Diver and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Detection and Tracking Technologies

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Department of the Navy (DoN) Diver and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Detection and Tracking Technologies THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division 110 Vernon Avenue Panama City Beach, Florida 32407 ADDITIONAL GENERAL INFORMATION This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI. The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. Any information received will become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or sensitive information. Government technical experts drawn from staff within DoN and other Federal agencies may review responses. NOTE: If late information is received, it may be considered by the Government Evaluation Team, depending on agency time constraints. GENERAL INTENT DESCRIPTION The Navy provides this REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) inviting industry to provide information on potential topics Diver and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Detection and Tracking Technologies. Industry responses to the RFI will be assessed and may assist in identifying potential future actions (2024-2030). The NAICS Code for this RFI is 334511, Size Standard is 1,350 employees. The product Services Code is 6665. Note: There is no guarantee that any submitted topic will be funded and responders to this RFI will have no competitive advantage in receiving awards related to the submitted topic area. The information submitted in all responses may be utilized to help the Government further define its requirements. If the Government develops a project that addresses any submitted or similar topic, the resulting procurement will address technology and business specific requirements as defined by the Government to achieve project objectives. BACKGROUND The Government is seeking technologies related to seabed and port security for defense against divers and UUVs. These technologies should support detection, tracking, and the subsequent fire control necessary for engagement of potential undersea manned and unmanned threats. Capability Architecture/Definitions: Mission Package Mission Manager (Subsystems, Equipment, Software) [shore or ship based] Mission Planning Tactical Decision Aid Field Management (health, status) Battle Damage Assessment Mission Module Detection Systems Tracking Systems Negation systems Communications Systems and Requirements The following is a list of performance goals for the proposed technologies in a system of systems: Operational Environment Water depths, maximum and minimum Sea State effects on system performance Overall system capability to control waterspace in ports, channels and choke points Detection Criteria (on/off, status, extraction, etc.) Accuracy of detection at all ranges Accuracy of tracking at all ranges Classification criteria Fire Control (shoot) Ability to hold a threat target at risk of prosecution Endurance Standby Operational time Mean Time Between Operational Failure (MTBOF) System Performance: Target Types Classification False Fire Rate PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT 1 FOR TABLE REQUIRED RESPONSES Limit RFI responses to 5 pages (See Format & Page Limitations below). Responses must be unclassified and contain no proprietary information. Note: See Format and Page Limitations and Submission of Documentation paragraphs for additional instructions. Responses are preferred in the following format: TITLE: Name of the recommended project. SUBMITTER INFORMATION: Responses should include the company name, location of planned production facility, and the title, telephone number, and mail and e-mail addresses of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss the submission. GOVERNMENT CUSTOMERS/INTERESTED ORGANIZATIONS: Identify the government customer organizations or suggested other government organizations cognizant of the technology/production issues and challenges. This should be the organizations/agencies that have the technical or programmatic expertise for assessing the values of the project to potential government customers. Identify the appropriate government programs (and/or point of contact), including organization, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and FAX numbers. Points of contact that can provide additional information useful to the project review should be included in an Appendix. (Pages in the Appendix do not count in the page limitation.) Letters from current or potential government customers expressing an interest in addressing the challenges are encouraged. Such letters may be included in the Appendix, again without impacting the page limitation. PROJECT IMPACT: This section provides essential background information on the technology (defined by the product areas in prior sections) and proposed project. It addresses the technology's importance to national defense and the need. This section should include at least the following: Technology Description. The technology and its current and future uses. Benefits. The advantages of the proposed technology over existing technologies and substitutes in terms of cost, performance, and other factors. Cite specific benefits to the national defense and/or the national economy of creating production capacity for the proposed technology. Cite specific applications of conventional technologies in the mission areas described in prior sections, and if appropriate how conventional technologies can transition to said mission areas. Problem Statement. The nature of the problem (e.g., ambiguity in target strength at variable depth, range of sensors or communications), its impact on defense capabilities, and any other considerations that increase the need for the project. Role of project element. How project can solve the problem. Why other DoD programs cannot be used to solve the problem. If other DoD programs can solve the problem, explain how and what elements are applicable. TECHNOLOGY DEMAND: A primary requirement of the technology is that defense and commercial demand for a technology must exceed existing and foreseeable capabilities. This section describes, in as much detail as possible, current and future demand for the technologies, though by no means should the proposals be assumed to be limited to these capabilities if value can be found elsewhere: PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT 2 FOR TABLE INDUSTRY CAPABILITIES: This section describes industry's current and expected capability to produce the technology. It should include: Domestic (U.S. and Canada) and worldwide production sources. Current and planned capabilities and capacity for specific firms, as available. Note current DoD sources of supply. Estimated relevant technologies to be produced over the next five years (with and without project assistance). Market dynamics. Explain how competition and other market factors have affected domestic industrial capabilities. Cite market shares and trends, if