Rights It is desirable that data be received with unlimited rights to the Government. However, it is recognized that proprietary data may be included with the information provided. If so, it is the responsibility of the interested party submitting data to clearly mark such proprietary information and clearly separate it from the unrestricted information as an addendum. No Classified data shall be provided via email. Disclaimer Any information submitted by respondents to this sources sought synopsis is voluntary. The Army does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this notice or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. Respondents should not construe this synopsis as a commitment for any purpose. Respondents will not individually be notified of the results of any government assessments. The Government's evaluation of the capability statements received will factor into whether any forthcoming solicitation will be conducted as a full and open competition or as a set-aside for small businesses, or any particular small business designation (e.g. SDVOSB, HUBZone, 8(a), SDB, WOSB, VOSB, etc.). Respondents shall not be obligated to provide the services described herein and it is understood by the United States Government that the cost estimates provided as a result of this request are "best" estimates only.