Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to issue a sole source Request for Proposal (RFP) for a two-year (2) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract to Aerovironment, Inc. (AV), 85 Moreland Rd., Simi Valley, CA, 93065-1662, for the procurement of Blackwing 10C Electro-Optic (EO) and Infrared (IR) equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), P/N 89252, in support of the Submarine-Launched Unmanned Aerial System (SLUAS) Program and the PMS-425 Program Office. These units will be used on various Navy submarine platforms during the SLUAS Middle Tier Acquisition program execution, estimated to be completed in May 2023.
Tactical Temporary Installations (TEMPALT) of the SLUAS system integrating the Blackwing 10C Electro-Optic (EO) and Infrared (IR) equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), P/N 89252, is projected to be approved on 10 March 2021. In order to meet FY21-FY23 TEMPALT installation requirements, the US Navy intends to procure up to 120 Blackwing 10C UAVs. The ordering period of the planned IDIQ contract is projected to begin May 2021 and end May 2023, with deliveries beginning as early as August 2021. AV is the only known responsible source that possesses the facilities, tooling, equipment, manufacturing expertise, and technical expertise to provide the required Blackwing 10C UAVs within the Government’s required delivery and ordering period. The Blackwing 10C UAVs have already been developed, tested, and demonstrated successful integration with the rest of the SLUAS components and subsystems. Consequently, the Navy intends to award a sole source contract to AV pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.
It is important to note that one or more of the items under this acquisition is subject to the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements.
This notice is not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. This notice does not constitute a solicitation, nor an obligation on the part of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this notice. Respondents are wholly responsible for any costs or expenses associated with submitting a response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice.
Contracting Office Address:
SEA 02
1333 Isaac Hull Ave, SE
Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia 20376
United States
Primary Point of Contact:
Syd Kacek
Sydney.kacek1@navy.mil
Secondary Point of Contact:
Kurt Dronenburg
Kurt.j.dronenburg@navy.mil
N0002421R6309 Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command
3/9/21, 7:22 AM RFI Maritime Autonomy M&S and T&E Tools
I. SYNOPSIS:
NOTE: This notice is for market research purposes only and does NOT constitute a request for proposal. This notice shall not be construed as a contract, a promise to contract, or as a commitment of any kind by the Government. The Government is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals.
This notice is issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Program Executive Office (PEO) Unmanned and Small Combatants (USC), Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office (PMS 406) for the purpose of inviting both governmental organizations and industry to describe existing Modeling & Simulation tools that will aid in the development and performance evaluation of enhancements to UUV and USV autonomy capabilities needed by the fleet.
II. BACKGROUND
In 2019, PMS 406 began exploring an approach for rapid development, integration, deployment, and support for autonomy software across its platforms, centered on a Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab (RAIL) construct. The RAIL is the next logical step forward in executing the Navy’s vision for development and deployment of unmanned system capability. The concept builds off of on-going standardization efforts such as the Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture (UMAA) and deployment of the Common Control System (CCS) across the maritime unmanned platforms. The RAIL provides the digital engineering infrastructure, tools, and processes to rapidly develop, test, certify, and deploy new and updated autonomous capabilities to those vehicles.
The RAIL will support the development, test, and management of autonomy software through a DevSecOps software pipeline. Testing includes not only code and cyber security testing, but Autonomy Performance testing to ensure the performance and safety of autonomy behaviors.
This RFI seeks to gather information on Autonomy Performance testing, rather than cyber security testing or general engineering modeling and analysis tools (CAD, CFD, thermal analysis, etc.). As part of its plan for the RAIL, PMS 406 will need high fidelity, proven Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and Test and Evaluation (T&E) tools for maritime autonomy software. M&S and T&E tools include things like simulators of at-sea traffic, obstacles, and targets; simulators of sensors and hardware that are not widely available for use in development or testing; models characterizing vehicles, sensors, and the environment; data analysis tools to assess and present performance against defined metrics; a framework for integrating tools and running large batches of simulations; and any other software tools that enable the development and testing in a completely virtual environment to produce accurate test results.
III. BASIC DESCRIPTION
The US Navy seeks information regarding existing M&S and T&E tools for maritime autonomy software capable of performance evaluation, provided in the form of a completed questionnaire.
