Brief Summary: The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) is conducting market research to determine interested sources and technology capabilities of contractors (both large and small) for the Games for Training (GFT) gaming engine requirement. This solution provides for the need to continue to train individual and collective training tasks using a Windows computer-based platform. GFT game-based technologies provide experiential learning opportunities to familiarize and train Soldiers in various tactical scenarios and environments. This product can be used to plan, tailor, develop, train, and evaluate training and executing the decision-making process. Soldiers will be able to plan and execute training, from populating formatted operations orders to assessing training effectiveness using an after-action review system for individual leaders as well as enhance teamwork at all levels.  

Program Description:  PEO STRI has a requirement to procure a first-person game application training solution that leverages commercial or government off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS) products. The system will operate on a personal computer in a standalone network without a requirement for internet access. These technologies are readily available and require very little time and space to setup. Training with game applications will be conducted in Mission Training Complexes (MTCs), in a unit or institutional classrooms, or installed onto a government issued laptop or personal computer for a Soldier’s self-development.  Game applications must provide an environment to train decisive action in unified land operations.   

Game applications must be capable of replicating elements of the Operational Environment (OE). The environment shall provide Soldiers, leaders, staffs, and units the ability to train on mission critical tasks and exercise cognitive skills required to operate in the OE. Gaming applications shall support mission planning and mission rehearsals. This training must be performed prior to deployment, during deployment, at home station, institutions, or through individual self-development. The results of training in a game environment shall enhance and reinforce both Soldier and leader Warfighter skills with practical experience. 

The U.S. Army Capabilities Manager (ACM) is the Army’s capability developer and centralized manager for game-based training applications. The ACM has a need to continue to support the US Army GFT program to include software game engines to train individual Soldiers and combined units in the existing common operating environment.

The Government plans to continue supporting capability which can provide the following:

Requirements: The government has a requirement for the support, integration, testing, documentation, and delivery of a GFT product and the software tools, plugins, content or other items further defined in future SOW and technical specifications.  This effort will be accomplished for the PEO STRI, which includes software licenses, data rights to all content and plug-ins fully funded by government, labor, materials, training support and all the necessary documentation for implementation by industry.  The Government will integrate gaming Software into other training or test devices. Support from the Contractor for such integration into other training or test devices is not included in the support requirements for this GFT requirement. This requirement shall include delivery of the licensed GFT Product, integration of the Software on Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) Windows-based test PCs, training and technical support.   

Enterprise License: The enterprise license shall be a separate license of the software delivered under this requirement to extend to the GFT Product as well as the software tools, plugins, content or other items that are included with the baseline capabilities currently fielded by GFT Program (hereinafter referred to as the “Currently Fielded Capability”) except as varied by the remainder of this document. Licensing and encryption of the Software shall be primarily by software license issuance and shall not be restricted using USB dongles or encryption devices. USB dongles will be an alternative delivery option.  All USB licenses shall fall under the same support and license mechanism as the software-based licenses.  For the avoidance of doubt, licenses will all be in encrypted form. 

The list of tools to be delivered and licensed for use as part of the Software package shall be set out in the contractor’s proposal. 

GFT Product: The GFT Product shall be of the first-person perspective genre with 2D and 3D game interface capabilities. The GFT Product shall provide a deployable, interactive, semi-immersive environment to train individual and collective skills. The initial delivery of the GFT Product shall be loaded with any US Army specific content and capable to support enhanced add-ons.  Note: concurrency efforts on US Army specific plug-ins are outside the scope of this requirement. 

Hardware Specifications and Configuration: The GFT Product shall operate on government owned PCs but shall be capable of operating on a variety of government-owned hardware or training aids, devices, simulators and simulations in accordance with the Enterprise License Agreement and EULA.

The GFT Product and all tools and components shall initially execute on the following minimum hardware requirements, which is based on the current GFT fielded hardware.  Hardware specifications will be re-assessed and modified based on future gaming software requirements. 

Minimum Requirements:

CPU: i9-13980HX 2.2-5.6 GHz

Memory: 64GB (32GB*2) DDR5 5200MHz

Video Card: 16GB NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4090 Laptop GPU

Display: 17.3" QHD Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 240Hz 3ms 100% DCI-P3

Operating System: Windows 11 Army Gold Master (AGM)  

Government accepts that access to updates and ability for the Software to meet performance requirements is subject to the following caveat: 

Performance: The GFT Product shall render graphics to the display at a minimum of 30 frames per second (fps) with a targeted performance of 60 fps while being operated using the current specifications outlined in the GFE Minimum Requirements.

Scenario and Behavior Editor

The GFT Product shall provide a 2D and 3D Mission Editor capability that allows the user to create and modify mission scenarios.   

