The Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Electronics Systems Directorate, Battle Defense Division may have a requirement for Battle Control System – Fixed (BCS-F) Contractor Logistics Support.

The mission of the BCS-F operators is to provide surveillance and control of North American airspace; warning and assessment of aerospace attack; and to support responses against an air attack. The BCS-F system monitors airborne activity in support of the air sovereignty and aerospace defense missions of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Pacific Command (PACOM) Homeland Defense (HLD). It performs this support within its Area of Operations (AOO) 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The BCS-F system processes, integrates, displays, and distributes data from sensors, data links, and other Command and Control (C2) agencies to maintain situational awareness and support air interdiction operations. The role of the BCS-F has been extended to place greater emphasis on the monitoring of domestic air traffic as a result of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.

BCS-F provides a remote air picture view from the Air Defense Sectors around the Contiguous United States (CONUS) through Remote Tactical Air Picture (RTAP) to the Remote Workstation (RWS). The remote view is used for the purposes of making command decisions in the event of certain emergencies occurring in CONUS air space. The purpose of the system is to enable expedited and efficient command decisions regarding issues of CONUS air space. The system is used in various locations and is a significant component of U.S. Homeland Defense.

• System Engineering Support requires knowledge of the BCS-F system, RTAP at the RWS capability, and its use of the Sentry™ software product. Potential vendors will be required to do the following Hardware Systems Engineering in support of maintaining and augmenting the current BCS-F system baseline:
  • Provide Hardware Systems Engineering analysis (collaboratively with the 520th SWES led Software Systems Engineering analysis) as part of the overall BCS-F SE-IPT to support Government planning for future system baseline changes, including deficiency resolutions, enhancements, obsolescence changes, and new requirement.
  • Provide resolutions to existing deficiencies and mitigate obsolescence issues in the current BCS-F system baseline
  • Incorporate changes to hardware, system configuration items and system documentation resulting from new requirements
  • Incorporate the integration of hardware with software through collaboration on proposed changes with the 520th SWES.
  • Ensure software changes being accomplished by the 520th SWES do not adversely impact hardware performance; engineering expertise will need to be provided as required with the 520th SWES.
  • Support planning of future system baseline changes with Systems Engineering analysis.
  • Support planning of new capabilities and hardware technical refresh efforts with System Engineering analysis.
• Program Protection
• Test Support
  • Execute test engineering activities to include defining and performing tests, as well as documenting, analyzing, and interpreting test results for hardware components or modifications
  • Provide on-site test support as required based on content, risk and level of test effort
  • Work with the PMO, 520th SWES and/or the SSF to ensure modifications are thoroughly tested prior to release at the ADS
  • Provide sector test support as required depending on risk of the new system modification
  • Troubleshoot and resolve all critical hardware related deficiencies generated during testing
  • Provide inputs to the Government’s test plan and Integrated Master Schedule
• Configuration Management (CM)/Data Management (DM)
  • Item Identification – Uniquely identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of the system design, including all hardware and software items
  • Status Accounting – Provide an audit trail of program design decisions and design modifications
  • Technical Baselines – Manage the functional, allocated, and product baselines
  • Change Control – Document, control, revise, and track all changes to the system design and its components
  • Subcontractor Integration – Integrate with major component subcontractors’ CM process
  • Configuration Control Authority (CCA) – Identify Government, Vendor, and Subcontractor levels of CCA
• Quality Assurance
• System Reliability, Maintainability, and Availability (RM&A)
  • Collect and analyze reliability, maintainability, and availability data to refine logistics support concept
  • Develop and maintain reliability and maintenance models, reliability allocations, and predictions
  • Perform RM&A analysis on any new equipment to be entered into the system configuration
  • Identify and make recommendations for control of critical failure items and those items which require “special attention” because of complexity, life limit, limited shelf life, application of advanced state of the art techniques, and the impact of potential failure on safety, readiness, mission success, or the demand for maintenance/logistics support
  • Provide maintainability analysis to the Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) level
  • Implement a closed loop Failure Reporting and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) to identify the root causes of any system hardware failures and to determine and implement the actions necessary to eliminate the cause of the failure
  • Conduct a Failure Review Board (FRB), with PMO participation to review and determine criticality of Problem Reports generated for the fielded equipment.
  • Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on all major and critical hardware failures
• BCS-F Training
• BCS-F Technical Documentation
  • Maintain a library of the COTS manuals associated with equipment within the currently fielded BCS-F system
  • Update this commercial information consistent with vendor notices for the relevant manuals/drawings/specifications
  • Maintain the synchronization between the developed T.O.s and support manuals to ensure technical accuracy is not degraded
  • Provide signed statements, when appropriate, from respective vendors, authorizing Government reproduction rights for commercial manuals and Government re-use of technical data specifically developed for BCS-F when system hardware changes are necessary
• Supply Chain Management
• Spares Management
• Depot Level Maintenance & Help Desk Support