SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Long Range Ocular Interrupter (LROI)
- Notice Date
- 12/23/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 333314
— Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- N00178 NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER Dahlgren Division 17362 Dahlgren Road Suite 157 Dahlgren, VA
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- N0017812Q3904
- Response Due
- 1/13/2012
- Archive Date
- 3/30/2012
- Point of Contact
- Kim Carter,
- E-Mail Address
-
40-653-6810
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Request for Information (RFI) is being posted to both the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) page located at http://www.fbo.gov and the Navy Electronic Commerce on Line (NECO) site located at https://www.neco.navy.mil. While it is understood that FBO is the single point of entry for posting of synopsis and solicitations to the Internet, NECO is the alternative in case FBO is unavailable. Please feel free to use either site to access information posted by the Naval Sea Systems Command. This is a RFI from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is seeking information from interested parties on readily available commercial based solutions that have proven field trials and/or prototype testing focused in the areas of magnifying optics detection, environmental adaptation, and automated variable power attenuation. The information provided through this RFI is intended to provide insight on current and future technologies that the Government can possibly leverage for adaptation and utilization in a long range ocular interrupter program of record fielded capability. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI is solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotations) or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the government to contract for any supply or services whatsoever. Furthermore, we are not seeking proposals at this time. The Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. The Government would prefer that any submissions be non-proprietary in order to maximize potential use by the Government. Nonetheless, both proprietary and non-proprietary information will be accepted and the safeguarding of proprietary information will be in accordance with all applicable government regulations. Proprietary information or trade secrets should be clearly identified. The Government will not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract based on this RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. (b) Responses to this RFI do not constitute a proposal and will be treated as information only. (c) The Government reserves the right to engage with respondent(s) if additional information and/or clarification are deemed necessary. Responses to this notice are not offers and the Government cannot accept them to form a binding contract or agreement. The Government will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative because of this RFI. The Government will not return any RFI responses. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation to the LROI project 2.0BACKGROUND The purpose of the long range ocular interrupter (LROI) is to provide the Navy the capability to deliver a bright beam of light that produces a dazzling or glare effect on a closing target to warn and/or suppress potential threats through increasing levels of visual degradation. The LROI will provide a controlled, high-intensity light beam at two levels. A lower level will facilitate visual warning, and a second, higher level will provide temporary visual suppression. The LROI will deliver the correct irradiance to affect a targeted individual ™s vision, providing a clear, unambiguous warning at a distance of 3,000 meters (approximately 3,300 yards, or 1.6 nautical miles), an increased range over previous systems. At a minimum, this extended range capability will provide increased tactical decision-making time to facilitate structured escalation of force (EoF) tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) across a broad range of military operations (ROMO). Further, the LROI system enhances Joint Force operations in assessing the intent of personnel and controlling a potential threat as early as possible. 3.0PURPOSE The purpose of this RFI is to seek information on current and future technologies that the government can leverage to meet the capabilities described in paragraph 4. Cost and schedule are major considerations; therefore, the Government is interested in information defined in paragraph 4 and the attachments. 4.0CAPABILITY INFORMATION SOUGHT Currently LROI is in a pre-Milestone A acquisition phase. Although individual underlying technologies associated with LROI are considered mature, the integration and control of each into a cohesive non-lethal capability is new. As such, NSWCDD is canvassing industry to assist in identification of readily available commercial based solutions that have proven field trials and/or prototype testing focused in the areas of magnifying optics detection, environmental adaptation, and automated variable power attenuation. In support of the technology development, the Government plans on working with industry in a collaborative basis to explore technology advancements and alternatives to aid in accelerating maturation of system and subsystem capabilities needed to satisfy LROI design attributes and operational requirements. The goal of this collaborative strategy and the information collected through this RFI is to assess commercial investment and the maturity of enabling technologies/capabilities in support of LROI development. Currently, an LROI-type system is being scoped to meet expeditionary mission requirements. The following outlines the scope of information sought and maturity of commercial-based solutions presented by the vendor. Technology Focus Areas: Focused technology development efforts will take into consideration suitable commercially-available technological approaches and solutions to further maturate the following areas being considered as LROI system functions. Based on current market analysis and preliminary technical readiness evaluation, the following four (4) focus areas have been identified for this RFI. LROI functional characteristics, performance and capability attributes are provided in Attachment 1. This attachment will enable the vendor to provide information that is relevant to the request. 1.Magnifying Optics Detection Currently, LROI is assessing the functionality to provide eye-safe operation, and to limit any permanent injury to operators, targeted individuals, or incidental non-combatants. One system attribute that requires definition for any non-lethal weapon is the acceptable risk of significant injury (RSI) to the contact or target of interest (COI/TOI). The most significant source of injury comes from the possibility of eye damage due to an individual ™s use of magnifying direct view optics (such as a rifle scope, spotting scope, or binoculars) within the LROI system ™s beam. In such a case, the beam would become highly focused through the optics, potentially causing permanent eye damage to the COI/TOI. The vendor information provided would assist in defining a realistic RSI parameter and approaches to adapt or include a system capability to detect magnifying optical devices within the projected beam. 2.Environmental Adaptation Most non-lethal weapons have been fielded only for short-range applications. LROI, as a long-range capability, requires additional levels of beam control to guarantee the intended effects of warning and suppression on the COI/TOI. Irradiance on COI/TOI can be reduced due to environmental conditions such as humidity, airborne particulates, or atmospheric refraction. Information about these conditions may be used to dynamically adjust beam irradiance to overcome atmospheric effects. Current commercially available technologies may be used to measure these conditions; however, these technologies only provide accurate environmental information local to the point of origin (source) and cannot provide acceptable measurements along