Terrain Editor

The GFT Product shall provide a Terrain Editor capability that allows the user to generate geo-specific and geo-typical terrain databases for use in the game environment. 

Game Asset and Content Editor

The GFT Product shall provide a tool that allows the user to create game assets and content.   

The Game Asset and Content Editor shall provide 3D modeling tools capable of importing and exporting 3D modeling data in a lossless manner (textures, models, bones, animations).   

API/Tool to Support Terrain, Model, and Moving Model Import

The contractor shall provide an Application Programming Interface (API) for run-time ready terrain, and static models imports, and a tool for moving models import.   

Audio Editor

The GFT Product shall provide an Audio Editor capability that allows the user to import, generate and edit sound sources for use in the game environment.  The Audio Editor shall be a specialized tool that only creates and edits Sound Objects. 

After Action Review (AAR)

The GFT Product shall provide a 2D and 3D After Action Review (AAR) playback capability. The AAR system shall reproduce accurate playback of all events that occurred during runtime with at minimum gameplay runtime speed.   

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The GFT Product shall support artificial intelligence (AI) for non-player-controlled entities within the game environment.  Game AI refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of computer-generated forces (CGF). 

Interoperability

The GFT Product shall use industry standard protocols to interoperate with and stimulate existing Army Live-Virtual-Constructive training systems.  

Fires and Effects Capability

The GFT Product shall provide a Call for Fire (CFF) training capability.  

Content Re-use

If the GFT Product is upgraded to a new version, it shall be able to reuse content from its previous versions or provide tools to convert older GFT Product content to the latest version of the software. 

Game Models

The GFT Product shall be delivered with models that function within the game.  The models shall move and function reasonably realistically, be destroyable, and attributed with appropriate loads (i.e. gear, munitions) to the standards in current U.S. inventory.

Uninstaller

The GFT Product Uninstaller shall provide the capability to fully remove all files and licenses associated with its install and use. 

Launcher Window

The GFT Product Launcher Window shall provide the capability to launch the GFT Product across the network, giving an instructor a single station of control for launching and shutting down an entire network game.  If the GFT Product has command line switches for startup, the launcher shall also allow the end user to select various command line switches to open the GFT Product in any desired state, as an alternative to a command line start.   

Radio Communications

The GFT Product shall support in-game radio communications as well as the ability to interact with internet protocol (IP) based tactical simulation radios. The in-game communications shall include at minimum the following functionality: 

• DIS Communications

The GFT Product shall provide the capability to stimulate DIS audio communication and communicate via DIS with other radio systems. The radio communications will provide Support for Site ID and App ID in DIS. 

• Radio Capability

The GFT Product shall provide each user with multi-channel in-game radio capability to communicate with each game client and the client’s users via microphone/speakers or headset. 

• Radio Playback

The GFT Product shall be able to capture in-game radio traffic for playback.  The in-game recording shall be capable of synchronizing to the time and the events of the AAR file during playback and segregate to each of the client user’s voice channels. 

• Degradation

The in-game radio communications will provide the capability to portray the effectiveness of communication systems using line of sight as affected by terrain.  

Constraints

Software development will not be a part of the continued effort. The GFT Product must operate on currently fielded computer hardware capabilities to develop, execute, and store simulation data.

Enterprise license control will be with government purpose rights for technical data when capability is developed with government funding or a blend of commercial/government funding. An enterprise license is required and will be authorized for the programs’ intended users as needed.
 
Acquisition Strategy Planning Information
Contract Vehicle: The determination of Contract Vehicle and Small Business Set Aside or Full and Open Competition will not be established until market research has been completed and the Acquisition Strategy has been approved.

1. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): NAICS code being considered for this effort include 513210 Software Publishers. 
2. Contract Type: The determination of Contract Type will not be established until market research has been completed and the Acquisition Strategy has been approved.
3. Approximate Funding: Funding with an annual amount to be determined (TBD).
4. Approximate Award Date: Award planned NLT 3Q2027.
    
   Responses Requested: Interested contractors shall submit responses to this RFI to both the Contracts and Program POCs not later than Wednesday 12:00 PM EST, 25 September 2024 indicating their capabilities in fulfilling the functions and tasks described herein. Contractors shall submit a capability statement that provides the information requested below (10 pages maximum). 
    
   Questions: Contractors are asked to address the following questions in their response, if applicable to the capability/solution submitted.

