SMCM UUV Industry Day Announcement

All interested contractors are invited to attend an Industry Day with U.S. Navy Fleet and acquisition personnel involved in advancing the capabilities of unmanned underwater vehicles in Surface Mine Countermeasures (SMCM) applications. This event will be held on 20 July 2005 at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC (701 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20004). The yellow and green Metro lines serve the Navy Memorial. The objective of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for early industry involvement in the Government's proposed approach for the future procurement of un-tethered, unmanned, underwater Mine Countermeasures (MCM) systems that will support the Surface Mine Countermeasures (SMCM) mission in the Shallow Water (SW) and deeper water zones (40 - 600 feet sea water (FSW)). Unmanned vehicles have the potential of addressing the two key, overarching MCM measures of effectiveness (MOE), which are to: 1) Reduce the overall MCM tactical timeline; and 2) Redu! ce the overall risk to MCM forces. UUVs have the potential to systematically reconnoiter predetermined geographic areas (nominally 5NM X 5NM) and precisely map the bottom contour while providing information to assist in the detection and classification of bottom, volume, and potentially buried objects that exhibit mine-like characteristics. Additionally, unmanned vehicles equipped with high-resolution sensors can be used to reacquire and identify previously mapped targets of interest. The SMCM UUVs must be safely deployed and recovered from surface crafts of opportunity (i.e. LCS, MCM-1 class, and other possibly Naval platforms), preferably with existing shipboard equipment. The vehicles will need to possess mobile ingress/egress capabilities to enable them to move from a launch point of up to nominal ranges at 5 NM or greater. Data recorded by the vehicle must be transferable to compatible Navy tactical displays and information systems (i.e. GCCS/MEDAL (Mine Warfare En! vironmental Data and Aides Library)) to facilitate the re-acquisition of targets during subsequent missions by other USN Mine Warfare assets. The U.S. Navy has been exploring SMCM UUV employment concepts through several Office of Naval Research and PEO-LMW sponsored demonstrations. These demonstrations have been crucial to gaining fleet feedback and assisting in developing system requirements for the initiation of an acquisition program in FY06. It is envisioned that one or multiple follow-on acquisitions initiatives could be supported, ranging from Abbreviated Acquisition to ACAT III programs. Input received from this Industry Day will facilitate the development of a future competitive acquisition strategy. The Acquisition Strategy for fielding a first generation SMCM deployed UUV system will also be briefed. Industry input is desired to allow for an effective acquisition program with well-defined requirements in the Request for Proposal (RFP). Attendance at the Indust! ry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop is not a prerequisite for ultimately submitting any future proposals. However, it will provide a valuable opportunity for questions & answers and industry input into the read-ahead documentation. Any read ahead documentation will be posted for viewing on or about 06 July 2005. Seating is limited. Request a maximum of two (2) representatives per vendor. Request attendees register for the Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop by providing Company/Organization Name, Name(s) of attendees, Company/Organization affiliation, address, telephone number, and e-mail address not later than 15 July 2005. Registration data must be Faxed or e-mailed to the Technical POC identified below. Approximately two weeks prior to the SMCM UUV Industry Day, read ahead documents will be available electronically from the Technical POC for any interested contractor. Registered attendees will be sent this read ahead information by e-mail when a! vailable. Any advance questions and/or comments pertaining to the Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop or the read-ahead documentation may be Faxed or e-mailed to the Technical POC so that they can be addressed at Industry Day. The purpose of this Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop is not to obtain proposals and is solely to offer early industry involvement in a contemplated U.S. Navy procurement. The Government does not intend to pay for the information obtained during the workshop or for the time and expense of the industry participants involved. For questions please contact the Technical POC: Patrick Whang +1 (555) 000-0000 ext 286, FAX +1 (555) 000-0000, e-mail: contact@example.gov.