20 -- Autonomous Hydrographic Survey Vehicle

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION The Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intends to procure an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) or Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) for the National Ocean Service's (NOS) Office of Coast Survey (OCS) Coast Survey Development Laboratory. OCS desires to identify AUVs or ASVs that could be deployed in conjunction with manned assets to provide a rapid response capability for underwater domain awareness of ports, harbors, and inland waterways. The operational concept is to use the autonomous vehicle to augment the capability of the manned surface vessel to detect and map cubic features as small as 30 centimeters in water depths up to 50 meters. The goals of using autonomous vehicles are primarily standoff capability for the safety of the manned assets and secondarily, increased survey efficiency and coverage. Technical Requirements - Rapid Response - The vehicle must be capable of rapid deployment to a survey area through the use of civilian government transportation or commercial shipper. Additionally, once on site the vehicle must be able to be assembled, programmed, and deployed within one hour - Vehicle Size Restrictions - The ideal autonomous vehicle, underwater or surface, would be capable of deployment from a small boat (less than 30 feet) with a three person crew. A 500-pound rated davit is available, but no other specialized handling equipment can be permanently installed on the vessel (Portable handling devices are permissible.) - Survey Endurance - The vehicle must have an endurance of at least 8 survey hours at 5 knots without recharging, refueling, or reprogramming - Survey Modes - The vehicle must be able to operate in two modes: fully autonomous and guided - Obstacle Avoidance - In either operating mode the preferred vehicle would have the ability to sense and avoid obstacles that are typical to port environment. o Optionally the obstacle avoidance system can incorporate an imaging sonar, such as a CodaOctopus Echoscope, Sound Metrics Didson, or Imagenex, that could be also used for target detection. - Navigation System - The vehicle's navigation and positioning system must be self-contained and not require the deployment of additional buoy or land based systems. Absolute horizontal positioning of the navigation system must be within 10 meters. - Survey Sensors - The primary survey sensor must be a hydrographic quality side-scan sonar equivalent to a Klein 5000 High-Speed, High-Resolution Side Scan Sonar system. - Sensor Data Format - The vehicle should produce a unified data file (e.g., XTF, SDF) that integrates universal time, vehicle navigation, and sensor data in a format compatible with Caris SIPS data processing software. - Target Detection and Positioning - The vehicle's side scan sonar must be able to detect cubic features as small as 30 centimeters in water depths up to 50 meters with 10 meters horizontal position accuracy. Training - Training on the operation and maintenance of the vehicle must be provided for up to five students at the vendor's facilities - At a minimum the training must include: o Vehicle Setup o Mission Programming o Routine Maintenance o Troubleshooting o Hands-on at-sea training missions Interested firms with capability to provide the above services are invited to provide a written and electronic response to this request no later than February 10, 2006. The response shall be submitted electronically in MS Word addressed to: Pauline Jaffe, Contract Specialist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1305 East West Highway, Suite 7608 Silver Spring, MD 20910 contact@example.gov The response shall be no more than ten pages and shall include the following: Description of Firm, Summary of Business, Primary Lines of Business, Central Contractor Registration Status, Management Structure & Organization Chart, Location, Revenue-Each year for the past three years, Net Income-Each year for the past three years, Banking Reference name, phone, fax, email, Description of Credit Facility, Suspensions, Debarments, Terminations, DUNS Number, Tax Identification Number, Capacity to Perform the Work Described, Understanding & Knowledge of AUVs/ASVs, Understanding & Knowledge of NOAA, Understanding & Knowledge of the Office of Coast Survey, Approach to Performing the work, including but not limited to the following: approach to managing the work, approach to pricing the required services, tools, methods, techniques, and credentials, availability and expected delivery of the vehicle after receipt of order as current ( less than 3 months), near-term (3-6 months), or long-term (greater than 6 months), include a discussion of any engineering, development, or manufacturing obstacles to meeting NOAA's technical requirements as described in the above technical requirements section, a training syllabus should be included with the response to this Request for Information, Past Performance, Relevant Experience, Quality of Performance, Relevant Pricing Information and Hourly Rates, Rate Discounts, Comments & Recommendations, Statement of Work, Contract Type, Evaluation Process, Delivery Schedule, Other comments you would like to make. An original and two copies shall be submitted as well as the electronic version in MS Word. A one page letter shall cover the response signed by an individual authorized to commit the firm. The cover letter is the first of ten pages. The electronic version shall be in the form of an email with one attachment. That single attachment shall contain all content and shall be sized less than five megabytes. The Government will not be liable for any costs incurred in response to this request. Each response shall be on 8 - x 11-inch paper, in a commercially standard font, not smaller than size 10 (excluding separately created artifacts included within the text). The response shall be secured by simple stapling with the cover letter as the first page and shall not contain any elaborate binding. Each page in the response shall be separately numbered in Arabic numerals. A page of printed paper on both sides is considered as two pages (if using double sided pages, the front side would be page 1, the reverse side would be page 2). The response shall not include brochures, newsletters, or other marketing materials uniquely created for this procurement. Elaborate artwork and expensive paper, bindings, visual or other presentation aids are discouraged. The response to the Request for Information will aid in identification of qualified suppliers and solicitation of offers. Questions and comments may be directed to the Contract Specialist electronically at: contact@example.gov. There will be no acknowledgement by the Government to responses to this Request for Information. If a response generates further interest, you will be contacted.