Organic Precision Fires Swarming and ATR-T Capabilities

1. GENERAL INFORMATION. This Request for Information (RFI) initiates market research under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotations, request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Responses to this RFI will be treated as information only. Both large and small businesses, as well as academic institutions, are encouraged to respond. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of a contractor's submission of responses to this announcement, or the Government's use of such information. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. The information provided may be used by the Government/Marine Corps in further developing its acquisition strategy, statement of work/statement of objectives and/or performance specifications. Do not submit classified information as it will not be accepted. The RFI seeks ideas and information regarding development of loitering munition behaviors including adaptive and autonomous behaviors such as swarming and Automatic Target Recognition and Tracking (ATR-T). The Government may, solely at its discretion, choose to acquire this capability via potential traditional FAR-based contract, as a - Procurement for Experimental Purposes under 10 U.S.C. - 2373, as an - Other Transaction Agreement for prototype, with the potential for a follow-on contract or transaction as permitted by 10 U.S.C. - 2371b, or via other means. 2. PURPOSE. The Program Manager Fire Support Systems (PM FSS), Portfolio Manager Ground Combat Element Systems (PfM GCES), Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) is requesting information regarding industry's capabilities and related experience providing the ability to conduct adaptive and autonomous behaviors such as swarming and ATR-T, and integrating these capabilities into loitering munitions such as the Organic Precision Fires (OPF) system. OPF is a canister launched loitering munition platform capable of integrating on various vehicle platforms and engaging multiple land- and sea-based targets. Refer to inactive RFIs #M67854-19-I-1545 and #M67854-21-I-1820 on https://sam.gov for more information on the OPF-Mounted (OPF-M) and Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV) systems. PM FSS desires to increase the OPF system effectiveness significantly while decreasing the user interaction required. The specific system improvements include controlling multiple OPF munitions simultaneously, enabling multiple munitions to simultaneously impact a target at different vulnerable locations and/or enabling the engagement of multiple targets with a single or multiple munitions. This capability is commonly referred to as swarming. Swarming, combined with ATR-T and Government-owned Flight Control Application (FCA) improvements will yield a more capable and lethal system while reducing operator cognitive load and communications burden. For reference, the FCA runs on an Android tablet called the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Common Handheld (MCH). Currently the MCH is a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 2. The Government has identified system capabilities and behaviors which the Government believes will accomplish these goals. This list is specific to one approach and should not be considered complete nor the only acceptable approach. Responders are encouraged to provide information on any capability set to achieve program goals, even if it deviates significantly from the list below. Ability for the operator to rapidly plan and load a swarm mission from the Government-owned FCA to the munition to enable quick responses to tactical situations Ability for the operator to select swarm behaviors, including attack formations, from a preloaded - playbook of many possible behaviors and formations within the Government-owned FCA before OPF launch Ability for the operator to plan the mission to include staging areas, search areas, target areas, etc. and for the swarm playbook to run actions based on triggers as the munition enters each specified area (e.g.,. after entering a search area the swarm divides up the area amongst the individual munitions and starts a search) Ability for the operator to adjust the swarm mission while OPF munitions are in flight, including choosing a different - play from the playbook and adjusting target priorities Ability for swarm to adjust mission(s) in flight, to include changes in target priority, changes in target state such as target location, target speed and direction, target exiting search area, etc. Ability for munitions to form a swarm without operator interaction other than selecting a play from the playbook Ability to form a heterogeneous swarm (i.e. munitions with different payloads such as kinetic payload, ISR payload, EW payload) and distribute swarm tasks based on payload type Ability of swarm to perform dynamic flight path planning and optimization with limited or no operator interaction Ability of swarm to perform a target search according to play selected in playbook Ability of swarm to perform ATR-T functions and communicate target image back to FCA Ability for ATR-T to discriminate between enemy targets and friendlies, report both back to the FCA when detected, and allow operator the ability to choose what objects the ATR-T reports and under what fidelity Ability to automatically assign tasks between swarm members without operator interaction, including redistributing tasks amongst the swarm if a munition drops out of the swarm due to loss communications or attrition Ability to fly in a formation that enables operation as an autonomous swarm communication relay between two endpoints, including monitoring network status and automatically adjusting swarm members to ensure network reliability Upon receipt of authorization, the ability of the swarm to execute attack orders including simultaneous time on target. Ability for swarm to assign targets to individual members, including assigning sub-swarms to different targets. Ability to assign different individual target attack points to swarm members to attack multiple vulnerable