SBIR Phase III Topic N141-019, Topic A03-070 and

SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PHASE III JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1. Contracting Activity. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD) Lakehurst, NJ 2. Nature/Description of the Action Being Approved. This is a justification to award a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) order to Monterey Technologies, Inc (MTI), Park City, Utah. MTI, Charles River Analytics Inc. (CRA) and Architecture Technology Corporation (ATC) were awarded SBIR Phase I contract numbers N68335-14-C-0260, N68335-14-C-0264, and N68335-14-C-0265 respectively on 8 May 2014 resulting from Solicitation 14.1, Topic N141-019. Topic N141-019 was entitled "Applying Advanced Human Engineering Methods to Mission Planning for Multi-Manned or Unmanned Air Vehicles." MTI and CRA were subsequently awarded SBIR Phase II contract numbers N68335-15-C-0156 on 27 April 2015 and N68335-15-C-0158 on 7 August 2015 respectively. MTI and CRA were awarded SBIR Phase II.5 contract numbers N68335-18-C-0016 on 7 November 2017 and N68335-18-C-0015 on 9 March 2018 respectively. MTI was awarded SBIR Phase III BOA N68335-18-G-0034 on 27 July 2018 and this will be the first delivery order placed against the BOA. MTI was awarded SBIR Phase I contract number W911W6-04-C-0034 on 12 December 2004 resulting from Solicitation 03.2, Topic A03-070. Topic A03-070 was entitled "Merging Sensor and Stored Terrain Database Data for Rotorcraft Poor Visibility Weather Operations." MTI was subsequently awarded SBIR Phase II contract number W911W6-05-C-0006 on 9 November 2004 and D17PC00387 on 6 September 2017 respectively. MTI was awarded SBIR Phase II.5 contract numbers N68335-08-C-0208 on 11 June 2008, N68335-10-C-0260 on 12 March 2010, and N68335-14-C-0385 on 5 September 2014 respectively. MTI was awarded SBIR Phase III BOA N68335-18-G-0034 on 27 July 2018 and this will be the first delivery order placed against the BOA. Topic N141-019 sought the development of an advanced human engineering based interface for multiple manned aircraft for inclusion in the Visualization, Planning, Execution & Review (ViPER-CVW) carrier airwing planning environment and/or in the unmanned aircraft mission planning systems. ViPER-CVW was developed by MTI under contract N68335-12-C-0295. Currently, the mission planning process is labor and time intensive, complicated, and requires considerable training and proficiency. Nearly every aircraft requires a digital mission plan to be completed prior to being able to launch. Additionally, prior to being able to deviate from an existing plan, long range unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance platforms require a completed and validated plan to be authorized to deviate from the existing route. This can have serious impact to the ability of a vehicle to prosecute time critical popup targets that require anything more than a minor change to the approved route. This is due in large part to the time required to generate an approved/validated delta plan. New innovative human factors workflows and visualizations, as well as significantly improved data handling algorithms, are needed to bring mission planning into a near real time process. Current planning algorithms and processes are based on single vehicle planning from the late Vietnam War era. Joint Task Force integration of Naval assets require an integrated planning environment that allows for quick assimilation of tasking and constraints while allowing automated algorithms to complete repetitive labor intensive processes. Innovative workflows are needed to allow operators to tailor specific planning processes to optimize their output for the time and materials required (e.g. manned-unmanned integrated search and rescue effort vs a 50 nm deviation from an existing 12-hour surveillance mission). Topic A03-070 sought to provide rotorcraft pilots with a display that shows real-time radar, stored terrain database information, and real-time infrared imagery to enable the pilot to fly low level, between terrain features, in poor visibility weather. By definition, this display is an enhanced / synthetic vision display. The nature of the available data sets prevents use of traditional image fusion algorithms. This effort was primarily a human-engineering display design task and associated human-factors testing of the display. This topic fell under the key technology area of Human Systems. Different sensors and databases of terrain / obstacles each have advantages and disadvantages. A single data source is inadequate for all environmental and operational conditions. The advantages of radar systems are that these systems detect obstacles such as wires, and do not rely on accurate measurement of aircraft state for the rendering of the data. However, these radar systems tend to have poor resolution, limited range, small field-of-view, and are not covert. The advantages of stored terrain databases are that the rendering is not limited in range or field-of-view. The disadvantages of the stored terrain databases are that the available databases have poor resolution, do not indicate obstacles, and rely on accurate aircraft state information for rendering. The advantages of an infrared image include a much higher resolution than radar or databases, wide field-of-view, and no reliance on aircraft state information. However, the infrared image is unusable in fog and smoke. Therefore, a merging of radar, stored terrain data, and infrared imagery will provide the pilot with complementary information regarding the terrain and obstacles. Since data sources are so different in resolution, field-of-view and range, traditional image fusion methods will not work. The merging of radar, terrain database data, and infrared imagery requires new, innovative, display design concepts and requires the associated software algorithm development. The designer must work under the constraints of night vision goggle compatible colors. To enable covert operations, the display should provide the pilot with sufficient information to avoid ground collision with pilot selectable maximum ranges of radar (selectable power), or without the radar entirely. To enable poor weather operations, the display should provide the pilot with sufficient information to avoid ground collision when no infrared imagery is available. 