Battle Management System (BMS) RFI

Active

Contract Opportunity

DESCRIPTION OF INTENT:

This is a Request for Information (RFI). No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this market survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market survey and any follow-on information requests. Response to this survey is not mandatory to respond to a future RFP for this requirement, should one subsequently be released. Data submitted in response to this market survey will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION:

It is the responsibility of the respondent, when providing any comments/responses, to properly mark such information that is considered proprietary or is otherwise restricted. The United States Government (USG) is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Nor is the USG obligated for like data in possession of third parties or data which is afterwards placed in the public domain by the contractor or by third parties through no fault of the USG. Should the USG need to reproduce the protected data for distribution purposes between USG offices, all such data will be reproduced with restrictive legends in place.

The USG acknowledges its obligations under the Federal Acquisition Regulation 3.104-4 to protect confidential information provided to the USG (18 U.S.C. §1905). Pursuant to this statute, the USG is willing to accept any trade secrets or proprietary restrictions placed upon qualifying data forwarded in response to this RFI and to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure, subject to the following:

• Qualifying data must be clearly marked PROPRIETARY and be accompanied by an explanatory text so that the USG is clearly notified as to exactly what data so qualifies.


• Mark only data that is truly confidential.


• Do not mark data that is already in the public domain or is already in possession of the USG or third parties on an unclassified basis.


• Proprietary data transmitted electronically must have the PROPRIETARY legend on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail as well as at the beginning of the file. Proprietary information contained within the correspondence shall use the legends: "PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS" and "PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS."

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST:

Responses and questions about this request for information should be sent via e-mail to Allegra Steinberg at allegra.w.steinberg.civ@army.mil and Haley Finazzo at haley.a.finazzo.civ@army.mil.

Responses to the RFI are due on 16 Oct 2024 at 9 am EST. Responses to questions may be posted on SAM.gov; accordingly, questions shall not contain proprietary or classified information. The cut-off date for submitting questions is five (5) calendar days prior to closing. Questions that are received by this office after the deadline will be considered late and may not be answered.

Any information that cannot be sent via email can be sent on two (2) identical compact disks (CDs) to the following address:

U.S. Army Contracting Command - Warren

ATTN: Allegra Steinberg

TACOM

6501 E 11 Mile Rd

Warren, MI 48397

INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INDUSTRY:

Manufacturer

a. Name: ________________________________________________________

b. Mailing Address: ________________________________________________________

c. Website: ________________________________________________________

Personnel Responding to RFI

a. Name: ________________________________________________________

b. Title: ________________________________________________________

c. Company Responsibility/Position: ________________________________________________________

d. Telephone/Fax Numbers: ________________________________________________________

e. E-Mail Address: ________________________________________________________

f. CAGE (Commercial and Government entity) Code (if any): ________________________________________________________

OBJECTIVE:

The Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, in support of Program Manager, Light Armored Vehicles (LAV) is seeking sources that can demonstrate a Battle Management System (BMS) that can integrate with both turret weapon systems and Team Awareness Kit (TAK). If you feel your company has such a system, please provide the following information:

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

1. What data sharing capabilities are available?
   
   
   
   1. What message exchange standards are currently implemented?
   
   
   2. What other capabilities for exchanging information do you have?
   
   
   3. What Operating Systems have you successfully tested your proposed system on?
   
   
   
   


2. Can the BMS manipulate a weapons station and pass data from the vehicle or combat system or other Command and Control (C2)/BMS system?


3. Does the BMS provide a C2 network that interfaces to a fire control / weapon system?


4. Can you provide a list and description of capabilities or functions that distinguish your system from others in the market?


5. Is specialty hardware required to use the BMS and what Size, Weight, Power, and Cooling (SWAP-C) is required to run it? If no specialty hardware is required then can it be run in a virtual machine, if so, on what Operating Systems?


6. Has the BMS been fielded on a ground combat vehicle? Or other systems? Please provide details.


7. Does the BMS have any Counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) capabilities? Please provide details.


8. What information is needed to interface your BMS with other C2, turret, and fire control / weapon systems?
   
   
   
   1. Has your system ever interfaced with the Kongsberg RT-20 turret / weapon system and if so, was anything unique or special needed above and beyond the response provided to question #8 to develop the interface?
   
   
   
   


9. What information is needed to interface your BMS with Team Awareness / Tactical Assault Kit (TAK)?
   
   
   
   1. Does your system have an application to interface with TAK?
   
   
   2. What information can BMS push and pull from TAK?
   
   
   3. Can the BMS populate RT-20 turret sensor data, “tracks”, contacts, and/or Position Location Information (PLI) from the turret’s weapons and other sight systems into TAK to support geolocating and PID from the weapon systems?
   
   
   4. Can the BMS pass PLI of blue, red, white (neutral), and yellow (unknown) contacts from TAK to the turret weapon system for situational awareness and/or providing targets to the fire control system?
   
   
   5. Can the BMS slew or enable slewing of the turret to contacts passed from TAK to perform Positive Identification (PID) or engage with the weapon systems?
   
   
   
   


10. What safety certifications or qualification testing have been obtained on the system? E.g. E3, Safety, Logic, Hardware, Software, etc.


11. Has the system passed a Weapon Safety Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB)? E.g. Software System Safety Technical Review Panel (SSSTRP) for Software Safety, etc.


12. Has the system undergone any cyber vulnerability testing or received an Authorization To Operate (ATO)? If so, please describe details and results


13. Please describe your cybersecurity design and implementation process and any tools or systems that are used.


14. What is the patch management cycle of the BMS (i.e., how frequently are updates implemented/released)?


15. What is the licensing cost/ model? Is it per seat? If there is specialty hardware then what is the hardware cost?


16. Is there an opportunity to add or modify features of the solution? I.e. Is this system non-modifiable COTS or are there opportunities to tailor and modify in the future?


17. Provide operator and maintenance manuals


18. If the BMS needs changes or additions, then what work is needed for development? (including NRE costs and licensing costs)

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

1. Can the BMS be available for bailment with engineering support to be used as part of an integration feasibility study with TAK and RT-20?


2. What hardware/software would be needed to conduct a feasibility test?


3. Provide a HW/SW list or detailed Bill of Materials (BOM) of both hardware and software for the BMS


4. What features set would be in scope for a feasibility study?

*On 30 September 2024 the Objective language has been updated to Team Awareness Kit (TAK) from Android Team Awareness Kit (TAK).

*On 15 October 2024 the response date was updated from 9am EST 16 October 2024 to 9am EST 31

October 2024.

Attachments/Links