N6133124SNQ24 RFI - UUV Detection and Tracking.pdf

NSWC-PCD Code X12 RFI July 2023 Page 1/7

N61331-24-SN-Q24

Diver and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Detection and Tracking Technologies

GENERAL NOTICE

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR MARKET RESEARCH

PURPOSES ONLY as defined in FAR 15.201 (e), to obtain information about pricing, delivery, and other market information or capabilities for planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. This is a RFI and not a formal solicitation nor is this a request for proposals. Responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Companies that respond will not be paid for the information submitted. Information provided to the Government because of this posting is strictly voluntary and given with no expectation of compensation, and clearly provided at no cost to the Government. Contact with Government personnel, other than the Points of Contact (POC) listed herein, by potential offerors or their employees regarding this requirement is strictly prohibited.

All information received shall be safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure. Please do not submit any proprietary or classified information.

Note: No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement, or any follow-up information requests. There is no guarantee that any submitted topic will be funded and responders to this RFI will have no competitive advantage in receiving awards related to the submitted topic area. The information submitted in all responses may be utilized to help the Government further define its requirements. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation.

GENERAL INTENT

DESCRIPTION

The Navy is submitting this RFI inviting industry to provide information on potential responses to Diver and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Detection and Tracking Technologies. Industry responses to the RFI will be assessed by Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, and other potential applicable Department of Defense (DoD) program offices, as market research and may assist in identifying and developing future requirements.

The NAICS Code for this RFI is 334511, Size Standard is 4,135 employees. The product Services Code (PSC) is 6665.

BACKGROUND

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The Government is seeking sensing and detection technologies related to underway vessel and open ocean defense against divers and UUVs. Further information is sought on general purpose effects, both kinetic and non-kinetic for the defeat of UUVs in port, harbor, open ocean, and straits or chokepoints navigated by blue force assets. These technologies should support detection, tracking, and the subsequent fire control necessary for engagement of potential undersea manned and unmanned threats.

Capability Architecture/Definitions:

Mission Package Mission Manager (Subsystems, Equipment, Software) [shore or ship based] o Mission Planning o Tactical Decision Aid o Field Management (health, status) o Battle Damage Assessment

Mission Module o Detection Systems o Tracking Systems o Negation systems o Communications Systems and Requirements

The following is a list of performance goals for the proposed technologies in a system of systems:

1. Operational Environment

Water depths, maximum and minimum Sea State effects on system performance Overall system capability to control waterspace in ports, channels and choke points

2. Detection Criteria (on/off, status, extraction, etc.)

Accuracy of detection at all ranges Accuracy of tracking at all ranges Classification criteria

3. Fire Control (“shoot”) Ability to hold a threat target at risk of prosecution For effects based submissions, what are the practical considerations for magazine stow as well as effects of the system against UUVs of variable geometry ranging from Man Portable to XL class vehicles as defined in the Navy Master Plan for UUVs

4. Endurance Standby Operational time Mean Time Between Operational Failure (MTBOF)

5. System Performance:

Target Types Classification False Fire Rate

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TABLE 1: Notional Environmental Design Parameters. All hardware design should consider the following environmental parameters:

Specification Design Considerations

NOTIONAL OPERATING CONDITIONS*

Neutrally buoyant in Salinity 25 parts per thousand (ppt) Water Temperature -1.1°C – 35.0°C (30°F to 95°F) Air Temperature -28.9°C to 50°C (-20°F to

122°F) Temperature Shock -28.9°C to 50°C (-20°F to

122°F) Shipboard Shock MIL-S-901D (Grade B) while secured to transportation pallet Shipboard Vibration MIL-STD-167-1 Humidity 0-100 % relative humidity Salt Fog Marine Environment Fungus Avoid Materials that promote fungal growth

* Operational Conditions is meant to be used as reference. This chart does not constitute in any form a set of design requirements; these specifications would have to be followed under a production system and are not required for proposed system.

RFI SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

RFI submissions must conform with the format and page limitation requirements below.

Responses must be unclassified and contain no proprietary information. Note: See Format and Page Limitations and Submission of Documentation paragraphs for additional instructions. Responses are preferred in the following format:

TITLE: Name of the recommended project.

SUBMITTER INFORMATION: Responses should include the company name, company address, address of planned production facility (if different from company address), telephone number, and contact information of company point of contact (POC) having authority and knowledge to discuss the submission.

