Marine Corps Observation and Sensing System (OSS)

Request for Information (RFI) for Marine Corps Observation and Sensing System (OSS)

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is for planning and informational purposes only and shall NOT be considered as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred in responding to this RFI or furnishing the requested information. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of a vendor’s submission of responses to this RFI or the Government’s use of such information. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any vendor’s input resulting from this RFI. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

1.0 Introduction

This RFI notice is issued by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), Marine Corps Systems Command, Program Executive Officer Land Systems (PEO LS), Program Manager for Ground Based Air Defense (PM GBAD).PM GBAD is seeking interested parties that can provide force protection and littoral expeditionary advanced capability for the detection, identification, and tracking of manned and unmanned ground, air and sea vessels and personnel operating within the vicinity of specific missions. The focus of this RFI is on existing commercially available optic and active sensor technology that is Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8/9.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this RFI is to seek potential solutions and feedback from industry; and gather information on candidate non-developmental systems that are currently available to support a potential acquisition under the Observation and Sensing System (OSS) program. The current effort will assess industry’s ability to provide and sustain a materiel solution within an accelerated acquisition schedule, at an affordable cost, and to determine the technical and manufacturing maturity of candidate systems that provide capabilities desired for OSS as described below.

This RFI constitutes market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 and is not an RFP. The Government is issuing this RFI, in support of PEO LS, to determine if our industry partners have the capability to provide the support described herein.

1.2 Program Background

The OSS is a modular family of systems consisting of specific integration capabilities to carry out active surveillance of ground, air and sea-based targets consisting of manned and unmanned vehicles, as well as personnel, by using various sensors to support security for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) missions. OSS will detect, classify, and identify targets fusing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to alert security forces of activity and coordinate response force as appropriate. OSS will utilize on-board edge computing in order to minimize the data communicated to the local Command and Control (C2) system.

1.3 Requirements

The OSS shall integrate and deliver Electro Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) optics and multi-domain active sensors with the capability to detect, classify and identify a range of threats in all weather conditions while mounted in a stationary location or installed on a mobile platform.

EO/IR Optic: A TRL 8/9 optic solution capable of detecting, classifying, and identifying surface vessels, ground vehicles, and personnel in the day and night. The solution should be able to classify backpack sized objects of interest, such as weapons or large tools in the day or night. The solution should also be capable of detecting, classifying, and identifying commercially available or military Group 1 and Group 2 unmanned aerial systems (UAS) including Fixed Wing (FW) and Rotary Wing (RW) UAS day or night.

Multi-Domain Active Sensor: A TRL 8/9 active sensor capable of detecting surface vessels, ground vehicles, and personnel in the day and night. The solution should also be capable of detecting commercially available or military Group 1 and Group 2 UAS including FW and RW UAS day or night.

The vendor is requested to describe their optics and other sensor solutions with regard to the following as applicable:

Mechanical Design Considerations

• Dimensions and total weight of the system along with a breakdown of the total weight by major system components and subsystems.
• Operating and peak power draw for operation.
• Assemble and disassemble timelines between storage and operational configurations.
• Open standard design enabling ease of mounting and/or integration.
• Gyro-stabilization and how system receives timely position and location information.
• Optical and digital zoom capabilities for long distance identification, and potential near-field limits.
• Ability to modify system (hardware and software) to meet USMC specific requirements.
• Modular configuration for various mission sets and deployment methods.

Environmental Design Considerations

• Protection from solar radiation damage.
• Means to enhance the system component’s ability to effectively operate in all weather conditions, including but not limited to: Day or night, rain or snow, salt fog, high humidity, blowing sand and dust.
• Means to mitigate or reduce the impact of heavy fog or other limited visibility environments while in operation.
• Identify which Laboratory Test Methods in MIL-STD-810F the component meets or meets the requirements and associated limits as applicable in an earlier MIL-STD-810 version.
• Provide the Name, Date, Report Number, (Document ID) and Testing Agency that completed the Test Method on the component.
• Identify whether the component meets MIL-STD-461G or meets the EMI requirements and associated limits, as applicable in an earlier MIL-STD-461 version.
• Provide the Name, Date, Report Number (Document ID) and Testing Agency that completed the EMI Test Methods on the component.

Interoperability Considerations

• Open architecture software design such that the system can be integrated into existing C2 systems; identify and Department of Defense C2 systems currently integrated with the various system components.
• Open architecture software design such that the system can be integrated with agnostic sensor(s); identify the sensors currently integrated with the optic and active sensor.
• Identify any Standards that the system utilizes for interfacing with other systems (e.g. industry standards such as Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) or military standards).
• Ability to operate in an unclassified and classified environment as well as the capability of relaying information to classified systems.

