N0001425SBC02.pdf

BAA Call Number N0001425SBC02 1

BAA Call N0001425SBC02 Special Program Announcement for Office of Naval Research

Research Opportunity:

Neutralization In Challenging Environments Using Lethal Effects (NICELE)

I. INTRODUCTION

The Seabed and Underwater Explosive Ordnance Disposal program continues to make strides in technology development for high confidence detection, access, manipulation, and neutralization of seabed and in-volume targets with improved lethality in complex undersea environments. This includes researching streamlined delivery to improve upon response capabilities for deep water threats.

This announcement describes an Ocean Battlespace Mine Warfare and Ocean Engineering Systems Science and Technology effort entitled “Neutralization In Challenging Environments Using Lethal Effects” under the Long Range Broad Agency Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology N0001425SB001, which can be found at https://www.nre.navy.mil/work-with-us/funding-opportunities/announcements. The submission of proposals, their evaluation and the placement of research grants and contracts will be carried out as described in the above Long Range Broad Agency Announcement.

The purpose of this announcement is to focus attention of the scientific community on (1) the area to be studied, (2) a classified Industry Day 31 JAN 2025 for dialogue amongst those interested in this topic area, and (3) the planned timetable for the submission of white papers and full proposals.

II. TOPIC DESCRIPTION

Neutralization in Challenging Environments using Lethal Effects (NICELE, pronounced [nīslē]) will explore and exploit novel deep water mine prosecution and neutralization technologies. The program will pursue efforts in Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and diver teaming, target sensing and localization, energetic tools and reactive tools for operations at depth.

Background:

Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) technicians and specialists are an integral part of the Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures (ExMCM) force warfighting capability enabling joint, naval and commercial maneuver in the maritime domain. Navy EOD technicians and specialists conduct missions at sea and in the littorals that include the detection and neutralization of a variety of explosive threats to facilitate friendly force maneuvers in complex environments.

These missions are expeditionary and hazardous, therefore standoff distances, high reliability, size, weight and power (SWAP) are important considerations for fielded underwater EOD capabilities, techniques and methods.

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Objective:

The U.S. Navy’s ExMCM forces confront a wide range of hazardous and explosive threats like underwater mines and Water-borne Improvised Explosive Devices (WBIED)s. ONR seeks to develop payloads that enable ExMCM forces to neutralize deep water mines and WBIEDs. A diver and/or ROV will deliver these payloads. Technologies developed may transition to the existing EOD Maritime Expeditionary Standoff Response (MESR) program of record, which fields underwater capabilities required to counter threats in marine environments.

NICELE aims to develop diver and ROV deployed payloads that are minefield suitable and controlled from extended ranges to improve the ability of ExMCM forces to do the following:

1. Neutralize deep water threats in a time and manner of ExMCM Force’s choosing, including detonation, deflagration, and rendering safe options.

2. Localize deep water targets to determine their location and the location of internal components (i.e. battery, fuze, etc.). A diver or ROV/Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) will deliver the sensing technology.

3. Communicate, Control, and Collaborate with the ROV over extended ranges (from over-the-horizon) for ROV/ diver teaming, supervised autonomy, environmental adaptation and collaborative behaviors (3D sensing and automated target localization for vehicle maneuver) enabling increased operator standoff while reducing operator workload.

III. Industry Day

ONR will hold an Industry Day on 31 JAN 2025 at The Georgia Tech Research Institute, Cobb County Facility in Atlanta, GA. There is no registration fee for participation. The Industry Day provides specific information regarding white papers submission. The following content will be provided at the NICELE Industry Day:

• Project Description, Goals and Schedule

• Relevant concepts of operation and employment

• Operational Overview (OV-1)

• White Paper Submission Requirements

Who should attend: Defense contracting firms operating within the science and technology (S&T) enterprise who have experience designing maritime deep water lethal response technologies are encouraged to attend. Up to three (3) participants per firm are permitted to attend. Further technical questions should be addressed to Amanda Bobe, ONR Program Officer, at amanda.l.bobe.civ@us.navy.mil.

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Note: This announcement is not a contract, nor a request for proposal, nor a promise to contract, nor a commitment of any kind. The Government assumes no liability for costs incurred by any participant for travel or participation.

