70RSAT24RFI0000022 SAVER Multi-Functional UGV.pdf

National Urban Security Technology Laboratory U. S. Department of Homeland Security 201 Varick Street, Suite 900 New York, NY 10014-7447

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology (S&T) National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL)

Multi-Functional Unmanned Ground Vehicles

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes. This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals (RFQ or RFP).

No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI.

I. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) is seeking information on commercially available unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). This information is being sought for the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) program which provides information on commercially available equipment to assist response organizations in equipment selection and procurement. The SAVER program develops knowledge products and conducts objective, practitioner-relevant, operationally oriented assessments and validations on commercially available equipment and systems.

Relevant information will be shared nationally with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial response agencies. For further details on the SAVER program, visit the SAVER website at https://www.dhs.gov/science-and- technology/saver.

SAVER provides information on equipment that falls within the categories listed in the DHS Authorized Equipment List (AEL). The AEL item number for the subject products is 03OE-07-ROBT, titled “Robots.” The target audience for this information is the emergency response community and their respective purchasing agents.

NUSTL is requesting information and conducting market research to identify potential vendors, manufacturers, or distributors of UGVs. Products of interest for this RFI:

• Must be commercial- off-the-shelf (COTS) products that are available to emergency response organizations in the United States

• Must be remotely and/or autonomously controlled unmanned ground vehicles weighing roughly 100 lbs. or less

• Must be quickly and efficiently deployable in a variety of operational environments that may be https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/saver https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/saver rugged, hazardous or life-threatening

• Must provide real-time camera feeds and sensor data to first responders during operations to enhance situational awareness and decision making

• May allow for the transportation and manipulation of various payloads

• May allow for the detection and handling of hazardous materials.

II. SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION

Respondents are required to complete an online or written Product Summary Questionnaire for each product. This survey will cover topic areas of general information, capabilities and features, costs, training, and support. The questionnaire associated with this RFI can be accessed here:

https://nustl.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a5DxDXWSbiHd66i.

The Product Summary Questionnaire includes questions seeking the following specific information:

1. Company information

2. Point of contact for respondent (name, title, e-mail, and phone number)

3. Business type (manufacturer or distributor)

4. Product name, type, description, and specifications

5. Cost information (purchase price and General Services Administration [GSA] schedule information).

Responses to this questionnaire must be completed by the date and time set forth in the RFI notice posted on SAM.gov.

All information received will be treated as public knowledge and may be used in SAVER program documentation. Manufacturers and vendors should not submit proprietary information in response to this RFI.

You are required to answer all of the questions; you will be unable to complete the section without providing an answer to required questions, but you may answer “NA” for any required question that does not apply to the product. Please do not include any proprietary information. An Adobe portable document format (pdf) version of the questionnaire is available upon request to use to gather your own data, but this questionnaire must be completed on Qualtrics. You may go back to update and edit your responses until the survey is submitted. If you close your browser window, you may still go back and complete the survey if you do not clear cookies from your browser. You will not be able to review submitted forms.

Any additional information including solution pictures, comments or inquiries should be emailed to nustl@hq.dhs.gov with the subject line " 70RSAT24RFI0000022 SAVER Multi-Functional UGV", copying the Office of Procurement Operations via email, specifically Khadijah Dark, at Khadijah.Dark@hq.dhs.gov and John Whipple, at John.Whipple@hq.dhs.gov.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted to NUSTL no later than 5:00 PM EST, June 13, 2024.

III. OTHER

The submitted information will be evaluated for inclusion in SAVER projects and reports.

Determination as to an individual product’s suitability will be made by NUSTL based on the objectives of this request. Therefore, requests for feedback should not be made through the Federal Business Opportunities (https://sam.gov) posting agency. Respondents may be contacted following submission for more detailed product information. Information provided may be reformatted for publication in SAVER program documents. If a vendor does not respond to additional requests for information, https://nustl.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a5DxDXWSbiHd66i mailto:nustl@hq.dhs.gov mailto:Khadijah.Dark@hq.dhs.gov mailto:John.Whipple@hq.dhs.gov https://sam.gov/ information may be marked as “Not Available” or omitted from the SAVER documents.

The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organizations’ capabilities.

The Government’s explicit intent through this RFI is to obtain general product information. The Government is not requesting and does not want to receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. §1905. The Government’s constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.