1. What recent relevant performance (past five (5) years) and/ or current work experience does your company have performing similar work?  Please describe your effort and role.
2. What basic technologies/components do you see being needed for supporting a GFT Product?  Considering both your solution and other capabilities in industry, what would you consider are the best of breed solutions for the technologies/components that you listed and why.
3. How does your solution address enterprise license control? Will you be partnering with other industry entities to support your processes for enterprise licenses?
4. What level of software support can your solution support (i.e. telephonic help desk support, email support, after hour’s responses, etc.)? The goal is to achieve the highest level of help desk responses that can support the requirements.
5. How does your solution address modularity and the ability to “plug and train” with components, haptics, and peripheral devices?
6. How does your solution address limitations on proprietary software regarding platform support capabilities and help with user created scenarios?
7. How does your solution address network limitations of Army inter-installation connections? 
8. Is your company classified as a large or small business under the NAICS code 513210 Software Publishers?  Identify your company’s socioeconomic status (e.g.,8a, HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.)
9. Are you planning on subcontracting or partnering with other companies to fulfill the requirements of this effort?  If so, please provide the company names.  Also, please identify whether each company would be classified as a large or small business under the NAICS code you would determine for the services/supplies provided in support of this effort.  In addition, if applicable, please identify the company’s socioeconomic status (e.g., 8a, SDB, HUBZone, VOSB, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.).  Finally, if applicable, please list the percentage of small business subcontracting anticipated for this effort.

Information Submission Instructions:  All capability statements sent in response to this RFI must be submitted electronically (via email) to the Contracts and Program POCs identified below.  Responses shall include documentation of technical expertise and capability in sufficient detail for the Government to determine that your company possesses the necessary functional area expertise and experience to compete for this acquisition.  It is imperative that business concerns responding to this RFI articulate their capabilities clearly and adequately.  Instructions for submission are as follows: 

1. Only email submission will be accepted.
    
2. Use MS Office 2013 compatible (.xlsx, .docx or .pptx) or Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro (.pdf) formats.
    
3. Classified material will not be accepted.
    
4. Material samples will not be accepted.
    
5. Information papers may be submitted in a White Paper Format and will count towards the total number of pages allowed.
    
6. The cover sheet shall include the following company information: name, address, URL, POC name and email address, Commercial Government Entity (CAGE) code number, Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number, business type and size, and a statement if your firm is or is not foreign owned, foreign controlled, or has foreign influence.
    
7. All responses shall be sent via email to: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]
    
   The deadline for submitting capability statements is 12:00 PM EST, 25 September 2024.
    
   Disclaimer:  THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION IS ISSUED SOLEY FOR INFORMAITON AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY.  THE GOVERNMENT WILL USE THE INFORMATION RECEIVED TO DETERMINE ITS ACQUISITION STRATEGY.  THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS NOTICE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND IS NOT BINDING ON THE GOVERNMENT.  THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION, INVITATION FOR BID (IFB), REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ), OR REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP), AND IS NOT A COMMITMENT BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO PROCURE SUBJECT SERVICES/SUPPLIES.  THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY FOR INFORMATION REQUESTED NOR WILL IT COMPENSATE ANY RESPONDENT FOR ANY COST INCURRED IN DEVELOPING INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.  ADDITIONALLY, ALL SUBMISSIONS BECOME GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AND WILL NOT BE RETURNED.  ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.  NOT RESPONDING TO THIS RFI DOES NOT PRECLUDE PARTICIPATION IN ANY FUTURE RFP, IF ANY IS ISSUED. IF A SOLICITATION IS RELEASED, IT WILL BE SYNOPSIZED ON THE GOVERNMENT-WIDE POINT OF ENTRY WEBSITE. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE POTENTIAL OFFERORS TO MONITOR THIS SITE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
    
   *Note (Limitations on Subcontracting):  If you are a small business interested in being the prime contractor for this effort, please be advised that the FAR clause 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting, has changed. Deviation 2019-O0003 is now in effect which adds the definition of “Similarly Situated Entity” and changes the 50% calculation for compliance with the clause. Small business primes may now count “first tier subcontracted” work performed by similarly situated entities as if it were performed by the prime itself. Please read the full text of the clause deviation 52.219-14 Class Deviation 2019-O0003, dated 03 DEC 2018 at https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/class_deviations.html.
    
   To assist in our market research and determination of any applicable small business set-aside for this effort, if you are a small business interested in priming this effort and plan to utilize a “Similarly Situated Entity” to meet the Limitation on Subcontracting, please identify the name & CAGE Code of the specific firm(s) you intend to partner/subcontract with to meet the requirements as well as their SB size status under the NAICS that you as the prime would assign for their workshare. Information regarding any planned similarly situated entity should be included in answering any questions outlined in the SSN to assist the Government's capability determination.
     
   Point Of Contact Information:
    
   Contracts POC: Graham Oliff, [email protected], Demetria Carter, [email protected]

           Program POC: David Perez, [email protected], (407) 797-6468

           Contracting Office Address: U.S. Army Contracting Command-Orlando (ACC-ORL), 12211 Science Drive, Orlando, FL 32826
           Place of Performance: Orlando, FL 32826