FORUM FOR INNOVATIVE & NOVEL DISCOVERY (FIND) - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) is announcing the Forum for Innovative & Novel Discovery (FIND). On 26-27 March 18 concurrent with Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, AL, ARCIC will conduct its fourth FIND event. The FIND will concentrate on the Army Network/Command, Control, Communications, & Intelligence (C3I). The FIND program is voluntary and open to all interested small business. Businesses that participate in the FIND will not receive any financial reimbursement for their participation from the U.S. Army. If your company qualifies as a small business, it is eligible to submit a proposal to FIND at usarmy.jble.arcic-cdld.mbx.FIND-coordinator@mail.mil The purpose of FIND is to provide industry the opportunity to present their most innovative projects/ideas to key senior Army leaders and receive feedback with the goal of developing an opportunity for the Army to discover innovative technologies through a novel approach with industry. Each FIND session provides a forum allowing an individual member of industry to share proprietary information on its long-range research and development (R&D) efforts (outside the presence of competing industry members) with U.S. Army officials knowledgeable on the general subject matter of Army Warfighting Challenges (AWFCs) best aligned with the private R&D effort. The sessions are executive level meetings chaired by an Army flag Officer or equivalent. FIND events will focus on a variety of topics across the Army Modernization Priorities and the Army Science and Technology warfighting needs to enable the Army to focus future force development and prioritize research, development, and acquisition. FINDs will emphasize long-range planning to define future decision points that consider equipment age, degradation of overmatch, industrial base viability and closure of capability gaps in the near-term (present-2026), mid-term (2027-2036), and long-term (2037-2051) time frames, while allowing for cost-informed decisions that balance force generation needs for Force 2025 and Beyond. Use the information at the Army Warfighting Challenges the Warfighters' Science and Technology Needs web links when reviewing topics. See http://www.arcic.army.mil/Initiatives/ArmyWarfightingChallenges, and http://www.arcic.army.mil/App_Documents/Army-Warfighters-ST-Needs-Bulletin.pdf. A small business wishing to participate in this opportunity must submit a no greater than 1000-word white paper to ARCIC, NLT 2 March 18 for review and selection. ARCIC will notify selected companies of the date/time of their presentation. Any proprietary information must be marked and clearly identified by respondents. When responding, include a brief description of the company, name(s) of employees presenting, and a company point-of-contact with a phone number and e-mail address. When submitting a white paper to ARCIC, companies must satisfy at least one of the following Army Network/C3I criteria to be considered: a. Integrated Electronic Warfare (EW)-With the rapid pace at which wired and wireless technologies evolve and the Army's dependence on these technologies, it is essential to establish common development baseline for operational EW capabilities. Fully integrated EW capabilities will provide an offset as potential adversaries' transition towards advanced EW threats techniques. b. Cyber Situational Understanding (SU)-Cyber SU is development that occurs through a family of interactive, interoperable, and critical technologies that facilitate maneuver planning, collaboration, and synchronization through integration with commander's user-defined operation picture. c. Future Waveforms-The Army must develop and implement upgrades to tactical networking waveforms in order to increase capacity, flexibility, robustness, and simplicity of operations. The waveforms must provide high throughput to users within a tactical area of operations and utilize advanced Low Probability of Intercept/Detect/Exploit technologies. d. Assured Position, Navigation, and Timing (APNT)-Army forces must be able to access and integrate space, cyber, and EW capabilities to gain and maintain PNT superiority across all domains to support joint combined arms unified land operations. Transmissions and information to support mission command and joint combined arms unified land operations must be assured and secure. Likewise, the ability to prevent, degrade, eliminate, and mitigate PNT threats to joint combined arms unified land operations and preserve friendly freedom of movement and action is essential. e. Mission Command-Mission Command network capabilities must provide simple and integrated Mission Command, a comprehensive common operational picture, and support for mission planning and rapid execution within the commander's intent. Mission Command Suite capabilities (includes cloud computing) must enable the joint warfighter through: data, and message interoperability; integration with Joint Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and strike capabilities; and decision aids (knowledge management, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence). Mission Command applications must rapidly correlate and integrate data into useful information, enable rapid and accurate Situational Understanding, and reduce the number of Soldiers required for Command Post operations. (Admin Note: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. Announcements are used to gather information from and inform industry without any promise of a current or future contract or requirement. This is not a solicitation for bids or offers. Information provided cannot be used to create a binding contract. Respondents to this announcement will not be reimbursed for the information they provide to ARCIC or for their attendance at the FIND.) The FIND Coordinator is listed below: Mr. Rosenell Grant Jr., FIND Coordinator. TRADOC ARCIC Science, Technology, Research, and Accelerated Capabilities Division (ATFC-ET), Concept Development and Learning Directorate, 950 Jefferson Ave, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA 23604-5763, Telephone: (757 501-5529) Email: usarmy.jble.arcic-cdld.mbx.FIND-coordinator@mail.mil. Contracting Office Address: MICC Center - Fort Eustis (Joint Base Langley-Eustis), Building 705, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5538 Point of Contact(s): Ronald L. Moton, 757-501-8155 Contracting Office Address: Building 705 Washington Blvd Fort Eustis, Virginia 23604