Call for Proposals for Participation in the 2020 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX)

Special Notice: Call for Proposals for Participation in the 2020 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Newport announces a call for proposals to participate in the 2020 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX). This year's event will be conducted as a collaboration between NUWC Division Newport, NUWC Division Keyport, the Commander, Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Exercises will be conducted throughout 2020, with specific dates and venues to be coordinated with the individual participant(s) selected, and a culminating exercise showcase event will be held in August/September 2020 in Newport, RI. All domestic participants who are invited to conduct exercises, regardless of execution date, will be invited to showcase their results at this culminating event. CNMOC is providing its Gulf of Mexico location as a satellite operating venue opportunity for domestic and foreign participants. Participants may propose to conduct an in-water exercise at CNMOC's operating area near Gulfport, MS and/or at NUWC's Narragansett Bay Test Facility (NBTF) in Newport, RI. (Locations may be recommended by the review panel based on technical and/or logistics requirements. See below for criteria.) Foreign government, industry, and academic institution developers from Australia, Canada, France, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Romania, and the United Kingdom who wish to participate in ANTX must indicate CNMOC Gulf of Mexico location on their ANTX submissions and identify which country you represent. Exercises with CNMOC will be conducted throughout 2020 with a culminating event to be held in October 2020. ANTX is a recurring event that was created for the U.S. Navy to see the future of naval technology in action today. Warfare Centers, other Navy commands, academic institutions, and industry are invited to showcase their technologies and capabilities during this event. This event provides an opportunity to test autonomous systems (both in motion and at rest) and related technologies, while gaining access to the ranges, facilities and the civilian and military staffs of NUWC Division Newport, NUWC Division Keyport, CNMOC, and NOAA. ANTX provides a low risk environment where scientists, engineers, and sailors can evaluate technological innovations at the research and development level before they become militarized and interfaced within Navy operations. This year's focus is to support the Chief of Naval Operation's (CNO's) Task Force Ocean (TFO) initiative aimed at maintaining the Navy's undersea dominance through the ability to understand and exploit the ocean environment by re-invigorating Navy-relevant ocean science, increasing the Navy's capability and capacity to understand and exploit knowledge of the ocean environment, and better leveraging the full range of science and technology (S&T) development in the United States. The focus supports the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC) mission of defining and applying the physical environment, from the bottom of the ocean to the stars, to ensure that the US Navy has the freedom of action to deter aggression, maintain freedom of the seas and win wars. NOAA's participation in ANTX focuses on potential applications of artificial intelligence and unmanned systems to explore and define the physical environment in furtherance of NOAA's civilian missions to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coast, to share that knowledge with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecoystems and resources. ANTX is soliciting enhancements and leap ahead technologies for the collection, processing, and exploitation of accurate, relevant, and timely oceanographic, atmospheric, precise time, and astrometric information. Of particular interest is the employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Unmanned Systems (UxS) to act as force multipliers in achieving mission objectives. This incorporates two of the CNO's top three priorities and two of NOAA's emerging new initiatives. Areas to be considered include but are not limited to: For Oceanography, improve decision making through alternate methods of measuring, understanding and predicting the ocean environment For Meteorology, improve modeling and characterizing the atmospheric environment to ensure Fleet safety and effectiveness, and increasing predictive capacity for severe storms For Hydrography, improve surveying and charting the oceans for safety of navigation and delineation of bottom habitats For Precise Time and Astrometry, improve methods to provide the foundational standard for navigation, communications, and assured command and control Improved unmanned observing, sensing and surveying capabilities to facilitate Distributed Operations, including collaborative operations Methods for providing assured global and regional numerical environmental prediction and applied decision making services Tactical Decision Aids (TDAs) Methods for ambient noise, acoustic bottom loss and scattering information to maximize the impact of oceanographic knowledge Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) algorithms and data sets, including the use in autonomous platforms, for optimizing sensor / vehicle position, and for multi-vehicle control & multi-sensor fusion Big data analytics, processing techniques, fusion, and dissemination Improved geophysical sensing capabilities Cybersecurity Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) environments, including support for tactical, operational, strategic and acquisition decision making Persistent autonomous and/or unmanned oceanographic data collection Predictive physical battlespace awareness Geospatial Information Technology/ Geographic Information Systems Employment of unmanned systems to better understand acoustic bottom interaction, and detect and map ecologically important habitats Novel and next generation means for collecting ambient noise Environmental feature analysis of imagery Ice characterization Software/hardware for enhanced situational awareness inclusive of data visualization Assured and responsive data delivery Low cost - full ocean depth technology Potential participants in this year's ANTX event are asked to submit a proposal for participation by filling out the "ANTX 2020 Proposal Quad Chart". Please be sure to select the in-water execution location(s) preferred. Foreign candidates must select CNMOC as the operating venue. Multiple proposals (quads) may be submitted. The