[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 230 (Wednesday, November 30, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86378-86380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28805]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary of Transportation

[DOT-OST-2016-0227]


Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Service for National 
Critical Infrastructure Resiliency

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), U.S. Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Request for information (RFI).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This RFI provides an outline for the potential use by the 
Federal Government of one or more Positioning, Navigation, and Timing 
(PNT) technologies to back up signals from the Global Positioning 
System (GPS) and to ensure resiliency of PNT for U.S. Critical 
Infrastructure (CI) operations. As a co-chair and member of the 
National Executive Committee for Space-based PNT, and a provider and 
user of U.S. critical infrastructure services, the Department of 
Transportation is investigating opportunities by which the Federal 
Government may make use of service(s) which can provide the necessary 
backup capability or capabilities to ensure PNT continuity for U.S. CI 
in the event of a temporary disruption in GPS availability. Further, as 
the lead civil agency for PNT in the Federal Government, the Department 
of Transportation is interested in leveraging PNT service technology 
initiatives under consideration or currently undertaken by industry.
    The Federal Government is presently documenting civil requirements 
for PNT capabilities to serve as the basis for potential future 
acquisition activity. The initial objective is to support sustainment 
of domestic CI timing continuity with the capability to extend 
service(s) in the future to provide positioning/navigation continuity 
as well.

DATES: Responses should be filed by January 30, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may file responses identified by the docket number DOT-
OST-2016-0227 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
DOT-OST-2016-0227 at the beginning of your submission. All submissions 
received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
submissions received in any of our dockets by the name of the 
individual submitting the document (or signing the submission, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit 
http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: For access to the docket and comments received, go to 
http://www.regulations.gov or to the street address listed above. 
Follow the online instructions for accessing the docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen L. Van Dyke, Director, 
Positioning, Navigation, and Timing & Spectrum Management, Office of 
the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC, 20590, 202-
366-3180, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Overview

    This RFI provides an outline for the potential use by the Federal 
Government of one or more PNT technologies to back up signals from GPS 
and to ensure resiliency of PNT for U.S. critical infrastructure 
operations. The national policy requirement to ensure resilient PNT 
capabilities is expressed in two Presidential policy documents. The 
National Space Policy of the United States of America, dated June 28, 
2010, states, ``. . . the United States shall . . . Invest in domestic 
capabilities and support international activities to detect, mitigate, 
and increase resiliency to harmful interference to GPS, and identify 
and implement, as necessary and appropriate, redundant and back-up 
systems or approaches for critical infrastructure, key resources, and 
mission-essential functions.'' This follows a statement in U.S. Space-
based PNT Policy dated December 15, 2004 (National Security 
Presidential Directive (NSPD)-39) that, ``. . . the United States 
Government shall . . . Improve the performance of space-based 
positioning, navigation, and timing services, including more robust 
resistance to interference for, and consistent with, U.S. and allied 
national security purposes, homeland security, and civil, commercial, 
and scientific users worldwide . . . and, Promote the use of U.S. 
space-based positioning, navigation, and timing services and 
capabilities for applications at the Federal, State, and local level, 
to the maximum practical extent.''
    As defined in NSPD-39, the responsibility to ``. . . advise and 
coordinate with and among the Departments and Agencies responsible for 
the strategic decisions regarding policies, architectures, 
requirements, and resource allocation for maintaining and improving 
U.S. space-based PNT infrastructures, including the GPS, its 
augmentations, [and] security for these services . . .'' rests with the 
National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee, co-chaired by the Deputy 
Secretaries of the Department of Defense and the Department of 
Transportation. NSPD-39 also specifically requires that the Secretary 
of Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, ``. . . develop, acquire, operate, and maintain backup 
position, navigation, and timing capabilities that can support critical 
transportation, homeland security, and other critical civil and 
commercial infrastructure applications within the United States, in the 
event of a disruption of the GPS or other space-based positioning, 
navigation, and timing services . . .''
    As a co-chair and member of the National Executive Committee for 
Space-based PNT, and a provider and user of U.S. CI services, the 
Department of Transportation is investigating opportunities by which 
the Federal

[[Page 86379]]

Government may make use of service(s) which can provide the necessary 
backup capability or capabilities to ensure PNT continuity for U.S. CI 
in the event of a temporary disruption in GPS availability. Further, as 
the lead civil agency for PNT in the Federal Government, the Department 
of Transportation is interested in leveraging PNT service technology 
initiatives under consideration or currently undertaken by industry.
    The Federal Government is presently documenting civil requirements 
for PNT capabilities to serve as the basis for potential future 
acquisition activity. The initial objective is to support sustainment 
of domestic CI timing continuity with the capability to extend 
service(s) in the future to provide positioning/navigation continuity 
as well.
    The government would be open to suggestions from industry regarding 
methods of accessing such services and associated cost-sharing 
arrangements, including, but not limited to Public-Private-
Partnerships, Service Level Agreements, or other Cooperative 
Arrangements to alleviate or eliminate constraints to meet the general 
continuity requirements below. The government would also be interested 
in industry assessment of user participation in the backup GPS market. 
If a proposed solution or solutions assumes legislative and/or 
regulatory action on the part of the Federal Government, that should be 
noted in any response.

