Dismounted Soldier Network Aware Applications and Transports

Please note that this Special Notice is for information purposes only and does not constitute a request for proposal or call for white paper. A project award will not be awarded from this announcement. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey 07806- 5000, on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Emerging Capabilities and Prototyping Office, has entered into a section 815 Prototype Other Transaction (OT) Agreement with the National Spectrum Consortium (NSC) for a period of five (5) years. Under this acquisition vehicle, the Government, in coordination with industry, will develop and mature technologies spectrum access technologies to enable improved cognizance of spectrum activity, protection of US activity in the electromagnetic spectrum domain, and the ability to relocate and/or share spectrum anytime, anywhere access is needed. Only one such Consortium, the National Spectrum Consortium, encompasses the expertise, knowledge, technologies, and innovation to meet the program objectives and goals of the coordinated research and development program designed to advance better use of the electromagnetic spectrum. The consortium is comprised of a well-balanced and uniquely qualified mixture of traditional contractors, non-traditional contractors, utility producers, investment firms, non-governmental organizations, and academia, representing the vast majority of the key players in the industry. The purpose of this announcement is to provide industry in general advanced notification of Government's intent. The Government intends to announce a Request for Prototype Proposals (RPP) for execution of a project award in support of Product Manager Ground Soldier Systems (PdM GSS) to develop and mature spectrum access technologies and its associated integration with dismounted Soldier systems. Only members of the NSC in good standing are permitted to a submit proposal in response to the RPP. The NSC is an open consortium with a low barrier for membership. Any interested company, academic institution, or contractor can become a member and join the consortium to widen knowledge and technical expertise to continue to advance in technologies and meet Government needs. The effort, entitled "Dismounted Soldier Network Aware Applications and Transports," is to provide insights into operational problems involving network systems and operations as experienced by Army units, supporting the advancement and optimization of current network systems and architectures to fill near-term mission requirements and high-priority capability gaps. The Government seeks to assess and develop cutting-edge solutions for next generation systems, architectures, waveforms, and data formats and ensure they are integrated with Soldier systems (Nett Warrior, Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), etc.) and the supporting terrestrial and cloud-based infrastructure. The Government shall provide the NSC, through its authorized agent, a call for proposal(s) and the NSC, through its authorized agent, shall make those calls available to NSC Members who will then decide whether to submit proposals in response to such calls and, if so, will prepare their individual proposal(s) or will individually establish a team comprised of NSC Members to prepare a team proposal(s). These NSC member proposals will be submitted to the NSC's agent, the CMF, for transmission to the Government. The Government shall be solely responsible for evaluation and selection of proposals for funding from among the proposals submitted. Once it receives notification of selection, the NSC, by its agent, will enter into a Project Agreement with the NSC member entity or team whose proposal was selected by the Government through this competitive process. The NSC agent shall execute and administer the award and Project Agreement and the Government's designated Technical Manager will supervise the technical work performed by the NSC Member(s) whose proposals are selected for funding by the Government. Subsection 10.U.S.C. 2371b(f) provides that a "transaction entered into under this section for a prototype project may provide for the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction to participants in the transaction." This requires that advanced consideration be given and notice be made of the potential for a follow-on contract or transaction. As such, the RPP will clearly identify whether a follow-on production contract or transaction is contemplated. For more information interested Parties can visit the consortium website at http://www.nationalspectrumconsortium.org/.