Performance Considerations

• Ability to rotate in elevation and azimuth, and any limitations.
• Maximum ranges (kilometers) of detection, tracking, and enabling identification with EO/IR optics function in day and night conditions of Group 1 through Group 3 FW or RW UAS, Surface Vessels, Ground Vehicles, and targets of interest of similar size.
• Ability to perform slew-to-cue operations; and with which systems the optic has been integrated.
• Ability to, in real time, display, process and record video data with metrics such as bit rate, resolution (e.g. 480p/standard definition or 720p/high definition), frame rate, video formats and any limitations.
• Ability of auto-tracking a target of opportunity and any limitations (sky background, urban/ground background).
• Ability to auto-focus on a target of opportunity and any limitations.
• Maximum continuous active operational availability in hours and any limitations.
• If there are options for an integrated eye-safe compliant laser range finder capable of ranging line-of-sight air, sea, and ground targets, include performance information and any certifications with laser range finder(s).
• Ability to detect over various vertical and horizontal ranges, and any limitations.
• Relay information via multiple radio frequency sources.

Logistics Considerations

• Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) metrics and preventative maintenance schedules.
• Weatherproof transport considerations to support rapid tear down, transport, and set up of the optic and active sensor.
• Ease of maintenance considerations.
• Troubleshoot and diagnostic documentation and support considerations, including built-in-test (BIT) and self-diagnostic capabilities.
• Special tools for onsite maintenance.
• Manpower (Operation/Maintenance Personnel Quantity, Skillsets) considerations.
• Training package availability/maturity.
• Technical Publication(s).
• Parts assigned/requiring National Stock Numbers.
• Spare part kits for commonly damaged or high failure rate items, if available.
• Identify any batteries internal to the optic and active sensor (e.g. lithium-ion batteries).
• Warrantied Items.
• Identify any components that certain materials listed NAS411-1 Hazardous Materials Target List (HMTL) rev2 (30-Sep-2020).

Procurement Considerations

• Cost per system.
• Availability on hand (quantity).
• Production capacity (timeline to produce and quantity per month).

2.0 Requested Information

Interested respondents are requested to provide information demonstrating their capability to deliver the support described in this RFI.

3.0 Responses

Vendors with the requisite skills, resources, and capabilities necessary to fulfill the requirements are invited to respond to this RFI via an electronic submission no later than 8 October 2024, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Responses shall be an executive summary of no more than ten (10) pages when printed on 8 ½ x 11-inch paper, written in Times New Roman, single spaced, 12-point font. All electronic documents must be in Microsoft Word 2007 or later format (.docx) or Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf). Responses are requested to include the following information:

(1) Name and mailing address of applicant/company (Corporate/Principal Office).

(2) Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of designated point of contact (POC).

(3) General Service Administration (GSA) contract number (if applicable).

(4) CAGE Code and/or Unique Entity ID.

(5) Business Size (under NAICS 333310, Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing).

(6) White paper providing capabilities and relevant past performance (if applicable).

(7) Recommendations to improve the Government’s approach to this requirement.

(8) Vendor’s facility clearance and/or safeguarding levels.

(9) If applicable, state the potential small business subcontracting opportunities in regard to the type of work for this requirement provided for by small businesses, the type of small business (small business (SB), veteran owned small business (VOSB), service-disabled veteran owned small business (SDVOSB), historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small business, small disadvantaged business (SDB), and woman-owned small business (WOSB) concerns) involved, the significance of the effort to the requirement and the percentage of total potential effort to be provided to those types of small businesses.

(10) Identify whether your product is a commercial item in accordance with the definitions in FAR 2.101.

(11) Data Rights Assertations: The Government anticipates that all the technical data, training material, and software deliverables associated with the system and components would come with Government purpose rights. Please identify every deliverable or every component of every deliverable, that will come with a restriction; for this RFI, please follow the procedure and format for Assertations of Restrictions in DFARS 252.277-7017, which the Government will consider to be notional Assertion. Please be advised that any proprietary information must be marked as such on a page-by-page and paragraph by paragraph basis. The Government will not assume that any information provided by a respondent is proprietary unless it is conspicuously marked on this basis. Moreover, the Government does not assume any duty to contact a respondent and inquire whether any unmarked information submitted is response to this RFI is propriety. The Government is only seeking sources/information for market research to determine the ability of commercial capabilities in the described areas. Acknowledgement of receipt will not be made. Availability of any formal solicitation will be announced separately. Submittals will not be returned to the sender. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. It is the vendor’s responsibility to check SAM.gov to get additional data.

Responses shall be submitted via email only to Katie Presutto at katherine.presutto@usmc.mil and Shannon Graves at shannon.graves@usmc.mil no later than 8 October 2024, 2:00 PM EDT. Telephone replies will not be accepted. Inquiries by telephone will not be accepted.

3.1 Questions

Questions or comments regarding this notice may be addressed to Katie Presutto at katherine.presutto@usmc.mil and Shannon Graves at shannon.graves@usmc.mil no later than 1 October 2024. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after close of business 1 October 2024 will be answered. The Government intends to respond to questions via an amendment to this RFI posted to SAM.gov. All interested vendors are encouraged to register on SAM.gov to receive email notifications when information related to this acquisition is updated, or documents related to this acquisition are issued and available for download. The Government requests that all interested parties ensure that they are listed on the “Interested Vendors List” in SAM.gov. As a rule, the Government will not send notification directly to interested vendors, and it is recommended to periodically check SAM.gov for updates.

All Questions received by 1 October 2024 are answered in the Attachment to this RFI titled "QandA Att 1 10-4".