Draft_Solicitation_18June_PostedinSAM.pdf

N6133126S0001

Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Consortium Request for

Proposals (RFP)

Seabed-Subsea, Littoral, Asymmetric-Autonomous, Mining and Mine Hunting, Expeditionary, Robotic (SLAM2ER) Consortium

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Panama City Division (PCD)

OTA RFP Number: N61331-26-S-0001

Background

The Secretary of Defense has directed the expansion of the use of OTAs to facilitate the development and rapid fielding of emerging technologies, aligning with the DoW's broader strategy to rebuild the military and enhance capabilities. The Other Transactions for Research (10 U.S. Code § 4021) allows the Department of War (DoW) to "carry out basic, applied, and advanced research projects." The Other Transactions for Prototypes (10 U.S.

Code § 4022) (a) allows DoW to "carry out prototype projects that are directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components or materials proposed to be carried out by the DoW, or to improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces." The Other Transactions for a follow-on Production Contract or transaction (10 U.S. Code § 4022(f)), allows DoW to "provide for the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction to the participants in the transaction to include individual prototype subprojects awarded under the transaction to a consortium of United States industry and academic institutions." DoW can award a follow-on production award in a transaction for a prototype project as one or more separate awards, or a combination thereof to the participants in the transaction without the use of competitive procedures if- competitive procedures were used for the selection of parties for participation in the transaction; and the participants in the transaction successfully completed the prototype project provided for in the transaction. A follow-on production contract or transaction may be awarded when the Department determines that an individual prototype or prototype subproject is successfully completed by the participants. The award of a follow-on production contract or transaction is not contingent upon the successful completion of all activities as a condition for an award for follow-on production of a successfully completed prototype or prototype subproject.

Constant innovation and rapid technology advances are occurring throughout the world. Partnerships with commercial industry, the civil maritime sector, and others will be used to leverage these approaches and increase flexibility and agility, reduce cost, improve technology and capability insertion, and decrease program development cycles. The OTA offers an alternative to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based acquisitions, allowing for access to participation by non-traditional defense contractors or commercial sources with innovative solutions that may not normally desire to participate in Government procurement. The objective is to promote collaboration, gain exposure, facilitate incorporation of efficient business practices and access specialized abilities to achieve solutions for the warfighter.

Requirement

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) requires innovative technological solutions to address current and future security threats in the littoral, autonomous, Mine Warfare and Expeditionary environments. Competition provides the Government with options and encourages performers to keep the quality of their products high while keeping costs at a reasonable level. NSWC PCD's intent is to competitively establish an OTA with a single Consortium, a legal entity whose members will be comprised of both traditional (large and small businesses), commercial and non-traditional defense contractors. A single Consortium Management firm (CM) will be competitively awarded the Base OTA on behalf of the Consortium. The CM will manage the operations of the Consortium, research, prototype projects and follow-on production contracts will be awarded to the CM as the entity authorized to represent the Consortium member or team proposing the project.

Objectives of establishing the Base OTA with the CM (on behalf of the Consortium) include: 1) minimizing barriers to entry for small businesses, non-traditional or commercial vendors to work with the Government and to identify and realize teaming opportunities among entities to promote integrated research and prototyping efficiencies; 2) facilitating proposal development; (3) reducing the cost of prototype development; and (4) managing the OTA production follow-on contracts. Following selection of the Consortium by the Government, and upon execution of the Base OTA the CM will be responsible for further building membership by attracting, retaining, and mentoring members to prepare them to compete for forthcoming prototype projects that will be solicited by NSWC PCD. The CM will also be expected to aid in building teaming arrangements among Consortium members, as needed, to best meet the requirements of individual projects.

Competing the Base OTA, as well as competing each of the ensuing research and prototype projects among the consortium membership, will also satisfy the requirements of the authorities granted in 10 U.S.C § 4021 and 10 U.S.C. § 4022 that permit the streamlining of the potential future follow-on production awards resulting from successful prototype projects.

The estimated dollar amount is $100M -$500M within the ten years of this OTA and is subject to change.