GOVERNMENT CUSTOMERS/INTERESTED ORGANIZATIONS:

Identify the government customer organizations or suggested other government organizations cognizant of the technology/production issues and challenges. This should be the organizations/agencies that have the technical or programmatic expertise for assessing the values of the project to potential government customers.

Letters from current or potential government customers expressing an interest in addressing the challenges are encouraged. Such letters may be included in the Appendix, again without impacting the page limitation.

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PROJECT IMPACT: This purpose of section is to provide essential background information on the technology, as defined by the product areas in prior sections. This section should include at least the following:

1. Technology Description. The technology and its current and future uses.

2. Benefits. The advantages of the proposed technology over existing technologies and substitutes in terms of cost, performance, and other factors.

Cite specific benefits to the Navy and/or the national economy of creating production capacity for the proposed technology. Cite specific applications of conventional technologies in the mission areas described in prior sections, and if appropriate how conventional technologies can transition to said mission areas.

3. Problem Statement. The nature of the problem (e.g., ambiguity in target strength at variable depth, range of sensors or communications), its impact on defense capabilities, and any other considerations that increase the need for the project.

4. Role of Technology element. How this technology can solve the problem.

TECHNOLOGY DEMAND: A primary requirement of the technology is that defense and commercial demand for a technology must exceed existing and foreseeable capabilities. This section describes, in as much detail as possible, current, and future demand for the technologies, though by no means should the proposals be assumed to be limited to these capabilities if value can be found elsewhere:

Table 1 – General Areas of Interest

1. Signal Processing 22. Multi-Domain UUV Autonomous Operation and Interaction

2. Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Sensors and Systems

23. Undersea Recording Technologies and techniques

3. Information Processing 24. Sensor Recording Technologies and techniques

4. Devices and Materials 25. Tactical Decision Aids (TDA)

5. Sensor Systems Engineering Methodologies 26. Insertion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Techniques into Undersea Sensors for Situations Optimization

6. Passive Sensor Systems 27. Unattended Remote Controlled Sensor Technology

7. Active Sensor Systems 28. Adaption of Processing and Execution Formulation upon Minimal Command Sequence

8. Miniaturization and logistically optimal design 29. Environmental Ocean Measurement

9. Multi-Source Sensor Data Fusion and Exploitation 30. Contested Undersea Battlespace Payload Delivery

10. Magnetic Sensors and Systems 31. Unattended Remote Controlled Sensor Technology

11. Laser based Infrared Countermeasure (IRCM) Systems

32. Imaging/Non-Imaging, Active/Passive Sensor Technology Integrated in a Unique Manner to Allow Roll-On/Roll-Off (RORO) Capability Aboard Cargo/Transport-Type Multi-Mission UUVs

12. Acoustic ASW Sensors and Systems 33. Expendable/low cost surveillance

13. Acoustic and Optical Mine Actuation Sensors and Systems

34. Undersea Networking of Autonomous Vehicles

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14. Research involving the interrelationship of acoustic and non-acoustic phenomena applicable to

ASW

35. Netted UUV Deployed ASW Weapons and Delivery

15. Telemetry methods for offboard sensors to and from various platforms

36. Rapid Precision ASW Targeting Technologies and Techniques

16. Mathematical modeling and techniques for analyzing ASW effectiveness and performance

37. Techniques and Technologies for Maritime Target Detection, Geo-location, Moving Target Identification (MTI), Multi-Moving Target Identification (MMTI), Tracking, and Imaging

17. In-sensor acoustic signal processing 38. Computational Electromagnetic Modeling and Analysis Techniques

18. Innovative Methods for 2-Way Interface Between Open Architecture RORO or Over The Horizon (OTH) Reach-Back Sensors or Systems to Onboard Tactical Systems

39. Data Link Communication technologies and techniques

19. Techniques for quantum encryption, coding, and computation

40. Seismic sensors system technologies and techniques

20. Precision Geo-location technologies and techniques

41. Data storage technologies and techniques

21. Multi-Domain and UUV Networking and Communications technologies and techniques

42. Metadata tagging and secure data vault management.

Table 2 – General Areas of Interest

INDUSTRY CAPABILITIES: This section describes industry’s current and expected capability to produce the technology. It should include:

1. Domestic (U.S. and Canada) and worldwide production sources. Current and planned capabilities and capacity for specific firms, as available. Note current DoD sources of supply. Estimated relevant technologies to be produced over the next five years (with and without project assistance).

