Part 1 Objective and Scope Page 2 of 6

Request for information 4501200225

PART 1 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE PAGE 2 OF 6

Request for information Project 8309

Land Combat Simulation System

Contents

1. Introduction 3

About the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) 3

About the Norwegian Home Guard (HV) 3

2. Acquisition of simulation system – objective and scope 3

Chief effects 3

Challenges and limitations 4

3. Request and reply 4

The structure of the request 4

Requirements and the supplier’s propositions 5

Structure of supplier’s reply 5

Due date for suppliers’ reply 5

Cost coverage 5

Points of contact 6

1.  Introduction

About the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO)

The Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation constitutes one of three pillars of the Armed Forces: the logistics pillar. The remaining two pillars are force production and operational activities. Common to all of NDLO’s tasks is its support to the strength-producing Army, Navy, Home Guard and Air Force as well as the operational units.

Activities include the planning and implementation of purchases, supply (purchasing, storing, distribution and re-stocking) as well as maintenance of a variety of materiel.

The NDLO is responsible for all materiel from purchase to realisation or disposal.

About the Norwegian Home Guard (HV)

The Norwegian Home Guard consists of 45000 personnel, and is divided into eleven geographical districts. Each district has a reaction force. The reaction force consists of specially picked personnel, who train several weeks per year, typically in platoon- sized units.

2.  Acquisition of simulation system – objective and scope

On behalf of the Norwegian Home Guard, The NDLO seeks to acquire a land combat simulation system. The system will support the reaction force. The system’s main purpose is to increase the effect of training from individual to company level, primarily by providing force-on-force training in realistic battlefield environments.

·  The simulation system will support platoon- sized exercises throughout the year.

·  Twelve locations; Home Guard training facility at Dombås and eleven districts.

·  Exercises are not coordinated between districts, and may occur simultaneously.

·  Between 9 and 20 platoon- sized exercises carried out per annum per district.

·  Approximate duration of an exercise: 5-7 days.

·  95% operational readiness throughout the year.

·  Low training activity during the months of July and December.

In the following are listed the chief effects that are sought and the main challenges that must be addressed in order to successfully support training.

Chief effects

Combat techniques
The simulation system will support combat techniques through indication of hit/miss/wounded in force– on force combat. Instant visual and audible feedback through worn harness/vest will induce soldiers to adopt correct techniques.

Firing drills
The system will, in combination with targets, improve the soldiers’ fire engagement.

Detailed and rapid after action review.
Visualization of movement and engagement will make reviews more effective and make soldiers and leaders better able to judge their own actions.

Leadership training
Improvement of tactics and strategy will be supported by the system through instant feedback during exercises and by visualized feedback in review.

Challenges and limitations

Availability
The first priority of the Home Guard is to train basicsoldiering skills. Exercises are usually carried out in platoon - sized groups for a week,(3-5 platoons per district x 3-4 weeks each).Given the distances between the districts' headquarters, this indicates that parts of the system (covering at least a platoon) should be stored locally in each district.

Dedicated technical personnel.
The Home Guard does not have large operative district staffs. In-house logistics support beyond basic service and maintenance will not be supported. The supplier should give thought to how maintenance should be organizedgiven the distances between districts, andto how operability can be achieved given the lack of skilled technical personnel in-house. This may be solved by keeping surplus stock on-site to facilitate supplier-based maintenance at stated intervals.

Dedicated training officers.
In order to achieve real-time follow-up of operations, the system and its “control centre”- function must be sufficiently easy to operate.
The Home Guard District Staffs are unlikely to employ highly skilled full-time operatives. This personnel will probably only be available at the Home Guard's training centre at Dombås, where leadership training is carried out.

Cost of operation.
The running cost of the system will have to be met within the existing budget of the Home Guard. Substantial strains on the budget may jeopardize or terminate operation of the system.

Instrumentation.
Following the challenges above, the NDLO may limit the necessary system requirements to support fire drills and soldiering skills (lowlevel) out in the districts, and havemore complexity and features supporting leadership training at the Home Guard's training school at Dombås. The opportunity of upgrading the district systems temporarily during particular exercises should be possible. This may be carried out by the training school or by the supplier.

3.  Request and reply

The structure of the request

The request consists of six documents;

·  Cover letter

·  Request for Information

·  Acknowledgement for receipt of request

·  Annex A – System specification - low level requirements

·  Annex B - System specification - high level requirements

·  Annex C - Map with location of district storage facilities

Requirements and the supplier’s propositions

Suppliers are asked to present two different statements.

Annexes A and B to this request define two levels of instrumentation, of which the second is believed to give a higher level of training, though it may be more costly than the first level, both in acquisition as well as in operation.

The NDLO seeks to find a suitable solution that, when implemented, will not overly tax the manpower, infrastructure and operational budget of the Home Guard.

Suppliers are encouraged to describe their proposed materiel and their method of service and maintenance as well as to state prices of acquisition and yearly cost of service and maintenance.

Note that chapters two to eight in annexes A and B are identical.

In reply to annex A, the first statement should encompass:

·  Compliance to the requirements in annex A.

·  Cost of purchase for one platoon, specific to each component.

·  Aggregate cost of purchase of materiel for twelve platoons.

·  Outline of how service and maintenance will be organized by the supplier.

·  Estimated yearly cost of maintenance and service for one location.

·  Estimated yearly aggregate cost of maintenance and service for twelve locations.

·  Estimated time to final delivery from contract signature.

Locations are represented in annex C.

In reply to annex B, the first statement should encompass:

·  Compliance to the requirements in annex B.

·  Cost of purchase for one platoon, specific to each component.

·  Aggregate cost of purchase of materiel for twelve platoons.

·  Outline of how service and maintenance will be organized by the supplier.

·  Estimated yearly cost of maintenance and service for one location.

·  Estimated yearly aggregate cost of maintenance and service for twelve locations.

·  Estimated time to final delivery from contract signature.

Locations are represented in annex C.

Structure of supplier’s reply

The information shall be submitted electronically in the following formats; Excel, Word and PDF.

Due date for suppliers’ reply

The information shall be sent to .

The information must be received by the NDLO not later than September 3rd , 2014.

Cost coverage

The NDLO will under no circumstances cover costs related to a reply to this RFI.

Points of contact

The NDLO’s points of contacts for this request are:

The commercial contact will act as main point of contact (POC).