locations on a single target Ability of individual swarm member to detect and track impact point on assigned target Ability for swarm member to calculate optimal attack profile(s) based on threat and environmental conditions and perform terminal attack to impact point including end game maneuvers and attack angle Ability to automatically adjust ATR-T to perform under degraded conditions such as nighttime, fog, precipitation, cloud cover, smoke, and other battlefield conditions Ability to update and upgrade playbook, target libraries, and other software upgrades in the field 3. RFI RESPONSE SUBMISSION. Responses shall be provided in Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat format only and are subject to a 20 page total limit. Document formats will contain 1" margins using a size 12 font. Do not submit classified information. Please include the following information in the response: Company information including: Organization Name, Address and Point of Contact information Data Universal Numbering System Number & Commercial and Government Entity code North American Industry Classification System code applicable to this RFI Please also indicate whether the company is 8(a) certified, disabled veteran-owned, veteran-owned, woman-owned, HUB Zone, Native American, or any other Small Business Administration approved designation Business Status - Non-traditional Defense Contractor (NDC) or Traditional Defense Contractor in accordance with 10 U.S.C. - 2371b 2. A White Paper describing capabilities, including: a. Technical and programmatic approach including all relevant data for achieving the capabilities as listed in Section 2 of this RFI. Please also provide the following: Concept of Employment for the proposed swarming autonomy and/or ATR-T capabilities on loitering munitions Provide description of mission planning process and software/hardware required to plan/load the mission into the munition Provide level of complexity of software and hardware integration into existing munition platforms State data rights assertions for the swarming autonomy source code and ATR-T libraries Provide the numbers of any patent(s), or patent(s) pending associated with the offered technology Include the logical, functional, and physical architectures for your swarming autonomy and/or ATR-T system b. Answers to the following questions: What level of integration have you done with air vehicles, especially loitering munitions? What radios have you used? What are your network bandwidth requirements? Do you have any position location data requirements? Do you have any specific autopilot requirements for your swarming capability? Can you provide any information on the interface control document(s) (ICDs) for your swarming autonomy and/or ATR-T system? If you do not have an ICD, do you plan to create one? What loitering munition ICDs would you require to integrate your capabilities? What hardware requirements are needed to integrate your capabilities, to include radios, video processors, etc.? What is your approach to loading updates for ATR-T libraries and swarming playbook enhancements? How does your ATR-T library work? Does it require models for each target or does it train per target? Can it be trained in a simulation environment? Do you have an existing commercial item that could be adapted for military use to satisfy these capabilities? c. Current program schedule, including test events, if an ongoing effort d. Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Levels for any system components and subcomponents Include detailed description of any development, engineering, or testing required to bring your proposed solution to TRL 7 If not already at TRL 7, include a detailed ROM to include all activities described and estimated schedule to accomplish all tasks e. List existing contracts/agreements with state and/or Federal Government agencies f. Buy American Act compliance All RFI questions and responses shall be submitted electronically via the Department of Defense Secure Access Files Exchange (DoD SAFE), https://safe.apps.mil/. The DoD SAFE supports file sizes up to 8GB. Responses may be submitted as a - guest for any respondent that does not have a DoD Common Access Card (CAC). If submitting as a - guest, contact the RFI points of contact for the DoD SAFE drop-off code needed for all submissions. The RFI points of contact and recipients of all documents submitted via DoD SAFE are the Contracting Officer, at elizabeth.colvin@usmc.mil and Contract Specialist, at brian.lewis1@usmc.mil. All responses shall reference "RFI#: M67854-21-I-1904 (Company Name) Response to Organic Precision Fires Swarming and ATR-T Capabilities. RFI questions or comments shall be submitted no later than 12:00 PM Eastern time, on Wednesday, 27 October 2021. The Government intends to respond to as many questions as practical and will provide questions and answers via amendment to this announcement, posted to the Contract Opportunities website (https://sam.gov/). RFI responses shall be submitted no later than 12:00PM, Eastern Standard Time, on Wednesday, 10 November 2021. 4. PROPRIETARY DATA. The Government may use information received from this RFI to establish future Marine Corps requirements. Vendors deciding to submit competition-sensitive or proprietary information bear sole responsibility for marking the information for appropriate safeguarding. Proprietary information will be protected from unauthorized disclosure as required by Subsection 27 of the Office of Procurement Policy Act as amended (41 U.S.C. 423) and as implemented in the FAR. NOTICE: The Government uses support contractor/non-Government personnel from Patricio Enterprises, ManTech International, and their subcontractors as consultants to help collect and review market information. MARCORSYSCOM contractually binds these companies with respect to proprietary information by organizational conflict of interest and non- disclosure clauses. Supporting contractor personnel are procurement officials within the meaning of the Office of Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423) and as implemented in the FAR.