3. Description of Supplies/Services. This Phase III effort derives from the Phase I and II efforts described in paragraph 2, and is for the continued development and test of software updates, documentation, and training in support of the ViPER CVW software application. The objective is to preserve the investment in ViPER by - adapting existing code to changes in the JMPS computing environment - incorporating fixes to repair defects or improve performance - providing training and documentation for VIPER - testing new software releases, reported anomalies, and updates to the JMPS computing environment - Configuration Management (CM) of the ViPER code base - software anomaly tracking The deliverables of this project are Monthly Progress Presentations, Software Design Documents, Functional Requirements Documents, Software Test Plans, User Documentation, ViPER Maintenance Releases, and Annual Report and Briefing Materials. This Phase III effort will be Delivery Order N68335-19-F-0003, under BOA N68335-18-G-0034. 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5), as implemented by FAR 6.302-5: Authorized or Required by Statute. 15 U.S.C. 638(r)(1) states: "In the case of a small business concern that is awarded a funding agreement for Phase II of an SBIR or STTR program, a Federal agency may enter into a Phase III agreement with that business concern for additional work to be performed during or after the Phase II period." Furthermore, 15 U.S.C. 638(r)(4) states: "To the greatest extent practicable, Federal agencies and Federal prime contractors shall issue Phase III awards relating to technology, including sole source awards, to the SBIR and STTR award recipients that developed the technology." 5. Demonstration that Proposed Contractor's Unique Qualifications or Nature of Acquisition Requires Use of Authority Cited. The nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited. The SBIR/STTR Programs are structured in three phases. Phase I (project feasibility) determines the scientific, technical and commercial merit and feasibility of the ideas submitted. Phase II (project development to prototype) is the major research and development effort, funding the prototyping and demonstration of the most promising Phase I projects. Phase III (commercialization) is the ultimate goal of the SBIR/STTR Programs. Because the Phase III work derives from, extends, or completes efforts performed under Phase I and II, use of the authority cited is required. 6. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure Offerors Were Solicited From as Many Potential Sources as Practicable/Public Notification through Government Point of Entry (GPE). The topic for this effort was included in the Department of Defense Program Competitive Solicitation issued under the SBIR Program. As described above, only MTI is being considered for Phase III award due to the nature of the acquisition. In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(7), this proposed contract action does not require public notification to the GPE. 7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. The Contracting Officer will determine prior to award that the negotiated price of the contract executed under this justification is fair and reasonable pursuant to FAR Subpart 15.4. This determination will be documented in a Business Clearance Memorandum, which will be included in the contract file. 8. Description of Market Research or Statement of the Reason Market Research was not Conducted. FAR 10.001(a)(2) indicates that market research appropriate to the circumstances must be conducted. SBIR Phase III procurements are such that traditional market research to identify alternative sources is generally unnecessary. As described above, the Phase III work derives from, extends, or completes efforts performed under Phase I and Phase II. 9. Any Other Supporting Facts. Not Applicable. 10. Listing of Interested Sources. Not Applicable. 11. Actions Taken to Remove Barriers to Future Competition: The Contracting Officer anticipates that competitors will enter the market once the product is commercialized. It is likely that future acquisitions will be competed using full and open competition and commercial item acquisition procedures. The Contracting Officer is not aware of any specific actions that would further remove barriers to competition. 12. Period of Performance. Base: 12 months Option(s): None 13. Total Estimated Dollar Value of the Acquisition Covered by this Justification, with Funding Specified by Year and Appropriation: RESERVED 14. Actions Attempted to Make Immediate Acquisition Competitive and Cost/Benefit Analysis. No actions were attempted to make the immediate acquisition competitive; no cost/benefit analysis was performed. As described above, only MTI is being considered for Phase III award due to the nature of the acquisition.