Obstacle Avoidance and Digital Modeling Sources Sought

ERP Questionnaire ENHANCED ROBOTIC PAYLOADS (ERP) - UNMANNED GROUND SYSTEMS (UGS) Obstacle Avoidance and Digital Modeling SOURCES SOUGHT Attached is the U.S. Army Sources Sought Questionnaire related to potential new procurement of the Enhanced Robotic Payloads (ERP) - Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS) Obstacle Avoidance and Digital Modeling (OA&DM) technologies. The paragraphs below contain additional information regarding the questionnaire and its subject. If you need further communications with the Army concerning this questionnaire, you may contact Brian Graham from PdM UGV at brian.l.graham.civ@mail.mil. In addition to this questionnaire Government representatives from Product Manager Unmanned Ground Vehicles (PdM UGV) will be at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Conference in Washington DC from 14-16 October, 2019 to also gather information to inform Acquisition Strategies. You may contact Louis Anulare from PdM UGV at louis.a.anulare.civ@mail.mil to schedule a brief meeting. We thank you in advance for your time and participation in this Sources Sought Questionnaire. Background: In order to inform the development of an acquisition strategy, cost estimate, cost benefit analysis, technical risk assessment, and performance specification, Product Manager Unmanned Ground Vehicles (PdM UGV) seeks to characterize the state of the market for ERP-UGS; a suite of modular capabilities designed with open architecture to provide and increased level of standoff, situational awareness, disruption capability and dexterity to respond to current and emergent Engineer, Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) requirements. These multiple, modular robotic mission payloads will use open architecture to integrate with the Man Transportable Robotic System Increment II (MTRS Inc. II), Common Robotic System - Heavy (CRS-H) and other future platforms to form the Army's next generation platform adaptable robotics systems. While a full set of requirements is not yet available, the ERP will: 1) Enhance an EOD Teams ability to detect, identify, locate, evaluate, render safe, exploit, and dispose of all Explosive Ordnance (EO), to include Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) at sufficient standoff to improve Soldier survivability and increase mission success. 2) Provide Soldiers the ability to increase operational range between the Operator and the hazard as well as provide the ability to detect, identify, and locate the hazard and transmit that data for use by follow-on site entry teams. ERP will enable CBRN Soldiers to perform site initial entry via unmanned operation thereby reducing Soldier exposure to unknown hazards, and enhancing the Combatant Commander's decision making process. 3) Consist of three capabilities that will mount on existing and programmed Host Unmanned Ground Vehicles (HUGVs) in EOD units: (a) Increased ability to detect hidden or camouflaged EO through advanced imaging, (b) Limit Soldier cognitive burden through autonomous Obstacle Avoidance and Digital Modeling (OA&DM), and (c) Provides dynamic networking for Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) operation and 360 degree ISR capability. This market survey will focus on the ERP-UGS Obstacle Avoidance and Digital Modeling technologies ONLY. Separate market surveys will be conducted to assess the other desired ERP capabilities. I. Objectives a. This Sources Sought Questionnaire supports Market Research that will be conducted by the U.S. Army to better understand the availability and capabilities of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or other qualified equipment sources to provide ERP capabilities. The information gathered by the Army through this questionnaire, along with other market investigation data, is solely intended for use by the U.S. Army and will not be shared amongst competing companies. For instructions and more information regarding proprietary information, please refer to Section IV of this document. Participation in this Sources Sought Questionnaire by the various contractors is considered low risk to the commercial companies, as responses will be treated per Section IV as Proprietary. b. Participation in this Sources Sought Questionnaire provides an important opportunity to influence the solicitation provision and contract clauses, budget requests, and a full range of other elements that supports the acquisition strategy for the Army procurement programs. The U.S. Army will not provide compensation for any resources spent answering this QUESTIONNAIRE and participation is at the discretion of the equipment manufacturer respondent(s). II. Instructions a. Read the capability summary for this effort in Section III of this QUESTIONNAIRE. Responses to this survey should be provided within 10 calendar days of posting to the point of contact on the www.fedbizopps.gov posting. b. Answer all of the questions in the QUESTIONNAIRE as concisely as possible. Due to the magnitude of questions being answered, it is imperative that only what is asked in the questions is part of you answer, please see letter (d) below for submission of additional information. If certain U.S. Army capabilities shown in this QUESTIONNAIRE are deemed not available, or not achievable according to the respondent's company knowledge, please include a concise alternate proposal(s) which would be intended to provide the intent of the capability described therein. It is the U.S. Army's desire to avoid "not applicable" (N/A) type answers. c. Please provide the projected development resources such as cost and timing to support the survey's objectives. This information is essential in understanding the scope of the project and it is understood by the U.S. Army that this information is strictly a rough estimate. The respondent's company is not contractually obligated to this information. Please avoid N/A, not applicable or blank information. The U.S. Army recognizes these are rough estimates and will use the information strictly as a means for gaining general knowledge. Please include development resource cost and timing estimates for all alternate proposals as well as the mainstream proposal. d. You may provide product brochures or other forms of information relevant to this QUESTIONNAIRE as is deemed appropriate within a separate attachment to your response, please entitle it "Additional Information". Additionally, it is encouraged to provide any additional information that enables the U.S. Army to gain insight into the company, product performance, reliability and warranty performance. III. Summary for the ERP-UGS Sources Sought Questionnaire This questionnaire applies to the U.S. Army's emerging requirement for plans to procure a set of capabilities that meets the operational requirements developed by the TRADOC Capability Manager for EOD (TCM-EOD) and CBRNE Capability Developers (MSCOE / Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID)/ Requirements Determination Division (RDD)). The Army intends to develop a performance specification reflecting TCM-EOD/CBRNE's operational requirements and informed by the performance, cost, availability, and supportability of systems in the commercial market. In order to ensure the best value to the U.S. Army and taxpayers, we are surveying the market place to determine if ERP capabilities could be procured competitively. IV. Proprietary GENERAL INFORMATION: The U.S. Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this QUESTIONNAIRE. The U.S. Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. - 1905 to protect information qualifying as "confidential" under this statute. (To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term "confidential" in the context of Classified Information," we will use the term "PROPRIETARY.") Pursuant to this statute, the Government is willing to accept any PROPRIETARY (e. g. trade secret) restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the QUESTIONNAIRE and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following: 1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) "PROPRIETARY" with an explanatory text so the U.S. Government is clearly notified of the data needing to be appropriately protected. 2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials truly proprietary (over breadth in marking inappropriate data as "PROPRIETARY" may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting or other appropriate means to indicate the portion of a single page to be protected. 3. The U.S. Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data which is already in the public domain or in possession of the U.S. Government or 3rd parties, or is afterward placed into public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the U.S. Government will not be protected once it is in the public domain. Data which is already in the possession of the U.S. Government will be protected in accordance with the government's rights in the data. 4. Proprietary data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the U.S. Government, shall contain the "PROPRIETARY" legend, with any explanatory text on both the cover of the transmittal email and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate for only portions of an electronic file, use the restrictive legends "PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:" and "PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS." 5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the U.S. Government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text. 6. The U.S. Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses which contain proprietary information may receive only limited or no consideration since the respondent's marking of the data as "PROPRIETARY" will preclude disclosure of same outside the U.S. Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The U.S. Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available. 7. The U.S. Government will not publish the results of this QUESTIONNAIRE. Respondents WILL NOT be notified regarding information obtained related to this QUESTIONNAIRE. If and when a solicitation is issued, it will be posted on www.fedbizopps.gov. It is the respondent's responsibility to monitor these sites for the releases of any synopsis or solicitation.