NATO Market Survey: Remotely Controlled Vehicles (RCV)

The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) is performing a market survey for the purpose of gathering information pertaining to industry's capability in the field of countering Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The purpose of this exercise is to obtain a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) price indication of Remotely Controlled Vehicles (RCVs) for future requirements in the forthcoming months. Please note: The due date for industry's response to the market survey has been extended to 11 March 2011. NC3A's point of contact for this exercise is Rebecca Benson, Senior Contracting Officer. Ms. Benson may be reached via email: Rebecca.Benson@nc3a.nato.int OR via phone: +32-(0)-2-707-8328. NC3A is interested in RCVs for use in operations countering IEDs. There are two main application areas in which NC3A may have requirements: 1) IED Detection and Neutralization during Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) operations and 2) Route Clearance Activities. The equipment will be used by military staff from the NATO nations during operations in peace and wartime, under a broad range of climatic conditions. The equipment shall provide the operating forces with the capability to investigate, manipulate, and disrupt suspected IEDs in a variety of situations and environments, using the RCV with equipment payload. The requirements are fairly wide, with the intention of guiding the company's choice of products to offer so as to provide NC3A with a set of options for RCVs and payloads for use against IEDs in the application areas of interest. Such acquisition, which is envisioned to be conducted on the basis of a competitive exercise, remains subject to the formal approval of the competent NATO authorities, which at this junction has not been granted. At this stage, therefore, NC3A cannot guarantee that such a competitive exercise will be carried out, and it reserves the right to pursue other acquisition avenues at its disposal. To this extent it shall be noted that should a competitive exercise be pursued for the purpose of the procurement of the RCVs, it shall be conducted in such a way as to not limit or otherwise render unfeasible the adoptions or specific solutions to the disadvantage of companies that have not participated in this survey. Any response to this request is to be provided purely on a voluntary basis, and the determination not to provide feedback shall not constitute grounds for the exclusion of companies from any form of competitive exercise to be conducted in the future. Furthermore, NC3A shall not recognize any compensation, regardless of its nature, for activities performed in conjunction with the present request. The present request and any information provided, including but not limited to pricing, quantities, capabilities, functionalities, and requirements are not to be construed as binding for NATO for future acquisitions of any RCVs. Similarly, any information provided by the company in response to the present request shall be kept confidential, shall be disseminated to NATO personnel only and solely for purposes of the present exercise, and shall not be considered biding with regards to the future potential acquisition of the RCVs in question. ROM Pricing and Data Submission Methodology Methodology Companies are requested to provide per unit price information. A number of questions must also be answered. The responses provided by companies will be treated as commercial-in-confidence, and will only be used for the purpose of defining a funding envelope for projects intending to procure such vehicles and not selecting a product. Product selection will be done through the procurement process. Overview NC3A is interested in RCVs for use in operations countering IEDs. There are two main application areas where NC3A may have requirements in the upcoming months: 1) IED Detection and Neutralization during EOD operations and 2) Route Clearance Activities. The equipment will be used by military staff from the NATO nations during operations in peace and wartime, under a broad range of climatic conditions. The equipment shall provide the operating forces with the capability to investigate, manipulate, and disrupt suspected IEDs in a variety of situations and environments, using the RCV with equipment payload. The requirements are fairly wide, with the intention of guiding the company's choice of products to offer in order to provide NC3A with a set of options for RCVs and payloads for use against IEDs in the application areas of interest. Technical requirements - Physical form: The RCV should be small and light enough to be transported and deployed from a typical SUV-size vehicle. - Mission life: The RCV should be capable of a typical mission life of four hours without recharging. - Terrain handling: The RCV should be capable of on-road use, off-road use, and use within buildings, including the capability to climb stairs. - Environmental: The RCV should be capable of operations in a broad range of environmental conditions, including desert conditions, snow, ice and rain. - Speed: The control of speed should be variable, to allow both fast road use and precise control in closed or unstable physical conditions. In on-road or smooth off-road conditions, the RCV should be capable of maintaining pace with dismounted solders. - Remote control: The RCV should be capable of being controlled out of direct line of sight of the operator, e.g., within a building. The control link should be selectable as wireless or physical (e.g., fiber optic). - Payload: The RCV should be capable of operating with a range of payload configurations, including mixes of sensors (e.g., visible, IR, X-ray, microphones) and physical actuators (e.g., robotic arm, shotgun, vehicle entry devices). These should all be controlled by the operator and sensor data related in real time to the operator via the remote link. - Payload maneuvering: The RCV should be capable of fine control of the pointing of payloads through precise control of the RCV itself (e.g., turning on the spot), control of the RCV stance, and/or fine control of payloads on extendable or robotic arms. - Traction: The RCV should be capable of towing/pushing large objects, e.g., vehicles. - Robustness: Although the RCV is expendable in the case of unintended IED detonation, the RCV should be robust and protected against typical operational use of, for example, ballistic payloads. Information Required 1) The scope of the solution: Please provide the following information based upon the requirements described above: a) Indicate whether you would be able to provide a complete solution for both application areas: EOD Operations and Route Clearance Activities. b) Provide details of your products that fulfill part of the requirements, meet the requirements, or exceed the requirements. NC3A is also interested in solutions applicable to only one of the application areas. c) Where the equipment offered does have a capability across both applications areas, indicate how costs are reduced through the use of common operation, training, maintenance, and test equipment. d) Provide the technical details of the capability of the equipment with respect to the requirements above, including an approximate indication of the effectiveness of the systems and providing test results where possible. Include the payloads that you can offer and any third part payloads that are compatible with the offered RCVs. e) Provide information to illustrate your envisaged concept of operations for the equipment - e.g., operation, interoperability, training, programming, maintenance, and testing. 2) Further options: a) Provide technical details of any options or further services you could offer that you believe could be of benefit to NATO in this application area. 3) Integrated Logistics Support options: a) Provide details of the support equipment and services required (e.g., accessories, batteries, spares, calibration, testing, etc.) 4) ROM costs: a) Provide a ROM cost estimate for the equipment, services, options, and support you offer in the answers above. The costs should be broken down by item and based on quantities of 10, 20, and 50 RCVs. The cost breakdown should allow NC3A to estimate the cost of packages of mixes of RCVs, payloads, and support options in various quantities.