Exercise of option periods on the OTA may be executed six months prior to the option start date to ensure continuity of service; however, NSWC-PCD retains the right to exercise the option period up to and immediately prior to the expiration of the OT. Exercise of any follow-on option periods to the OT will be decided at the sole discretion of NSWC-PCD.

Fiscal and Property Laws are applicable to OTAs. Applicable Fiscal and Property statutes will be examined by the Government to ensure there is no conflict with a particular funding arrangement using an OTA. Please note the Purpose Statute (31 U.S.C. § 1301(a)) requires that appropriated funds be used only for the specific purposes for which Congress appropriated them. The Bona Fide Needs Rule (31 U.S.C. § 1502) dictates that a fiscal year's appropriation can only be used to fulfill a genuine need of that fiscal year. The Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) (31 U.S.C. § 1341) prohibits federal agencies from obligating or spending more money than Congress has appropriated or obligating funds in advance of an appropriation.

1.0 Instructions to Offerors

1.1 Compliance

1.1.1 WAWF - The CM shall provide concurrence with submitting payment requests and receiving reports using Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF), in one of the following electronic formats that WAWF accepts: Electronic Data Interchange, Secure File Transfer Protocol, or World Wide Web input.

Information regarding WAWF is available on the Internet at https://wawf.eb.mil/.

"Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DoDAAC)" is a six-position code that uniquely identifies a unit, activity, or organization. "Document type" means the type of payment request or receiving report available for creation in Wide Area WorkFlow (WAWF).

Electronic invoicing. The WAWF system provides the method to electronically process vendor payment requests and receive reports

To access WAWF, the Contractor shall--

(1) Have a designated electronic business point of contact in the System for Award Management at https://www.sam.gov; and

(2) Be registered to use WAWF at https://wawf.eb.mil/following the step-by-step procedures for self-registration available at this web site. WAWF training. The Contractor should follow the training instructions of the WAWF Web-Based Training Course and use the Practice Training Site before submitting payment requests through WAWF. Both can be accessed by selecting the "Web Based Training" link on the WAWF home page at https://wawf.eb.mil/WAWF payment instructions. The following information may be utilized when submitting payment requests and receiving reports in WAWF for this contract:

(3) For Invoicing Questions contact the WAWF helpdesk at 866-618-5988 or WAWFHQ@navy.mil, if assistance is needed.

1.1.2 SAM - The CM shall show evidence of active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) at the time of proposal submission.

Active SAM registration is required throughout the duration of this Agreement.

1.1.3 Facility Clearance - The CM shall provide its current status of its facility clearance and level of safeguarding or demonstrate the ability to obtain a facility clearance. An active facility clearance is not required at time of proposal submission. NSWC PCD will sponsor accreditation of a local facility (off base from the Naval Base - Bay County Florida) however, an established facility clearance outside the local area will also be considered. Each member needs to meet the clearance requirements at the time of individual project agreement award.

1.1.4 Accounting System - The CM and/or the Consortium members shall provide a narrative on their current accounting system and how expenditures will be tracked for separate projects; and shall establish and maintain accounting systems that:

(a) Comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); and

(b) Control and properly document all cash receipts and disbursements

1.1.5 Property – The CM and/or the Consortium members shall provide a narrative on their property control systems and how contractor acquired and Government Furnished property will be managed. The CM shall describe its role in managing property utilized by Consortium members under the OTA.

1.2 General Information

All questions concerning this OT requirement, either technical or procedural, must be submitted via email only to the Government points of contact listed below. No direct discussion between the technical representative and prospective Offeror will be conducted. The Government Technology areas will be provided in Attachment 1. The Government cannot identify or predict the priority of its technology areas (i.e. requirements) at this time but will make an effort to communicate priorities to the CM as they become known. The CM does not have binding authority and is advisory only.

