Continuity of Operations Plan, AFN TV Infrastructure

Active

Contract Opportunity

Sources Sought Notice

Continuity of Operations Plan, AFN TV Infrastructure

Sources Sought Tracking Number: HQ0516-FY-24-0003

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS:

Defense Media Activity

6700 Taylor Avenue

Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755

The Defense Media Activity (DMA) is seeking information from industry to assist with the development and planning of a potential new requirement. The intent of this Sources Sought is to gain information on the agency’s requirement for a Continuity of Operations Infrastructure to support the American Forces Network (AFN) broadcast mission. Responses provided may be used by DMA to assist in budgetary planning, the development of an acquisition strategy, Performance Work Statement, salient characteristics, and performance specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response.

Specific support is required to ascertain industry’s ability to furnish a turnkey solution to provide a geographically agnostic infrastructure capable of performing specific roles in support of the AFN television broadcast mission presently performed at the AFN Broadcast Center. The system shall comprise components that meet the required capabilities detailed later in this document. This system is also intended to potentially further AFN’s ability to operate remotely to support both emergency and daily activities. Vendors are encouraged to provide as much information as possible regarding their proven remote operational capabilities.

DMA representatives may choose to meet with respondents and others who express interest and hold one-on-one discussions. Such discussions would only be intended to obtain further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, including any development and implementation risks.

The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess availability of the anticipated requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Respondents are encouraged to provide the following:

1. A summary of the respondent’s capabilities relating to DMA’s requirements.


2. Questions related to the SOURCES SOUGHT’s Required Capabilities. Any questions received and subsequent answers will be posted to https://sam.gov/ for the benefit of all interested parties.


3. An itemized budgetary estimate for a system capable of satisfying the SOURCES SOUGHT’s Required Capabilities. Itemized estimates are preferred should DMA need to adjust system specifications.

Background

The Defense Media Activity (DMA) provides comprehensive internal and external information to the entire Department of Defense through all available media. DMA communicates messages and themes to the Secretary of Defense, Service Secretary and other DoD and Military Service through the medium of print, the worldwide web, radio and television in order to support and improve quality of life and morale, situational awareness, force protection and sustain readiness. AFN provides U.S. radio and television news, information and entertainment programming to military service members, DoD civilians and their families overseas, and aboard U.S. Navy ships. This Continuity of Operations infrastructure will support the American Forces Network (AFN) mission under the DMA Strategic Priorities Plan: Modernize the American Forces Network initiative 4.6. - Develop a Viable AFN COOP Capability

Purpose

The purpose of this Sources Sought is to gather information from industry partners to determine the feasibility and practicality of a cloud-native video switching and program stream creation solution as a contingency to provide continuity of operations of AFN Television services in the event the AFN Broadcast Center, or its mission functions, are rendered incapacitated. This solution shall provide AFN the ability to continue delivering critical command information from a remotely accessible, geographically agnostic, infrastructure.

Scope:

A complete solution capable of receiving and switching 10 or more terrestrially delivered television broadcast network sources to create two discrete program streams and delivering them to a Digital Video Broadcast Satellite Encoding and Encryption system (location TBD) to be encoded, scrambled, encrypted and passed to the satellite contractor for distribution for the intended and authorized audience. System must be manageable and operable via a public internet connection. The respondent shall supply a procedure for routinely testing and regularly exercising the contingency environment, as well as confidence monitoring the final product(s).

REQUIRED CAPABILITIES AFN TV COOP

Content Contribution:

Responses to this SOURCES SOUGHT shall detail a best practice solution of receiving/connecting to common broadcast television contribution streams, which at a minimum shall include the sources listed below. The proposed system shall also allow for future, additional sources:

• Fox News


• Fox Sports


• CNN


• MSNBC


• ABC


• CBS


• NBC


• ESPN


• Dynamic Source via TSoIP: i.e.: an SRT listener

Video Switching

Two virtual Television Master Control/Control Room Switchers capable of remote operations. Monitoring for “Program” and “Preview” busses, as well as up to 10 assignable source inputs. AFN Operator(s) shall be able to switch between live programming and stored material. Operators shall have the ability to switch away from commercial content to stored or captured assets.

Video Playout, Branding/Signage

The solution should incorporate the ability to capture from source, receive uploads, store content/assets. The solution shall include the capability to cue and play stored content as well as overlay station identification graphics (bug) and critical text messaging (crawls).

Dependencies

1. The solution shall incorporate proven cloud technology.


2. Highly redundant and Highly Available. Responses shall describe proposed system redundancy and recovery methodology as well as system availability (i.e.99.xxx).


3. Responses shall describe available levels of support and response times.


4. The contingency environment shall be accessible 24/7/365 and able to be brought on-line within four hours of initiation. To manage costs, AFN expects the systems to be idle until such time a contingency or routine testing warrants its use.


5. Must meet Federal and Department of Defense cybersecurity requirements for information systems and cloud offerings.

Traffic and Scheduling:

The ability to traffic and schedule content is a possible future requirement.