2. Market dynamics. Explain how competition and other market factors have affected domestic industrial capabilities. Cite market shares and trends, if possible.

3. Constraints. Factors affecting industry’s ability and willingness to meet DoD demand without project incentives.

RISKS: Include a discussion of technical and business risks and issues that must be addressed and resolved (or accepted) before initiating the project and establishing a viable source of supply.

1. Business Risks. Include an assessment of the time and cost to bring the new capacity on-line and the product’s competitiveness with other sources (domestic or foreign) or with alternative technologies. Address all factors that would affect the sale of technology and the long-term viability of the source.

2. Technical Uncertainties. Include requirements for new processes, significant scale-up of existing technologies, remaining development risks, product qualification requirements, and technology and manufacturing readiness. Note

Page 6/7 the availability of specifications. Provide title, contract number, and points of contact with current or pending DoD and other Federal contracts.

CRITERIA: Please succinctly address how the proposed project will comply with each of the three statutory technology product requirements.

1. The ability to plan and deliver a field of distributed, autonomously networked wireless sensor nodes via UUV;

2. The ability to detect and classify a target of interest and provide its bearing, range and speed by utilizing said network, with the option to command and control said network and operation remotely via operator interface;

3. The ability to assemble information provided by the network autonomously to form an estimation of target track and position.

PROJECT CONCEPT: An initial concept is required to support understanding of any recommended project.

1. Technical approach. State recommended project’s technical objectives and outline the technical approach. Identify what the proposed project would accomplish and how. Describe what work and investments would be necessary achieve a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 4 capability within mission areas for the given technology. Include a time-phased plan for major elements of the approach.

2. Business approach. State the proposed business case for the project. Identify current and future markets including customers, projected revenues, employee growth, and market share (include U.S. and world markets). State total investment needed, sources for the investment (own company, proejct funds, other government sources, etc.). Estimate the amount of investment industry would be likely/able to make in this project. The extent of cost sharing between the Government and project contractor(s) is considered important but not necessary. It indicates industry understands that investments will position a domestic firm to make substantial returns (especially in the commercial market) after technology investments cease, and it also indicates industry’s commitment to being a long term supplier to the Department of Defense and other government customers.

3. Cost/Funding Estimates. Provide a top-level breakdown of estimated project costs. Identify recommended type of project incentive to be used, e.g., production scale-up, engineering costs, equipment purchase costs, business development costs, process optimization, samples and qualification costs, or purchase commitments, etc. the technology projects awarded will acknowledge that the amount and phasing of funds will vary considerably, depending on the technology problem, the incentive type, and the selected approach.

REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION / POINTS OF CONTACT:

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Questions, clarifications, and other such inquiries will be answered to the maximum extent possible, however, the Government may choose not to respond to industry within seven days prior to the RFI closure date. Questions, clarifications, inquiries must be submitted to the following POCs:

Contracts POC: Ryan Hodges, at ryan.t.hodges.civ@us.navy.mil Matthew Hammond, at matthew.a.hammond4.civ@us.navy.mil

FORMAT & PAGE LIMITATION

Your submittal should be provided on standard letter size 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper, limited to a maximum of 5 single sided, double-spaced pages. The font for text should be Times New Roman 12-point or larger. The Responder may use oversize pages (including “foldouts”) where appropriate to contain graphic presentations. Oversize pages do not count as extra pages within the page limitations. Submitted responses should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat format. Existing commercial documentation and product literature can also be submitted and is not subject to a page limitation. Note: No proprietary data should be provided. Cover pages, contact information, appendices, and supporting technical drawings/data do not count against page limitations.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Additional information is available on the following websites:

Special Notice: N6133123SNQ37, https://sam.gov/opp/79d0a2ffb1c44000a8ba61cf7099b343/view

Note 1: The link to the BAA website is provided for informational purposes, and it may provide a resource for inquiries on upcoming competitive acquisitions.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTATION

Submit responses to Ryan Hodges, at ryan.t.hodges.civ@us.navy.mil, and Matt Hammond, at matthew.a.hammond4.civ@us.navy.mil, no later than 30 May 2024, 03:00pm CDT. Title the subject line of the submission email as follows: “N61331-24- SN-Q24 RFI Submission – <COMPANY NAME>.”

Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. If late information is received, it may be considered by the Government at its discretion.