Performance Based Logistics Support for Rescue 21 Western Rivers

======================== REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: ======================== TITLE: Performance Based Logistics Support for Rescue 21 Western Rivers Solicitation No: HSCG79-16-I-R21WRPBL The Coast Guard is considering a long term Performance Based Logistics (PBL) support contract to maintain its "Rescue 21" Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system in the Western Rivers; consisting of 52 remote radio tower locations, 6 control stations, and in the Chesapeake, VA area a baseline testing and system administration lab and a disaster recovery trailer used for temporary mobile deployment of radio capability. The Western Rivers region consists of navigable waterways within the areas of responsibility of Coast Guard Sectors Ohio Valley, Upper Mississippi River, and Lower Mississippi River, including radio sites along portions of the Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Green, and Red Rivers and their tributaries, with outer reach locations near St. Paul, MN; Omaha, NE; Alexandria, LA; Chattanooga, TN; and Pittsburgh, PA. The term PBL, as used in this RFI, is a strategy to implement a contract in which the commercial provider is incentivized and empowered to meet overarching outcome based performance requirements, such as response times and operational availability, in order to improve product support effectiveness while reducing the Government's total ownership cost. A notional 10 year, fixed-price PBL contract would have a 3-5 year base period of performance to maintain the Western Rivers system currently being deployed, with follow-on award terms awarded automatically as long as pre-defined, measured performance metrics are achieved. The award terms would not be typical Government options, in that the Government would be REQUIRED to award them, provided the defined performance requirements are achieved and the federal government is funded. PBL is a product support strategy that aims to improve system readiness and lower lifecycle cost by acquiring a desired level of operational performance, while allowing the product support integrator (in this case, the Contractor) to lower support costs/maximize profits through proactive management of product support over a longer term contract. This strategy could provide best value to the Government by encouraging the Contractor to continually consider technology infusion, increase system reliability, and manage obsolescence issues in order to lower their own lifecycle support costs and increase profit. The goal of the Government in considering a PBL contract is to acquire system sustainment as an affordable, integrated package based on attaining output measures, such as system availability, rather than focusing on separate transactional exchanges, such as parts, training, maintenance and technical services. The scope of such a PBL contract would potentially include full responsibility for sustainment, such as maintenance, supply chain management, user driven Graphic User Interface improvements, system administration, patch management, obsolescence management (software and hardware); responsive information assurance/cybersecurity compliance, physical security, proposing desired (and executing approved) engineering changes, and overall life cycle management of designated R21 Western Rivers components to meet the defined performance requirements. Contractor responsibility for system performance and maintenance would end at the Coast Guard router (i.e., the Coast Guard network is not in scope). While the Contractor would have adequate latitude to improve the system, configuration control would be maintained by the Coast Guard, and that process would be clearly defined in the contract scope. The system being deployed is a COTS, Internet Protocol based, P25 compliant LMR system with the following main subcomponents: • Zetron ACOM Common Communications Equipment system version 4.0.29 • Eventide logging recorders • ICS Electronic V4 Marine Communication System (for Digital Selective Calling and logging) • NTI Enviromux remote site monitoring system • Codan MT-E transmitters (4 per tower) and receivers (5 per tower) • VHF antennas - primarily SD-214 and PD-340 (1 or 2 per tower) • APC uninterrupted power supply system with external battery pack for emergency power • Servers and back room equipment to support the Zetron consoles, remote site monitoring system, and DSC are located at two Communications Radio Infrastructure System (CRIS) sites in redundant configurations • All dispatch consoles and remote radio sites are connected through the CG OneNet network Capabilities Brief If your company is interested in this RFI, please provide a capabilities brief to include the Name of your company, address, phone, Point of Contact (POC) Name, email and phone, DUNS #, NAICS code, size of business, and any other pertinent information. Additional Submission of Information Interested parties are encouraged to submit a response which supports the company's claim that it presently can provide the technology, performance, and functionality required to satisfy the requirements. The Coast Guard's requirement may be refined based on knowledge gained from RFI submissions. Specifically, any interested parties are requested to provide the following information: 1. Positive statement of your interest in this procurement. 2. Has your team successfully supported a system under a PBL strategy within industry or for the Government? If so, what systems were closest in likeness to Rescue 21 Western Rivers? 3. Does your team have experience managing DoD or DHS information assurance/cybersecurity compliance activities? If so, what systems were closest in likeness to Rescue 21 Western Rivers? 4. Does your team have experience maintaining COTS based LMR systems? If so, what systems were closest in likeness to Rescue 21 Western Rivers, and to what extent did you provide life cycle support? 5. Does your team have experience conducting reliability, availability, and maintainability analyses in order to optimize lifecyle support costs? If so, what specific tools and analyses do you have experience using? What systems were closest in likeness to Rescue 21 Western Rivers? 6. Does your team have experience forecasting and managing obsolescence of LMR-like components and software? If so, what systems were closest in likeness to Rescue 21 Western Rivers, and to what extent did you provide life cycle support (if not answered in #4)? 7. Do you have the resources to provide PBL support for the described system throughout the Western Rivers region? If so, how would that organizational structure look? 8. Do you have any recommended outcome measures you feel would be appropriate under a PBL construct, and are any of those recommendations based on positive past experience? 9. Do you have any ideas or concerns about terms and conditions associated with a long-term PLB contract for system support as described above? 10. What specific information would you need provided in a solicitation to effectively bid on a fixed price PBL support contract for Rescue 21 Western Rivers? Comments/questions/concerns are encouraged and should be sent in writing to the Contracting Officer, Pam Boscovich at [email protected]. Upon receiving feedback, the Coast Guard will assess all input and its impact on the development of the final specifications. The NAICS Code for this solicitation is 811213 (Communication Equipment Repair and Maintenance). Contractors doing business with the Government are required to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) database before they can be awarded a contract. A template containing the information for registration can be found at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ Submit your response by 2:00 PM EST on April 19, 2016, to the Contracting Officer, [email protected].