GRL CSO W9132V25S001_FY25_Renewal.pdf

Engineer Research and Development Center Geospatial Research Laboratory

Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO) Solicitation Number: W9132V25SC001

SECTION A: Introduction

The Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL) is issuing a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) authorized by the Department of Defense (DoD) Class Deviation 2022-O0007. Under a CSO, the ERDC-GRL may competitively award proposals received in response to a general solicitation, similar to a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), to acquire innovative commercial items, technologies, and services based on a review of proposals by scientific, technological, or other subject matter expert peers within the ERDC. Under this CSO, all items, technologies, and services shall be treated as commercial items.

The ERDC-GRL executes projects on behalf of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) (ASA(ALT)), Army Futures Command, US Army Corps of Engineers, and various other government organizations. These projects are focused in the following six research and development thrust areas:

(1) Mission Command decision environments

(2) Establishing full-3D mapping capabilities

(3) Building a holistic geospatial foundation

(4) Remote sensing and mapping capabilities

(5) Terrain-based positioning and navigation technologies

(6) Earth system dynamics for situational understanding

The ERDC-GRL intends to obtain innovative solutions that respond to research and development requirements or advance geospatial and remote sensing capabilities. Solutions may include existing technologies or procedures that are not currently in use that would enhance or streamline mission capabilities.

“Innovative” is defined as any technology, process, or method, including research and development, that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal, or any application that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal of a technology, process, or method existing as of such date.

This CSO may contain both broadly defined areas of interest (AOIs), and more specific individual program requirement. The AOIs are intentionally broad in nature, generally have no known funding specifically available, and will be posted under this CSO on an open-continuous basis for one (1) year from the date of original posting. Whereas any specific individual program requirements that are posted under the authority of this CSO, will describe the desired end result, offer additional context for the needs that seek solutions, provide a funding profile, and will stipulate a specific due date for solutions.

ERDC-GRL will typically use a one-step evaluation process but does reserve the right to request a live demonstration (See Section C) that would add a second step to the evaluation process if necessary and when appropriate. Under the one-step evaluation process, offerors whose proposed solutions meet the need of the government and include enough detail to complete a full technical evaluation may or may not be asked to provide a demonstration of their solution.

SECTION B: Instructions for Preparation and Submission of Solutions

The following section outlines the solution submission requirements and timelines.

All resultant contracts will be firm-fixed price. All items, technologies, and services (including research and development) procured via this CSO are treated as commercial. The Contracting Officer must determine the price fair and reasonable prior to award. ERDC-GRL is conducting this CSO on a full and open basis and intends to award contracts in accordance with FAR part 12 and the FAR part that is deemed most appropriate for the solution proposed (i.e., FAR part 13, 15, and/or 35); the government reserves the right to award prototype agreements (e.g. Other Transaction Agreements), in accordance with 10 U.S.C. §2371b, if deemed appropriate and in the government’s best interest.

Solution contents (Note: The Government reserves the right to not select a solution for award if it omits any of the required information below.)

Solution Volume/Section Requirements/Limitations COVER LETTER • Maximum of 2 pages when printed. Page Must Include: limitation does not include screenshot

i. Area of Interest for which solution is • Offerors shall include screenshot submitted

ii. Solution Team Member Names

iii. Solution “Validity” Date

iv. Authorized Offeror Representative or

Point of Contact(s)

v. An overview of the company, as it relates to the Area of Interest under which the proposed solution is submitted

vi. CAGE Code, DUNS Number

vii. SAM Screenshot from SAM.gov

viii. Relevant NAICS code and description VOLUME I – TECHNICAL • Solution brief shall not exceed 5 pages when printed

• Pitch/Slide deck shall not exceed 15 slides

• OPTIONAL: Up to five-minute video clip to narrate or demonstrate the proposed solution

VOLUME II – PRICE • No page limit Must include: • Flexible quantities or pricing options

i. Proposed price(s) should be provided to maximize the

ii. Delivery Date or Period of Performance ERDC-GRL’s ability to award with available funding.

• Awards for supplies will be delivered Freight on Board (FOB) Destination **Note: Submitted documents shall not contain any classified data or sensitive information and proprietary information shall be clearly marked.**

**Note: All prices shall be valid for a minimum of 90 days after response date.

To limit confusion, all proposal volumes must use the following naming convention:

• Solution-CoverLetter-<CompanyName>.pdf

• Solution-Brief-<CompanyName>.pdf

• Solution-PitchDeck-<CompanyName>.pdf

• Solution-Price-<CompanyName>.pdf

Technical Volume

The technical volume shall include a solution brief, a pitch/slide deck, and an OPTIONAL video clip to narrate or demonstrate the proposed solution that is no longer than 5 minutes in length. The technical volume will be reviewed holistically and there are no set format requirements for these documents. It is recommended (but not required) that more detailed information is included in the solution brief and higher-level information is included in the pitch deck.

