Q&A__4.pdf

SBIR 2018-1

Questions and Answers #4 November 17, 2017

ALL QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO THE SOLICITATION AND ITS SUBTOPICS ARE

DUE NO LATER THAN TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 AT 2:00 PM EASTERN.

Q: Is this solicitation only for American Companies or can Non-Governmental Organizations apply?

A: See section 1.5 of the solicitation. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) may not apply unless they meet the 1.5 eligibility and limitations requirements. An NGO, though, could look at working with an eligible firm as possibly a subcontract as long as the other eligibility requirements can be met.

Q: From reading the NOAA solicitation, it appears that there is no US citizenship requirement on people working on the SBIR grant, only that all work needs to be completed on U.S. soil. My interpretation of this is that anyone that can legally work in the United States is eligible for working on the SBIR. Can you confirm this?

A: When the government develops the award document, it shall include the following two clauses:

● Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.222-54 - EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION. This clause requires firm’s to utilize the E-Verify Program to confirm eligibility to work in the United States.

● 1330-52.235-70 COMPLIANCE WITH U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

AND OTHER EXPORT CONTROL REGULATIONS (MAY 2006)

(a) In performing this contract, the contractor may engage in activities -- such as transfers or releases of items, technology, software, or source code -- that are subject to U.S. export controls, including, but not limited to, those contained in the DOC EAR, 15 C.F.R. Parts 730-774, and administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security. The contractor is responsible for compliance with U.S. export controls and associated licensing requirements that may attach to an export or “deemed export,” as defined in Paragraph (b)(1) of this Section. The contractor shall establish and maintain, throughout the period of contract performance, effective export control compliance procedures covering all contractor employees and all of the contractor’s non-NOAA facilities where the contract shall be performed. Failure to establish, maintain, or adhere to such compliance procedures shall constitute grounds for default termination under this contract as well as a breach of contract by the contractor.

(b) Definitions.

(1) “Deemed export.” The EAR define a deemed export as any release of technology or source code subject to the EAR to a foreign national, in the United States. Such release is “deemed” to be an export to the home country of the foreign national. 15 C.F.R § 734.2(b)(2)(ii).

(2) “Export-controlled information and technology.” Export-controlled information and technology is information and technology subject to the EAR (15 C.F.R.§ 730 et seq.) or the ITARs, 22 C.F.R. §§ 120-130 (ITAR), administered by the Department of State. This category includes, but is not limited to, dual-use items, defense articles, and any related assistance, services, software, source code, or technical data, as defined in the EAR and ITAR.

(c) The contractor shall prevent unauthorized access by foreign nationals to all export controlled information and technology that it possesses or that comes into its possession in performance of this contract, to ensure that access by a foreign national is restricted, or licensed, as required by applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, and/or regulations. If access to EAR or ITAR-controlled technology is required by a foreign national, the contractor must obtain appropriate authorization.

(d) Nothing in the terms of this contract is intended to change, supersede, or waive any of the requirements of applicable federal laws, Executive Orders or regulations.

(e) The contractor shall include this clause, including this paragraph (e), in all subcontracts under this contract.

(End of Clause)

Q: Subtopic 8.1.1: Follow up to questions on Q&A#1 for this subtopic.

● The use of “Air Balloon” can you definite it better? Do you mean Helium, Hydrogen, etc.?

● Why are there hundreds of expensive GPS payloads thrown away? Why not consider a professional tethered balloon science platform?

● 1000 ft amsl is able to see two dozen satellites. Why does the offeror what to add the danger and cost of free balloon obstructions in commercial airspace?

A: We do not restrict the type of gas used for the air balloon, as long as it is safe and it can do the job. Leveraging existing balloon programs and platforms would be a plus.

We agree that "recoverable" GPS payload is a desirable feature. Therefore, a tethered balloon is an acceptable platform, especially for Phase I, but please include discussion on the altitude achievable and future expectations.

Q: Subtopic 8.1.3: Our firm developed a proposal for the National Institute of Science and Technology to commercialize one of their patents. It wasn’t funded, but the same principles of that project could meet NOAA’s need. Is it acceptable to submit a proposal where we recommend adapting NIST’s technology to meet the requirements for an air sensor calibrator?

A: In regards to your idea, there are a couple of concerns to keep in mind which are:

● NIST would have to provide your organization a research license to utilize their Patent for the work. We would need this with any potential proposal in order to be considered, since your proposal is contingent on the use of NIST’ invention (based on preliminary info provided).

● In reviewing the evaluation and selection criteria, you may want to consider whether this proposed approach would meet those factors and how well it could potentially score. For example, would utilization of NIST’s technology equate to “level of innovation.”