possible. Constraints. Factors affecting industry's ability and willingness to meet DoD demand without project incentives. RISKS: Include a discussion of technical and business risks and issues that must be addressed and resolved (or accepted) before initiating the project and establishing a viable source of supply. Business Risks. Include an assessment of the time and cost to bring the new capacity on-line and the product's competitiveness with other sources (domestic or foreign) or with alternative technologies. Address all factors that would affect the sale of technology and the long-term viability of the source. Technical Uncertainties. Include requirements for new processes, significant scale-up of existing technologies, remaining development risks, product qualification requirements, and technology and manufacturing readiness. Note the availability of specifications. Provide title, contract number, and points of contact with current or pending DoD and other Federal contracts. CRITERIA: Please succinctly address how the proposed project will comply with each of the three statutory technology product requirements. The ability to plan and deliver a field of distributed, autonomously networked wireless sensor nodes via UUV; The ability to detect and classify a target of interest and provide its bearing, range and speed by utilizing said network, with the option to command and control said network and operation remotely via operator interface; The ability to assemble information provided by the network autonomously to form an estimation of target track and position. PROJECT CONCEPT: An initial concept is required to support understanding of any recommended project. Technical approach. State recommended project's technical objectives and outline the technical approach. Identify what the proposed project would accomplish and how. Describe what work and investments would be necessary achieve a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 4 capability within mission areas for the given technology. Include a time-phased plan for major elements of the approach. Business approach. State the proposed business case for the project. Identify current and future markets including customers, projected revenues, employee growth, and market share (include U.S. and world markets). State total investment needed, sources for the investment (own company, proejct funds, other government sources, etc.). Estimate the amount of investment industry would be likely/able to make in this project. The extent of cost sharing between the Government and project contractor(s) is considered important but not necessary. It indicates industry understands that investments will position a domestic firm to make substantial returns (especially in the commercial market) after technology investments cease, and it also indicates industry's commitment to being a long term supplier to the Department of Defense and other government customers. Cost/Funding Estimates. Provide a top-level breakdown of estimated project costs. Identify recommended type of project incentive to be used, e.g., production scale-up, engineering costs, equipment purchase costs, business development costs, process optimization, samples and qualification costs, or purchase commitments, etc. the technology projects awarded will acknowledge that the amount and phasing of funds will vary considerably, depending on the technology problem, the incentive type, and the selected approach. REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION / POINTS OF CONTACT: Contracting POC: Sandy Castanaro, sandra.l.castanaro.civ@us.navy.mil Technical POC: Melanie MacBain, melanie.m.macbain.civ@us.navy.mil Technical Manager POC: Dr. Cameron Matthews, Cameron.a.matthews.civ@us.navy.mil FORMAT & PAGE LIMITATION Your submittal should be provided on standard letter size 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper, limited to a maximum of 5 single sided, double-spaced pages or presentation slides. The font for text should be Times New Roman 12-point or larger. The Responder may use oversize pages (including - foldouts) where appropriate to contain graphic presentations. Oversize pages do not count as extra pages within the page limitations. Submitted responses should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat format. Existing commercial documentation and product literature can also be submitted and is not subject to a page limitation. Note: No proprietary data should be provided. SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTATION Responses to this RFI are due by or before 4:00 pm (central time) 5 September 2023. If late information is received, it may be considered by the Government Evaluation Team, depending on agency time constraints. Documentation shall be delivered to the Contracting Office via the provided POC emails with Technical and Manager POCs on copy, addressed to the Contracting POC. INFORMATION APPROACH The Program may or may not select any of the submitted recommended topics for use as a Title III project. Projects developed from these topics, as with all projects, may be competed in a full and open competition. The Navy, as the DoD Executive Agent for the Program, is not required to provide feedback to responders. NSWC-PCD utilizes the RFI process to identify potential programs and to determine if there is an industrial base concern that the authorities could resolve. Upon receipt of RFI responses, NSWC-PCD reviews the submissions to determine whether or not they are appropriate. In the pursuit of a program, the Government will determine the acquisition process and contract vehicle based on this information in the applicable Government-Wide Point of Entry. A definitive timeframe cannot be determined because the process is contingent upon a number of different variables. If market research indicates there are competitive sources in the applicable technology area, a competitive acquisition would be advertised on SAM.gov opportunities through a sources sought announcement. DISCLAIMER This is a Request for Information (RFI) only, as defined in FAR 15.201 (e), to obtain information about pricing, delivery, and other market information or capabilities for planning purposes. This RFI is not a request for competitive proposals; therefore, responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Companies that respond will not be paid for the information submitted. No telephone calls will be accepted requesting a bid package or solicitation. There is no bid package or solicitation at this time. All information received shall be safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure. Please do not submit any proprietary or classified information. PLEASE NOTE: Questions or clarification of any aspect of this request for information, must be brought to the attention of the Contract Specialist before the question deadline date of 18 Aug 2023, 4:00 pm (central time). Although every effort will be made, the Government makes no guarantee that questions received after the date above will be answered.