2. Technical Information

    The Presidential Policy Directive on Critical Infrastructure 
Security and Resilience (PPD-21; February 12, 2013) designates sixteen 
CI sectors: Chemical; Commercial Facilities; Communications; Critical 
Manufacturing; Dams; Defense Industrial Base; Emergency Services; 
Energy; Financial Services; Food and Agriculture; Government 
Facilities; Healthcare and Public Health; Information Technology; 
Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste; Transportation Systems; and 
Water and Wastewater Systems. To support the initial objective, CI 
sectors need access to timing information for both nationwide 
applications and, in some cases, for more stringent regional and local 
applications.
    The Federal Government is interested in services which could be 
implemented to provide the following capabilities and ensure timing 
continuity for the domestic CI outlined below. Respondents must include 
information related to nationwide and regional CI Timing application 
coverage for GPS backup capabilities as described below. Respondents 
may also include information on CI timing applications additional to 
GPS capabilities if desired:

Nationwide CI Timing Application Coverage for a GPS Backup

[cir] Timing Continuity--Sustained accuracy at 1 microsecond with 
respect to UTC
[cir] Frequency Stability--Stratum 1 level or better 
(1x10-11 over 24 hours)
[cir] System Availability--95%-99%
[cir] System Reliability/Holdover Capability (no access to GPS)--90 
days
[cir] Extent of service coverage area as a function of system 
architecture
[cir] Considerations for receive antennas and integration with GPS 
devices (include estimated costs, user equipage requirements, and time-
to-market information)
[cir] Considerations for service to mobile vs. fixed users
[cir] Rough order of magnitude cost estimate for service implementation 
and operation for at least ten years
[cir] How quickly a demonstration of service functionality could be 
performed
[cir] Scalability and considerations for extending service to a 
nationwide positioning/navigation capability
[cir] Any off-shore coverage capability

Regional/Local CI Timing Application Coverage for a GPS Backup

[cir] Timing Continuity--Sustained accuracy at 100 nanoseconds with 
respect to UTC
[cir] Frequency Stability--Stratum 1 level or better 
(1x10-11 over 24 hours)
[cir] System Availability--99%
[cir] System Reliability/Holdover Capability (no access to GPS)--30 
days
[cir] Extent of service coverage area as a function of system 
architecture
[cir] Considerations for receive antennas and integration with GPS 
devices (include estimated costs, user equipage requirements, and time-
to-market information)
[cir] Considerations for service to mobile vs. fixed users
[cir] Rough order of magnitude cost estimate for service implementation 
and operation for at least ten years
[cir] How quickly a demonstration of service functionality could be 
performed
[cir] Considerations for extending service to include positioning/
navigation capability
[cir] Any off-shore coverage capability

Nationwide or Regional/Local CI Timing Application Coverage Additional 
to GPS Capabilities

[cir] Considerations for messaging capabilities in terms of data rate 
and message content (support operations, emergency notifications, etc.)
[cir] Service availability in environments such as indoors, underwater, 
underground, and urban canyons not feasible with GPS
[cir] Rough order of magnitude cost estimate for service implementation 
and operation for at least ten years

Respondents please advise if your company has developed and/or offered 
PNT services in the past and if you are marketing or providing similar 
services today in foreign markets.

3. Requested Information

    Interested companies who believe they are capable of providing all 
or part of the information requested above are invited to indicate 
their interest by providing company information to include:

(a) Company name
(b) Company address
(c) CAGE code [if applicable]
(d) Business Point of Contact (POC) name, email address, and telephone
(e) Technical Point of Contact (POC) name, email address, and telephone

    4. Responses may be submitted in respondent's preferred format. 
Abbreviations should be defined either on first use or in a glossary. 
Charts and graphics should have quantitative data clearly labeled. 
Assumptions should be clearly identified.
    5. Proprietary and other sensitive information should be so marked 
with requested disposition instructions. Submitted materials will not 
be returned.
    6. Responses are limited to fifteen (15) 8.5'' x 11'' pages with 
1'' margins, and 12-point font (Arial or Times New Roman). Pages must 
be numbered and submitted electronically via email as Microsoft Word or 
Adobe Acrobat files. Please send responses to the contact information 
provided in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of the notice.
    7. Submitted responses shall be UNCLASSIFIED unless prior 
arrangements are made with the Contracting Office.
    This is a Request For Information (RFI) only. This request is for 
planning purposes, and shall not be construed as a solicitation 
announcement, invitation for bids, request for proposals, quotes or an 
indication that the Government will contract for the items contained in 
this notice. After reviewing the descriptions

[[Page 86380]]

currently posted to FEDBIZOPS, interested capable vendors are invited 
to provide responses. The Government will not reimburse respondents for 
any costs associated with the submission of the information being 
requested or reimburse expenses incurred to the interested parties for 
responses.
    Additionally, your response will be treated only as information for 
the Government to consider. As previously stated, respondents will not 
be entitled to payment for direct or indirect costs that are incurred 
in responding to this RFI. Further, this request does not constitute a 
solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations 
to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated or 
received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the 
Federal Government in developing an acquisition strategy, Statements of 
Work/Performance Work Statements and/or Statements of Objectives. 
Interested parties are responsible to adequately mark proprietary, 
restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their 
response accordingly.

    Issued this day of November 23, 2016, in Washington, DC.
Sophie Shulman,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2016-28805 Filed 11-29-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P