The technical volume should address the technical importance to agency program factors: how the proposed solution is innovative and the feasibility of the solution solving the agency’s challenge(s), including examples demonstrating possible application of the proposed innovation or existing use of the solution in the commercial marketplace.

The quality of the video submissions will not factor into the government’s feedback. The government encourages low-cost video production, such as cell phone videos.

Video Submission Instructions – If you choose to submit a video as part of the technical volume, video submissions must be posted to a video hosting website that is accessible for the government. Videos may be marked public or private. The vendor must provide a link and password (if marked private) for the government to access the video submission. The government will not provide access to the vendor’s video outside of the government evaluation team without the permission of the vendor. Do not provide a shortened URL, such as YouTube.

Technology Concept and Company Capability

Offerors shall provide the following information in sufficient detail to allow the Government to assess their capability to support the proposed solution.

• Offerors shall describe the unique aspects of their proposed solution as it “relates” to the Area of Interest.

• The proposed solution shall not repeat the Areas of Interest/Topics or contain the contents of the solution brief pasted into slides, but rather provide convincing evidence that the proposed solution will meet the Government’s need.

The following examples of convincing evidence are strongly encouraged –

a. Authentic company URL or web address.

Note: The Government may elect to use the information provided as part of its continuous market research. However, the government is not obligated to use the URL or web address as part of its evaluation process to determine the Selectee or Awardee.

b. Summary of product commercialization currently used in the open market.

c. Pictures, diagrams, models, or figures to depict the essence of the proposed solution.

SAM Registration It is critical that offerors are registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), https://sam.gov/;

you will not be eligible for an award if not registered in SAM. Additionally, entities are required to be registered to receive contracts (not just grants) and that your address from the solution matches your registration in SAM.

https://sam.gov/

• When registering in SAM.gov, be sure to select ‘YES’ to the question ‘Do you wish to bid on contracts?’ in order to be able to compete for this CSO. If you are only registered to compete for grants, you will be ineligible for award.

• The ERDC-GRL is working to move fast, please double check your CAGE codes and DUNS numbers to be sure they line up, if they are not correct at the time of submission, you may be considered ineligible for award.

Ask Me Anything (AMA) Due to the large amount of expected interest in this CSO, and to maintain a written record of questions, the ERDC-GRL will be accepting individual questions through the ERDCWERX portal by using their Question Submission Form. The questions and answers will be published and regularly updated on the ERDCWERX Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Solution Submission

For your solution to be evaluated for a possible contract award, it must be submitted via the electronic form; submissions will be accepted through 5PM CST, 30 June 2026. A hardcopy will not be accepted.

Offerors may submit solution amendments any time prior to the deadline. Evaluation is generally completed within 10 days of the submission.

Amended proposals will be considered a complete replacement of any previously submitted content.

Please ensure that the email address listed in your proposal is current and accurate. Please contact us by emailing info@erdcwerx.org to share details of changed email address and/or company points of contact after proposal submission.

When a submission is made, a confirmation email will be sent by the ERDCWERX portal to the email address supplied in the submission form.

**Notes: Offerors are responsible for ensuring that ALL Amendments to this solicitation are reviewed carefully prior to submitting a proposal.

SECTION C: Procedures and Criteria for Selecting Solutions

ERDC-GRL will generally utilize a one-step evaluation process, and in some rare cases may request a second step that would require a virtual or in-person demonstration.

ONE-STEP CSO Evaluation Process – Direct Award (No Live Demo)

Evaluation of offeror’s proposed solution: The ERDC-GRL will conduct its evaluation based on three factors: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability.

• The technical factor will assess how innovative the solution is (as defined in this announcement) and the feasibility of the solution solving the agency’s challenges.

• The importance to agency programs factor will assess the solution’s potential to enhance the mission effectiveness of the agency.

• The funds availability factor will assess the availability of funding to procure the solution.

The government may not have funds available for every proposal that is deemed ‘selectable’ as it relates to the ‘technical’ and ‘importance to agency program’ factors. In the event there are insufficient funds to fund all ‘selectable’ proposals, the government has broad discretion in selecting the proposals it chooses to fund.

