SOURCES SOUGHT
99 -- Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) Market Survey / Request For Information (RFI)
- Notice Date
- 7/14/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, AJA-472 HQ - FAA Headquarters (Washington, DC)
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 10916
- Response Due
- 10/12/2011
- Archive Date
- 10/27/2011
- Point of Contact
- todd pennington, 202-493-5960
- E-Mail Address
-
todd.pennington@faa.gov
(todd.pennington@faa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 1. IntroductionThe purpose of this Market Survey/Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain industry feedback on the current state of the telecommunications marketplace, future trends, and strategies for minimizing the impacts of transitioning from the existing FTI network. This public announcement is being issued in accordance with the FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) Section 3.2.1.3.11. Interested parties are advised that:This is not a SIR or Request for Proposals;The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals;The FAA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing the response to the market survey; andAny costs associated with the market survey/RFI response submittals are solely at the interested party's expense. 2. BackgroundThe FAA obtains approximately 25,000 telecommunications services under the existing FTI contract to support a broad spectrum of the agency's requirements ranging from critical air traffic control operations to routine administrative functions. The FTI contract was awarded in 2002 and is now in the options phase. If all options are exercised, including a Continuity of Services clause, the period of performance could extend to the end of Government fiscal year 2018. The FTI network supports seven different availability levels with the highest being 0.9999972. FTI relies heavily upon commercial telecommunications infrastructure, but to meet the required availability levels, the FTI contractor provides dedicated nodal infrastructure at the 4,000+ service delivery locations. The nodal infrastructure is the property of the FTI prime contractor and its service provider teammates. They are responsible for performing technology refreshes as required to ensure the continued supportability of the network. Since the Government does not own any of the network infrastructure, the FAA must plan for the transition to a replacement network. The majority of FTI telecommunications services originate or terminate in the continental United States (CONUS), but the FTI contractor is also required to provide services to FAA and stakeholder locations outside the CONUS (e.g., Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, and international locations). In addition to traditional landline services, the FTI contractor provides satellite and microwave-based services. FAA stakeholders include the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Weather Service (NWS), and foreign air traffic control entities such as NAVCANADA. Within the CONUS, FTI relies upon an optical backbone that consists of 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps optical waves that connect major FTI network points of presence (POPs). FAA high-traffic volume facilities connect to the optical backbone via SONET rings or direct OC-level fiber connections. Through the FTI program, the FAA has consolidated nine independently operated networks into a common infrastructure with two separate operating domains - one for air traffic control operations and one for administrative functions. The legacy networks were a mix of FAA-owned and leased infrastructure and mainly relied time division multiplexing (TDM) technology. The consolidation was completed in 2008 approximately 5 years after the FTI contract award. During that period, the FAA's service requirements have evolved from a mix of voice grade (VG) and low data rate digital circuits to much higher bandwidth trunks and services that utilize Internet Protocol (IP) interfaces. The FAA expects demands for bandwidth to continue to grow as it transitions to the Next Generation (NextGen) air traffic control system. 3. Changes to the FAA Operating Environment and Telecommunications MarketplaceThe FAA is beginning the planning for a contract to replace FTI. The operating environment has changed significantly since the FTI contract was awarded in that objectives for consolidating the FAA's telecommunications enterprise have been met and the relatively inflexible TDM-based infrastructure has been replaced with a more modern and flexible infrastructure that undergoes a technology refresh as needed. These changes in the FAA operating environment affect the business case for replacing FTI because many of the opportunities for improving the efficiency of the FAA's telecommunications enterprise have already been realized. Within the telecommunications marketplace, there are fewer major carriers as mergers have continued to occur. In addition, the economic down-turn has eliminated many of the start-up companies that were building-out fiber optic infrastructure. Also, many of the major carriers have shifted their focus to wireless technologies for the broader consumer market. These conditions create further uncertainty as to the direction of the telecommunications marketplace for the high bandwidth, high availability infrastructure services that the FAA requires. 4. Questionsa) Understanding that the FAA must rely upon proven technologies when it comes to air traffic control operations, what technology trends do you foresee in the telecommunications marketplace between 2015 and 2025 that could benefit the FAA? Please include data to support your forecast. Also, do you anticipate that any types of services may no longer be commercially available during that timeframe? If so, please elaborate.b) What trends do you foresee in the cost of telecommunications services in the 2015 to 2025 timeframe? Please include data to support your forecast.c) Many of the FAA service delivery points are in remote locations, i.e., no in close proximity to population centers. What are the prospects for the build-out of digital/optical telecommunications infrastructure to remote locations (including OCONUS) during the 2015 to 2025 timeframe?d) To ensure the security of air traffic control operations, FTI is a private network. If the same requirement is levied on the replacement network, are there any strategies that the FAA could employ to minimize the financial impacts of the infrastructure build-out required to transition to a replacement network?e) When the FAA transitioned from its legacy networks to the FTI network, it incurred a relatively lengthy period of parallel operations. Are there any strategies that the FAA could employ to minimize the operational and financial impacts of transitioning from the existing FTI network? f) The current FTI network consists of a common infrastructure with two separate operating domains - one for air traffic control operations and one for administrative functions. What would be the advantages and disadvantages if the FAA were to opt to separate the two domains and manage them as independent networks? g) The current FTI service acquisition model is based on a single prime that serves as a network integrator who can independently assess service offerings available in the commercial marketplace. What factors should the FAA consider in determining whether or not to continue with this service acquisition model? What other types of models could be beneficial to the FAA? Please elaborate. 5. Incumbent ContractorsThe FTI prime contractor is the Harris Corporation. Harris functions as a network integrator, obtaining transmission services from all the major U.S. telecommunications carriers and numerous fiber optic providers. Harris operates a dedicated 24x7x365 network operations and control center (NOCC) and provides a range of engineering support services including network security management. 6. Responses to the Market Survey/RFIParties should submit their responses to the questions contained within this Market Survey/RFI by August 12, 2011. Aside from an acknowledgement of receipt, the FAA will not provide feedback on any of the submitted materials. In addition, responses to the Market Survey/RFI will not be viewed by the FAA as a commitment by the respondents to submit a proposal to replace the FTI network.If any of the information submitted is considered to be proprietary, the submitter is responsible for marking it accordingly. Notwithstanding, the Government does not intend to release or distribute any of the information contained in the Market Survey/RFI responses.No bidder's conference or pre-proposal conference is planned at this time. 7. Market Survey / RFI Response Submission InstructionsMarket Survey/RFI responses must be submitted via electronic mail (e-mail) to Todd Pennington (9-AJW-FTI2Info@faa.gov) by the date below. Files must be compatible with MS Office 2003 or be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. No other form of submission will be accepted.Submissions are due by 4:00 pm EDT on August 12, 2011. The Government will provide acknowledgment of receipt to each respondent via e-mail.(End of Announcement)
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