US Ignite, Inc. (US Ignite) is seeking IoT solutions from technology partners that provide, deploy, and maintain Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) sensors for the Heat Risk Management (HRM) project as part of the Smart Installation and Community Dashboard (SICD) Program in support of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Moore (FMGA). The solution must be capable of making multiple WBGT measurements at different locations at the FMGA with the placement of multiple sensors that can give a more complete understanding of the WBGT conditions at this venue. This project’s duration is from 12/18/2024 to 09/30/2025. US Ignite will award a fixed-firm price contract with a maximum budget of $35,000.
The objective of the HRM project is to deliver an accurate and reliable heat monitoring tool for safety officers, helping them oversee and manage heat conditions effectively across all training units at the installation. The project requires IoT sensors to communicate real time or near-real time WBGT data to US Ignite HRM software application. The HRM application sends notifications to the Installation subscribers.
Submission Instructions
Submit an offer by December 06, 2024, no later than 8:00 PM EDT. Offers should be submitted via email to [email protected]. Your offer must include:
- The RFP reference number.
- The name and title, address, email, phone number of the proposer.
- A detailed technical description /specification of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the Solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary.
- Terms of any offer related warranty.
- Provide full, accurate and complete information as required by this solicitation and its attachments.
- Documents required in section 5, System Capability Requirement.
- Provide cost proposal to support the full lifecycle of this project, using the table seen on page 10 of the RFP document.
All clarification questions must be submitted by November 15, 2024, no later than 8:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Questions should be submitted in the following format:
- Section Number
- Paragraph Number
- Text of passage being questioned
- Question
All requests, questions, or other communications about this RFP shall be made in writing to [email protected]. Communications made to other US Ignite personnel or attempts to ask questions by phone or in person will not be allowed or recognized as valid and may disqualify the proposer. Proposers should only rely on written statements issued by the RFP coordinator. US Ignite will endeavor to respond to all parties no later than November 22, 2024,
8:00 PM EDT.
Background
US Ignite is a national nonprofit, a 501(c)(3), that is accelerating the smart city movement – and creating value for an entire ecosystem – by guiding communities into the connected future, creating a path for private sector growth, and advancing technology research that’s at the heart of smart city development. As a trusted partner, US Ignite brings this entire smart city ecosystem together, successfully pairing financial investment with technical and organizational expertise. Through the public private partnership programs we run, US Ignite is a catalyst for communications network advancement, and for innovation in smart city services that are powered by a new generation of technologies.
Fort Moore Overview
Fort Moore is a U.S. Army base located south of Columbus, Georgia, and is home for the Maneuver Center of Excellence and its mission is to train and equip combat-ready Soldiers and Leaders. The base supports a population of almost 70,000 Soldiers and civilians in providing some of the military’s most prestigious and rigorous leadership schools and functional training courses.
(SICD) Program Overview
The 2020 Army Installation Strategy (AIS) identifies a key feature of the operational environment as the accelerating rate of technological change. Future soldiers will expect installations to modernize at pace with civilian sector smart cities initiatives. The challenge for the Department of Defense and the Army is establishing the necessary conditions to ensure safe, secure, and connected data-driven decisions for reducing costs and improving the environment, quality of life, security, and mission readiness.
FMGA has a broad interest in understanding automated systems in order to plan for a range of areas related to modernization, readiness, and quality of life. Efforts within this scope of work are funded through congressional appropriations entitled Smart Installation and Community Dashboard (SICD). SICD is managed by US Ignite under contract with U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (USACE-ERDC), and leverages support from the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy, and Environment) and their Army Installation Modernization Pilot Program (AIMP2) program. This program incorporates smart and automated technologies coupled with data analytics, data fusion, and artificial intelligence to provide faster awareness and decision options for Fort Moore staff with a framework that can be scalable to other installations.
The HRM project started in Phase 1 of the SICD program, which began in the fall of 2021, and continued to Phase 2, which will continue until September 2025. HRM application, along with the use cases, is anticipated to converge into a single-pane-of-glass SICD. These use cases are currently integrated through a lightweight US Ignite-developed dashboard-of-dashboards.
Heat Risk Management Project Overview
Fort Moore is located in the southeastern portion of the United States and has numerous days with extreme heat levels as well as the most heat-related injuries, like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, of any base in the military. Currently, Fort Moore receives its weather information from the Fort Moore Weather Operations Center at Lawson Army Airfield. They provide meteorological watch, surface weather observations, aircrew weather briefings, weather advisories, and mission execution forecasts. This weather information is used for daily air and ground training operations and medical evacuation plans. However, they currently don’t provide insight into heat risk management. Each training unit, called a ‘’company’’ and constituted by a commander, executive officer, first sergeant, and around 200 soldiers have assigned Range Safety Officers (RSO) and Officers In Charge (OIC) that manage heat risk by using company devices to determine the Wet Bulb GlobeTemperature (WBGT). The units have a variety of ways of collecting this data. All companies use WBGT manual kits, and some have access to electronic devices such as the Questemp sensor or fully digital sensors such as Kestrel handheld devices. Each company figures out the WBGT before they start training and update it throughout the day every hour. Based on the identified heat category, they set the training work/rest cycle, using the Army instructions.
Project’s Development
To make the WBGT and heat category data collection more reliable and accurate, US Ignite deployed a prototype IoT WBGT sensor and developed a software application that sends heat category notifications to the companies’ subscribers. The application has a web version and capability to send notifications both via email and text message.
US Ignite released the MVP in September 2023 and V1.1 in May 2024. Two additional releases for Version 1.2 and 1.3 are forthcoming in 2025. The MVP release served as a proof of concept and each release takes the application one step further. In order to prepare for the V1.2 and V1.3 of the HRM software, US Ignite seeks to procure or lease additional sensors to account for the different WBGTs existing across the Fort Moore Installation.
Scope of Services and Deliverables
The service requirements are: a) sensor provision, b) sensor installation, c) maintenance and operational oversight, and d) integration support and collaboration with project partners, including FMGA stakeholders, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), US Ignite and their subcontractors until the end of the Period of Performance. Download the RFP Document for further details including system capability requirements.