SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

I. Description of Intent

This notice is to gauge the availability of vendors that are capable and interested in meeting the Government production requirements for the Enhanced Robotic Payloads-Unmanned Ground Systems (ERP-UGS) Pan Tilt Imager (PTI) and Extended Range Mesh Network (ERMN) Payloads.

II. General Information:

a. Requirement Overview

Product Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PdM RAS) is issuing a Sources Sought Notice as a means of conducting market research only to identify parties having an interest and the resources to support this requirement. The information gained will be used for preliminary planning and to determine the availability of qualified contractors to provide ERP-UGS PTI and ERMN Payloads. The information received will be used by the Government to facilitate the decision-making process and, if a solicitation is issued after this notice, information received from respondents will aid in the decision of whether to issue a solicitation as a competitive set-aside for qualified Small Businesses, Vendors with General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules, or whether to issue a solicitation as an unrestricted full and open competition. The Government assumes no financial responsibility for cost incurred with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. This notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose other than market research. Respondents will not be notified of the results regarding the sources sought.

PdM (RAS) is considering an ERP-UGS PTI and ERMN Payloads production contract effort to add capabilities, payloads, and updates to existing robot systems, specifically for the existing Man Transportable Robotic System Inc. II (MTRS Inc. II) and Common Robotic System – Heavy (CRS-H) platforms. This effort may include but is not limited to performing technical studies pertaining to the integration of various payloads/capabilities onto the MTRS and CRS-H platforms; performing physical, electrical, and software updates; incorporating requirements; and managing updates to the programs.

Any subsequent contract would be Firm-Fixed-Price with a five-year period of performance from the award date.

b. Proprietary Information

The U.S. Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this survey. The U.S. Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. §1905 to protect information qualifying as “confidential” under this statute. [To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term “confidential” in the context of Classified Information,” we will use the term “PROPRIETARY.”] Pursuant to this statute, the U.S. Government is willing to accept any trade secret or PROPRIETARY restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following:

1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) “PROPRIETARY” with any explanatory text, so that the U.S. Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately protected.

2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly confidential (over breadth in marking inappropriate data as “PROPRIETARY” may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are to be protected.

3. The U.S. Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the U.S. Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the U.S. Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the U.S. Government will be protected in accordance with the U.S. Governments rights in the data.

4. Confidential data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the U.S. Government, shall contain the “PROPRIETARY” legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate for only portions of an electronic file, use the restrictive legends ‘PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:” and “PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS.”

5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the U.S. Government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text.

6. The U.S. Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain confidential information may receive only limited or no consideration since the Respondent’s marking of data as “PROPRIETARY” will preclude disclosure of same outside the U.S. Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The U.S. Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain confidential information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available.

III. Submission Instructions:

All responding to this notice shall provide specific information to include a summary of its company’s capabilities in a Capability Statement which demonstrates the skills, experience, knowledge, and capabilities necessary to perform the Government’s requirement.

The Capability Statement should include:

Contact information Including:

Company Name:

Address:

Point of Contact: Phone Number: Email Address: DUNS/Cage Code: Website Address: Type of Organization:

Business Type(s): [ ] Large Business (LB), [ ] Small Business (SB), [ ] HUBZone (HZ), [ ] Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), [ ] Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), [ ] 8(a) Business Development Program, [ ] Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), [ ] Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB).

2. Does your company have experience as a prime contractor providing the system, parts, and services of the same or similar type effort(s) (to include size and complexity) within the past five years? If yes, please provide the following information:

Contract number(s):

Dollar value(s):

Point of Contact (POC):

POC Email address:

POC Phone number:

Brief description of your direct support of the effort: Similarity of scope, effort, complexity:

4. Additionally, the respondent shall include answers to the following questions in its response:

a. Does your company have experience with (provide examples):

1. Interoperability Profile (IOP) (specify the versions)
2. Multi-Robot Operator Control Unit (MOCU) (specify the versions)
3. Man Transportable Robotic System, Increment II (MTRS Inc. II) Platform
4. Common Robotic System – Heavy (CRS-H) Platform
5. Software for Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS)
6. Working with Teledyne FLIR Unmanned Ground Systems, Inc., the Original Equipment Manufacturer[CB10] (OEM) MTRS Inc. II and CRS-H platforms
7. Performing Validation and Verification testing (provide examples)
8. Updating the platform Operator Control Unit (OCU)
9. Logistics support for complex operator level vs field level maintenance integration
10. System Technical Support (STS) and System Technical Support Services (STSS) contracts.

b. How does your company propose to perform technical feasibility studies for the integration of payloads without the Government providing the technical data packages of the base robotic systems? (Include estimated cost and timeframe to complete such studies.)

1. How many payloads of each technology would you examine?
2. What type of reporting procedure on these studies do you propose?

c. What is your knowledge and experience with the actual integration of payloads (arms, batteries, sensors, etc.) onto the following base robotic platforms:

1. CRS-H?
2. MTRS Inc. II?

d. How does your company propose to perform space claim feasibility studies about integrating multiple payloads on the CRS-H and/or the MTRS Inc. II without the Government providing your company with the robots or the technical data packages of said platforms? (Include estimated cost and time frame to complete such studies.)

e. How does your company propose to (include estimated cost and timeframe):

1. Perform physical updates to the systems without the Government providing the technical data packages for the base robotic platforms or Computer- Aided Design (CAD) models? Does your company have experience performing this task?
2. Perform electrical updates to the systems without the Government providing the technical data packages for the base robotic platforms or electrical schematics? Does your company have experience performing this task?
3. Perform software changes to the Mobility Base Unit (MBU) without the Government providing the source code or documentation to your company? Does your company have experience performing this task?
4. Perform software changes to the OCU? (MTRS Inc. II uses a version of MOCU 3.2, and CRS-H uses a version of MOCU 4.0.) Does your company have experience performing this task?
5. For each of these scenarios, if your company did require additional data, what data would you request?

f. Identify any issues your company may have with the Government’s plan to integrate various capabilities/payloads onto the MTRS Inc. II and/or the CRS-H?

5. Potential sources should only submit the minimum information necessary and shall not exceed 15 pages. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding its submissions. The Government may contact potential sources for additional information as required.

6. Interested parties are encouraged to be registered in the System for Award Management, www.sam.gov prior to responding to this Sources Sought Notice.

7. Interested parties that consider themselves qualified to perform the above listed requirements are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice no later than 1300 EST 22 January 2024.

8. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice shall be submitted to the Contract Specialist via email. For submissions including files exceeding email limits, submit your response via DoD SAFE at URL: https://safe.apps.mil/ to the Contract Specialist followed by an email to the Contract Specialist of your DoD SAFE submission. You are requested to put “Enhanced Robotic Capabilities Market Survey” in the email subject line and description in DoD SAFE. Any requests for clarifications of this survey shall be addressed to Contract Specialist, Helene Bell at helene.m.bell.civ@army.mil.

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