PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE -- Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program General Solicitation -- Non-Terrestrial Border Security Technologies to support Officer Safety and Search and Rescue Operations

**PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE ONLY** U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intends to solicit proposals for innovative, commercial solutions to enhance situational awareness along the border. For this purpose, CBP intends to issue a General Solicitation in the near future pursuant to the authority provided under Section 880 of the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 880). NDAA 880 authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/CBP to carry out a Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program (CSOP), under which innovative commercial items may be acquired through a competitive selection of proposals resulting from a general solicitation and the peer review of such proposals. With the release of the forthcoming solicitation, CBP intends to address current situational awareness capability gaps specific to its current terrestrial surveillance capabilities in CBP's enforcement zones along or near the international boundary of the United States. CBP is looking to enhance its mission capability by focusing on new capabilities that will provide increased situational awareness at and between Ports of Entry, without the ownership or deployment of infrastructure by CBP (i.e. capabilities provided as-a-service). These capabilities must also implement privacy best practices as applicable. In order to drive as efficient and cost effective border surveillance capabilities as possible, and with consideration to the recent advancements of commercial technology in areas including, but not limited to: •· Commercially available data streams •· Space-based capabilities such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and high resolution imagery •· Computer vision and similar algorithms that enable autonomous change detection •· Small unmanned aircraft systems as-a-service •· Maritime unmanned systems CBP is seeking cost effective, innovative, commercial solutions that deliver relevant data about potential border security threats in support of CBP's border security mission as well as enhance search and rescue and/or medical response for individuals at risk in the border area for which CBP is responsible. These capabilities will directly support officer safety as well as humanitarian efforts and enable CBP to carry out the agency's mission more safely and effectively. CBP's sole intent is in detecting potential illicit cross-border activity or individuals in the border enforcement area who are in need of assistance due to their health and/or safety. The scope of this solicitation does not include capability that would confirm the identities of individuals in the border environment, such as facial recognition. The solicitation may result in the award of one or more fixed-priced contracts. CBP expects to release the CSOP announcement via Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) in early Q1 FY20 and expects to make award(s) in Q2 FY20. This announcement is only a preliminary notice to industry regarding the release of a General Solicitation. Potential awardees MUST register at https://fbo.gov in order to receive notification and/or changes to the solicitation and are responsible for monitoring this site for the release of the solicitation package and any other pertinent information and for downloading their own copy of the solicitation package. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract neither does it obligate the Government to pay for any proposal preparation costs. The Government is not obligated to issue a solicitation as a result of this notice. No other information is available until issuance of the solicitation. All interested parties must be registered in System for Award Management (SAM) pursuant to applicable regulations and guidelines prior to award. Registration information can be found at www.sam.gov .