75th Anniversary Tattoo Venue

The 11th Contracting Squadron is seeking sources capable of providing a venue based on the salient characteristics below.  This venue is to be utilized for the Air Force 75th Anniversary Tattoo event to be held on 15 September 2022.  This is a brand name or equal requirement for the Audi Field located at 100 Potomac Ave SW Washington D.C. 20024. Venues that meet or exceed the characteristics below will be considered. For questions concerning this sources sought please contact diane.feguer@us.af.mil.

Background:

A tattoo is a military tradition started by the Dutch in the early 1600s. It developed when Dutch State Army drummers would begin to play at 21:30, starting the tradition of “doe den tap toe.” This was done to inform soldiers to return to the garrison. Since then, the military tattoos have developed into a ceremonial show that includes bag pipes, pyro techniques, and fly-overs, and serves as a general military capabilities demonstration.

SAF/PA has indicated the need for an open-air venue to allow for fly-overs, as well as a venue that can maximize audience numbers. It has been determined that a mid-sized outdoor sporting venue would be the best option due to the ability to accommodate a larger audience without the venue being so large that the audience experience would be diminished. Additionally, a sporting venue would inherently have several important production elements including power, seating, security, lights, restrooms, reception areas, dressing rooms for performers, load-in capability, basic production elements, and basic labor.

Venue Requirements:

The level of air/production assets involved in the production have very specific requirements when it comes to venue.  The requirements are as follows:

• Located within 10 miles of Joint Base Anacostia Bolling
• Open air with limited / no roof cover for unobstructed view of flyovers
• Seating capacity between 10,000 and 30,000 people to allow for a socially distanced audience if required but small enough to ensure a more intimate experience.
• Must be available for buy-out during the period of performance (12-16 Sep 2022)
• Bathrooms to support 10,000 people
• Venue includes all required labor I.E. security, ushers, maintenance, A/V support
• LED Wall / Jumbotron viewable to 10,000 people and supporting technician(s)
• Holding area / dressing rooms to support >100 people including separate male/female changing areas
• Minimum of 50’ of offset between staging area and audience
• A minimum of 2 indoor reception locations including 1 for greater than or equal to 50 people and 1 for less then or equal to 50 people
• Direct truck and forklift access to field area without use of ramps
• Lighting to fully cover field area with the capability of dimming and blacking out in <1 second
• Minimum of 3 200A 3 phase power disconnects located at or adjacent to field

Preliminary Schedule:

12 SEP 2022: load in

13-14 SEP: rehearsals

15 SEP: evening performance

16 SEP: load out