Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2022-03-14
Buyer: Puolustusvoimien logistiikkalaitos
Country: FI
Contract type: Supplies
CPV classification: 32230000

Technical requirements: The purpose of this request is to get information and to seek potential technical solutions from the industry for renewing the current tactical high frequency (HF) radio system used by the Finnish Defence Forces.
The tactical HF radio system is used jointly by Finnish Army, Navy, Air Force and Border Guard in several different platforms and units and it should meet the technical and operational requirements defined by each branch. The use cases and operating environments vary greatly throughout the different user organizations. The primary users are within the Army special forces.
The new tactical HF radio system shall support portability in field environment, secure data and voice communications, high data rate waveforms, high speed link establishment and flexible upgradability in the future. It shall be fully integrable to Finnish Defence Forces joint tactical C2 system and branch specific systems as well. The system shall be based on wideband HF (WBHF) technology.
Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command is conducting a market consultation by this document, Request for Information (RFI). The RFI is not a contract notice or a Request for Quotation (RFQ) initiating a procurement process.
This RFI should not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Finnish Defence Forces to implement any procurement, and the decision on initiating a potential procurement process is made after the market consultation.
Any and all costs relating to submitting a reply to this RFI shall be totally at the respondent’s expense and risk.
Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command wishes to emphasize the following points related to the potential procurement which are significant for the respondent:
- The potential procurement will be implemented as a fixed price procurement. Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command will fund the potential procurement.
- The potential procurement will start at 2025 and will include approximately 600 to 1000 units of tactical HF radios with necessary auxiliary equipment, software and training.
- The potential procurement will impose requirements on security of information. The subject of the potential procurement is such that requirements on security of information need to be imposed both on the procurement process and on the implementation of the procurement contract. The potential procurement includes information which is confidential according to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621 / 1999) 24.1 § paragraph 10. Such confidential information is classified at the security level “KÄYTTÖ RAJOITETTU TL IV” (restricted) in accordance with the Government Decree on Security Classification of Documents in Central Government (1101/2019) 3 §.
The recipients of the RFI may ask for further information concerning the RFI as well as further instructions on submitting a reply to it. Questions related to the RFI should be directed to the person mentioned below in clause “Contact information”. The questions should be asked in English or in Finnish and delivered by e-mail no later than 30.4.2022 at 12.00 (Finnish time).
Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command will answer to the questions by delivering the collected questions and answers collectively to all recipients who have provided their contact information. The questions and answers will be delivered to the recipients by e-mail no later than 15.5.2021 at 12.00 (Finnish time).
To ensure that it is possible to deliver the questions and answers to all interested respondents, Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command requests that the recipients of this RFI would name a contact person and provide his/her contact information when they have received this RFI.
The tactical HF radio enables voice and data communications between network stations via line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight links. The tactical HF radio operates on a medium and high frequency bands from 1.5 to 30 megahertz (MHz) providing surface wave and sky wave propagation methods. Surface wave can reach beyond the horizon to some extent. With sky wave propagation it is possible to exploit the ionospheric reflection and thus achieve communication distances up to thousands of kilometers. Near vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) enables skip-zone free communications up to hundreds of kilometers.
Due the chaotic and ever-changing nature of the ionosphere and the unstable usability of the HF frequencies in general, a high level of adaptivity in the data modem and in the automatic frequency selection or automatic link establishment (ALE) is critical in the HF radio system. This is especially important in tactical communications where fast and reliable message delivery is crucial. A system that offers only static data waveform modes and fixed frequency or slow ALE is therefore not an option in Finnish Defence Forces tactical operating environment. The operator input for the communication parameters and settings should be minimal. The tactical HF radio should support both mobile and stationary use.