The SLAM2ER Consortium will only compete projects among its members. Liability (in any form) is based on the terms of both the CM award agreement as well as the terms of membership with the CM. The Government may negotiate Intellectual Property (IP) rights with the CM and its members at any time. Individual project proposals will be sent out to all consortium members via the CM and they will have the opportunity to review and propose on each of these projects. The CM may be able to provide services to the Government in accordance with applicable rules and regulations regarding organizational conflicts of interest. The Government anticipates unclassified projects under this agreement as well as classified projects with a security classification level up to TS-SCI - Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. All questions concerning this OT requirement, either technical or procedural, must be submitted via email only to the Government points of contact listed below.

The Government has posted this draft solicitation to solicit feedback from industry partners. Industry is highly encouraged to submit comments, questions, and feedback regarding the draft solicitation within two (2) weeks of this posting. Following the review of industry comments, the final solicitation will be posted. Proposals must be submitted no later than 45 calendar days from the original posting of the OTA for Consortium Management solicitation on SAM.gov.

1.3. Administration

1.3.1 Government Purpose Rights

https://wawf.eb.mil/

The Base OTA reflects the Government’s desire for at least Government purpose rights (GPR) to all data deliverables under both the [base OTA] and RPAs/PPAs. The Offeror may suggest alternative terms than those in the Base OTA, but the Offeror should note that negotiation of Government purpose rights may be utilized when necessary to accomplish program objectives, foster Government interests, and to balance the interests of the potential OTA awardees. Additionally, in cases where the prototype project is intended to, or likely to, result in follow-on production and deployment, the Government will assess the impact of restrictions on intellectual property (IP) rights, or the failure to obtain necessary intellectual property deliverables (e.g., technical data or computer software), on the Government's total life cycle cost of the technology, both in costs attributable to royalties from required licenses, and in costs associated with the inability to obtain competition for the future production, operation, maintenance, upgrade, and modification of prototype technology.

1.3.2 Miscellaneous

The Government may utilize DCAA/DCMA during the pre-award process regarding information to assist the Agreement Officer in their evaluation of the rates utilized in the OTA proposal.

The allowability of costs is a matter of negotiation between the government and the awardee and should be clearly defined in the terms of the agreement. The government's goal is to determine a fair and reasonable price. The specific accounting requirements will be defined in the negotiated terms of the OTA itself. For expenditure-based agreements, the government will need sufficient documentation to verify that costs have been incurred and are in accordance with the OTA and during execution under the OTA. Per 10 U.S.C. § 4022 (c)(1), a Prototype or follow-on production OT that provides for payments in a total amount more than $5 million must include a clause that provides Comptroller General access to records. This clause is not required for Research OTs. This right is subject to certain limitations and can be waived. This implies that an awardee's accounting system must be capable of tracking and providing records for examinations.

1.4 Special Contract Requirements

Offerors shall confirm acknowledgement of the following in their proposal:

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements to non-Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) solicitations:

CMMC is codified in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 170 (32 CFR Part 170) and is a means to validate contractor compliance with information safeguarding requirements for federal contract information and controlled unclassified information. If a grant or OTA involves FCI or CUI, CMMC compliance will be a condition for the award, following the same phased timeline as traditional contracts. This policy is driven by the need to safeguard Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) wherever it exists within the defense industrial base and its partners.

A key indicator of this policy is the Department of War (DoW's) directive that program managers and requiring activities must use the "CMMC Level Determination Guide" to select the appropriate CMMC level for non-FAR-based agreements. This ensures that the cybersecurity posture required for an OTA is commensurate with the sensitivity of the information involved, mirroring the approach taken for FAR-based contracts. The application of CMMC to OTAs follows the same principles and phased implementation timeline as for traditional contracts.

Information Type Dictates CMMC Level:

If an OTA involves the creation, receipt, or handling of Federal Contract Information (FCI), a minimum of CMMC Level 1 will be required. This level necessitates an annual self-assessment against the 15 basic safeguarding requirements of FAR 52.204-21. If an OTA involves the handling of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), CMMC Level 2 or CMMC Level 3 will be required, depending on the sensitivity and criticality of the CUI.

Level 2 (Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) aligns with NIST SP 800-171 controls and may require either a self-assessment or a third-party assessment, specified by the DoW.