ADVANCED REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

The NICELE Industry Day will be held on 31 JAN 2025, at the following location:

Georgia Tech Research Institute Cobb Country Research Facility, 7220 Richardson Road, Atlanta, GA 30332

BUILDING 1

Please submit your SECRET visit request via JPAS no later than 1600 Eastern Standard Time

(EST) 10 JAN 2025:

SECRET SMO Code: 0KC83 (first digit is zero) or via fax to 404-407-8691Meeting Name:

NICELE Industry Day Date: 31 JAN 2025 Degree of Access: SECRET Technical Point of Contact: Amanda Bobe, Office of Naval Research, 850-625-0913 Security Point of Contact: Steffany Trent, RShelp@gtri.gatech.edu, 404-407-8151 Meeting Contact: Daniel Cook, dan.cook@gtri.gatech.edu, (404) 407-8886

NO CLEARANCES WILL BE VERIFIED ON THE DAY OF THE MEETING. IF YOU

HAVE NOT RECEIVED CONFIRMATION THAT YOUR CLEARANCE HAS BEEN

VERIFIED YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED INTO THE ROOM.

Check-in will begin at 0730 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and the meeting will begin at

0830 EST.

All briefings will be classified SECRET. All participants must be U.S. citizens holding a valid security clearance at the time of the meeting. A formal agenda will be provided to confirmed attendees. No time will be allocated for industry briefings at this venue; however, there will be time allocated for questions and answers. Questions of a technical nature submitted in advance of the Industry Day will be answered at this event and made available to all participants.

Classified notetaking will not be authorized.

The review is classified at the SECRET level. Cameras, tablets, laptops, cell phones/blackberry, smart phones, portable electronic devices, Wi-Fi or Mi-Fi devices, personal digital assistants (PDA), electronic books or readers, voice recorders, pagers, radios, scanners, global positioning satellite devices (GPS), thumb drives, or any electronic device that has the ability to transmit or receive, such as a Bluetooth enabled watch or Bluetooth hands free earpiece are not permitted in the classified session. A plastic bin for small electronics will be provided for storage outside the meeting room. Briefcases and backpacks must also remain outside the meeting room. Space will be available for storage outside the meeting room.

IV. WHITE PAPER SUBMISSION

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All White Papers submitted should be unclassified.

Although not required, white papers are strongly encouraged for all offerors seeking funding.

Each white paper will be evaluated by the Government to determine whether the technology advancement proposed appears to be of particular value to the Department of the Navy. Initial Government evaluations and feedback will be issued via e-mail notification from the Technical Point of Contact. The initial white paper appraisal is intended to give entities a sense of whether their concepts are likely to be funded.

Detailed Full Proposals (Technical and Cost volumes) will be subsequently encouraged from those Offerors whose proposed technologies have been identified through the above referenced e-mail as being of “particular value” to the Government. However, any such encouragement does not assure a subsequent award. Full Proposals may also be submitted by any offeror whose white paper was not identified as being of particular value to the Government or any offeror who did not submit a white paper.

For white papers that propose efforts that are considered of particular value to the Navy but either exceed available budgets or contain certain tasks or applications that are not desired by the Navy, ONR may suggest a full proposal with reduced effort to fit within expected available budgets or an effort that refocuses the tasks or application of the technology to maximize the benefit to the Navy.

White papers should not exceed 5 single-sided pages, exclusive of cover page, references, and resume of principal investigator, and should be in 12-point Times New Roman font with margins not less than one inch. White papers shall be in Adobe PDF format (preferred) or in Microsoft Word format compatible with at least Microsoft Word 2016.

A Cover Page is required on all white papers. The Cover Page can be found at https://www.nre.navy.mil/work-with-us/how-to-apply/submit-contract-proposal for contract submissions and at https://www.nre.navy.mil/work-with-us/how-to-apply/submit-grant-application for grant submissions.

The 5-page body of the white paper should include the following information:

Technical Concept: A description of the technology innovation and technical risk areas.

Future Naval Relevance – A description of potential Naval relevance and contributions of the effort to the agency’s specific mission.

Operational Naval Concept (where applicable) – A description of the project objectives, the concept of operation for the new capabilities to be delivered, and the expected operational performance improvements.

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Operational Utility Assessment Plan (where applicable) – A plan for demonstrating and evaluating the operational effectiveness of the Offeror’s proposed products or processes in field experiments and/or tests in a simulated environment.

Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate

A resume of the principal investigator, not to exceed 1 page, should also be included after the 5-page body of the white paper.

