SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - COMMERCIAL SATCOM
- Notice Date
- 8/30/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 517310
— Telecommunications Resellers
- Contracting Office
- Defense Information Systems Agency, Procurement and Logistics, DITCO-Scott, 2300 East Drive Bldg 3600, Scott AFB, IL, 62225-5406
- ZIP Code
- 62225-5406
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-HC1013-CSATC
- Response Due
- 9/20/2004
- Archive Date
- 10/5/2004
- Point of Contact
- Deborah Wellen, Contract Specialist, Phone 618-229-9547, Fax 618-229-9174,
- E-Mail Address
-
Comsatcom@scott.disa.mil
- Description
- GENERAL: The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is seeking information that will help the Agency refine its current approach to the planning, provisioning, acquiring, managing, and operating commercial SATCOM services for the Combatant Commanders, the Services, and Department of Defense (DOD) agencies. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, DISA is not at this time seeking proposals, and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party?s expense. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked PROPRIETARY will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. Small Businesses are encouraged to provide responses to this RFI in order to assist DISA in determining potential levels of competition available in the industry, as well as helping to establish a basis for developing any subsequent potential subcontract plan goal percentages. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website and the DISA contracting web page. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this RFI. The primary objectives of this RFI include soliciting ideas from industry for improving business practices, cost efficiencies, responsiveness, assured connectivity, and an enhanced global net-centric management capability. Additionally, transformational "next generation" type concepts include transitioning concepts that propose migration strategies from legacy to transformed solutions. The Government seeks to understand the tradeoffs involved in deciding a strategy for acquiring commercial SATCOM services (i.e., C band, Ku band, Ka band, X-band, etc.) for DOD use. INFORMATION REQUESTED: Specifically, this RFI seeks the following information: a. Concepts for acquiring commercial SATCOM services, e.g., contracting methods, operational relationships between the Government and industry. b. Concepts for pricing models and processes that provide the Government with assurances that it receives goods and services at a fair and reasonable price, not only for its initial defined requirements, but for each and every new, unplanned requirement over the long term. c. The manners and timeframes in which the Government is to pay for services to ensure the Government realizes the benefits of "most favored customer" status. d. Concepts that will limit DOD's risk of termination liability should changes in requirements necessitate early termination of a lease. e. Concepts for monitoring the link performance collaboratively with our commercial providers on an end-to-end basis, and collaborative troubling shooting procedures in case of link degradation. f. Concepts for providing teleport services and bandwidth management for optimizing transponder loading and performance. g. Concepts for transition and synchronization of MILSATCOM programs. h. Concepts including terms and conditions that would permit portability of all or some leased bandwidth from one theater of operations to another, in case that is needed. i. Concepts that would leverage performance-based contracting arrangements. j. Information that would allow the Government to take advantage of volume discounts, bundling, and the requisite tradeoffs for offering such terms and conditions, and preferences and incentives for providers who proactively implement enhanced information assurance, cyber-security and physical security measures. Information should include a discussion for both single and multiple vendor approaches with advantages and disadvantages for each approach, and a proposed pricing model which would allow the DOD to maximize cost efficiencies. This RFI is open to new, innovative, unconventional and/or non-traditional alternative approaches to satisfying our need for satellite communications, including such concepts as joint ventures, special financing options, share-in-savings, alternatives to commercial leasing, trading for dedicated bandwidth, satellite launch capability, and/or other commercial satellite service equities, etc. CATEGORIES OF COMMERCIAL SATELLITE NEEDS: Layer 1 - Long-term requirements - These requirements are for bulk and long-term services. The requirements are considered most stable and are less influenced by crisis scenarios and changing operational plans. Layer 2 - Pre-positioned Capacity - These requirements are for pre-positioned capacity and are directly related to DOD strategic planning. The requirements encompass global Combatant Command (COCOM) coverage. Layer 3 - Surge Requirements - These requirements are for extremely short notice surge capacity that might be needed in response to developing crisis. This layer is dynamic, difficult to accurately predict, and may be directly related to world events. This layer is above and beyond Layers 1 and 2. The Layer 1 and Layer 2 services would be to support long-term services or strategic planning. These are expected to be priced at or below rates for the Most Favored Customer. Layer 3 services would be acquired on an as-needed basis and are expected to be priced commensurate with the competitive pricing at the time of procurement. NETCENTRIC CONTROL AND RESPONSIVENESS: The Government must have continuing visibility of the status of the resources that have been leased. Concepts must address providing positive control of all assets through which services