Assault Breacher Vehicle- Remote Control System (ABV-RCS)

Agency/Office: Army Contracting Command - Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) Title: Special Notice - DA2 OTA, W56HZV-16-9-0001, RFPP #DA2-PA034, ABV-RCS Description: The Government intends to issue a Request for Prototype Proposal (RFPP) for the Assault Breacher Vehicle - Remote Control System (ABV-RCS) under the Detroit Arsenal Automotive (DA2) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), W56HZV-16-9-0001, mid to late November 2021. The DA2 OTA was entered into between the Army Contracting Command - Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) and the Defense Automotive Technology Consortium (DATC) on 21 September 2016. The Government will utilize the DA2 OTA to award this effort. The intent of this project is to provide the U.S. Army with a capability to remotely control currently existing Army vehicles. This type of integration is considered an enhancement to both the host vehicle and the control vehicle. Specific to this Agreement, the host vehicle will receive the portion of the Remote Control System (RCS) that allows for mission execution. The control vehicle will receive the portion of the RCS that allows the Soldier to control the host vehicle. Within in the last five to eight years, technology advancements have proven that this capability does exist and the technology readiness levels are high enough to develop an applique system onto existing Army vehicles which will remove the Soldier from direct enemy contact. Implementing this type of capability to an existing Army fleet of vehicles will allow for a more robust and versatile force and is considered a part of vehicle safety technologies. Product Manager of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (PdM RAS) expects an RCS development and integration completed in time to proceed to Prototype Testing, to include completion of required data deliverables for a number of functional areas such as Engineering, Human Integration, and Logistics. While it is known that this technology does exist, there has not been a proof of concept actually fielded to the Soldier. The Government only recently has seen technology readiness advanced enough to develop a capability like this within specific parameters that require little tradeoff for performance. The Objective of the Prototype phase is to design and integrate the RCS capability onto the ABV as the host vehicle and the Bradley as the control vehicle. System performance of the ABV and the Bradley shall not be degraded. System performance of the RCS shall meet the requirements of ABV RCS Performance Specification (P-Spec) and be demonstrated for evaluation at Prototype Testing at Army Test Center (ATC). After testing is complete, the Government will down select to a single vendor for follow-on development and production. The Government anticipates pursuing a Follow-on Production effort under the authority of 10.U.S.C. 2371b(f), which states that, upon a determination that the competitively awarded prototype project has been successfully completed, the prototype project may result in the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction without the use of competitive procedures. The anticipated Follow-on Production of 33 units is estimated at $27M. This solicitation will be UNCLASSIFIED with Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) (approved DD2345) and will contain Distribution D attachments (released only to US DoD contractors). During the follow-on production effort, the contractor shall perform work at a Facility Clearance Level (FCL) of SECRET with SAFEGUARDING. Only contractors who possess an FCL of SECRET with SAFEGUARDING for the CLASSIFIED requirement will be eligible for the follow-on production effort. If the contractor does not have an FCL of SECRET with SAFEGUARDING at award of the prototype agreement, the Government will provide sponsorship to US DoD contractors to acquire an FCL of SECRET with SAFEGUARDING. If the contractor cannot obtain an FCL of SECRET with SAFEGUARDING, the contractor will be disqualified from the follow-on production effort. NOTE: This Special Notice is for informational purposes only. A prototype project will not be awarded in response to this announcement. The purpose of this announcement is to provide industry advanced notification of the Government's intent to release a RFPP to the DATC membership consortium. For information on the DATC and/or how to become a member, visit the following website: https://datc.sae-itc.com/ The Government point of contact for this effort is Michael Wilson, Agreements Specialist, at michael.w.wilson3.civ@army.mil or Dan Poehling, Agreements Officer, at daniel.c.poehling.civ@army.mil.