Tools described in the questionnaire should support one or more of the following capabilities needed for maritime autonomy performance evaluation:
Automated test case planning & execution
Automated test data reduction & analysis
Realistic perception modeling in an M&S environment
Realistic waterway traffic modeling in an M&S environment
Simulators of hazards, contacts of interests, and other autonomous systems
Realistic vehicle mobility & performance using physics-informed kinematic models
Generic or specific models of system functions (nav/GPS/sim, steering/throttle controls, etc.) for use in an M&S environment
Generic or specific models of system configuration items (ECU, control and power systems, payloads, etc.) for use in an M&S environment
Real-time and/or faster-than real time simulations
Virtual world modeling (describe fidelity)
Environmental effects in an M&S environment
Creation/Modification/Importing of platform and sensor models
Interfacing with vehicle autonomy software
Simulated mission planning
Importing real sensor data into an M&S environment
Exporting simulated data to emulate sensors or components in a Hardware-in-the-Loop construct
Evaluating individual code modules for compliance with UMAA or other interface standards
Evaluating mission effectiveness quantitatively or behavior-level (e.g. COLREGs) effectiveness quantitatively
Identifying autonomy-stressing scenarios related to the environment, mission, or vehicle state space; output results
Injecting faults into the simulation to stress the autonomy software
Evaluating mission effectiveness under degraded conditions
Considering what is redundant and achievable, eliminating unnecessary autonomy testing
Recording, viewing, and play back sensor and vehicle data
Interested parties are asked to provide responses to the questionnaire via a DI2E site. Responders may provide additional supplemental information via DI2E if they choose.
To provide a response, you must:
Obtain an active DI2E account
If you do not have a DI2E account, apply for an account at https://www.di2e.net/display/DI2E/Accounts, for this you will need the following sponsor information:
Sponsor: CDR Jeremiah Anderson
Title: PMS406 Advanced Autonomous Capabilities PAPM
Phone: (202)781-1557
Email: jeremiah.p.anderson@navy.mil
You will need the project key which is 'RPDRFSH406'. In addition, you must request inclusion to the "atlassian-confluence-group". (Note that this web site is maintained by the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise which is an independent organization of which UMAA/RAIL are simply "users" so any questions regarding account setup should go to DI2E IT support and not UMAA/RAIL project personnel)
Verify/request access to "atlassian-confluence-group"
If you have a DI2E account, but are not already part of the "atlassian-confluence-group", you will not be able to complete steps 3 and 4. Request that access under the 'Application Licenses' section of the following website: https://dpam.di2e.net. Access to the top level public pages for RAIL and UMAA are available to all registered DI2E Users who belong to the group "atlassian-confluence-group" subject to the provisions of steps 3 & 4 below. For a refresh of accounts that have gone stale, email the DI2E help desk at helpdesk@di2e.net.
Non-Gov't employees (no .mil address): sign (or update) your organization's AAC Terms of Use (TOU) agreement for PMS 406 autonomy activities
https://confluence.di2e.net/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1091220136
NAVSEA will approve your organization for RAIL DI2E space access. Please note the AAC TOU must be signed and approved even if you have previously signed the UMAA TOU.
Request access to access to the group “RPDRFSH406-Community” (capitalization matters) at:
https://jira.di2e.net/secure/CreateIssue.jspa?pid=10602&issuetype=11805
Page administrators will approve your access to this group.
All submitted information will be shared with multiple organizations, including industry organizations, who have similarly signed the TOU and been approved by NAVSEA, and organizations supporting PMS 406 in the field of autonomy development and T&E. The questionnaire responses and supplemental information therefore *must exclude proprietary information* and other limited distribution information beyond FOUO or Distribution D.
IV. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS and REQUIREMENTS
1. Defense and commercial contractors, including small businesses, veteran-owned businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned business, HUBZone small businesses, and women-owned businesses are encouraged to participate. Academia and other research organizations are also encouraged to participate.
2. Please provide completed questionnaires (and supplemental information if desired) using the DI2E page referenced above. The due date for submitting this information is [45 days from release of the RFI].
3. Proprietary information will not be accepted as part of the requested autonomy M&S and T&E tool information. The Government intends to keep submitted information open to all DoD contractors.
4. PMS 406 anticipates that supplied information can be limited to UNCLASSIFIED information. If a sufficient description of a M&S tool must include SECRET information please reach out to the Technical POC and Program POCs below to make arrangements to exchange data via SIPR.
5. The information provided will assist NAVSEA in understanding the availability and gaps in cross-platform autonomy M&S tools to support the RAIL.
6. Follow-up questions may be asked of responders for clarification, but this will not indicate a Government preference. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP or other solicitation affected by this RFI.
obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Sources choosing to respond to this notice are wholly responsible for any costs/expenses associated with participating in the working sessions. Therefore, any cost associated with participating in the feedback forums is solely at the interested vendor's expense. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate.
N00024-21-R-6309 Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command
2/9/21, 2:00 PM