On May 6, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency announced its first commercial solutions opening to provide direct-to-warfighter commercial analytics for maritime domain awareness.
CSOs were first established in the department of defense as a way to acquire innovative commercial capabilities from non-traditional vendors. Project Aegir is NGA’s response to increasing requirements for immediate access to commercial analytics and unclassified intelligence products. The CSO pilot will solicit commercial techniques for identifying, monitoring and tracking illicit maritime vessel activity in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
“Project Aegir marks a significant milestone in NGA’s ongoing efforts to enhance maritime security and combat illegal activities on our seas,” said Director of NGA Commercial Operations Devin Brande. “By working with the commercial sector, we can drive automation that enables more rapid collections, allowing those on the front lines to move at speed to stay ahead of evolving global security threats.”
The goal of Project Aegir is to identify a multiple-vendor approach for developing a commercial sensor architecture capable of tracking and monitoring illicit maritime activity. Commercial vendors will work collectively to establish tasking algorithms for tipping and queuing a diverse array of sensors, conduct analysis and deliver wholly-unclassified, shareable intelligence of illicit maritime activities in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.
Vendors can submit their responses May 6 – 24, after which time selected vendors, or groups of vendors, will be invited to pitch their capabilities at Defense Innovation Unit headquarters in Mountain View, California, June 24 – 28. The selected vendor or group of vendors will be invited to participate in a $1.5 million pilot program to test capabilities. If the pilot program is successful, Project Aegir will be rolled into a major acquisition effort.
“Together, NGA and DIU have a collaborative record of success in accelerating the fielding of commercial technology to our joint and partner nation warfighters,” DIU Space Portfolio Director Steve Butow said. “This project further exemplifies the spirit of DoD’s new Commercial Space Integration Strategy that was released earlier this month.”
To learn more about the Project Aegir CSO, including specific guidelines for submissions, visit sam.gov . Responses to the solicitation are due May 24.
Source: NGA
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