Sensors with Embedded Aided Target Recognition (AiDTR)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) RFI Number: W909MY-20-R-C020 Sensors with Embedded Aided Target Recognition (AiDTR) 1. General Information: a) THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION: No award will be made as a result of this request. This RFI is for informational purposes only. This will NOT result in an Invitation for Bid (IFB), a Request for Proposal (RFP), or Request for Quotation (RFQ). No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses to this RFI. Follow up inquires requesting status of any related Solicitation in regards to this RFI will not be entertained. The Government will not be liable for payment of any response preparation expenses and is in no way obligated by the information received. Any costs incurred by interested companies in response to this announcement will NOT be reimbursed. b) The information presented through this request will be discussed and assessed by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC); Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center; Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) and other Government agencies. All proprietary or competition sensitive information should be clearly marked for proper protection. The information provided may be used by the Army in developing a future Performance Work Statement, Statement of Objectives and/or Performance Based Specification(s). 2. Background and Description a) Since the inception of night vision devices, C5ISR NVESD has been a leader in developing and fielding technologies for U.S. Army combat vehicle applications. C5ISR NVESD is currently conducting market research and trade studies of aided target recognition (AiDTR) technologies that can be applied to and integrated with novel sensors to defeat threat vehicles and personnel. The purpose of a sensor with integrated AiDTR is to increase the Soldier's ability to detect, classify, and identify as well as assist in some forms of tracking mounted and dismounted threats and give the vehicle commander options to increase the lethality of an individual tank or infantry fighting vehicle. b) NVESD is seeking input from industry on innovative sensors with integrated AiDTR and other AiDTR solutions that will significantly reduce operator workload while maintaining or exceeding the probability of detection and maintaining or lowering the false alarm rate of threat vehicles and personnel by trained operators. This RFI will specifically address the AiDTR, sensors and operator display that provide a Soldier with threat information. Although no specific threshold or objective specifications related to compatibility with existing ground combat equipment are included in this RFI (such as size, weight and power), technology solutions shall either accommodate, augment, or integrate existing U.S. Army equipment or demonstrate how the proposed solution(s) will supplant such equipment. 3. Definitions: a) Aided Target Recognition (AiDTR): The capability by which a computer supports and enhances the human functions of target detection, classification, and identification and assists some forms of tracking. b) Threat representative vehicles: Includes targets representing enemy main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles or armored personnel carriers. c) Threat personnel: Enemy dismounted personnel either in a defensive fighting position or acting as a dismounted mechanized force. 4. Information Requested a) Sources able to provide the requested information are invited to submit a White Paper limited to 15 pages (10 pages for Technical Capability Narrative and 5 pages for Collection Event details). Additional materials can be placed in an appendix with no page limit. The White Paper shall be organized as listed below and include the following information: Cover letter providing: (1) Company Information a) Company name b) Date of Incorporation, if applicable c) Number of years in business d) Number of employees e) Primary location(s) where work would be performed f) Mailing address g) Company website (2) Company Point of Contact a) Name b) Title c) Mailing address d) E-mail address e) Phone number (3) Please identify your company's business size standard based on the primary North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 541715. Provide a statement as to whether or not your company is considered a small or large business. Please also indicate any socioeconomic classification (8(a), Woman-Owned, Veteran-Owned and Operated, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Operated business, or HUB-Zone) that applies. For more information, refer to http://www.sba.gov/. (4) Cage Code and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number. (Questions (5a-5e) only apply to the Small Business (SB) Respondents (responses are not included in the 10 page limit) (5) If you identify your company as a Small Business or any of the SB subcategories as stipulated in Question # 3: a) Is your company interested in a prime contract? b) Under the current SB recertification regulations, do you anticipate your company remaining a small business, under primary NAICS code 541715? c) In accordance with FAR 52.219-14, - Limitations on Subcontracting, the small business prime must perform at least 50% of the work themselves in terms of the cost of performance. Please provide a plan which details how this percentage requirement will be met. As a SB and if your company is awarded a contract, will you be able to perform at least 50% (percent) of the work? d) If you are a small business, can you go without a payment for 90 days? e) Does your firm possess a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) approved accounting system? (6) Provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy the Government requirements. Vendors are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member's size based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing. (7) Has your company performed this type of effort or similar type of effort (to include size and complexity) in the past for another government agency or other non-government customer? If so, please provide contract number, point of contact, e-mail address, phone number and a brief description of your support of the effort. (8) What are the core competencies of your company that would support the development of this technology? Also, provide the total number of individuals currently employed by your company that are capable of supporting this effort. a)Technical Capability Narrative (maximum 10 pages, Sans Serif, max 12-point font, 1 margins. b)The White Paper shall include a description of your company's capability to meeting the technological goals listed in Para. 2.b. The narrative should discuss current technology readiness level of the system and any environmental limitations to assessing and collecting data in a field environment. 5. Collection Event: a) NVESD is holding a collection event, tentatively scheduled during May 2020, to allow for an early understanding of technical capabilities. To participate in this independent assessment of your AiDTR system, please submit a White Paper via e-mail NLT 04 May 2020 IAW instructions provided in paragraph 6. (1) Any participation in such an event will be at no cost to the Government. The collection event will take place in May 2020 at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. In addition to an independent assessment, NVESD will provide your company the opportunity to collect data on threat representative vehicle targets and allow personnel to make improvements to proposed systems under field conditions. The company's AiDTR enabled sensor system must be self-supporting during the independent assessment under field conditions. Certain activities/companies may be restricted due to ITAR considerations. Additional information on this collection event will be provided at a later date. (2) Participants interested in the live sensor evaluation mentioned in paragraph. 5.a.1. shall also submit answers to questions (3) (a) - (e) as part of your RFI response. (Maximum (5) pages, Sans Serif, max 12-point font, 1 margins. The (5) page collection event detail limitation is exclusive of the (10) page Technical Capability Narrative): a) A short description of the sensor system(s) and algorithms your company plans to collect data with at the event. b) Number and type of cameras your company plans to bring to the event. c) Describe, in general, the algorithms that will be used to generate alarms in the data. Is the algorithm the result of supervised training? What, if any, training data was used? d) Can you run your AiDTR algorithms - real-time on the sensor data as it is being collected? If so, are you able to deliver the alarm files and sensor data files immediately after they are collected? If not, how long afterward can your AiDTR algorithm be run on the sensor data and the alarm declaration files and sensor data be delivered? e) Describe how you plan to operate your sensor system against targets in the field. For example, do you collect at a fixed azimuth with a specific Field of View (FOV) for a fixed amount of time, then rotate to the next FOV or are you able to pan the sensor within the Field of Regard (FOR) until you detect an object of interest? 6. Submitting Responses to this RFI a) Note that the company Point of Contact identified will receive all information pursuant to this RFI. All information marked as proprietary information will be safeguarded to prevent disclosures to non-government personnel and entities. b) Response to this notice should be received no later than 4 May2020. Respondents are requested to submit one electronic copy of the response to the Contracting POCs. Include - AiDTR RFI W909MY-20-R-C020 - YOUR COMPANY NAME in the subject line. All requests for further information must be in writing or via e-mail; telephonic requests for additional information will not be honored. POC: Christina Cassan Contract Specialist, Belvoir Division Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground 10205 Burbeck Road, Bldg 362, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060 E-mail: christina.j.cassan.civ@mail.mil 7. Data Rights: The Government desires that data be received with unlimited rights. However, the Government recognizes that proprietary data may be included with the information provided. If so, it is the responsibility of the interested party submitting data to clearly mark such proprietary information and clearly separate it from the unrestricted information as an addendum. No Classified data shall be provided via e-mail.