The USDA Forest Service has need to contract aerial supervision airplanes to perform initial attack, extended attack, and large fire aerial supervision operations in support of nationwide wildland firefighting operations. The purpose of this request for information is to conduct market research for commercial availability of airplanes (with or without modifications) that will meet air attack specifications within reasonable pricing parameters. Information submitted may lead to the issuance of a solicitation of competitive proposals for exclusive use contract of seven (7) airplanes. The exclusive use operational period is expected to begin in April and end in November. The solicitation is anticipated to be published by October 2013 for an anticipated contract award of February 2014, in preparation for the 2014 fire season. This is an emergent requirement and has the potential to increase in overall scope to as many as 15 or more exclusive use contracted air attack platforms by 2018. The mission scope is intended to be two-fold. One, provide an aerial supervision platform commensurate with the description contained within this document to service wildland firefighting needs using current, up-to-date, technology. Two, provide a platform for safe and effective training of aerial supervision crew while performing wildland fire operations. This second need necessitates the requirement of an aft crew station that provides the capability to manage aerial supervision operations, in its entirety. The operational scope is comprised of both a regional and a national servicing and resourcing capability. Platforms will be mobilized and deployed based on local needs as well as national needs. Regional resourcing service provides the ability to service an approximate 600 mile area and identifies the home-base location. National servicing provides the ability to deploy the airplane for resourcing nationwide. The following are the anticipated servicing areas and home-base locations: - One airplane to service the Southern California area (Lancaster, CA) to support day and night (24 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Intermountain area (McCall, ID) to support day and night (24 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Northwest area (Redmond, OR) to support day (14 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Southwest area (Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, AZ) to support day (14 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Northern California area (Redding, CA) to support day (14 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Northern area (Missoula, MT) to support day (14 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. - One airplane to service the Rocky Mountain area (Durango, CO) to support day (14 hours) operations for a 180 day exclusive use period. The contract will be an exclusive use contract. The contractor will provide airplane(s), pilots, and all maintenance support. The government will provide aerial supervision crew(s). Fuel will be provided by the government. The length of the contract is anticipated to be three (3) years, followed by two (2) option years for a total of five (5) years. The general mission profile consists of 30-45 minutes enroute to and from the fire, 2-3 hours of tactical employment over the fire, and 30 minutes fuel reserve for a combined total of 4 hours of mission fuel. The crew is generally comprised of the contractor pilot, one aerial supervisor occupying the co-pilot station and an aft crew station for an instructor/trainee/observer/sensor operator. Table 1 provides general guidance on the characterization of each phase in the employment of the air attack mission. The airplanes will be operated within the mountainous orographic turbulent environment associated with altitudes varying from 1000 ft AGL to 3,000 ft AGL. Turbulence, smoke, haze, and fire airborne debris associated with operations over a fire will likely be encountered. Generally, light to moderate turbulent conditions prevail as the FS will preclude operations in severe turbulence. Table 1. General Phase and Flight Profiles Phase Basic Conditions Launch SL to10,000 ft MSL -10 to 40º C Enroute to/from As required Air Attack Mission (1,000 to 2,500 ft AGL max endurance) SL - 10,000 ft MSL 10 to 40º C • Purpose - to provide aerial supervision of incident aircraft, conduct fire reconnaissance, coordinate airspace, coordinate communications. • Monitor drop effectiveness in terms of location, drop speed, drop height and other parameters. • The airplane will generally be flown at maximum endurance at 1,000 to 2,500 ft AGL above the fire within a 1 mile radius. • Turbulence, smoke, and haze conditions are prevalent. Airborne Fire Intelligence As prescribed by sensing system requirements • Purpose - To enhance situational awareness for both day and night operations. • To complete IR/EO imagery of the incident aircraft drops for later analysis and imagery of the fire for digital transmit to ground personnel and air to air. • Altitude and airspeed will be set by system requirements and tactical employment needs. It is anticipated that operational altitudes may vary from between 1,000 to 10,000 ft AGL. The following information lists anticipated specification requirements. These specifications may not be completely inclusive and may be subject to change. General specifications: - Turboprop. - Dual-engine or single-engine. - High or low wing. - FAA 135 Standard Airworthiness Certificate. - Single pilot, day/night, FAA IFR certification and approval. - Flight in known icing conditions, FAA certification and approval. - Dual controls. - Air Conditioning. - Minimum of pilot plus 3 passengers. - Ability to operate within air comprised of fire smoke and fire debris particulates. - Ability to operate continuously within light to moderate turbulence. - Ability to modify paint scheme to meet USFS standard high visibility markings. - FAA approved smoke generating system. - Newer production airplane. -- Airframe currently in production or a well-supported model to support a 10 year outlook. -- Adequate maintenance, engineering