Department of Navy Rapid Capabilities Office Disruptor Day: Multi-Sensor Data Fusion & Analytics for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA)

 I. INTRODUCTION

This Special Notice announces the Department of Navy Rapid Capabilities Office (DONRCO) Disruptor Days. The purpose of this event is to provide industry access to unique Government assets (test ranges, Labs, equipment, data) to support the development of mission-critical solutions.

This initiative explicitly highlights a strategic partnership between Portfolio Acquisition Executive Mission Systems (PAE MS) and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). PAE MS will serve as the primary evaluators, and the ONI will be actively involved throughout the planning, evaluation, and review process to ensure solutions meet rigorous operational demands.

Disclaimer: This announcement does not constitute a solicitation and shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government. Responses in any form are not offers, and the Government is under no obligation to award a contract as a result of this announcement. Any submission of information is strictly voluntary.

II. TOPIC DESCRIPTION

Globally significant maritime chokepoints present dense, asymmetrical, and highly dynamic threat environments. To address these operational challenges, the DONRCO seeks to identify and evaluate commercial data and technologies capable of performing rapid data fusion and multi-sensor correlation to support real-time Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

Technical Focus

The Department of the Navy (DON) needs to detect, locate, identify, and track all maritime vessels. The DON needs data solutions that can follow all types of vessels, from cooperative ships that report their location (self-reporting vessels) to non-cooperative "dark targets" that try to hide their positions. Dark targets may be involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, illicit drug trafficking, illegal arms trafficking, terrorism activities, or piracy.

The DON is interested in novel data sources and analytics tools that can plug into and enhance the DON’s unclassified MDA tool, called SeaVision (https://info.seavision.volpe.dot.gov/). This event will experiment with novel combinations of data and analytics tools to demonstrate improvements in analytical MDA results by showing: the direct output of vessel positions, types, and predicted tracks.

For this Disruptor Day event, data provided by participants should be in GeoJSON format. Data provided to participants for analysis will also be in GeoJSON format.

Innovative Industry Solutions

Submissions and demonstrations will focus on the following key operational and analytical capability areas. Participants can demonstrate in one or both capability areas.

1. Novel Data Sources

• After registration, the DON will specify a preferred location and window of time for data collection so that different data sources can be most easily overlaid with baseline SeaVision data.
• Advanced Data Solutions: Participants could demonstrate novel, previously untapped information pipelines to feed MDA analytical tools.
• High-Granularity Insights: Participants could demonstrate precise entity resolution and deep tracking capability.
• Latency and Timing: Participants should provide information regarding latency of data collected as well as how often data can be collected.

2. Novel Analytics Tools

• Correlation Engines: Participants could demonstrate automated calculators or AI tools to rapidly identify and report hidden relationships across disparate datasets.
• Source Identification: Participants should include identification of all data sources used to generate analytical results (e.g., a specific Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image, Automatic Identification (AIS) data feed, or Radio Frequency (RF) signal).
• Methodology Description: Participants should provide a high-level description of the analytic process or algorithms used. This information must be sufficient for the DON to understand the methodology, verify its legitimacy, and assess effectiveness during operational use.

In-Scope Data Sources for Both Capability Areas

New data sources and platforms must be capable of supporting the possibility of ingestion, correlation, and analysis using a standardized GeoJSON format.  In addition to the following data types, vendors are encouraged to propose data sources beyond this list and/or ways to enhance these data types with additional attributes or analytics provided in GeoJSON format:

• Electro-Optical (EO) imagery and intelligence data, Infrared (IR) data and thermal imaging feeds and RF data, including signal emissions, intercept feeds, and spectrum analysis tools.
• SAR imagery and processing tools.
• Commodities Data (e.g., cargo manifests, shipping declarations, port-of-origin records, global trade statistics).
• Other Data (social media, acoustics, etc.)

III. EVENT DETAILS

The Disruptor Days event will occur starting the Week of November 30, 2026 (with a planned 2-week testing window) at NIWC Pacific in San Diego, CA. The event will take place in a specialized laboratory environment that allows vendors to brief their products in a traditional industry day format and execute live analytical evaluations. The DON anticipates using Limited Purpose Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (LP-CRADAs) to support this effort. More detailed information to follow.

Following the event, selected vendors will receive structured feedback and scoring performance summaries from the Government evaluation panel.

IV. REGISTRATION

To Register for the Maritime Domain Awareness Disruptor Days, interested vendors should submit their information here: https://forms.osi.apps.mil/r/PaVKy9YV3S

Additionally, DONRCO will host a virtual Q&A session prior to the event to answer vendor questions. Attending the virtual Q&A Session is optional and not required for Disruptor Day registration. Registration via the above form also serves to sign up for the Virtual Q&A session.

• Virtual Q&A session will be held: 1300 EDT, Wednesday, September 30, 2026
• Sign-up Deadline for the Virtual Q&A session: 1200 EDT, on September 29, 2026

Pre-registration is REQUIRED for both the virtual Q&A and the Disruptor Days event. No walk-ins will be permitted.  A downs selection will occur depending on interest due to limitations of space and time constraints.

Additional information will be required prior to final event registration.

V. SIGNIFICANT DATES AND TIMES

Event / Milestone

Date & Time

Special Notice Announcement Released

18 September 2026

Virtual Pre-Event Q&A Sign-Up Deadline

1200 EDT on 30 September 2026

Virtual Pre-Event Q&A Session

1300 EDT on 1 October 2026

Final Survey Submission Closes

1600 EDT on 9 October 2026

Attendance & Invitation Approvals Sent

16 October 2026

Technical Q&A Session (Data Sharing & Setup)

21 October 2026

Disruptor Week Event Begins (NIWC Pacific, San Diego, CA)

Week of 30 November 2026 (2-Week Duration)

Disruptor Day Distinguished Visitor Day (NIWC Pacific, San Diego, CA)

10 December 2026

VIII. POINTS OF CONTACT

Any questions regarding this announcement, data integration requirements, or event logistics should be submitted via email to: DisruptorDay@us.navy.mil