White papers must be submitted through Fedconnect at www.fedconnect.net in accordance with Section D. Application and Submission Information, Section 2. Content and Form of Application Submission, paragraph d. White Paper Requirements, ii. White Paper Submission in Long Range BAA No. N0001425SB001. In addition to the FedConnect submission, offerors shall also submit a confirmation email that they submitted a white paper to Fedconnect to the email address listed on the research area page of the website for “Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems”. The subject line of the email shall read: “N0001425SBC02 White Paper Submission”. Do not send ZIP files. Password protected files are discouraged.

To ensure full, timely consideration for funding, white papers should be submitted in Fedconnect no later than 20 MAR 2025. White papers received after that date will be considered as time and availability of funding permit.

The planned date for completing the review of white papers is 15 APR 2025.

V. FULL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND AWARD INFORMATION

Full proposals should be submitted under N0001425SB001 by 12 MAY 2025. Full Proposals received after that date will be considered as time and availability of funding permits.

ONR anticipates that both grants and contracts will be issued for this effort.

Full proposals for contracts should be submitted in accordance with Appendix 2 of BAA N0001425SB001. Full proposals for grants should be submitted via Grants.gov in accordance with Appendix 1 of N0001425SB001.

The period of performance for projects may be 3 to 5 years.

Although ONR expects the above-described program plan to be executed, ONR reserves the right to make changes.

Funding decisions will be made on or about 26 MAY 2025 with expected notification of selection(s) by 27 MAY 2025. Selected projects will have an estimated award date of 10 OCT 2025.

VI. SIGNIFICANT DATES AND TIMES

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Event Date Time Visit Request Deadline 10 JAN 2025 1700 EST NICELE Industry Day 31 JAN 2025 0730 – 1130 EST Recommended White Paper Submission Date*

20 MAR 2025 2359 EST

Notification of White Paper Valuation* 15 APR 2025 1630 EDT Recommended Full Proposal Submission 12 MAY 2025 2359 EDT Notification of Selection: Full Proposals * 27 MAY 2025 1630 EDT Awards * 10 OCT 2025 1630 EDT

Note: * These are approximate dates.

VII. Small Business Subcontracting (Contracts Only)

As indicated in ONR Broad Agency Announcements large businesses and non-profit organizations must submit a subcontracting plan along with their research proposal. While large businesses and non-profits are responsible for making these subcontracting arrangements, ONR will help facilitate prime contractor/small business contracting connections by posting to the ONR external website contact information of small businesses that have indicated their subcontracting interests and technological niche for prime contractor consideration for this program. This is not an endorsement, but an effort by ONR to help bring these parties together to provide superior solutions.

If you are a small business, and your company is interested in subcontracting activities with large businesses and/or non-profits considering your technology for this program, please provide the following information by email, to the ONR Small Business Director at ellen.simonoff.civ@us.navy.mil with the subject line, “N0001425SBC02”. Provide this information:

1) Company Name and Website

2) Individual (POC) name and POC email address

3) Business Size and socio-economic category

4) Brief Technology Description (no more than 3 sentences)

5) Technology Key Words (no more than 10 words)

Note: Do not include ANY proprietary information. This information will be posted on the ONR website under this BAA call and will be available to the public.

VIII. POINTS OF CONTACT

In addition to the points of contact listed in N0001425SB001 the specific points of contact for this announcement are listed below:

Technical Point of Contact:

Amanda Bobe

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Program Officer 850-625-0913 Amanda.L.Bobe.civ@us.navy.mil

Business Point of Contact/Contracting Officer:

John Lewers Contracting Officer 703-588-2784 john.d.lewers.civ@us.navy.mil

Secondary Business Point of Contact Sean Palmer Contracting Officer 703-696-0942 sean.m.palmer.civ@us.navy.mil

VIII. SUBMISSION OF QUESTIONS

Any questions regarding this announcement must be provided to the Technical Point of Contact and/or the Business Point of Contact listed above. All questions shall be submitted in writing by electronic mail.

Answers to questions submitted in response to this BAA Call will be addressed in the form of an Amendment and will be posted to the following web pages after the Industry Day:

SAM.gov Webpage – Contract Opportunities – Home | SAM.gov Grants.gov Webpage – http://www.grants.gov/ ONR BAAs, FOAs and Special Program Announcements Webpage -https://www.nre.navy.mil/work-with-us/funding-opportunities/announcements

Questions regarding White Papers or Full Proposals should be submitted not later than two weeks before the dates recommended for receipt of White Papers and/or Full Proposals.

Questions after this date may not be answered.