support, service, and parts supply availability for a 10 year outlook. Performance specifications : The intent of these specifications are to enable the aircraft to respond quickly to a given fire within the 600 mile servicing area as well as provide on-station endurance necessary for aerial supervision operations. These are the minimum specification capabilities desired. Airplanes with capabilities in excess of these specifications would be given significant consideration. - Speed: 170 KTAS at or below 10,000 ft PA, standard temperature and pressure. - Mission payload: 950 lbs (4 crew +baggage). - Endurance: 4 hours fuel computed at maximum endurance airspeed at or below 10,000 ft PA, standard temperature and pressure with mission payload. - 600 nm range with mission payload. - Ability to operate from airfields identified within the Interagency Air Tanker Base Directory, 2013. - Capability to take-off from, and land to, a 5,000 ft runway at 3,500 ft PA, ISA +20º C with mission payload plus endurance fuel. Field of view (FOV) specifications : The intent is to provide the crew with as much capability as possible for uninterrupted viewing of wild land fire operations and ground and airborne asset disposition with minimal aircraft maneuver compensation required to do so. - Minimally obstructed and adequate field of view down, laterally, and forward from the cockpit crew station "3-9 line." -- Best - large windows, no wing or nacelle blockages within field of regard of side windows forward of cockpit crew station "3-9 line." -- Good - relatively large windows, no wing or nacelle blockage within the field of view of side windows forward of cockpit crew station "3-9 line." -- Poor - relatively smaller windows, nacelle or wing blockage within the field of view of side windows forward of the cockpit crew station "3-9 line." Support specifications: - The ability of the company to manage and coordinate maintenance logistics and support throughout the nation, 24 hrs a day, 7-days a week. - The ability to expediently respond to, repair, and return to service emergent airplane discrepancies. - A fully implemented Safety Management System program in direct support of this contract. - The ability to coordinate engineering and FAA support for potential airplane airframe and avionics modifications. - An FAA approved inspection program that allows "proportionately interim" inspections of the aircraft. An example is a program with an inspection tolerance large enough to allow the aircraft to be partially inspected and then returned to service to optimize daytime availability. Proportionately interim inspections must be FAA approved. Avionics specifications: The intent is to provide a mission and training platform for command and control, IR/EO sensing, and network centric wide area awareness. Command and Control (C2): - Three VHF-AM Radios (COM 1, COM 2, COM 3). - Three VHF-FM Radios (FM 1, FM 2, FM 3). - Aux FM capability. - The pilot, co-pilot, and aft cabin crew station must have simultaneous transmit capability (simulcast). - Separate Audio Control systems for the pilot station, co-pilot station, and aft cabin crew station. - Controls for the pilot station, co-pilot station, and aft cabin crew station to each independently adjust headphone volume for each communications receiver. - Communication indicators that indicate the radio in use for each station during transmit and receive, when the radio is in use. - An Intercom System (ICS) for flight deck and all passenger seat stations. - Navigation -- IFR certified Global Positioning System (GPS) with moving map. -- Mode S Transponder. -- Aircraft autopilot. - Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) with 2 mile display selection and a minimum 10 mile range. - Class B Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS). - MFD moving map with terrain awareness display. - Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) certified to TSO-91a or newer. - Automated Flight Following system (AFF). - Satellite weather system with XM Aviator subscription or equivalent. - Weather radar. - Auxiliary power connector (3 pin cigarette lighter or USB plug). IR/EO: It is the intent that each aircraft is equipped with current technology IR/EO sensing systems for the purpose of airborne fire intelligence and tactical use. The intent is to provide task capabilities to facilitate aerial supervision activities. Industry technology proposals that meet these task capabilities, yet may deviate from the defined language of this RFI, would be given significant consideration. The following lists general system mission capability specifications. Industry technology that meets these objectives would be - Intuitive and simple system display and management interface. - Color camera and FLIR system. - Effective display size to facilitate effective viewing of targets and areas of interests. - Two separate controls and display; -- One for use by the co-pilot station. -- One for use by the aft cabin crew station. - A system Field-of-Regard (FOR) capable of viewing the ground/fire at various look- down angles and of viewing airborne assets at various look-down angles for aircraft that can be located down, forward, behind, and lateral to the system (i.e. 180 degree spherical lookdown/around capability). - The ability to manually slew the sensor Field-of-View (FOV) within the FOR. - Operator selectable FOV magnification: -- Wide FOV - To facilitate an overall perspective of the fire/ground. -- Narrow FOV - To facilitate observation of areas/targets. - The ability to manually "select" an area of interest upon which the system will, autonomously (without user input) remain pointed at that area, as the aircraft maneuvers. - The ability to "fix" the orientation of the sensor at crew selectable viewing angles. - The ability for crew to select targets for autonomous system tracking. - The ability of the crew to adjust sensor detection characteristics and image display characteristics to facilitate the optimization of the image based on environmental conditions (terrain, day/night, smoke/haze, brightness intensity of wildfires, etc.). - The ability of the system to provide