All interested contractors are invited to attend an Industry Day with U.S. Navy Fleet and acquisition personnel involved in advancing the capabilities of unmanned underwater vehicles in Surface Mine Countermeasures (SMCM) applications. This event will be held on 26 May 2004 at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC (701 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20004). The yellow and green Metro lines serve the Navy Memorial. The objective of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for early industry involvement in the Government's proposed approach for the future procurement of un-tethered, unmanned, underwater Mine Countermeasures (MCM) systems that will support the Surface Mine Countermeasures (SMCM) mission in the Shallow Water (SW) and deeper water zones (40 – 600 feet sea water (FSW)). Unmanned vehicles have the potential of addressing the two key, overarching MCM measures of effectiveness (MOE), which are to: 1) Reduce the overall MCM tactical timeline; and 2) Reduce the overall risk to MCM forces. UUVs have the potential to systematically reconnoiter predetermined geographic areas (nominally 5NM X 5NM) and precisely mapping the bottom contour while providing information to assist in the classification of objects that exhibit mine-like characteristics. Additionally, unmanned vehicles equipped with high-resolution sensors can be used to reacquire and identify previously mapped targets of interest. The SMCM UUVs must be deployable from MHC/MCM platform(s) with existing shipboard equipment. The vehicles will need to possess mobile ingress/egress capabilities to enable them to move from a launch point of up to nominal ranges at 5 NM or greater. Data recorded by the vehicle must be transferable to compatible Navy tactical displays and information systems (i.e. GCCS/MEDAL (Minewarfare Environmental Data and Aides Library)) to facilitate the re-acquisition of targets during subsequent missions by USN Mine Warfare assets. Currently, the U.S. Navy is exploring SMCM UUV concepts, as demonstrated through the extensive leadership and efforts of the Office of Naval Research in this area of technology. Current efforts include the use of existing hardware to gain fleet feedback and to assist in refining requests for initiation of an acquisition program in FY06. Input received from this Industry Day will facilitate the development of a future competitive solicitation. Similar to the early involvement of industry in the acquisition effort, early Fleet involvement is also being pursued. Two limited-scope demonstration events were conducted during 2003. The results of these demonstrations reinforced the value of UUV systems in supporting the SMCM mission and a summary of the results of these demonstrations will occur at the Industry Day. Multiple limited scope evaluations are currently being pursued by NSWC-PC (Solicitation N61331-04-R-0014). These evaluations will begin in FY04 and will be completed in FY05. A full-scale acquisition is expected to start in FY06. A notional Acquisition Strategy for fielding a first generation SMCM deployed UUV system will also be briefed. Industry input is desired to allow for an effective acquisition program with well-defined requirements in the Request for Proposal (RFP). Attendance at the Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop is not a prerequisite for ultimately submitting any future proposals. However, it will provide a valuable opportunity for questions & answers and industry input into the read-ahead documentation. Seating is limited. Request a maximum of two (2) representatives per vendor. Request attendees’ register for the Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop by providing Company/Organization Name, Name(s) of attendees, Company/Organization affiliation, Address, Telephone Number, and e-mail address not later than 17 May 2004. Registration data must be Faxed or e-mailed to the Technical POC identified below. Approximately one month prior to the SMCM UUV Industry Day, read ahead documents will be available electronically from the Technical POC for any interested contractor. Registered attendees will be sent this read ahead information by e-mail when available. Any advance questions and/or comments pertaining to the Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop or the read-ahead documentation may be Faxed or e-mailed to the Technical POC so that they can be addressed at Industry Day. The purpose of this Industry Awareness Day/Risk Mitigation Workshop is not to obtain proposals and is solely to offer early industry involvement in a contemplated U.S. Navy procurement. The Government does not intend to pay for the information obtained during the workshop or for the time and expense of the industry participants involved. For questions please contact the Technical POC: Robert Buhl (850) 235-5052, FAX (850) 234-4644 e-mail
[email protected]