Draft SOW_Oceanographic_Drifting_Buoys.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW) FOR

OCEANOGRAPHIC SURFACE DRIFTING BUOYS

1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 Description of Requirement

The contractor shall provide oceanographic surface drifting buoys that operate remotely in the ocean environment. The drifters shall provide at a minimum the capability to collect ocean surface temperature data. All proposed instruments must be free-drifting and un-propelled; their trajectory shall be governed solely by environmental forces. Systems that include any form of active steering, propulsion, or remote navigation are explicitly excluded. All instruments proposed must meet a shelf life standard of eighteen months before requiring battery pack replacement or sensor recalibrations. Optionally, drifters capable of including other sensor configurations for subsurface measurements, such as tethered sensors for conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD), or instruments like

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), are considered a benefit to the Naval

Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) mission set. Additional desired sensor capabilities include bioluminescence, acoustics, echosounders, optics, pressure, and wave spectra.

Deployment methods include surface vessel and airborne deployment. Proposed instruments shall show capability in one, some, or all areas. The offeror shall identify the modularity of the proposed instruments to add or exclude sensor packages, showing multiple configurations for differing collection missions. The offeror shall also identify deployment lifecycle by power system discharge rates and provide specifications for sensor degradation over time due to biofouling or mechanical/electrical wear. Contractors must provide instrument encoders/decoders and technical documentation to convert collected data to specified formats for ingest into government systems. The device must be able to be operated independently of the manufacturer.

Instrument Data Integration Services: Integration services require programming support to develop application programming interfaces, data formatting scripts, and interfaces for data ingest into government databases prior to initial deployment.

Calibration Services: Calibration services apply to all sensor packages to return the sensors to original specifications prior to initial deployment.

Maintenance Services: Maintenance services apply strictly to the repair or replacement of defective instruments identified prior to deployment. Because these are largely expendable, free-drifting systems, routine preventive maintenance is not required unless correcting a pre-deployment manufacturing defect or failure.

Other Requirements:

• All applicable software required to ingest and process data collected from the drifter.

• All applicable application programming interfaces to convert raw data into a government format and meet government encryption requirements.

• Offerors shall provide a warranty of up to one year prior to deployment and replacement of instruments that fail upon deployment due to instrument failures outside government control at no cost to the government. Storage specifications shall be provided at shipment time.

• Internationally approved shipping containers.

1.2 Ordering Period, Delivery Dates, and Tasking

The ordering period is a 24-month base period. Specific delivery dates, quantities, and exact sensor configurations (e.g., sea surface temperature only, wave spectra, ADCP, etc.)

will be explicitly defined within each individual Delivery Order. Vendors must be capable of fulfilling Delivery Orders for any single configuration, or combination of configurations, outlined in Section 2.1.

2.0 SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS

2.0.1 Required instrument characteristics for ocean collection include the following:

• Steerability: All instruments must be completely non-steerable and un-propelled.

• Secure Communications & Modems: All telemetry and data transmission must utilize Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) approved modems and transceivers. Systems must comply with current DoW cybersecurity requirements, ensuring government-specified encryption capability for all non-public releasable data in transit. Any onboard storage must have government-specified encryption.

• Air Deployment Hardening Variance: From 500 to 10,000 feet above sea level at air speeds up to 300 knots. Attached parachutes and coverings must survive initial deployment forces, and the instrument must be fully operational upon reaching the ocean surface.

• Vessel Deployment Hardening Variance: From 1 to 60 feet above sea level at vessel speeds from 0 to 25 knots.

• Power System Longevity Variance: Minimum operational longevity of 180 days while providing standard temperature measurements and data transmission at a nominal reporting interval of one hour. Operational longevity for other sensor packages (e.g., ADCP, wave spectra) is subject to change based on power draw.

Offerors shall describe the expected operational longevity for all proposed instrument configurations and reporting frequencies.

• Power System Types: Alkaline or Lithium. For rechargeable lithium batteries, the capacity must be under 100 Ah. For primary lithium batteries, the offeror must provide full schematics and battery information sheets. Detailed battery configuration documentation is required for all proposed power systems.

Alternate power systems types can be proposed providing it meets the hardening variances for vessel and air deployment.

2.1 Sensor Specifications

All sensors installed on surface drifters must be rated to withstand ocean surface environments equal to or exceeding the sea state survivability of the instrument body.

Sensor type variations for ocean collection include all, some, or one of the following:

• Conductivity Sensor:

• Sensor ranges: 0 to 9.0 S/m

• Calibrated ranges: 0 to 6.0 S/m

• Temperature Sensor:

• Sensor Accuracy: 0.1 degrees Celsius

• Sensor range: -5 to 42 degrees Celsius.

• Barometric Pressure Sensor: For these and any other proposed sensors, the offeror shall provide detailed technical specifications.

• Current Sensor (e.g., Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers - ADCP):

• Data collected must be sufficient to derive subsurface current direction and speed.

Offerors shall provide detailed technical specifications, including range, resolution, and accuracy.

• Bioluminescence, Wave Spectra, Acoustic, and Echosounder Sensors:

• For these and any other proposed sensors, the offeror shall provide detailed technical specifications. This must include, at a minimum: detection range, resolution, accuracy, sampling frequency, and data output format.

3.0 SECURITY AND CYBERSECURITY REQUIREMENTS

• DoW Zero Trust Integration: All data storage, transmission, and integration software provided by the contractor must strictly align with Department of War

(DoW) Zero Trust architecture principles. Offerors must demonstrate how their data pipelines authenticate, authorize, and continuously validate data flows prior to ingesting into government databases.

• Data Encryption: All raw and formatted data transmitted from the drifters must meet current DoW encryption standards for Controlled Unclassified Information

(CUI) and mission data.

• Supply Chain Security: Contractors must ensure that all communications hardware (e.g., DISA-approved modems) and internal electronics comply with

DoW supply chain risk management protocols, free from prohibited foreign-manufactured telecommunications equipment.

4.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

The contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on the following Quality Assurance

Surveillance Plan (QASP) metrics:

Performance

Objective

Performance

Standard (AQL)

Method of

Surveillance

Deduction/Remedy

Delivery of

Instruments

100% of instruments delivered by the date specified in the Delivery

Order.

100% Inspection upon receipt.

Remediation per contract terms.

Instrument

Functionality

100% of delivered instruments pass initial pre-deployment diagnostics.

Government verification of diagnostic logs prior to deployment.

Offeror must repair/replace defective instruments at no cost.

Data Transmission

& Security

100% compliance with DISA modem and encryption standards.

Verification of data telemetry formats and security protocols.

Rejection of non-compliant instruments.

Sensor

Specifications

Delivered sensors meet the exact configuration and specs ordered on the Task Order.

Technical evaluation of delivered deliverables against

Section 2.1 specs.

Offeror must replace incorrect sensors at no cost.