Autonomy Research, Development, Test and Evaluation

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE AVAILABLE. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is requesting information pertaining to obtaining engineering and programmatic support services to rapidly research, develop, mature, procure, integrate, upgrade, support and sustain autonomous weapons systems capabilities. These solutions are needed to support all phases of acquisition programs, operational field demonstrations, prototyping, experiments, operational assessments, extended user evaluations, and fleet/force deployments. The purpose of this RFI is to perform market research to support the development of appropriate acquisition strategies for current and future requirements. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, under the Digital Analytics Infrastructure and Technology Advancement (DAiTA) Group, is conducting market research into corporate capabilities and interest to provide contractor support services for NAWCAD Autonomy Engineering Contractor Support Services including but not limited to: Modeling and Simulation of autonomous behaviors Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence for behavior development Coordination, Collaboration, Communication and Cooperation Data integration with behavioral systems Human Robotic Interface / Interaction Adaptive behaviors Command and Control software development for autonomous systems operations Autonomy Test and Evaluation tools, environments, processes, requirements Behavioral model repository configuration management Software and Tool Development for behavioral code programing and modeling and simulation Program Management and Configuration Management of related requirements Response Topics Topic 1: The Government is requesting information on contractor capabilities as it relates to the areas of service listed above. Topic 2: The Government anticipates that the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology) - Aircraft would be utilized should a requirement emerge. Under this classification, a small business participant is identified as a business having a size standard of 1,500 employees. This requirement will require a TOP SECRET facilities clearance. The Government welcomes responses from industry, to include small business as well as large business as to the proposed NAISC classification. Topic 3: The Government has structured standard-based task areas to ensure that the current and future requirements are met over the term of the contract. These requirements, however, need to be tightly integrated. The Government wants to avoid stove-piped responses, and so is in favor of an integrated team to provide boundary-less support within the scope of the tasking. However, the Government also recognizes this field of expertise is highly dynamic and continually evolving. Therefore, the Government does anticipate potential prototyping opportunities through non-FAR based Other Transactional Authority approaches to leverage the continual evolution of industry capabilities and introduce new and unique non-traditional approaches. The Government is considering a single award indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity engineering services contract with a combination of level of effort and completion based tasking. RFI Response Instructions Responses to the RFI should be submitted electronically to christin.simspon@navy.mil Responses shall be limited to the below topics and are bound by sectional page limits. Topic 1: Discuss your interest in this requirement and corporate capabilities to satisfy all elements of this requirement. Response should include corporate experience in each subject area, ability to provide appropriate labor, contractor facilities, existing tools and environments. (no more than 10 pages) Topic 2: If you are a small business, discuss the suitability of this requirement for a small business set-aside. If your company is considered a large business, provide your notional subcontracting strategy of how you would best incorporate small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, HUB Zone small business, veteran owned small business, and service disabled veteran owned small business, in the overall performance of this effort (no more than 3 pages) Topic 3: Provide recommendations for contract approach, how the SOW could be structured, scope defined, and logical separation of requirements to support the Governments intent. (no more than 3 pages) A page is defined as a single sided 8.5 by 11 page using 1-inch margins from each edge. Response must be in font size 12, Times New Roman. The information shall be submitted as UNCLASSIFIED. Do not submit any documents (letters, corporate statements or marketing information) other than the directly requested information. The Government may elect not to discuss submissions received in response to this RFI with individual responders. There is no requirement to respond to the RFI in order to be eligible to propose on the planned RFP. However, the Government places tremendous value on the information received and may utilize it to finalize its acquisition strategy. Respondents shall fully use this opportunity to describe proven capabilities in performing similar services. DISCLAIMER The Government does not intend to award a Contract or Task Order on the basis of this RFI. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e) responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract/agreement. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. NO FORMAL SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME