Navy Automated Celestial Navigation System (ACNS)

This notice is for market research purposes only and does NOT constitute a request for proposal. This notice shall not be construed as a contract, a promise to contract, or as a commitment of any kind by the Government. The Government is NOT seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is issued by the Department of Defense (DoD) Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), on behalf of the Program Executive Office (PEO) Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS) 6.0 Command and Control Directorate. This office is conducting market research in accordance with FAR Part 10, to determine if sources possess the requisite capabilities to successfully perform the requirement stated herein. NAVSEA desires information on the technical maturity and current availability of Automated Celestial Navigation Systems (ACNS). An ACNS will be fielded on U.S. Navy ships as a means to provide external position fixes. The ACNS will be a non-GPS based position and navigation source that will autonomously determine vessel position and heading based on optical sightings of celestial objects including stars and resident space objects (e.g. satellites and space debris). The system must be suitable for topside installation aboard US Navy ships and must be engineered for the harsh weather environment. The navigation data produced by the ACNS will be incorporated into the ship's navigation systems. The ACNS will be integrated with Surface ship navigation systems including NAVSSI, GPNTS, and WSN-7 and will be installed aboard Navy surface combatant ships. The anticipated schedule for the initial ACNS installation begins in CY 2021. NAVSEA desires white papers, pamphlets, and technical descriptions of potential candidate ACNS solutions. NAVSEA welcomes responses from commercial, academic and government organizations. The contractor must possess a facility security clearance issued by the Defense Security Service at the SECRET level. RESPONSES: Interested parties shall respond describing their capabilities for developing and maintaining system development services. Send responses to the PCO, Simone Brightmon, via email to simone.brightmon@navy.mil in PDF or Microsoft Word Format. In order to be considered in this market survey, please reply on or before 29 September 2017 by 14:00 hours (Eastern). At a minimum, responses shall include the following: Business name, DUNS number, business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, Other than Small Business), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address; Descriptive literature, brochures, marketing material, etc. detailing the nature of the products or services the responding firm is regularly engaged in providing. Contractor's capability statements, including all descriptive literature, shall have a 15 page limit. The respondents capability statements shall, at a minimum, define the following: 1. Core competencies -These are short introduction statements relating the company's core competencies to satisfy IWS 6.0's specific needs for the ACNS procurement (e.g. - Hardware development, maintenance, integration, and certification etc.), DoD and DoN experience. 2. Past performance - List of past customers (maximum of 3) for whom the contractor has done similar work. Provide details of accomplishments, products and services rendered; 3. Differentiators - How your company is suited for the needs of IWS 6.0? What is it about your abilities that make you stand out from the rest? What is it about your people that give you the advantage over your competitors? Why your products may provide better solutions? DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This notice is not a request for proposals and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Sources choosing to respond to this notice are wholly responsible for any costs/expenses associated with submitting a response. Therefore any cost associated with the market survey submission is solely at the interested vendor's expense. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice. The information obtained from submitted responses may be used in development of an acquisition strategy and a future solicitation.