Level 3 (Highly Sensitive CUI) incorporates additional controls from NIST SP 800-172 and requires a government-led assessment.

Phased Implementation: CMMC requirements for OTAs are being introduced in alignment with the broader CMMC phased rollout, which officially began on November 10, 2025.

This means that initially, CMMC requirements in OTAs will be included at the discretion of the program office as they pilot the integration.

As the phases progress, the inclusion of CMMC requirements for OTAs involving FCI or CUI will become increasingly mandatory, ultimately reaching full implementation by November 10, 2028, where all applicable OTAs will require CMMC certification.

Each OTA solicitation will specify the required CMMC level based on the likely information that will be handled.

While a waiver process exists, it is expected to be used sparingly, especially for Level 1 and Level 2 self-assessments. A waiver for the assessment does not absolve Offerors the responsibility to protect the information. Subcontractor Flow down: Prime contractors are responsible for flowing down CMMC requirements to any subcontractors that will handle FCI or CUI.

Non-compliance with stated cybersecurity requirements can lead to significant legal and financial repercussions, including liability under the False Claims Act (FCA).

2.0 Proposal Submission

The OTA Request for Proposals (RFP) number (N61331-26-S-0001) must be identified in the subject line of all questions and proposals submitted.

All proposals shall be submitted electronically to the following:

• Kristin S. Shaw, Agreements Specialist email: kristin.s.shaw.civ@us.navy.mil and

• Anna Belle C. Tiller - ALT Agreements Specialist email: Annabelle.c.tiller.civ@us.navy.mil

The Government is releasing this draft solicitation and agreement for a two-week industry comment period. Please submit all feedback, questions, and recommendations on the draft solicitation and agreement documents by 2pm Central Standard Time (CST) Thursday 2 July 2026.

Following the feedback window, the final solicitation will be published. Any comments/feedback on the agreement may be taken under advisement during negotiations or upon award of the successful offeror.

Proposal Submission Deadline: Proposals will be due 45 days after the draft solicitation and the opportunities notice is posted in SAM.GOV. Proposal submission is due no later than 2:00 pm CST 3 August 2026.

2.1 Proposal Format - Total Pages (No more than 25 pages) Cover Letter (1 page limit) shall include:

(1) The name, address, email address, telephone numbers, CAGE Code, Unique Entity Identification (UEI), and Tax Identification Number (TIN) of the CM.

(2) Names, titles, telephone numbers, and email addresses of persons authorized to sign the proposal and negotiate on the Offeror’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation.

(3) The Offeror shall provide confirmation that the CM is registered and active in the System for Award Management (SAM).

(4) The Offeror shall provide confirmation of Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) capability for the purposes of submitting and receiving payments.

(5) Confirmation statement that all CM owners and employees are U.S. citizens.

(a) The proposal shall be submitted in the English language. The narrative material in the proposal shall be prepared in no smaller than 10-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced with no less than a one-inch margin on all sides. In the event photo reduction is used for tables, charts, and drawings, their presentation must be clear and legible. No pictures or hyperlinks are allowed. Screenshots are allowed however the proposal needs to adhere to the page limitations. If an appendix is included (not required) it will not count towards the page limitations. There is no preferred method of organizing optional appendices.

(b) Proposals and all attachments shall be readable by Microsoft Office 2010 or Adobe Acrobat, as applicable.

(c) Offerors are required to submit their proposals in separate sections as follows:

Technical Section (25-page limit)

Section

Section Title

Maximum Number of Pages

I

Management of the Consortium

II

Marketing & Recruitment Strategy

III

Fee Rates and Structures

IV

Past Performance

V

Technology

Five sections within one document is preferred; however, separate documents will be acceptable.

Important: Offerors shall not include classified material in any Section.

(d) In addition to the above, offerors are highly encouraged to submit comments/ recommendations concerning Attachment (2) DRAFT NSWC PCD OTA Base Agreement for CM. The Government reserves the right to accept or reject any suggestions. This CM shall not be used to propose on any individual projects and only consortium members may propose on individual projects. CMs may be able to provide services to the Government in accordance with applicable rules and regulations regarding organizational conflicts of interest.

