Customs and Border Protection is redoing its planning for a new integrated approach to its border surveillance towers and is now holding off on seeking bids until it has a clear path for its plans.
In December 2020, CBP issued a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Tower, Power, Instrumentation, and Communications (TPIC) effort, which together make up the Integrated Surveillance Tower (IST). A statement of objectives that accompanies the draft RFP said the IST is for short, medium and long-range surveillance to detect items of interest in remote and rural areas along the nation’s borders.
The tower portion of TPIC will be fixed or relocatable towers that provide an elevated platform for the instrumentation—essentially the sensors used in detecting and monitoring items of interest—and the communications, which enable the networking of sensor data.
CBP in the draft RFP also said one of the goals of TPIC will be to integrated the sensors with a new common operating picture (COP), which will be a separate procurement.
But in a July 30 notice on the federal government’s business opportunities site Sam.gov, CBP says that given industry responses to the draft RFP, “we recognize communications could have been clearer and more consistent. There were gaps in describing the consolidation of the various tower capabilities, and the solicitation needed to be clearer regarding the expected interaction with the Common Operating Picture (COP).”
CBP current has a wide range of surveillance technology deployed on the nations northern and southern borders, including Integrated Fixed Towers, Remote Video Surveillance Systems, Autonomous Surveillance Towers, and mobile systems.
Given the lack of clarity in the draft RFP, CBP says it “is making wide-ranging changes and adjustments to RFP documents so the solicitation will be more clear, less prescriptive, and allow more flexibility to industry to propose innovative solutions.” The agency also says that previous feedback to industry on TPIC may no longer be relevant based on forthcoming changes to the RFP documents.
CBP also says it currently has no new plans for when it will release the final RFP, which will also be dependent on funding availability.
“We will continue to engage and work with industry as we consider all options for the path forward,” CBP Says.
In its original planning documents, CBP said it expected to award one or more contracts for the IST TPIC by the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, which begins on January 1, 2022. The agency also said the contract would include multiple awards with up to three vendors selected.