RFI FOR MISSION PLANNING SOLUTIONS FOR AVIATION

Request for Information (RFI) Mission Planning Solutions for Aviation

1.    NOTICE

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued for informational purposes and market research only, it does not constitute a solicitation. The Government will not reimburse any company or individual for any expenses associated with preparing/submitting information in response to this posting. The information provided may be used by the Government in developing its acquisition strategy, statement of work/statement of objectives, and performance specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained within their response.

2.    SCOPE

The United States (US) Army Program Executive Office (PEO) Aviation, Product Manager Aerial Communication & Mission Command (ACMC) is conducting market research to identify existing and future commercially available or military-grade mission planning software solutions specifically designed for aviation operations to include launched effects (LE), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and vertical lift/rotary wing aircraft platforms. This RFI aims to identify potential solutions that will inform ACMC about the current mission planning for aviation capabilities within industry or Government. ACMC encourages all industry partners as well as Governmental Agencies to respond to this RFI with a focus on capabilities and interoperability.

To aid in self-evaluation and response formulation, US Government (USG) expectations are provided in section 4 of this RFI. Providing existing and future product offerings in accordance with the descriptive information requests in section 4 will aid the USG in conducting consistent and informed market research analysis.

Software offerings at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 are desirable (System prototype demonstrated in operational environment), with a minimum TRL 6 (System/subsystem model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment) as threshold.

3.    INSTRUCTIONS TO POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS
Interested parties who desire to participate in this RFI are encouraged to submit responses that demonstrate they presently have the experience and software with the technology maturity to answer this RFI. Responses shall include the following information and address the topics enumerated below in sections 3.1 and 4.

     3.1    RESPONDENT DATA

          a.    Company Name

          b.    Address

          c.    Point of Contact (include phone number and email address)

          d.    CAGE Code

          e.    Web Page URL

          f.    State the country of ownership for the company.

          g.    State whether the company is a non-traditional defense contractor

4.    SELF-EVALUATION / RESPONSE EXPECTATIONS

Mission Planning Solutions for Aviation: Please provide the information below in separate sections.

     4.1    General Information: Describe the configuration, functionality, and features of your software solution.

          a.    Describe if your offering is designed for commercial, military, or dual use.

          b.    Provide information about the configurability of your solution to support data exchange with current Army and Joint systems.

          c.    Describe the standards supported and language/technologies employed by the design.

          d.    Describe detailed computing resource requirements, including minimum and recommended specifications.

          e.    Describe if/how the application is compatible for operations in various computing and connectivity environments:

               1)    Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) ecosystem including Android TAK (ATAK), TAK Server, Windows TAK (WinTAK).

               2)    Cloud-based (Software as a Service [SaaS]).

               3)    On-premises computing whether local cloud, server, or workstation.

               4)    Provide an overview of the scope, effort and timeline involved in the containerization of the software (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).

               5)    Describe operations in both a connected environment and a denied, degraded, intermittent and low-bandwidth (DDIL) environment.

               6)    Current and future military networks.

               7)    Describe how your solution interfaces with Microsoft Office products.

     4.2    Describe compliance with DoD cybersecurity requirements and practices and the ability of the product to operate on existing Army and DoD networks at both Secret and Unclassified levels.

     4.3    Describe the current and any planned TRL level maturation.

     4.4    Describe the training products associated with your solution.

     4.5    Describe the application interfaces with aeronautical, tactical, and other mission planning information.

          a.    Explain how the solution interfaces and uses weather data:

               1)    Does the software provide access to official Air Force weather data?

               2)    Specify other weather data sources integrated into the software.

               3)    Specify how and how often weather updates are provided.

          b.    Explain how the solution interfaces with and uses aeronautical data (e.g., Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF), vertical obstruction, Flight Information Publications (FLIP)).

               1)    Describe the data formats able to ingest and how displayed?

               2)    Describe commercial and government data formats (e.g., Table Formatted Aeronautic Data Set (TFADS), Keyhole Markup Language (KML), DAFIF, etc.) supported.

          c.    Explain how the solution provides aircraft route and performance planning.

               1)    Describe the aircraft performance planning capabilities included with the solution.

               2)    Describe the mechanism to add performance planning for additional aircraft platforms.

               3)    Describe mission planning support for all current and future aircraft software.

               4)    Describe how your solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning.

          d.    Explain how the solution supports or plans to support military standard graphics (e.g., MIL-STD-2525E).

          e.    Explain how the solution supports or plans to support loading US Army aircraft with mission data including communications presets.

          f.    Explain how the solution includes the ability to import and export communications presets.

          g.    Explain the current or planned structure, configurability, and supported map engine, data, and map data source. Include:

               1)    Map engine to include usage of map engine in TAK or another underlying ecosystem.

               2)    The type of maps that may be used with the software (e.g., raster, vector, terrain).

               3)    The minimum and maximum map scale provided and any automatic scaling or zoom.

          h.    Explain current or planned threat analysis capabilities provided by the solution including, but not limited to:

               1)    Displaying of threat characteristics such as engagement and detection.

               2)    Updating threat characteristics including how/frequency of refresh/update of threat information.

               3)    Line of Sight (LOS) analysis.
 
               4)    Solar/Lunar analysis.

               5)    Other electromagnetic spectrum analysis.

               6)    Display courses of action to avoid threats.

               7)    Explain ability to integrate additional third-party threat analysis tools and capabilities.