intent is to select the most relevant and promising technology for Navy and NOAA observation. A panel of government subject matter experts will review each proposal and select exercise participants. The selection criteria will also be used to pair select technologies with operational personnel to participate actively in the exercise. Selection criteria will include how the technology addresses the theme (value to the Navy and/or NOAA), uniqueness of the technology (not likely to be duplicated elsewhere), confidence the technology will be available for the exercise, ability to execute at NBTF or the Gulf of Mexico operations area and the potential for collaboration with other participants (both government and non-government). All selected U.S. participants at the CNMOC site will take responsibility to ensure to the ANTX organizers that their Intellectual Property (IP) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) controlled technology is identified in advance and cleared for release to aforementioned countries if working collaboratively with foreign representatives. ANTX will accept, and if selected, facilitate both UNCLASSIFIED and CLASSIFIED (up to SECRET) exercises. Technologies or exercises that are deemed classified shall be handled appropriately by developing and submitting the "ANTX 2020 Proposal Quad Chart" via the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). Technologies or exercises that are deemed classified shall be planned and executed independently from the ANTX 2020 Planning Schedule below. Submitters SHALL NOT SUBMIT Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) proposals for ANTX. Use transmission, classification, handling, and marking guidance provided by previously issued Security Classification Guides (SCG), the DoD Information Security Manual (DoDM 5200.01, Volumes 1 - 4), and the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, including the Supplement Revision 1, (DoD 5220.22-M and DoD 5200.22-M Sup. 1) when submitting information classified as Confidential and/or Secret. Submitters are responsible for clearly and appropriately marking information that is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U.S. C. Sec 2751, et seq.) or the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, Title 50, U.S. C., App. 2401 et seq. Submissions containing International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) restricted information must have the cover page and each page containing such information clearly marked. Proposals received will be marked and handled for government use and distribution only. All proposal information will be protected as commercial proprietary information. All proposals are due by 4 DECEMBER 2019. Division Newport intends to announce selections by 17 January 2020. Potential participants shall submit UNCLASSIFIED proposals electronically to: contact@example.gov Potential participants shall submit appropriately marked Classified (up to SECRET) proposals electronically to: contact@example.gov Classified proposals may also be submitted on a closed Compact Disc via the following method: Mailed via U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Registered Mail or USPS Express Mail. All Classified information will be enclosed in opaque inner and outer covers and double wrapped. The inner envelope shall be sealed and plainly marked with the assigned classification and addresses of both sender and addressee. The inner envelope shall be addressed to: Commander Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport ATTN: Peter Hardro 1176 Howell St Newport, RI 02841 The outer envelope shall be sealed with no identification as to the classification of its contents and addressed to: Commander Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport ATTN: CIC 1176 Howell St Newport, RI. 02841 For planning purposes, all costs for Division Newport and CNMOC range, pier, and boat services for selected participants will be covered by Division Newport and CNMOC, to include general base transportation costs and general labor costs to assist with equipment handling. Division Newport will assist with approvals for required land, water, or air space use and will assist with logistics during the event. Neither Division Newport nor CNMOC will provide any funding for any other costs, including proposal preparation and submittal. Selected participants are responsible for the remainder of expenses, including support for the planning phase (such as providing additional data on their technology for safety/environmental evaluations and the like), mobilizing (shipping to Newport), setup of their equipment, operation of their equipment for demonstration, and demobilization. Selected participants are required to enter into a Special Purpose (SP) Navy Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Division Newport and / or CNMOC. The SP-CRADA enables ANTX participation. If the required NBTF onsite support exceeds what is designated for ANTX execution (as defined in the SP-CRADA), Division Newport will negotiate in good faith the appropriate agreement that will enable participants to provide funding to Division Newport to obtain resources forthose additional in-water activities. You must document the resources you believe will be required at the NBTF and the CNMOC OPAREA to conduct your proposed operations in the "ANTX 2020 Proposal Quad Chart". For planning purposes, the ANTX 2020 Planning Schedule is as follows: 4 November 2019: Announcement to Government, Industry, and Academia 4 December 2019: Participant proposals due 17 January 2020: Participants selected and announced 20 February 2020: Initial planning meeting at NUWC Division Newport (all participants) *15 April 2020: Mid planning meeting at NUWC Division Newport 22 July 2020: Execution Meeting and Test Readiness Reviews at NUWC Division Newport (all participants) August/September 2020: ANTX 2020 (Includes ANTX preparation, in-water exercise days, and showcase event. Further details to be provided at Initial planning meeting) October 2020: CNMOC Culminating Event (Further details to be provided at Initial planning meeting) *NOTE: As in water exercises may be conducted throughout the year, as participants identify themselves as being ready, planning meetings, Pre-Test Readiness Reviews, and Test Readiness Reviews will be conducted prior to execution on an agreed upon date that may be prior to the dates identified above. The appropriate partnership agreement must be in place prior to any in-water events. As further information on the event becomes available this announcement will be updated accordingly.