Relevant links are at the bottom of this post.

Added: May 18, 2015 7:09 pm

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate (RI) – AFRL/RI, on behalf of the Undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition’s Office of Transformational Innovation (SAF/AQTI), is releasing this presolicitation notice to inform interested parties of a forthcoming solicitation, post draft solicitation documents, and describe the Government’s interest in establishing a Section 845 Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), with an eligible entity or group of entities (Other Transaction Lead organization), to include industry, academic, non-profit, and not-for-profit partners, for research and development efforts to support AFRL/RI and customer requirements as related to information systems. The Open System Acquisition Initiative (OSAI) – formerly called PlugFest Plus – is part of the Secretary of the Air Force’s Bending the Cost Curve Initiative. The Government anticipates establishing an OTA with a new or existing consortium that has significant non-traditional contractor participants. The goal of this consortium community is to research, develop, test, measure, demonstrate, integrate, and deliver tools for the Air Force using “open-systems” based Command, Control, Communications, and Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (C4ISR) information sharing Information Systems (IS).  These systems include: Distributed Common Ground Station (DCGS); Theater Battle Management Core Systems (TBMCS); Air Operations Center-Weapon System (AOC); Open Mission System (OMS);  SecureView; Information Support Server Environment (ISSE) Guard; Cybersecurity environments; Web Temporal Analysis System (WebTAS); Combined Information Data Network Exchange (CIDNE); Collaboration Gateway (CG) and other systems to be determined by the Government.  Please see attached draft Statement of Objectives and Recommended Processes and Practices for a description of the anticipated roles of the Government and Other Transaction Lead organization.

Section 845(a)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 1994, Public Law (P.L.) 103-160, as amended (Title 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 2371 note), authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force (SAF) to carry out prototype projects that are directly relevant to military information systems. In accordance with the above referenced law, the Government must ensure that no official of an agency enters into an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for a prototype project under this authority unless there is significant non-traditional defense contractor(s) participation in the prototype project; or at least one third of the total cost of the prototype project is to be paid out of funds provided by parties to the transaction other than the Federal Government.

In addition to existing consortiums, industry members may propose forming a new consortium, that would seek to work with the Government through an OTA in the below areas. Any company, university, or research organization is eligible to join the consortium. The Government is seeking interested parties that are willing to join and/or establish a consortium with collective expertise in the following technology areas specifically related to AFRL/RI’s Open System Acquisition Initiative:

•·            Agile Engineering Research, Development & Support: Develop, demonstrate, implement and transition C4ISR technologies, systems, concepts and designs that address the broad and diverse capabilities in agile research, prototyping, testing, advanced engineering development and training for modernized information systems to achieve greater levels of resiliency, autonomy and security. Related areas of interest include: development of modern application services, service-based data architectures and designs, high- performance computing technologies, mobile sensors, Multi-Level Security domain information sharing and collaboration technologies, rapid prototyping and research and development of emerging cyber technologies.

•·            C4ISR Capability Performance Analysis:  Develop, demonstrate, implement and transition technologies to improve hardware and software performance concepts and designs that address system engineering and integration services for information systems, research and development programs, modeling and simulation, and using data to develop/improve/refine products and analysis tools. Related areas of interest include: development of systems that identify vulnerabilities and key technology gaps.

•·            C4ISR Capability Ecosystems: Develop, demonstrate, implement and transition technologies to improve concepts and designs that address C4ISR information technology needs, including: information systems support and development, data architecture and design, enterprise solutions, product lifecycle management and training. Related areas of interest include: development of information systems that support client/server architecture, open system portability and scalability, Multi-Level Security mechanisms among and between security domains, improved mobile systems and automated application platforms.

•·            C4ISR Information Systems Security: Develop, demonstrate, implement and transition technologies that balance information security with information sharing.  This includes: cyber-warfare (both offensive and defensive); and cyber security tools, concepts and designs to address threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber security requirements of systems, and applications. Related areas of interest include: development of software systems using applied system security engineering processes that enforce risk mitigation as well as implementing cost-effective countermeasures not limited to information assurance controls, software protection products, effective rigorous software development processes as well as enforcing software design rigor and information protection measures.

•·            C4ISR Information Systems Sustainment and Supportability:Develop, demonstrate, implement and transition C4ISR information technologies to improve engineering design, technical support data and software support services while lowering lifecycle management costs.  Related areas of interest include: supportability design and analysis, engineering process improvement, field support, obsolescence, rapid prototyping, systems engineering, and technology insertion.

The Government anticipates responses to this announcement from interested parties, eligible entities or groups of entities, to include: industry, academic, non-profit, and not-for-profit organizations for research and development.  An interested parties list will be created, to include entities and groups of entities that would be interested in performing the role of soliciting, awarding, and managing prototype projects, as well as individual entities that are interested in joining the resulting consortium under the Open System Acquisition Initiative. Responses can be sent to Mr. Joseph Austin, Contract Specialist, via email at joseph.austin.6@us.af.mil.

Responses should at a minimum, provide the following:
1. A cover letter
2. A cover page labeled with the heading, “Open System Acquisition Initiative (OSAI),” name of company, name of corporate point of contact (POC), name of technical POC, telephone number for each POC, mailing address, e-mail addresses for each POC, CAGE Code, and any other pertinent information.
3. Feedback about the draft  Statement of Objectives and Recommended Processes and Practices.
4. To provide context for and credibility to the submitted feedback on the draft documents, please provide the following information:
No more than twenty (20) pages of technical information including:
(a) Narrative describing how the specified technical requirements would be addressed and fulfilled
(b) Corporate competencies and past performance experience with regard to development and modification of systems including relevant history of ability to develop and integrate similar technologies.
(c) Describe experience gained by working on projects across the services and the other defense agencies, as well as affiliations, associations, and specific involvement in and with the federal and non-federal research and development, testing and engineering community, sufficient to demonstrate a well-established presence in that community.
(d) Describe experience in C4ISR technologies from current and historical sources across Government, industry, and academia, your experience contributing to the C4ISR domain, and experience promoting efficient and effective C4ISR-related information sharing and collaboration.

Please submit all pages as a single (.doc or .pdf) file. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

This notice solicits information for planning purposes only, shall not be construed as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or a commitment by the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government does not intend to award a contract or any other type of agreement on the basis of this announcement. All information is to be submitted at no cost or obligation to the Government. The U.S. Government is not obligated to notify respondents of the results of this announcement. The U.S. Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any private sector input, as a result of this announcement. If a formal solicitation is generated at a later date, a separate solicitation notice will be published. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. No sensitive or classified information will be discussed. Foreign-owned, controlled, or influenced firms are advised that security restrictions may apply that may preclude their participation in these efforts.

The solicitation is expected to be released approximately 11 days from this notice. THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION WILL BE ISSUED ON THE FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES (FEDBIZOPPS) WEB SITE AT http://www.fedbizopps.gov/.  Several updates are expected to be made to this notice.  The FedBizOpps offers a registration service that will send an e-mail notification when a change is made to this announcement.  To register, click on the “Add To Watchlist” button at the top of this announcement in FedBizOpps.  This service is provided for convenience only and does not serve as a guarantee of notification.  In addition to this registration, any prospective offerors interested in submitting a proposal for this solicitation must register by e-mail directly with the Agreements Specialist at joseph.austin.6@us.af.mil in order to be placed on the List of Registered Parties.  Include your company name, address, telephone number and point of contact, fax number, e-mail address and Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code.  The Agreements Specialist will post this list on the FedBizOpps along with the solicitation to facilitate subcontracting and teaming opportunities only.  Offerors registering their name either on the FedBizOpps or with the Agreements Specialist should not conclude that they will receive a paper copy of the solicitation in the mail.  Paper copies will not be available.  The solicitation and any amendments thereto will only be available by downloading the documents from the FedBizOpps.  All prospective offerors are responsible for monitoring this site for the release of amendments (if any) or other information pertaining to this solicitation.  Upon the release of the solicitation, all responsible sources may submit a proposal in response to the solicitation which shall be considered.

Contracting Office Address:
AFRL/RIKD 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4514

Point of Contact(s):
For agreement matters: Joseph Austin, 315-330-4310
For technical matters: Michael Mayhew, 315-330-2898