RFI: Preparing a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Program Development Guide for Fire Depts. and SAR Orgs

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: Preparing a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Program Development Guide for Fire Departments and Search and Rescue Organizations

SCOPE: 

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek interest from qualified individuals/companies to prepare a manual to guide Fire Departments and possibly Search and Rescue Organizations in the fundamentals of RPAS operations and management at the level of the organization. 

BACKGROUND:

In 2018, the CAFC passed a resolution to establish a committee that would provide fire departments with assistance in understanding and adhering to the new Transport Canada RPAS regulations. The resulting committee proposed a grant application with its partners, CASARA, SARVAC and CERRA that would focus on developing a community of policy and practice for RPAS operators who are working in Search and Rescue Beyond Visual Line of Sight. This focus was chosen as part of a larger goal to improve interoperability between Search and Rescue Organizations and Fire Departments as per the goals of SARNIF. As part of this initiative and before getting started on the BVLOS portions, the CAFC wishes to ensure that the policies and practices, training and equipment that a Department or a Search and Rescue organization may need to develop any type of RPAS program are considered. This allows organizations to determine whether they are BVLOS ready but also to build their programs to the appropriate level to their resources; capacity and budgets.

General Work Description

The successful candidate will write up, adapt or consolidate the text, images, diagrams, and references for a manual based on the following headings (differentiations may be needed for Fire Departments and/or Search and Rescue organizations):

• Introduction
• Flow chart
  • Steps in process with applicable regulatory and resource requirements.
    • Visuals with licensing needs
    • Related general costs
    • More detail in follow up text with links to applicable regulatory sections (CARS, TC, NAV, etc)
• Program start up/general planning considerations
  • Types of programs
    • Applications/program level options, types of mission objectives
  • Business case/justification
    • Buy in, political support, stakeholder/public engagement etc
  • Budgets
  • Levels of programs and equipment
  • Legal/regulatory
  • Engagement
  • Air space operations
• Cost/Budgets
  • Budget considerations
  • Types of costs associated with program, equipment, equipment replacement, maintenance, payloads, staffing, response, training, certifications, insurance, recording storage etc
• Program Structure and Operations
  • Position needs based on program level
  • Deployment model, who/where/how
  • Privacy considerations, recording/streaming, policy alignment/development
  • Regulatory considerations, regulatory compliance
  • Policy and procedure needs/development
  • Union/labour considerations?
  • Records management (including flight and maintenance logs etc)
  • Safety/risk management
  • Data management
  • Maintenance, insurance
• Training
  • Types, access, delivery
  • Ongoing training/recurrency
  • Competency requirements for pilots, visual observers etc
    • Recurrent training requirements
  • Training/awareness for all personnel/Incident command etc
  • Training records
• Equipment
  • Types based on use case
  • Costs, considerations, payload, training requirements etc
  • Recording/streaming
• Appendix
  • Reference publications/Attached or linked supporting documents (NFPA, CSA, TC etc)
  • Source of example policies and procedures provided by members
  • Potential available policy/procedure template
  • Contact info for members willing to be contacted for detailed questions/follow up etc

Notes:

§  Flowchart with visuals as primary reference

§  Detailed follow up in pdf or Powerpoint with descriptive voiceover

§  Appendix with links, sample docs/templates, supporting documents, member assistance option contacts etc

Proposal Requirements

Please provide a short (max 3-5 pages) response including

1.     who you are or who your company is (what you do, when started, etc.).

2.     your qualifications as it pertains to the subject matter and the initiative including:

·       What positions you to write effectively and efficiently on this topic?

·       What positions you to take an evidence informed approach to this subject matter?

3.     How you would proceed? What would be your proposed approach/method?   

4.     A timeline (in weeks) with milestones, budget for each step and total budget

5.     Examples of similar projects, reports, clients, or materials in the public domain

Notes

All materials associated with this project from data collected to drafts of reports, email lists, etc will be the property of the CAFC, if necessary provided to the CAFC with a royalty free license in perpetuity, or other similar agreement that allows CAFC ongoing and permanent access to the material and the ability to modify and update them, and housed on the CAFC website. The chosen consultant will work directly with and through the CAFC’s Executive Director. Committees of experts in SAR, Robotics, and Fire Departments will be available to discuss and improve drafts.

Payment

Please note that CAFC operates on a fixed price contract. A payment schedule can be agreed upon, but must be tied to deliverables. Invoices are processed within thirty (30-60) calendar days after the invoice and deliverable is received. All invoices shall indicate the type of service, services provided, time of event, location, etc. and be attached to a deliverable or work request.

Responding to this RFI 

Please submit your proposal to the attention of Dr. Tina Saryeddine at tsaryeddine@cafc.ca

Deadline:  September 7, 2021