Notice of Intent to Sole Source Lightweight Mobile Lidar

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL) has a requirement for a lightweight mobile lidar system RESEPI OUSTER OS1-64 to be procured on a sole source basis from Inertial Labs, Inc. (CAGE Code: 3HCA0). ERDC GRL is engaged in an ongoing airborne lidar research and development program (ELS3D) to prototype and demonstrate a lidar capability from High Altitude Balloon (HAB) platforms. To accomplish this, GRL has the need to acquire a commercially available lightweight mobile lidar system to inform the design and aid in the prototyping of an in-house airborne lidar system under development in GRL’s ELS3D program. This system will be used as a verification and validation tool to test against data sets of early prototypes for the HAB lidar system.

It has been determined that the lightweight mobile lidar system RESEPI OUSTER OS1-64 provided by Inertial Labs, Inc., is the only commercial product which meets the Government’s requirement.  The lidar system will be composed of a lidar, GPS-aided inertial navigation system (INS), and software necessary to create accurately geolocated point clouds from a moving platform. The requirements of the commercial system required are found in the following tables 1-3 and can only be met by the lightweight mobile lidar system RESEPI OUSTER OS1-64 provided by Inertial Labs, Inc.

Table 1.  Lidar System Requirements 

Specifications

Performance Requirement

Weight

Less than 1.5 kg

Mounts to Blue sUAS 2.0 listed drone (Freefly Astro)

Required

System Vertical Accuracy

< 5 cm

Range

Up to 90 m with 10% reflective target

Range Precision with noise removal

< 4 cm

Calibrated Reflectance

Required

  Table 2.  GPS-Aided INS Requirements

Specifications

Performance Requirement

Pitch/Roll Accuracy

0.03° (RTK)*; 0.006° (PPK)**

Heading Accuracy

0.15° (RTK)*; 0.03° (PPK)**

Velocity Accuracy

< 0.03 m/s

Position Accuracy

< 1 cm + 1ppm (RTK)*; 0.5 cm (PPK)**

*RTK = Real-Time Kinematic                                **PPK = Post Processed Kinematic

Table 3.  Software Requirements

Specifications

Performance Requirement

Software Capabilities

Ability to perform field checks, pre and post processing of data

Perpetual License

Required

The lidar system must integrate into a Blue sUAS 2.0 listed drone, specifically Freefly Astro. This is required to allow researchers to collect airborne lidar data from an existing GRL asset that has been vetted and approved for DoD and USACE Aviation use. The lidar system must not exceed 1.5 kg when configured to mount onto the sUAS. This requirement is derived so that the system will not exceed the rated payload capacity of the sUAS. Finally, the software must be perpetually licensed considering there is no out year funding to be able to fund a subscription-based software solution. If a perpetual license is not procured, the hardware will not be able to be used after the initial year.  Inertial Labs RESEPI OUSTER OS1-64 meets all these requirements.

The Government intends to procure from only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i).  This notice of intent is for information purposes only. 

This notice is not a request for competitive quotes or proposals.  A solicitation will not be issued.  However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency.  The information submitted must be provided in sufficient detail to demonstrate the vendor’s ability to fulfill this requirement. The contractor must also provide a description of their past experience in fulfilling requirements which are the same or similar to this requirement and references for each.

Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Verbal communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.  Responses to this requirement may be submitted to Anna Crawford at Anna.Crawford@usace.army.mil.  The solicitation number shall be included in the subject line of the e-mail submission.  Responses must be received no later than 1:00 PM CST, Wednesday, August 21, 2024.