are provided to the Government. The Government envisions a need for acquiring a range of commercial satellite services. The most common needs include: single channel per carrier simplex and duplex services; broadcast services; earth terminal and teleport services; end-to-end data services; foreign and domestic licenses and landing rights approvals including compliance with ITU/FCC regulations; testing and certifications as may be related to domestic and foreign approvals; system engineering services for link design and satellite bandwidth optimization; and system maintenance services. Generally there are five (5) system architectures ( Fixed -to-fixed, Tactical-to-tactical, Reachback, Broadcast and UAV) for providing these services. Furthermore, DOD also owns and operates several Teleports and Standardized Tactical Entry Point (STEP) sites. In this regard, DOD would like to discuss the concepts for transition and synchronization of these facilities to maximize their usage. The current (approximate) amount of traffic that DISA is currently supporting within the Commercial SATCOM Office (provided as a guide and does not reflect a projection of future requirements) is a capacity of 2,856.95 Mbps. TOTAL = Equivalent Capacity of Seventy-nine (79), 36-MHz Transponders. DEFINITIONS: a. Bundling: Consolidating similar or disparate services for the purpose of minimizing aggregate costs. Bundling can include efficient consolidation of circuits in transponders and transponders in satellite(s) and can also include scheduling of services. b. Most Favored Customer:. The status of a customer that through formal relationship or policy affords the customer the best terms and conditions offered by a provider of goods or services. c. Near-Real-Time: This implies that there are no significant delays in providing services to the customer after a request for service has been formally submitted. d. Portability: The ability to discontinue unneeded or underused services on one system or subsystem for the purpose of re-initiating these same or similar services on another system or subsystem at no or minimal additional costs to the customer. It can be noted that a "system" or "subsystem" could be comprised of one or more entities. Specifically, a system could be comprised of several satellite vendors and/or terrestrial carriers. e. Positive Control: Real-time or near-real-time monitoring and control by, or on behalf of the Government of the physical assets providing services to ensure all users are properly accessing those services, there is no unauthorized use of those services, and anomalies or outages are quickly identified in order to effect rapid restoration of those services and to support rapid resolution of incidents of purposeful interference. f. Volume discounting: This is interpreted as the practice of offering reductions to typical unit prices when a customer is demonstrably procuring a large quantity of an item or a large volume of services when individual orders are aggregated. Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a White Paper. White Papers shall be due no later than 2:00 pm CDST., 20 Sep 2004. Responses shall be limited to thirty (30) pages and submitted in accordance with the instructions that follow. Section One of the White Paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include as a minimum: Respondents must include Company Name, Street Address, State, NINE-digit Zip Code, POC, POC telephone and fax numbers, email address, Company Size and Status. If the company address includes a PO Box, the complete street address must also be provided. Include the facility security clearance and business size of the respondent. Respondents shall classify their company size using North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code is 517310, Telecommunications Resellers (1,500 employees). The number of pages in Section One of the White Paper are not included in the 30-page limitation. Section 2 of the White Paper shall respond to the questions and issues of this RFI and shall be limited to 30 pages. RFI response upload instructions are as follow: Prior to submitting responses to this RFI, vendors shall register with DITCO via its Contracting Opportunities web site at https://www.ditco.disa.mil/dcop. During the registration process, choose the option for ?The solicitation requires vendor registration for eligibility.? You will be prompted to enter the solicitation number (use Reference No. HC1013-CSATC). Upon completion of registration, vendors will receive a user-id and password for use when uploading RFI responses. This process allows DITCO to precisely track when responses are uploaded (or attempted to be uploaded). Registration information will be verified by DITCO personnel, which takes about a day. Once the vendor?s information is verified, responses will be able to be uploaded. Vendors must register a minimum of one week prior to uploading a response to ensure the response upload is accomplished by the closing date and time. Vendors should also attempt to upload their response as early as possible to ensure no problems arise at the last minute. If a vendor would like to test the upload process, they may do so by typing in this url: https://www.scott.disa.mil/dcop. Under the heading Submit Proposals for: look for Upload Proposal Test. If you have any problems, please contact Kevin Mehlan at (618) 229-9334, email address: mehlank@scott.disa.mil, or the DITCO customer service center at (618) 229-9333. The technical point of contact for this RFI is Mr. Mark Bogart, 703-882-1687, Email Bogartm@ncr.disa.mil. All other questions concerning the RFI should be directed to Ms. Deborah Wellen, 618-229-9547, Email Comsatcom@scott.disa.mil.
- Place of Performance
- Address: N/A
- Record
- SN00659974-W 20040901/040831063623 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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