(e) Proposals shall be considered valid for 180 days after submission unless the Offeror formally withdraws.

mailto:kristin.s.shaw.civ@us.navy.mil mailto:Annabelle.c.tiller.civ@us.navy.mil

(f) The projected annual obligations have not been determined at this time as this consortium will grow as Navy stakeholders improve processes to leverage OTAs.

(g) If white papers are required, the Government does not presently issue guidance or templates for white paper formats, evaluation criteria, and member proposal support expectations. Offerors may discuss the capability of producing white paper templates in the proposal for consideration by the Government. In some instances, the Government may choose to provide guidance on the templates, based on individual project requirements.

(h) Offerors should provide their current status and understanding of their capability to support requirements that may require additional security classification. A DD254 will be provided at time of CM award.

Offeror comments/responses to paragraphs (d) and (g) above are not required to be considered in the evaluations.

2.2 Section I: Management of the Consortium

The Offerors shall provide the following:

a) Identify the CM proposed to perform Consortium management duties under this agreement, including the following information:

(i) The name and Business Size/Organization Type (i.e.: large, non-traditional, academia, etc.) of the CM and each proposed member of the Consortium, along with a short description of that member’s commitment (i.e. member of an existing Consortium managed by the CM;

letter of or verbal commitment etc.). Please note: The information (name business organization type) is required for the CM only. The CM is required to provide a list of members and not the address, email, telephone, UEI for each member. An appendix is allowed and will not count towards the page limitations.

(ii) The status and level of the current Facility Clearance held in accordance with section 1.1.3 Facility Clearance.

b) Details on how the CM will manage the Consortium, including the contents of the Consortium Membership Agreement that will be executed with Consortium members, proposed organizational structure, corporate structure, and manpower. Describe in detail the methodology used to maintain Consortium members. The offeror should provide their interpretation on how they will efficiently structure and manage all aspects of the consortium.

c) Narrative description showing how the CM will:

(i) Process and disseminate Government problem statements, and

(ii) Process preliminary white paper solutions. Offerors shall include a process flow diagram and timeline identifying all steps and responsible parties in this process.

(iii) The Government does not require CMs to provide technical validation of research and/or prototype white papers; however, offerors may propose this capability in their proposal, and the Government will consider it. Offerors may propose a standard turnaround time in their proposal for consideration by the Government. In some instances, the Government may choose to provide guidance on the turnaround time for projects, based on individual project requirements.

(iv) At this time the Government does not have firm baseline requirements regarding eligibility or compliance thresholds, however Offerors should provide their interpretation of how they will form, onboard, and provide overall management to all aspects of the consortium, including baseline eligibility or compliance thresholds. The Government may issue guidance as to individual project requirements in the future.

d) Details on the ability of the CM to attract and maintain technical expertise in Attachment 1 across the Consortium.

e) Description of other possible services proposed to be provided to the Government.

If changes are made to the CM that substantially alter the relationship of the Agreement (e.g., any restriction of access to prospective research, prototype project or follow on production participants (either current or prospective consortium members), the CM shall notify the Agreements Officer prior to making such a change, and provide a copy of the proposed revisions to the CM for review and concurrence, along with an explanation concerning why the revisions are in the Government’s best interests. The Agreements Officer has the right to reject substantial changes to the CM Agreement.

2.3 Section II: Marketing & Recruit Strategy

Offerors shall provide a detailed marketing and recruitment planned strategy and schedule on how the CM will populate the Consortium with members that each possess significant technical capabilities to meet Government needs associated with the technology areas identified in Attachment

1. The proposal shall include an approach for how the Offeror intends to engage and incentivize participation of non-traditional contractors in the performance of this OTA. The Offeror shall include rationale that demonstrates the proposed non-traditional contractors are meaningful to the overall success of this agreement. The CM will provide a strategy on how they will market projects to the traditional and non-traditional consortium members.