and display target location (latitude, longitude, altitude). If laser is used, then eye safe. - The ability to provide a visible (within the visible light spectrum, with and without the aid of NVG's) marking capability of a target that can be viewed by other aircraft within 1 mile and at off-axis viewing angles at night. - The ability to "screen shot" a display image and electronically store it for later use in briefing and intelligence promulgation. - The ability of the system to know and display screen the sensor's geo-spatial location (latitude, longitude, altitude) and sensor orientation (azimuth and elevation). - The ability of the system to video record the mission. - The ability to provide a persistent surveillance area of the fire via color camera and IR for both day and night operations. - The ability to auto-detect non-participant aircraft. - FAA airworthiness certification. Network Centric Wide Area Awareness (C2WA): The intent of this capability is to enhance the situational awareness of all operational users to include ground fire firefighters, airborne assets, and command and control. - Data link dissemination for near or near real-time video image viewing and analysis. - Track ground force and air force position location. - Data entry to assign naming/labeling/text convention to ground and air forces engaged on the fire. - "Draw" capability to construct airspace coordination measures and ground disposition. - The ability for high-level image management of areas of engagement to meet specific end user needs. -- Capability to adjust the size and location of the area of interest. -- Capability to zoom in and out with minimal loss in resolution. -- Position indication (lat/long). Aft crew station specifications (additional): The intent of the aft crew station is to provide a fully integrated station capable of managing aerial supervision operations. The primary purpose of this station is for training and sensor operation. The aerial supervisor trainee or trainer will occupy this station. The aft crew station must provide redundancy of the flight deck aerial supervision crew station to facilitate direct communication and management to external units without having to direct flight deck crew to manage switchology. Additionally, this crew station must provide necessary flight deck situational awareness compromised by the location of the aft crew station, such as position location awareness (heading, altitude, airspeed, grid location, moving map display, IR/EO sensor, etc.). A "stand-alone" system, separate from aircraft navigation systems, is acceptable. - Minimally obstructed and adequate field of view down and laterally. - Located behind the front co-pilot station at a station to facilitate best external viewing. - Work station ergonomically configured to facilitate viewing of and management of avionics associated controls and displays as well as IR/EO and C2WA system display and management. -- Moving map display of aircraft position, heading, altitude, and airspeed. -- IR/EO system displays and controls. -- C2WA system displays and controls. -- Intercom control system for COM 1, 2, 3 and FM 1, 2, 3 as specified above. -- Desk worktop. -- TCAS EHSI display. -- Auxiliary power source. Interested parties wishing to participate in this market research may provide information that meet or exceed the above mission specifications to the following address, by September 13, 2013: USDA Forest Service - Contracting National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) 3833 South Development Avenue Attn: Mr. Jeff McGinley Boise, ID 83705-5354 The FS is intent on implementing current technology for use in aerial supervision and this is an opportunity for industry to provide capability information. It is understood that budget constraints may lead to compromising FS desires. Therefore: - Industry is encouraged to provide various levels of technology that may meet some or all of the specifications listed and to provide applicable pricing packages and descriptions for each configuration. - A "phasing-in" of technology capability within the first 2-years of the contract may be considered due to the aggressive time schedule for which the FS is pursuing this advent in platform capability. The FS would be interested in any provided and/or recommended scheduling. The priority is the communications and aft crew station package, the IR/EO capability package, and then the C2WA package. The intent is the aircraft would be "full mission capable" by the beginning of the third contract year. - It is understood that the IR/EO and C2WA packages may add significant cost to the basic platform, beyond the communications, performance, and aft crew station package. Therefore, associated cost estimates are desired for -- Basic package (communications, performance, aft crew station) -- IR/EO sensor package -- C2WA package -- Technology and aircraft performance capabilities options -- It is requested to provide cost estimates (broken out by "daily availability" and "flight rate") for exclusive use airplanes for a five (5) year contract period (2014-18). -- Interested parties are also encouraged to provide a detailed description and cost of the aft crew station configuration, IR/EO systems and technology options, and C2WA systems and options. Industry is encouraged to contact the National Aerial Supervision Program Manager to facilitate capabilities briefs. The submission of information and/or cost estimates does not obligate the Government to purchase, or the interested parties to furnish any airplanes, as the market research and the cost estimates are for planning purposes only. (This is not a Request for Proposal or a Solicitation) Points of Contact: - Jeff McGinley, Contracting Officer (CO), Phone: 208-387-5350, E-mail:
[email protected] - Bill Sloan, National Aerial Supervision Program Manager, Phone: Office 208-387-5837, Mobile 208-387-5735, E-mail:
[email protected] Place of Performance: Address: U.S. Forest Service, Washington Office - Boise National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) 3833 South Development Avenue Boise, Idaho Zip Code: 83705-5354 Country: USA