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Price Reasonableness Determination: Price shall be considered to the extent appropriate, but at a minimum, the Contracting Officer will use market research as the primary method to determine that the price is fair and reasonable. The Government may elect to use external market research in the evaluation of the proposal. The ERDC-GRL must determine the price fair and reasonable prior to award using the procedures at DFARS subpart 212.209. In some circumstances, the Contracting Officer may request information from the offeror regarding recent purchase prices paid by the Government and/or commercial customers for the same or similar commercial items.

Based on the results of the evaluations, the ERDC-GRL may select offerors for direct award. An award notification will be sent out, which shall include a request for further details or documents prior to award (i.e., contractor self-developed Performance Work Statement (PWS), delivery details… etc.) A PWS is similar to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) used in the commercial marketplace. The PWS shall detail the proposed work to be completed during the period of performance, deliverables, etc. As many solutions will likely be performed/provided at military installations, the Government will provide the applicable security requirements to be included in any award. As appropriate, the Government may engage in a collaborative process to develop the PWS, deliverables, data rights, and necessary terms and conditions for the award.

NOTE: PWS shall not contain classified data or sensitive information. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

TWO-STEP CSO Evaluation Process (If applicable) – ERDC-GRL reserves the right to request a virtual or in-person demonstration.

Step One: Evaluation of offerors’ proposed solutions: The evaluation criteria for a two-step process is the same as the one-step process: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability. Price reasonableness determination is also the same.

Step Two: Virtual or In-Person Demonstration: Offerors invited to participate in a two-step CSO Evaluation Process (Demo Day) will receive an invitation that will provide all the details for the demonstration session, request for additional information, as well as the time and date that the demo will be conducted. Offerors selected for Demo Day will have an opportunity to demonstrate (Virtually or In- Person) their solution to evaluators. The demonstrations will be evaluated using the same factors as the initial evaluation: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability.

After offerors demonstrate their solution to evaluators, to the greatest extent practicable, offerors will be notified if they were selected for an award immediately following their demo. Same as in the one-step process, offerors proposing service-based solutions will be required to provide a contractor self-developed PWS prior to award.

Note: The ERDC-GRL reserves the right to award to an offeror even if they are unable to demonstrate due to unexpected circumstances or circumstances beyond its control.

Site Visits/Product Demonstration Site visits may be conducted at the discretion of the contracting officer throughout the solicitation and solution submittal/evaluation process. The purpose of the site visit is to:

i. Allow contractors and government to discuss their concerns while observing the product demonstration.

ii. Allow the government to determine whether the products can satisfy its needs as identified in the Area of Interest/Solicitation.

The site visit shall not be construed as a guarantee for award, and the government shall not bear any of the contractor’s costs for the site visit.

Note: During any step of the CSO, the ERDC-GRL may send questions or comments for the offerors to address via email or during Demo Day.

SECTION D: Areas of Interest and Individual Program Requirements See Areas of Interest and specific Individual Program Requirements for this CSO by visiting https://www.erdcwerx.org/erdc-grl-cso.html

AOI – Mission Command decision environments AOI – Building the geospatial foundation AOI – Establishing full-3D mapping capabilities AOI – Advanced remote sensing and mapping capabilities AOI – Terrain-based positioning and navigation technologies AOI – Earth system dynamics for situational understanding

Note: The Areas of Interest and Specific Individual Program Requirements are subject to change at any time during the open continuous period. Revisions or additions of Areas of Interest may be made on a monthly, quarterly, or as needed basis.

SECTION E: Award

All resultant contracts will be firm-fixed price. All items, technologies, and services (including research and development) procured via this CSO are treated as commercial. ERDC is conducting this CSO on a full and open basis and intends to award contracts in accordance with FAR part 12 and the FAR part that is deemed most appropriate for the solution proposed (i.e., FAR part 13, 15, and/or 35). FAR / DFAR clauses will be integrated into contracts on a case-by-case basis based on proposed scope.

Additional terms and conditions may be required as circumstances necessitate; examples of such would be data rights, security, R&D, educational institutions, etc.

Other Transactions are non-FAR based vehicles for which terms and conditions would be established on an individual proposal basis.

The government does not plan to engage in the debrief process outlined in FAR part 15 but will provide feedback to unsuccessful offerors as appropriate and at its discretion.

The government reserves the right to select none of the submissions.

https://www.erdcwerx.org/erdc-grl-cso.html