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On November 12, the U.S. Navy issued a commercial solutions opening for SCOUT Prototyping and Experimentation. Questions are due by December 3, and proposals are due by January 14.
This announcement constitutes Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), N00164-22-S-C001, as defined by Class Deviation 2018-O0016 – Defense Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program, dated 26 June 2018, and responses may result in the award of a future Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based Contract or an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for Prototypes. In accordance with DARS Tracking Number 2018-O0016, Class Deviation – Defense Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program, the contract type for any resultant FAR based or OTA award shall be Fixed-Price (FP) or Fixed-Price Incentive (FPI).
This CSO solicits proposals for Phase 1 of the SCOUT Experimentation Campaign (further referenced throughout the document as the “SCOUT”). Proposers may respond to one or more of the capability increments. The SCOUT Experimentation Campaign is divided into two Phases:
- Phase 1 – multi-month exploration phase that concludes with a SCOUT Exercise
- Phase 2 – Award of contracts/OTA- Prototypes in support of multiple technologies selected as 12- to 18-month prototyping and experimentation projects that culminate with Fleet/Force experiments and/or Rapid Fieldings
Participation in Phase 1 is required to be considered for award in Phase 2 of the SCOUT Experimentation Campaign. Proposers will be invited to participate in Phase 1 based on evaluation criteria described in Section 9; Evaluation and Selection Information. Phase 1 culminates with a SCOUT Exercise. The government is not responsible for any costs incurred by Phase 1 participants, to include white paper/proposal submission costs, travel costs, technology demonstrations, and all associated costs. All costs incurred throughout Phase 1 are the responsibility of the participating organization. Throughout Phase 1 and during the SCOUT events, the government will provide technical and operational assessment personnel (Government only), basic access to approved ranges to conduct the exercise, basic venue infrastructure including shore power, overall exercise planning, and coordination of frequency allocation services. Contractors supporting DoD functions may be utilized to facilitate the SCOUT event but will not participate in technical or operational assessments.
The Department of the Navy anticipates utilizing Cooperative Research And Development Agreement’s (CRADA), bailment agreements or awarding more than one FP or FPI contract/OTA- Prototype for Phase 2 of the SCOUT Campaign. Proposers will be invited to participate in Phase 2 based on evaluation criteria described in Section 9; Evaluation and Selection Information. Navy Contracting Officers and Agreement Officers may award contracts/OTAs within their warrant authority as a result of this CSO.
Overview
The Office of Naval Research is sponsoring this SCOUT experimentation effort in coordination with US Southern Command, JIATF-South. In direct support of the 2018 National Defense Strategy and the SCOUT Experimentation effort, the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE) is soliciting mature, fieldable prototypes from industry, academia, and government entities to participate in an iterative and progressive series of exercises dedicated to Detection and Monitoring focused tactics and technologies. The SCOUT Experimentation campaign will be a series of innovation sprint events, exercises, and experimentation to foment learning and innovation to rapidly develop technologies and techniques to improve warfighting capability and assist in quicker leadership decision making. This exercise is planned to be conducted in the JIATF-South Joint Operating Area (JOA) in summer of 2022. Dependent on range and/or technology limitations, portions of the SCOUT experimentation campaign may be performed in other operational littoral ranges, and/or the NR&DE’s live, virtual, constructive (LVC) range(s). Some technologies may be selected to participate in follow-on SCOUT events and/or other Fleet Exercises.
SCOUT will provide government and industry/academia participants a collaborative, low-risk environment to demonstrate technologies at the unique laboratories and ranges available across the NR&DE, while practicing operators and planners simultaneously explore advanced tactics and assess the operational relevance of emerging technologies. The purpose of this CSO is to invite industry, academia, and government entities to participate in the SCOUT experimentation campaign. Based on the results of the technical and operational assessments collected during SCOUT events, selected participants will be invited to participate in Phase 2. Phase 2 includes 10- to 12+ months prototyping and experimentation projects that progress through more complex scenarios and environments. Phase 2 may also include rapid fieldings where highly valued and mature technologies are fielded to operational units IAW DFARS 234.005-1, Competition.
The SCOUT experimentation campaign is guided by a core team of operational warfighters, acquisition, and technical subject matter experts from: U.S. Southern Command, JIATF-South, OPNAV and the NR&DE. Technical and operational assessments will be incorporated into a final report that informs Naval leadership to make faster rapid prototyping, rapid fielding, and accelerated acquisition decisions.
Review the full SCOUT CSO here.
Source: SAM
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