               8)    Explain usage of capabilities provided by any underlying system (e.g., TAK).

          i.    Explain any current or planned mission rehearsal capabilities included in the solution for mission planning and simulation and if they include First Person and Threat POV as an option.

               1)    Describe any usage of capabilities in the underlying environment (e.g., TAK or NGC2) to provide mission rehearsal capabilities.

          j.    Explain any current or planned capabilities to interface with airspace management system(s) to request airspace and ability to ingest and display airspace information (e.g., Airspace Control Order or Unit Airspace Plan).

     4.6    Describe how the solution supports or plans to support loading/transferring mission data from the planning system to US Army aircraft.

     4.7    Describe how the application works in a collaborative environment.

          a.    Describe individual user levels up to management levels.

          b.    Describe how data is synchronized across multiple instances of the solution to include distributed systems at different connectivity levels.

     4.8    Describe the integration, interoperability and deployment of the solution

          a.    Describe current customers of the application and the number of customers the solution currently supports.

          b.    Describe how the software application is managed.

          c.    Describe how features/enhancements are introduced and communicated to the user.

          d.    Describe the Application Programming Interface (API) or Software Development Kit (SDK) provided for integration with other systems.

          e.    Describe the operating systems and processor architectures on which the application is deployed and/or verified.

          f.    Describe the software and modeling processes used to develop and manage the design and any certification, conformance, or qualification artifacts (e.g. DO-178C).

         g.    Describe how updates to the design are configuration managed, implemented, distributed, and deployed.

         h.    Describe how your solution interoperates with Army systems.

         i.    Describe your configuration management process to include Capability Maturity Model Integration level, if applicable.

     4.9    Describe the technical data package, data rights and licensing

          a.    Describe the technical data package supporting the design and its availability to use organizations.

          b.    Describe the data rights of the TDP content including design interfaces, ICD, behavior description etc.

          c.    Describe any licensing or royalties applicable to use of the products across multiple platforms within the Army fleet.

     4.10    Describe hardware and software Open System Approaches, such as Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSATM) or Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACETM)

     4.11    Describe rough order of magnitude costing model for proposed solution.

     4.12    Applicable documentation provided below.

                        Document

                        Title / Version

                        Date

                        MIL-STD-2525E

                       Joint Military Symbology

                       10 June 2014

5.    RESPONSES, COMMUNCIATIONS, AND ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

     5.1    The Government may contact respondents to obtain additional information or clarification to understand a company's response. This may include discussions, site visits, demonstrations, etc. to further the Government's understanding of a proposed solution, as well as a company's understanding of the Government's requirements.

     5.2    Responses shall not exceed 10 pages (including any cover page). Include technical and descriptive text, functional block diagrams, and illustrations to provide sufficient detail. The submitted documentation becomes the property of the United States Government.

     5.3    This RFI includes an optional demonstration of your proposed solution to demonstrate its ability to meet our specific needs. Demonstrations will be scheduled after review of responses and will occur at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

     5.4    Respondents shall clearly mark proprietary data with the appropriate markings. Any proprietary information received in response to this request is protected from any unauthorized disclosure. Any material that is not marked is publicly releasable.

     5.5    When submitting a response, please be aware that the Army workforce is supplemented by contracted support personnel. Any proprietary data submitted may be handled by contract support services personnel who have signed the same Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).

     5.6    Responses are due electronically 15 days following inactivation of RFI via email to the following (must include responses to ALL officials):

                         Name: Mr. Daresse Henry

                         Title: Assistant Product Manager (APM)

                         Organization: PdM ACMC, PM Aviation Mission Systems and Architecture (AMSA), PEO Aviation

                         Email: usarmy.redstone.peo-avn.list.mcap-apm@army.mil


                         Name: Mrs. Latoya Dorsey

                         Title: Technical Chief

                         Organization: PdM ACMC, PM Aviation Mission Systems and Architecture (AMSA), PEO Aviation

                         Email: Latoya.r.dorsey.civ@army.mil

     5.7    Contractors shall not contact any Government personnel regarding this RFI other than the individuals designated above. Contacting any Government personnel other than the individual designated above may result in an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) and may result in a contractor being excluded from the competition and consideration for award.

     5.8    Subject line must read RFI for Mission Planning Solutions for Aviation-[Company Name]. Example: RFI for Mission Planning Solutions for Aviation -ABC Inc.

     5.9    For more information on this RFI, please contact the point of contact identified above. E-mail communication is preferred.

6.    DISCLAIMER

This RFI is not a request for proposal (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals, nor will any award be made because of this RFI.

This RFI is for market research purposes only, and the US reserves the right to use the funding arrangement or contract type most appropriate for the effort in subsequent solicitations. Potential funding instruments include but are not limited to Procurement Contracts consistent with 31 U.S.C 6303 or Other Transaction for Prototype (OTA) consistent with 10 U.S.C. 2371 (as supplemented by Section 845 of Public Law 104-201 and Section 804 of Public Law 104-201) and 10 U.S.C. 2371b.

All information contained in the RFI is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government. FAR clause 52.215-3,"Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes", is incorporated by reference in this RFI. The Government does not intend to pay for information received in response to this RFI. Responders to this invitation are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. This RFI will be the basis for collecting information on capabilities available. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Proprietary information and trade secrets, if there are any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received in this RFI that is marked "Proprietary" will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned, nor will the receipt be confirmed. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.