Enhanced SATCOM Project - Polar

Trade Agreement: NONE
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Competitive Procurement Strategy: N/A - P&A/LOI Only
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 

Amendment #3 is issued to clarify the delivery address for the RFI

Amendment #2 is issued to extend the RFI period to 15 May 2018.

Amendment #1 is issued to update the Industry Day information at Article #5 INDUSTRY DAY in the NPP.


1. PURPOSE

In order to ensure a successful procurement of the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project - Polar (ESCP-P) project, industry will be engaged in a consultative process as the first step in this procurement process.

In consideration of industry’s insights and other operational imperatives, a Request for Information (RFI) is being used to initiate engagement with industry to help further define the requirements for a more comprehensive solution as well as to understand current market capacity and interest in preparation of a subsequent RFP (Request for Proposal).

Key objectives of this engagement phase are as follows:

a. Inform Industry of the Department of National Defence’s (DND) ESCP-P requirements;
b. Obtain input from Industry on the feasibility, deficiencies and proposed improvements with respect to potential options to meet the requirement needs;
c. Align this requirement with the Industry’s capabilities, as applicable; 
d. Seek Industry input on potential economic leveraging opportunities; and
e. Obtain Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) costing estimates from Industry.

2. BACKGROUND

DND has initiated the ESCP-P project to deliver both narrowband and wideband satellite communications (SATCOM) in the Arctic to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and potentially to other government departments and agencies (OGDAs) or allied partners. The project could include space and ground segments where a satellite constellation and ground terminals would be acquired and upgraded for Arctic operations.

The Arctic is a longstanding Government of Canada priority which requires CAF presence, mobility, and reach in the region. Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy released on 7 June 2017 includes investment in SATCOM including Arctic coverage. This will enhance the CAF’s ability to conduct its cores missions defending Canada, defending North America through the North American Aerospace Defense Agreement (NORAD), in addition to surveillance and search and rescue missions.

SATCOM is a well-recognized force multiplier for the conduct of effective military operations and are critical for the successful execution of operations in the high north. Despite the importance of domestic sovereignty and surveillance missions in Canada’s arctic region, there currently exists only limited SATCOM capabilities north of 65° North (65° N) latitude that are available to the CAF. To address this capability gap, the CAF has a need for dedicated, secure, and reliable narrowband and wideband beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications to support the execution of domestic and continental operations in the Arctic.

3. REQUIREMENTS

ESCP-P will provide dedicated secure and reliable BLOS communications to support the execution of domestic and continental operations in the Arctic. 

As the project is currently in the Options Analysis phase, specific details and requirements for the project do not yet exist.  However, based on internal DND analysis, the following ESCP-P High-Level Requirements will apply to the requirement.

1 - Coverage and Availability

* The ability to communicate voice and data information at any given time in the Arctic theatre of operations between 65° and 90° North latitude.
* The ability to provide an average annual operational link availability of at least 97%; and
* The ability to provide a constellation availability of at least 90% over the minimum 15 year service life.

2 - Capacity

* The ability to provide the minimum throughput and channel accesses required to support the communications requirements of the Government of Canada and its International Partners in the Arctic Region;
* The ability to provide sufficient throughput for tactical communication requirements including but not limited to chat, voice, text, and e-mail in support of concurrent CAF operations;
* The ability to provide a tactical minimum throughput of 640 kbps (86 channel accesses) to support concurrent CAF & OGDAs operations in the Arctic, including Allied interest;
* The ability to provide sufficient throughput for operational and strategic communications requirements, to include; imagery, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), streaming video and DND/CAF networks; and
*The ability to provide operational and strategic communications throughput of 1819.32 Mbps over wideband SATCOM bands to support concurrent CAF & OGDAs operations in the Arctic, including Allied interest;

3 - Protection

* The ability to communicate classified information securely in accordance with DND Security Assessment & Authorization (SA&A) Guidelines in a joint environment.

4 - Technical Interoperability

* The ability to communicate jointly amongst CAF force elements and NORAD; and
* The ability to communicate with most Allies including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

5 - Control

* The ability to have national control over planning, monitoring, operation, and management of the capability in support of CAF operations and on behalf of all international partners and OGDAs.

6 - Supportability

* The ability to support and leverage the full system capability as a fully integrated component of the overall CAF infrastructure.

4.  REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

This RFI is released to Industry to engage industry and socialize the requirements of ESCP-P while soliciting feedback from industry to assess ESCP-P procurement and implementation options.  The information gathered from this RFI will be used to complete DND’s Business Case Analysis and assess capability trade-offs.  

In order to receive the complete RFI documentation, including the Business Requirements document, interested companies must sign and return the Rules of Engagement document in Annex B of the RFI.

Responses to this RFI are requested on or before 15 May 2018.  E-mail responses are acceptable.

Submission of a response to this RFI is not required in order to submit a response to any follow-on RFP.

5.  INDUSTRY DAY

The ESCP-P Project Team intends to hold an Industry Day information session to provide companies with general information of the ESCP-P project and obtain initial industry comments on the RFI.  One-on-one meetings with interested companies will be held following the Industry day information session.

Industry Day will be held in Gatineau, Quebec on Jan 16, 2018 with one-on-one meetings to follow the Industry Day and continue through January 17 and 18, 2018.  Additional Industry Day specifics will follow only to those that have sent back the signed Rules of Engagement Document to TPSGC.PAPCSAP-APESCPP.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

In order to participate in the Industry Day and one-on-one meetings, interested companies must sign and return the Rules of Engagement document in Annex B of the RFI.

In order to facilitate the one-on-one meetings, industry is encouraged to provide written comments and/or questions in advance of the meetings.

Participation in Industry Day or subsequent one-on-one meetings is not required in order to submit a response to the RFI or any follow-on RFP.

6.   INDUSTRIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL BENEFITS

The Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) Policy, including Value Proposition may apply to this procurement. For more information about the ITB Policy, please visit www.canada.ca/itb.

7. NOTES TO INTERESTED FIRMS

This Industry Consultation process is not a bid solicitation and a contract will not result from this request.

Potential respondents are advised that any information submitted to Canada in response to this Industry Consultation process may be used by Canada in the development of a subsequent competitive
RFP. However, the Government is not bound to accept any Expression of Interest or to consider it further in any associated documents such as a RFP.  

The issuance of this Industry Consultation process does not create an obligation for Canada to issue a subsequent RFP, and does not bind Canada legally or otherwise, to enter into any agreement or to accept any suggestions from organizations. Canada reserves the right to accept or reject any or all comments received.

There will be no short listing of firms for purposes of undertaking any future work, as a result of this RFI. Similarly, participation in this Industry Consultation process is not a condition or prerequisite for participation in any RFP(s).

Companies participating in this Industry Consultation process should identify any submitted information that is to be considered as either company confidential or proprietary.

All enquiries and other communications related to this Industry Consultation process shall be directed exclusively to the Procurement Authority.

8.   PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY

All enquiries and other communications related to this Industry Consultation process shall be directed as follows:

ESCP-P Procurement Office
Procurement Branch
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
Space, Innovation and Informatics Projects Directorate
11 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0S5

E-mail address: TPSGC.PAPCSAP-APESCPP.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca


Delivery Date: 15/05/2018

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.