Available Content

DMA-AFN shall be responsible for establishing all licensing and content distribution rights for any materials, media or programming used within the contingency environment.

Operating Procedures

The contractor shall be responsible for providing operating procedures for the proposed system.

Monitoring/Exercises

Capability to operate the COOP environment and monitor the finished product from any location with internet access. The two created program streams must also be delivered terrestrially to the Broadcast Center for monitoring.

AFN Now: Program streams/Channels created in the COOP environment shall also be delivered to the existing AFN Now IPTV environment.

Infrastructure

Virtualized systems and workflows required to accomplish this requirement shall be hosted in Federal Government/Department of Defense approved cloud environments. The Government shall not provide any equipment, space, power, racks, cooling or physical security.

Services:

The Contractor shall provide the tools, personnel, hardware and software necessary to provide a turnkey, DoD Cyber-Compliant system, to include an Information System Security Officer (ISSO) to oversee and manage Authority to Operate (ATO) credentialling, adhering to the Risk Management Framework (RMF) life-cycle, as specified in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800 Series Standards Publications. The Contractor shall design, engineer, integrate, configure, test and commission all hardware, software, workflows and materials necessary, to successfully meet the system requirements, to include ATO and RMF requirements. The Contractor should also be aware that any provided workstations and servers, physical or virtual, shall be compliant with the appropriate DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG).

The Contractor shall provide design/architecture, commissioning and training services. Training shall be performed by system certified trainers.

The Contractor shall participate in no more than three formal design reviews prior to system delivery. . The Contractor shall providea system topology drawing in a Government provided format, a commissioning plan and a transition plan intended to give AFN personnel a thorough understanding of how to transfer capabilities from the current system to this redundant system.

The Contractor shall furnish all necessary licensing and 24/7/365 support for the complete system for one year and Government options for four additional years. The contractor shall identify typical costs related to the system at rest, initializing (spinning-up) and full functionality for set time periods (costs per hour), to include typical payment structures.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES

The expectation for this system to be a cloud solution. Physical infrastructure and facilities are the responsibility of the contractor and are required to meet the physical controls requirements of NIST SP 800.53.

REQUESTED INFORMATION:

a. Company’s Name, mailing address, phone number, company’s website, and e-mail of designated point(s) of contact.

b. Business Type: Based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 334220 Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing. Identify the type of entity (large business, small business, small disadvantaged, woman-owned, 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, etc.).

c. Cage Code

d. Contractor’s past performance in meeting stated objectives/requirements, statement of qualifications to include information that clearly demonstrates the respondent’s capabilities, expertise and experience to perform the specific requirements contained in this SOURCES SOUGHT.

e. Contract vehicles that would be available to the Government for the procurement of the product and service, to include General Service Administration (GSA), GSA MOBIS, Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), or any other Government Agency contract vehicle. (This information is for market research only and does not preclude your company from responding to this notice.)

RESPONSE GUIDELINES:

Vendors who wish to respond to this should send responses via email NLT 22 April 2024 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) to Contracting Specialist nathan.e.mack.civ@mail.mil. Contracting Officer colette.b.jones.civ@mail.mil and Interested parties are requested to respond to this SOURCES SOUGHT with a white paper. Submissions cannot exceed 10 pages, single-spaced, 12-point type with at least one-inch margins on 8 1/2” X 11” page size, not including any manufacturer cut sheets or system block diagrams. Responses must specifically describe the contractor’s capability to meet the requirements outlined in this SOURCES SOUGHT.

QUESTIONS:

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted by e-mail to nathan.e.mack.civ@mail.mil and colette.b.jones.civ@mail.mil Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 16 April 2024 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), will be answered. The Government will not reimburse companies for any costs associated with the submissions of their responses.

DISCLAIMER:

This SOURCES SOUGHT 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 SOURCES SOUGHT 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 SOURCES SOUGHT. The Government does not intend to pay for information received in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT. Responders to this invitation are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this SOURCES SOUGHT. This SOURCES SOUGHT will be the basis for collecting information on capabilities available. This SOURCES SOUGHT 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 SOURCES SOUGHT 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 SOURCES SOUGHT are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

PARTICIPATION IN THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY AND FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PROCURE ANY ITEMS/SERVICES OR FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO PAY FOR THE INFORMATION RECEIVED. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ASSOCIATED COSTS AS A RESULT OF PROSPECTIVE OFFERORS INTEREST, RESPONSE OR PARTICIPATION IN THIS SOURCES SOUGHT. ANY FORMAL SOLICITATION WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT A LATER DATE. THE GOVERNMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CANCEL THIS REQUIREMENT AT ANY TIME DURING THE ACQUISITION PROCESS.

ANY SOLICITATION RESULTING FROM THE ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE POSTED TO THE PUBLIC IN FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FAR PART 5. HOWEVER, RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED RESPONSES TO A SOLICITATION.

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