N234-P08 TITLE: NAVWAR Open Topic for Holistic Common Operational Picture (COP): PMW 150
OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Advanced Computing and Software; Trusted AI and Autonomy
OBJECTIVE: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY OPEN TOPIC - The resultant capability will provide a DEVSECOPS environment to mature efforts that feed the Maritime Tactical Command and Control production. It will also provide an AI tool that will sift data and identify potential Global Positioning System (GPS) threats in near real-time.
DESCRIPTION: The Department of Navy is seeking proposals to improve the quality and speed of decision making for operational and tactical commanders through advanced technology. These technologies may include, but not limited to, solutions that support force maneuver, effects and data synchronization, and course of action (COA) decision making. Specifically, PEO C4I (PMW 150) requires a resultant capability that will provide a DEVSECOPS environment to mature efforts that feed the Maritime Tactical Command and Control (MTC2) production process.
The benefit to the warfighter is to enable rapid COA response options to continuously assess and hold at risk dynamic maritime threats.
Work produced in Phase II may become classified. The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. owned and operated with no foreign influence as defined by DoD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures have been implemented and approved by the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency (DCSA). The selected contractor must be able to acquire and maintain an appropriate security-level facility and Personnel Security Clearances to perform on advanced phases of this project as set forth by DCSA and NAVWAR to gain access to classified information about the national defense of the United States and its allies. This will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material IAW DoD 5220.22-M during the advanced phases of this contract.
PHASE I: The DON is planning to issue multiple Phase I awards for this topic but reserves the right to issue no awards. Each Phase I proposal must include a Base and Option period of performance. The Phase I Base must have a period of performance of four (4) months at a cost not to exceed $75,000. The Phase I Option must have a period of performance of six (6) months at a cost not to exceed $100,000.
Phase I feasibility will describe the existing proposed technology, existing DON system(s) to improve, modifications required, anticipated improvements to existing capabilities, impacts to current logistics if any (i.e., transportation, storage, maintenance, safety, etc.) and transition approach to the DON system. Results of Phase I will be detailed in a final technical report (Final Report).
Phase I deliverables include:
PHASE II: All Phase I awardees may submit an Initial Phase II proposal for evaluation and selection. The evaluation criteria for Phase II is the same as Phase I (as stated in this BAA). The Phase I Final Report and Initial Phase II Proposal will be used to evaluate the small business concern�s potential to adapt commercial products to fill a capability gap, improve performance, or modernize an existing capability for DON and transition the technology to Phase III. Details on the due date, content, and submission requirements of the Initial Phase II Proposal will be provided by the awarding SYSCOM either in the Phase I contract or by subsequent notification.
The scope of the Phase II effort will be specific to each project but is generally expected to develop a functional prototype to demonstrate the capability, develop transition plan including production and fielding approach (including updated logistics and safety consideration) and further commercialization (non-DoD).
Deliverables include all software, scripts, architecture models, system/software design artifacts, user and transition assessment documentation, and fleet experimentation (FLEX) reports.
It is highly likely that the work, prototyping, test, simulation, and validation may become classified in Phase II (see Description for details). However, the proposal for Phase II will be UNCLASSIFIED.
PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Field capability and logistics support.
REFERENCES:
KEYWORDS: Maritime; Tactical; Command; Control; Positioning; Navigation; Timing
** TOPIC NOTICE ** |
The Navy Topic above is an "unofficial" copy from the Navy Topics in the DoD 23.4 SBIR BAA. Please see the official DoD Topic website at www.defensesbirsttr.mil/SBIR-STTR/Opportunities/#announcements for any updates. The DoD issued its Navy 23.4 Navy Open SBIR Topics pre-release on June 15, 2023 which opens to receive proposals on July 13, 2023, and closes August 15, 2023 (12:00pm ET). Direct Contact with Topic Authors: During the pre-release period (June 15, 2023 through July 12, 2023) proposing firms have an opportunity to directly contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the specific BAA topic. Once DoD begins accepting proposals on July 13, 2023 no further direct contact between proposers and topic authors is allowed unless the Topic Author is responding to a question submitted during the Pre-release period. SITIS Q&A System: After the pre-release period, until August 1, 2023, (at 12:00 PM ET), proposers may submit written questions through SITIS (SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System) at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ by logging in and following instructions. In SITIS, the questioner and respondent remain anonymous but all questions and answers are posted for general viewing. Topics Search Engine: Visit the DoD Topic Search Tool at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ to find topics by keyword across all DoD Components participating in this BAA.
