Note 22 applies. The Government intends to solicit, negotiate, and award a contract to Scientific Atlanta (S-A) for the management of the PowerVu Connect database of customers receiving television programming from the American Forces Network (AFN)and the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS.) This is a follow-on contract to MDA112-02-C-0027, also awarded to S-A. S-A provides a unique capability that allows authorized customers to access PVConnect, a database driven, publicly-accessible website that provides the capabilities defined by AFRTS requirements for user, trusted user, and administrator level access and control over decoder authorizations, and provides a high level of isolation between those users and the PowerVu Network Center (PNC.) A PNC, is employed at each of the seven satellite uplink systems that make up today’s AFRTS satellite network. Each PNC provides network management, security, and decoder management and control functions and allows properly authenticated users to have full access and control over each PowerVU uplink. In the wrong hands this level of access is extremely hazardous to the mission of AFRTS as one could potentially provide, or deny, total access to AFRTS programming to any location on Earth. Access to the PNC gives one the power to destructively modify the configuration of the AFRTS satellite network and potentially jeopardize access to commercial television and radio programming. The programming signal is decoded for each customer by a set-top box, called a Direct-to-Home (DTH) decoder. The number of DTH decoders is expected to exceed 70,000 in CY2006 and bring the total worldwide population of decoders above 100,000. PVConnect was designed without allowing any external customer, trusted user, or administrator level staff direct access to PNC directly therefore preventing damage to the network. Key to the PVConnect website is S-A’s ownership rights to the conditional access and encryption systems within PowerVU, which belongs to a single source. No commercial equipment, hardware or software can be modified or interchanged to work with any S-A PowerVU conditional access and encryption system. Only one manufacturer, Scientific-Atlanta, is capable of simultaneously providing both the isolation required between the website and PNC as well as the required connectivity for machine control between the website and the PNC. S-A remains an industry leader in conditional access – a core capability of PowerVU. S-A’s technology provides its customer’s absolute assurance that only authorized users will have access to satellite delivered products (includes video, audio, and data products). AFRTS has built strong relationships with the television, movie, and radio production industries who provide programming to the military, often times at little or no cost, but only with the clear understanding their products are protected from unauthorized use. PowerVU provides this capability to AFRTS. Scientific-Atlanta was chosen in a formal selection process to provide PowerVU to AFRTS and thusly to also develop and provide the PVConnect website capability. Scientific-Atlanta does not outsource nor license any of its proprietary conditional access technology and thus keeps all repair services for PowerVU hardware in house. No other vendor or manufacturer is known to have the capabilities to meet all requirements necessary for PVConnect. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Responses should be submitted within 10 days of publication of this notice. Written responses can be faxed to (951) 413-2432 or e-mailed to [email protected].

Bid Protests Not Available