2.4 Section III: - Fee Rates and Structures

The Offeror shall provide complete details of proposed charges related to operation of the Consortium, including any membership fees, fee rates /amounts to the Government, fee schedules, and structures the CM will charge Consortium members. An offeror may request funding or startup project award funding in its proposal; however, award of such funding is not guaranteed. Fee rates, schedules, and structures proposed will be incorporated into the Agreement, if accepted. As noted in Section 1.1 above, the Government will be invoiced by the CM through WAWF. The disbursement of project funds from the CM to each of its members is within the CM's discretion.

The CM shall provide the following information:

i) CM's current accounting system and how it will track expenditures for a research or prototype project in accordance with 1.1.4 Accounting System.

ii) Proposed charges, fee for service, and/or other fees the CM will charge the Government.

iii) Proposed consortium membership fees.

2.5 Section IV: Past Performance

The Offeror shall provide a minimum of one and up to three past performance references that reflect experience managing a Consortium. Include a discussion on how the references provided are relevant to this requirement, including, but not limited to, the planned technology areas identified in Attachment 1, and any relevant points of contact. If the past performance reference is related to a Government procurement, include contract/task order/agreement number, contract/task order/agreement type, program name, total contract/task order/agreement cost, short description of work performed, and names and valid telephone numbers for the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO)/Agreements Officer (AO), Contracting Officer's Representative (COR)/Agreements Officer Representative (AOR), and Program Manager (PM). If an Offeror does not have direct past performance as a CM, the Government may consider newly formed consortiums with similar support. If there is no CM past performance, the Offeror shall describe how similar references are relevant in scope and complexity of managing a Consortium.

2.6 Section V: Technology

The Offeror shall describe the technical expertise across the Consortium to support all the planned technology areas (as identified in Attachment 1).

Additionally, the CM is not required to have internal in-house technical expertise however the CM should describe how the consortium and its members would satisfy the technical expertise of all technology areas. For multi-domain technologies Offerors shall map experience to multiple applicable technological areas.

Evaluation for Award

3.0 METHOD FOR AWARD

The method that will be used to select the CM is described in Section 3.1, "Basis for Award". Section 3.2, "Proposal Sections," lists the areas to be considered by the Government in selecting the awardee. Section 3.3 Proposal Evaluations provides the methods the Government will use to evaluate the proposals. The Government selected this evaluation framework to ensure the selection of the most advantageous CM to lead this OTA initiative.

3.1 Basis for Award

The Government intends to make a single award to a CM on behalf of a Consortium based on competitive procedures. Selection of the CM will be made to the Offeror whose proposal is determined to be most advantageous to the Government based on the merits of the proposal submitted in response to this OTA RFP.

3.2 Proposal Sections

Proposal Sections 1-5 are listed below:

Section I - Management of the Consortium Section II - Marketing & Recruitment Strategy Section III - Fee Rates and Structures Section IV - Past Performance Section V -Technology

3.3 Proposal Evaluations:

The Government will assess each Offeror’s proposed understanding in response to Sections 1-5. In conducting this assessment, the Government will identify positive and negative attributes, if any, that have the potential to make the OTA successful or unsuccessful.

A rating may be assigned based upon the definitions below:

Strong Potential: Proposal demonstrates a good understanding of the management responsibilities of the OTA, including Attachment (1) NSWC PCD Technology Areas, and has a high probability of achieving success under the Sections listed above. The proposal is advantageous to the Government.

Some Potential: Proposal demonstrates some understanding of the management responsibilities of the OTA, including Attachment (1) NSWC PCD Technology Areas and has a fair probability of achieving success under the Sections above. The proposal is somewhat advantageous to the Government.

No Potential: Proposal demonstrates a minimal understanding of the management responsibilities of the OTA, including Attachment (1) NSWC PCD Technology Areas, and has little to no probability of achieving success under the Sections above.

3.4 ATTACHMENTS

Attachment (1): NSWC PCD Technology Areas

Attachment (2): DRAFT NSWC PCD OTA Base Agreement for Consortium Manager