the path to remote targets (COI/TOIs). This RFI requests vendor information applicable to this focus area to provide specific means to enable LROI to reliably and effectively deliver the desired non-lethal effects at extended ranges given variable maritime environmental conditions. In particular, the Government requests information on available technologies that can provide a lateral atmospheric sounding capability to determine attenuation and other beam effects over the distance between the LROI and the COI/TOI. 3.Automated Variable Power Attenuation In order to ensure safe operations, including avoidance of unintended consequences, beam control must provide the means to adjust irradiance on target in order to achieve the desired effects while ensuring a low risk of significant injury. Implementation will require a high degree of control to ensure appropriate personnel safety while maintaining performance. This RFI seeks innovative vendor approaches and capabilities to provide necessary control measures and mechanisms to provide automated sensing, control, and adjustment of the beam ™s irradiance to the COI/TOI within the anticipated range of LROI, and to detect and react to the occurrence of beam interruptions by objects other than the COI/TOI. 4.Expeditionary Configured Power Sources Expeditionary power is focused on providing a reliable source of power for LROI that is compatible with the expeditionary warfare operating environment while maintaining environmental and system safety requirements. Vendor information provided in response to this RFI should focus on identifying lightweight, small footprint, high power density, and expeditionary environmentally survivable power sources that can be utilized and adapted. Collaboration in a Laboratory/ Range Environment: Laboratory testing and range demonstration events provide an opportunity for technology developers to interact with Government developmental and operational personnel to determine how their technology development efforts and available solutions may support or present a potential to be adapted to satisfy LROI functional requirements. This testing environment facilitates a collaborative working relationship between Government and industry to promote the identification of emerging and mature technologies and to assess potential solutions to expeditionary missions and capabilities. Industry participation in test and demonstration activities does not suggest or imply that the Government will procure or purchase equipment. Technology shall be at Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL-4) or greater for the purpose of selection to be invited for laboratory testing or range demonstration. Assess Industry Manufacturing/Production Capacity and Organic (US) Sourcing: Vendor information provided to this RFI should cover state-of-the-art manufacturing, assembly, and production methodologies and processes that can be leveraged from the commercial sector to reduce potential non-recurring costs associated with the development of an LROI-type capability. Vendor responses should provide information on their strategies, methodologies, and established processes associated with prototype, pre-production, and production article designs. Of particular interest is vendor collaboration with US sources that supply materials and components either manufactured or developed within the US that can be examined for LROI applications. 5.0SAMPLE RESPONSE OUTLINE The following is a suggested outline for a response to this RFI. Please provide the following per response. This outline will minimize the effort of the respondent and structure the responses for ease of analysis by the Government. Section 1 Technological Capability Identify technological capability related to the technology focus area(s) addressed. Identify open architecture, Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) components, software and methodologies employed related to imbedded processes and algorithm development. Identify target processors, operating systems and development environments. Identify any proprietary aspects. Identify interface standards used. Identify Built-In-Test (BIT) capability and calibration techniques, as required. Section 2 Technological Alternatives Briefly describe one or more technological alternatives, including the reliability and technology readiness characteristics of the alternatives. Please provide any potential SBIR grants and other similar vehicles for new and pertinent technologies, information, future concepts, ideas, or plans for future development that may assist any of the four technology focus areas described above. Section 3 Feasibility Assessment Briefly describe the feasibility of each alternative and the design tradeoffs involved as matched against the LROI functional requirements and identified performance/attributes provided in attachment 1. Section 4 Cost and Schedule Estimates Provide Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost and schedule estimates to include a confidence estimate. These assumptions are for cost estimation purposes only and the government is only seeking this information for market research purposes. Costs provided under this RFI will not be used by the government as binding in any current or future contract negotiations. This is not a request for proposals. It is not the expectation of the government that the contractor will provide a complete cost proposal. Projected costs with tradeoff possibilities are preferred. In addition, the government requests cost breakdowns showing the price differentiation between Unlimited, Government purpose, and Limited Use data rights. Section 5 Corporate Expertise Briefly describe your company, your products and services, history, ownership and other information you deem relevant. In particular, please describe any projects you have been involved in that are similar in concept to what is described in this RFI, including management and operations approach and any relevant lessons learned. Section 6 Additional Materials Provide any other materials, suggestions and discussions you deem appropriate. Include any additional requirements the government has not identified in the attachments. Discuss any R&D into new technologies you are working that may relate to this request. Additionally, the page limit does not include any related materials. (e.g. Brochures, sales literature, etc.) Section 7 Small Business Utilization What percentages of the various small business socio-economic categories (e.g., Veteran Owned, 8-a, Hubzone, etc.) are achievable in specific tasking areas and/or overall? What tasking would small business be most able to perform for this effort? 6.0SUBMISSION OF RESPONSES All responses must include the following: Company Name: Company Address; Company Business Size; and Point of contact (POC) with phone number, fax number and email address. Interested businesses should submit responses to this RFI to the contracting office using Microsoft Word (12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced), addressing the areas requested to the POC below. Submissions must be limited to no more than 20 pages per submission including figures and tables. Vendors should not submit classified information in their responses. NSWCDD requests your responses in the Microsoft Word format provided above by 1500 (EST), on January 13, 2012. All communications with industry must be coordinated through the cognizant Contract Specialist, Kim Carter. Information should be e-mailed to kim.carter@navy.mil or mailed to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, 17632 Dahlgren Road Suite 157, Dahlgren, VA 22448-5110; and labeled with the sources sought number and title. Information provided will be treated as Business Sensitive and will not be shared outside of Government activities and agencies without the permission of the provider. All information shall be provided free of charge to the Government. Responses or questions concerning this announcement should reference RFI number N00178-12-Q-3904 and should be directed to Kim Carter at 540-653-3223 or to kim.carter@navy.mil.
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