● When drafting the solicitation, we did not envision it to apply to a specific instrument. If the company chooses to apply it to a specific instrument, we will be happy to review the proposal as long as the first bullet is provided.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.5: Other than location data, should the beacon be responsible for transmitting other data from other mooring sensors?

A: No, the beacon single purpose is to locate the mooring to allow its recovery. The other instruments in the mooring are archiving the data in their own memory.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.5: Can the term “surfacing detection” be clarified?

A: It refers to the event when a subsurface deployed moorings gets to the surface because it accidentally has been disconnected from the anchor. The beacon should be capable of detecting when it is exposed to the air (conductivity sensor, light sensor, etc.)

to trigger the calculation of a GPS location and its emission to allow recovery. This function should be in stand-by while the mooring is underwater to preserve battery life.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.5: In addition to designing a physical beacon on the mooring, should designing shore-side systems (databases, servers, software, etc.) with the subtopic’s work scope and be considered in the proposal?

A: No, the beacon should rely on already existing infrastructure for cell phone communications or satellite communications. The beacon should adapt to the location, if within cell phone range the GPS location should be transmitted through this network. If the mooring is outside cell phone coverage then the beacon should transmit via satellite link.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.6: The test refers to: “the current generation visibility sensors uas ea lot of power and infer visibility during reduced visibility at a local sensor nearest out of 5 to 10 miles.” Can you provide details about the nature of the current instruments? Are they nephelometers or some other type of instrument?

A: Here is a link to our publicly available technical report on the instruments we use.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/Technical_Report_NOS_CO- OPS_055.pdf The term "nephelometers" used in the query is not commonly used by CO-OPS.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.9: We have the following questions:

● Does “seas of 1-2 feet” mean 1-2 foot breaking waves? Does it mean non-breaking waves that will bob the vehicle 1-2 feet? Both? Something else?

● What area of the sea floor needs to be imaged per session?

● Do you have a representative or example dataset that should be produced by the vehicle?

● Is the depth sounder sensor an imaging sounder (that provides a 2.5D map) or single (pencil) beam? Or, do you have a particular sensor in mind?

A:

● I rather doubt that we would be attempting field operations if the waves were breaking (i.e., white caps), so it is more the case of the vehicle being able to operate in 1-2' waves. By that, I mean that it must have sufficient power (and size) to operate with waves of that size, against tidal currents, and against surface wind. All three of which may not come from the same direction and be able to maintain course and speed.

● Essentially we are mapping scour areas, typically within seagrass meadows. Our current approach (not the objective for this project though) is to find and define the edge of the scour area using survey grade GPS by itself and use best professional judgement for definition of the edge. That has been followed with running the bathymetry unit with the same GPS (essentially by hand) on transects across the scour area and slightly beyond the edge. The data from this are used to define the maximum depth and the volume of the scour, plus verify the boundaries. Additionally, we repeat the same basic procedure in berm areas where the scour material may have been re-located and deposited. These areas are represented by a shallower depth than the surrounding bottom. Since this occurs in seagrass meadows, the operating depth can often be on the order of 2 feet.

● Yes, one could be made available.

Currently we use a standard Garmin GPSmap 168 and capture the NMEA string from that for depth. Real Time Kinematic positioning is not really a feasible approach for us due to the distance offshore that a unit would need to operate.

Q: Subtopic 8.2.13: We have the following questions:

● What is meant by “continuous”? What is the desired endurance?

● What is the desired payload (what sensors)?

● Is the vehicle meant to be disposable?

● What are the order of magnitude wind speeds?

● What are the maximum dimensions/weight of the vehicle if any?

A:

● Continuous just means not a few minutes duration. Desired duration: 1-4h. (The minimum acceptable endurance will in part depend on cost/unit.)

● Must have: Atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed and direction (2Hz sensor response rate minimum; 10hz (or greater) desired).

Desired additional payload: laser altimeter, downward looking IR sensor (for surface ocean temperature)

● Yes.

● Hurricane environment. 5-100m/s

● Must fit the existing radius/length requirements for either the Sonobuoy/AXBT or

GPS dropsonde launch tubes. UAS weight is less of a concern. Here are the exact dimensions to work with.

GPS dropsonde (expendable) 2.75 inches diameter, 16.063 " length GPS drop tube 3" diameter 17.625 length (Total length from outside edge to gate valve knife.)

AXBT (expendable) 4.86 " diameter, 36" length AXBT drop tube 5.25 diameter, 38" length (Free fall chute has large length but exceeding 38" may cause expendable to stick in tube or break itself or tube.)

Over the years we have accommodated different diameters and lengths up to the 4.86 diameter of the AXBT.

The P-3 tubes need the roughly .25 inch clearance.

In order to ensure fair competition, all communication must be routed through the CO to ensure all potential offerors receive the same information.