Program Executive Office Command, Control, and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) / Project Manager Mission Command (PM MC) is seeking information from industry to assist with the development and planning of a potential new requirement.

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SSN) NOTICE ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

Responses may be shared outside the Government with multiple support contractor organizations; therefore, submissions should confirm there is no issue with the release of any proprietary documentation provided to individuals or organizations covered under a PM MC Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Overview:

PM MC is seeking a Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) to develop a Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) based solution to serve as the core product for the next generation of command post capabilities.

Need:

PM MC envisions a comprehensive suite of software applications and services upon which warfighting functions are converged and future applications can be built. This effort strives to eliminate stove-piped legacy systems and consolidates mission systems and programs into a single user interface at command posts to provide a Common Operating Picture (COP).

TAK is a Government-off-the-Shelf (GOTS) software application designed to achieve COP functionality across a variety of platforms. Baseline products are maintained by the Government’s TAK Product Center. However, PM MC is seeking a solution that will extend the capability of these baseline products, converge existing capabilities from other developers into the TAK ecosystem, and demonstrate a solution that meets current and future requirements.

PM MC is interested in executing a 3 to 6-month competitive development iteration with multiple industry partners during FY24 using an existing contract vehicle such as the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Systems Engineering, Technology & Innovation (SETI) contract to develop iterative prototypes. The prototypes may be selected to enter production or may be used as the basis for competition. The desired end state is to award a contract to implement a selected solution to continue maturing the TAK-based capability.

Requested Information:

Please provide the following information in your response:

1. Company Profile – Describe your company’s core business. Please include the following: company name, company address, points-of- contact information including name, phone number, e-mail address, number of employees, office location, CAGE code, UEI number, NAICS code(s), facility clearance level, and current business size status under contracts.

1. Contract Vehicles – Provide a list of contract vehicles and schedules you have that allow for decentralized ordering.

1. Technical Characteristics - The following is a list of technical capabilities/characteristic of the planned new requirement. After reviewing the existing conditions and the new requirements, provide an overview of how you would approach a solution:

1. 1. Core Command and Control (C2) Functions – The Core C2 Functions section contains Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and part of a separate appendix. Prospective respondents must submit a request by e-mail to virginia.a.pippen.civ@army.mil for access to the appendix.

1. 1. Data Centricity – The solution must support the following data centric capabilities:
      1. PM MC has requirements for data centric capabilities centered around a common data model, data fabric, data catalog, and data science platform. Any TAK-based application solution will have to interface with PM MC’s existing technology stack for these core components. The data science platform, fabric, and catalog will provide highly functional APIs for 3rd party integration of services into the TAK front-end. The TAK solution will be required to provide its own Application Programming Interface (API) and Software Development Kit (SDK) for 3rd party capability integration. The TAK solution shall support on-prem, hybrid, and cloud-based data services and integration with those services via Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) robust protocols and architectures. The ultimate intent is to provide an ecosystem of tools and services that help accelerate adoption of new capabilities, data feeds, and ml-models within a consistent COP application.
      2. Key Attributes of Data Centric Capabilities:
         1. Data Fabric: distributed database featuring pub/sub, bulk load, ingress/egress, sync
         2. Distributed Data Catalog: Catalog of data assets, usage artifacts, terminology, reviews, and asset recommendations
         3. Data Science Platform: Integrated Development Environment (IDE) service for building, testing, deploying, discovering, sharing, and monitoring of Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) models
         4. Common Data Model: COE Data and Information Viewpoint (DIV) 2, derived from the Multi-lateral Interoperability Programme Information Model
         5. Orchestration of complex microservice infrastructure for soldiers
         6. Modularity of applications and data
         7. 3rd Party tools integration (TAK API and SDK)
         8. Ease of creating new ingress/egress of data
         9. Ease of integration of new capabilities into the COP including data feeds, ML-models, COP layer management, COP embedded simulation, and changes to military symbology.
         10. Integration with enterprise level cloud services
         11. DDIL robust data transport protocols

1. 1. Agile Development Practices – The solution must be delivered using agile practices to support iterative and flexible releases.
      1. PM MC seeks to rapidly deliver software capability to the warfighter, the next generation C2 COP will utilize Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) development processes and DevSecOps practices. These practices will enable quickly building applications, performing automated testing and cybersecurity processes, and deploying to select users to continuously gather feedback from the warfighter. This approach is intended to allow for greater flexibility in software development, as well as reduce time from when a capability need is identified to its availability to a user in the form of software of high quality.