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| 7/31/23 | Q. | Do you want us to propose building a DevSecOps environment as our solution, or do you want us to use your existing environment to build an AI model? The topic description and the topic author webinar have conflicting information. |
| A. | No. we have a DEVSECOPS environment you will work from as the software matures. We have an MLOPs environment, however your initial model should be trained in your environment, then moved to ours to use our labeled data. | |
| 7/24/23 | Q. | Is the software that will be built in this DevSecOps environment going to be deployed in the cloud, on a personal computer, or directly onto a vessel? |
| A. | The software should be able to deploy to our architecture anywhere to include all three mentioned. The performer should not worry about deploying since the software should be containerized and microserviced. | |
| 7/5/23 | Q. | The following question was received during the DON Open Topics Ask Me Anything (AMA) session held on Tuesday, June 27:
If we are planning to team with a government (DoD lab or institution) can the Navy pay the subcontract amount directly to the subcontractor (DoD research institute)?, instead of the small business paying the sub-awardee? |
| A. | There is no privity of contract between the Government and the subcontractor, therefore the Navy cannot pay the subcontractor directly. | |
| 6/30/23 | Q. | Are solutions which address the cyber defensive/offensive common operating picture or support cyber operations for the naval warfighter considered within scope of this solicitation? |
| A. | No, we are not entertaining any Cyber initiatives for this. Strictly C2 implementation addressing decision support and fires. | |
| 6/30/23 | Q. | The following question was received during the DON Open Topics Ask Me Anything (AMA) session held on Tuesday, June 27:
Does scientific publication serve as proven? |
| A. | DON intends to leverage open topics to solicit proposals to adapt commercial products to fill a capability gap, improve performance, or modernize existing capability for the DON in various mission critical areas. Content of publications (thesis, observations, results of experiments, and studies) does not serve as proven technology. For Phase I, submitting small business concerns will propose the technical approach and innovation for the transition of an in production (Manufacturing Readiness Level 8/9) commercial technology to solve the DON�s needs. | |
| 6/30/23 | Q. | 1 -Are all deliverables in the RFP description required to be completed in the Phase I Base Period? Or are these (all or some) to be completed throughout the Three-phase span of the proposed solution?
2 - Should this DevSecOps environment be primarily:
4 -Is the end user of the technology a ship or force commander making battlefield decisions, or a PMW 150 staff developing tools for ship/force commanders? 5 -The topic objective states that proposers will provide an AI tool related to GPS threats. However, this is not mentioned again in the rest of the topic or deliverables, and the rest of the topic focuses on a DEVSECOPS environment. What is the expectation for the the AI tool? 6 -Is the purpose of the DEVSECOPS environment to support the single AI tool mentioned in the topic, or are topic authors looking for an environment that can support numerous models, with the GPS-related AI as an initial test case? 7 -What deliverables are expected at the end of the Base period versus the Option period? |
| A. | 1. The Phase I Base deliverables will be a kick-off briefing, final report, and Initial Phase II Proposal. The deliverables for the Phase I Option, if exercised, will be Option period kick-off briefing, progress reports, and final report. For Phase II, deliverables include all software, scripts, architecture models, system/software design artifacts, user and transition assessment documentation, and fleet experimentation (FLEX) reports. This will be in addition to progress reports. Deliverables for Phase II will be detailed in the Phase II contract. Deliverables for Phase III are unknown at this time.
2. Yes, we have our own GITLAB environment that will be used for building and training. There is no realtime collaboration in the environment Yes, we will deploy containers from this environment, to include IA evaluation of the code and Scans. Security is maintained via Groups that can only be seen by the developer and the government personnel working the SBIR. Depending on the type of labeled data required drives the amounts of data available. This will be determined based on needs of the AI/ML to train effectively. 3. There is no expectation on what type of model is developed. We are leaving that up to the proposers to work this problem. 4. These technologies go to the fleet for use by our warfighters. They vary in what echelon they work. 5. There is confusion here with another PMW 170 initiative. For our work, we do not need any GPS related information. This is all for Command and Control decision making. 6. Again, for PMW 150 no GPS-related work is being done. 7. Deliverables expected at the end of the Phase I Base will be the final report and the Initial Phase II Proposal. Deliverable expected at the end of the Phase I Option, if exercised, will be a final report. |
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| 6/23/23 | Q. | Is knowledge of DON existing systems required? We are a non traditional technology company with an innovative AI solution |
| A. | Yes, there needs to be a significant understanding of DON systems to try and develop what we are looking for. | |
| 6/23/23 | Q. | Whats the difference between N234-P07 & N234-P08 |
| A. | The topics are related in the sense that both seek solutions to provide more automation to improve the quality and speed of decision making from a �Holistic Common Operational Picture (COP)� perspective. The difference is that N234-P08 looking at it from a Maritime Tactical Command and Control (MTC2) perspective and N234-P07 is looking at it from a Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) perspective. There is the potential in the future to merge the two capabilities, along with others, into a greater common tool for the Navy. |