SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Persistent Ocean Surveillance - Request for Information (RFI) from Interested Sources
- Notice Date
- 3/26/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714
- ZIP Code
- 22203-1714
- Solicitation Number
- SS04-24
- Response Due
- 5/17/2004
- Archive Date
- 6/1/2004
- Point of Contact
- Anthony Cicala, Contracting Officer, Phone (571)218-4639, Fax (XXX)XXX-XXX,
- E-Mail Address
-
acicala@darpa.mil
- Description
- This is a Request for Information (RFI) from interested sources by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Advanced Technology Office (ATO) regarding the design, development, and testing of a new tactical ocean surveillance buoy capable of extracting energy from the local environment for station keeping and long-term persistence. The Government does not intend to award a contract or any other award instrument based on this notification, or otherwise pay for the information provided. Respondents are notified that nothing herein obligates the government to issue any Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) or other such solicitation, although the Government may choose, at its sole discretion, to issue a solicitation during the third quarter of fiscal year 2004. The information contained herein is for planning purposes only. Any information submitted in response to this notice is strictly voluntary. The results of responses received may help DARPA ATO determine if issuance of a future solicitation is appropriate and feasible. At this point, DARPA ATO is contemplating one potential award for up to three years (base year plus options). However, the program funding and the total program scope has not been finalized, and nothing herein obligates the Government to issue any future solicitation as a result of this action. Existing tactical systems (sonobuoys) are designed for relatively short durations and are susceptible to significant drift over their lifetime. When drift is excessive, present procedures require new buoys to be deployed to maintain search pattern integrity. Emerging concepts contemplate greatly extending buoy lifetimes and including Global Positioning System (GPS) for determining buoy location. However, drift remains a problem. GPS equipped long endurance buoys when combined with station-keeping and intra-sensor communications technologies, will enable the establishment of fields of long-term station-keeping ocean environment sensors that would sense and maintain their location. Station-keeping technologies could provide the capability for rapidly emplacing a floating field of sensors to observe the undersea environment in an area, over an extended period of time without the need to lay or anchor such a field on the ocean floor. A range of technologies can be considered to enable the station-keeping sensors and sensors fields, including many that rely upon local environmental effects (such as wind, solar energy, or temperature differentials) for their motive power. DARPA anticipates the following basic requirements for the station-keeping buoy: Buoy endurance: 4 weeks Station keeping watch circle: 250 m Sea State: 4 Size when stored: TBD (sonobuoy A-E) Sensor: acoustic hydrophones Interested respondents are invited to submit to DARPA as early as possible, but not later than 12:00 NOON, Arlington, VA local time on 17 May 2004, a three page unclassified white paper summarizing their system concepts that employ long endurance station keeping buoys for persistence ocean surveillance and specific energy harvesting technologies for enabling station keeping. A rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost estimate is also requested. A non-proprietary cover letter should be included with the white paper that provides the company?s Point of Contact (POC) name and contact information (including phone number and e-mail address), and states whether they are large, small, disadvantaged, and/or women-owned businesses. Responses should be submitted in a commonly used electronic format to K. Latt at POS@darpa.mil. Responses that cannot be submitted electronically may be delivered to DARPA/ATO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA 22203-1714, Attn: K. Latt. DARPA will acknowledge receipt of the white paper via e-mail to the POC listed in the cover letter. Responses should be marked with appropriate proprietary markings, as applicable, such as "Company Proprietary." Markings such as "Company Confidential" or other phrases that may be confused with national security classifications shall be avoided. White papers will not be returned.
- Record
- SN00555347-W 20040328/040326212946 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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