1. 1. Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) – The solution must support an open systems architecture where various subcomponents will be completed, released, replaced, and integrated at differing times.
      1. A MOSA-compliant system design consists of highly cohesive, loosely coupled, and severable modules, and uses major system interfaces with common, widely-accepted standards between system components. It features a system architecture that allows severable major system components at the appropriate level to be incrementally added, removed, or replaced throughout the system life cycle, without causing major disruption or rework to other interfacing components in the architecture. This approach is intended to allow defense software systems to be able to adapt to rapid evolution in technology throughout the life of the program, as well as accelerate and simplify the incremental delivery of new capability into software systems.

1. 1. Hardware Dependencies – The solution must be deployed on the infrastructure outlined below:
      1. The Tactical Server Infrastructure (TSI) is the Mission Command C2 hardware platform. The current WFA hosting infrastructure software residing on the fielded TSI hardware is based on legacy technology. VMWare ESXI provides hardware abstraction and virtual machine hosting, with a number of virtual machines providing enterprise services (such as email, file share, voice, and chat), and warfighting applications.
      2. PM MC is currently developing a container hosting solution for legacy infrastructure in the field, as well as designing and prototyping a modernized infrastructure optimized for on-premise “TSI as cloud edge” hardware with full cloud integration.
      3. The current TSI infrastructure hosts the Mission Command Information System (MCIS), which has dedicated compute resources assigned. Across the four virtual machines, MCIS is allocated 60 virtual CPUs, 176 GB RAM, and 12.5 TB of persistent storage.

1. Acquisition Approach – Describe any concerns you have with the acquisition approach. Specifically:
   1. Is 3-6 months sufficient time to develop a viable prototype for user testing?
   2. How many development iterations can your organization support in that timeframe?
   3. What are your experiences and lessons learned from similar prototyping efforts? If so:
      1. What were some of the major risk factors and how did you manage/mitigate them?
      2. What were some of the primary cost drivers?
      3. What measures of successful performance were included?
      4. What was the rough order of magnitude for each phase of the project?
   4. Have you had experience serving as an LSI to converge capabilities from multiple industry and Government partners? If so, do you have any concerns with doing so in support of this effort?
   5. Have you collaborated with the Government to deliver software using agile practices? If so, do you have any concerns with doing so in support of this effort?

Response Guidelines:

Interested parties are requested to respond to this SSN with a white paper. Submissions cannot exceed 20 pages, single spaced, 12-point type with at least one-inch margins on 8 1/2” X 11” page size. The response should not exceed a 5 MB e-mail limit for all items associated with the SSN response. Responses must specifically describe the contractor’s capability to meet the requirements outlined in this SSN. Oral communications are not permissible. The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) will be the sole repository for all information related to this SSN.

Companies who wish to respond to this SSN should send requests to Virginia Pippen (virginia.a.pippen.civ@army.mil) for a DoD SAFE link. All responses will be submitted through DoD SAFE: https://safe.apps.mil/ no later than 2 February 2024.

Industry Discussions:

Representatives may choose to meet with potential offerors and hold one-on-one or group discussions. Such discussions would only be intended to obtain further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, including any development and certification risks.

Questions:

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to virginia.a.pippen.civ@army.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Answers to questions will be posted to SAM.gov. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 15 January 2024 will be answered. The Government will not reimburse companies for any costs associated with the submissions of their responses.

Disclaimer:

This SSN is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals, nor will any award be made as a result of this synopsis.

All information contained in the SSN is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government. FAR clause 52.215-3, “Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes”, is incorporated by reference in this SSN. The Government does not intend to pay for information received in response to this SSN. Responders to this invitation are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this SSN. This SSN will be the basis for collecting information on capabilities available. This SSN is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received in this SSN that is marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned nor will receipt be confirmed. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this SSN are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

Attachments/Links