PEO-M Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) Poseidon's Fury Collaboration Event (CE)

PEO-M Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) Poseidon's Fury Collaboration Event (CE)

Request to Attend NLT 14 August 2026 11:59 PM ET U.S. Persons Only

Purpose
SOFWERX, in collaboration with USSOCOM Program Executive Office Maritime (PEO-M), will host a series of events to provide Special Operations Forces (SOF) operators, and Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) vendors with opportunities for collaboration, hands-on experimentation, and assessment. The data collected during these events will directly inform the development of USV Mission-Aligned Reference Architecture (MARA). MARA is intended to enhance Joint Force interoperability, accelerate capability integration, and reduce unnecessary expenditures associated with redundant, SOF-specific platform development.

Background/Synopsis
This initiative bridges a technology interest area by establishing a guiding framework and design standard that is intended for use with USSOCOM Maritime Robotic and Autonomous Systems. The framework and design standard are also intended to be interoperable with Joint Service manned and unmanned systems. 

Objective
The primary objective is to inform the development of MARA through collaboration and hands-on experimentation with SOF operators and USV vendors. MARA is intended to serve as a common architecture for USSOCOM Maritime Robotic and Autonomous Systems - enhancing Joint Force interoperability, reducing redundant platform development, and supporting future capability development.

Why You Should Participate
USSOCOM seeks to enter into non-FAR or FAR-based agreements with Industry, Academic, and National Lab partners whose solutions are favorably evaluated by PEO-Maritime Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). As such, the follow-on Assessment Event (AE) is considered competitive, and solutions will be evaluated independently of one another primarily for technical merit. This serves dually as notification of the intent to research the feasibility of an agreement under 10 U.S. Code, Section 4022 and/or Section 4022(f), and as notice of pre-solicitation activities IAW FAR 5.204.

Event Timeline

Phase 1 – 26 August 2026 Virtual Collaboration Event (CE): SOFWERX will host the Collaboration Event (CE) with Industry, Academic, and Laboratory partners focused on, but not limited to, User Interface, ease-of-use, platform efficacy, automated and/or autonomous functionality, and Command and Control (C2) functionality needs. During this event, Warfighters will interact with potential solution offerors and further communicate operational needs and desirements. Participation in this event is not mandatory; however, it is designed to provide insights to ensure potential offerors understand the problem set(s) fully and to increase the likelihood of matching their technologies with Warfighter needs. This CE is also an opportunity for attendees to meet and form partnerships that may provide a more comprehensive solution. If you do not wish to participate in the CE, you are free to submit your technology on/around 14 September for the AE. Request to attend the CE below, NLT 14 August. Favorably evaluated requests will receive an invitation to attend the event on/around 19 August.    

Tentative Agenda
All times listed are in ET
8:00 - 8:05: Participants dial in/check in via Microsoft Teams
8:05 – 8:25: SOFWERX Welcome and Breakout Room Overview
8:25 – 8:45: Stakeholder Overview & Problem Set
8:45 – 9:45: Current Limitations Breakout
9:45 – 10:00: Break
10:00 – 11:00: Ways to Overcome Limitations Breakout
11:00 – 12:00: Lunch
12:00 – 2:30: Problem Statement Development
2:30 – 2:45: Break
2:45 – 3:45: Problem Statement Briefs
3:45 – 4:30: Voting
4:30 – 5:00: Path Forward

Note: Agenda is subject to change

This event will be held virtually.

Phase 2 - 14 September 2026 to 02 October 2026 Submissions to the Assessment Event (AE) Open: Interested respondents who could potentially provide solutions that meet the needs of USSOCOM are encouraged to submit their capability for USSOCOM review. To submit your technology for potential Phase 4-5 attendance, please review the assessment criteria and follow the submission instructions that will be near the bottom of this webpage on/around 14 September.

Phase 2a - 23 September 2026 Q&A Telecon: Interested offerors may participate in a virtual Q&A session to better understand the PM's specific technology objectives. The telecon will take place on 23 September from 01:00–02:00 PM ET. RSVP form will be available on/around 14 September.

Phase 3 – 05 October 2026 to 09 October 2026 Downselect: USSOCOM will downselect those respondents/submissions they feel have the highest potential to satisfy their technology needs. Favorably evaluated submissions will receive an invitation to attend the AE on/around 12 October.

Phase 4 - 02 November 2026 to 20 November 2026 Assessment Event (AE): The Assessment Event (AE) is a critical phase where selected participants will conduct comprehensive, on-water demonstrations of their USV.
While the overall Assessment Event window spans three weeks (02–20 November 2026), individual participants will be scheduled to attend for a single, one-week increment within this window. Specific scheduling slots will be coordinated with selected vendors following Phase 3.

Evaluations will be based on a pre-established set of technical and operational criteria. To facilitate thorough preparation, these pre-defined evaluation criteria will be shared with selected participants in advance of the event.
Participants who demonstrate favorable performance and meet or exceed the evaluation standards will be considered for advancement to Phase 5.

Participants are responsible for operating their own platforms to showcase their capabilities. Performance will be observed and formally evaluated by a team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), including representatives from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (JHU APL), USSOCOM, Naval Special Warfare Command (WARCOM), and Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC).

This event will be held at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. 

Phase 5 - Path Forward: Successfully negotiated awards may fall under any combination of these categories:

• Business-to-business research and development agreement as a sub-award through the SOFWERX Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) (15 U.S. Code Section 3715)
• OTA for research or prototype projects (10 U.S. Code Sections 4021, 4022)
  • An award under 10 U. S. Code, Section 4022 may result in the further award of a follow-on production agreement without additional competition based on successful prototype completion. The Government may make this follow-on production award based upon successful prototype criteria, which will be determined for each prototype project.
• Procurement for experimental purposes (10 U.S. Code Section 4023)
• Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (15 U.S. Code Section 3710a)
• Prizes for advanced technology achievements (10 U. S. Code Section 4025) and/or prize competitions (15 U.S. Code 3719)
• FAR-based procurement contract 

NOTE: Awardees may need to be compliant with NIST SP 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in Non-Federal Systems and Organizations

How You Can Participate
Government, Industry, Academia, National Labs, and Non-Traditional Attendees

1. Request to attend the 26 August 2026 Collaboration Event: Click Here to Request to Attend(NLT 14 Aug 26)

Questions?

For event-related questions, please contact Sarah Marks