SPECIAL NOTICE
15 -- Multi-Rotor Small Unmanned sUAS for Survey Grade Mapping
- Notice Date
- 12/26/2023 3:30:41 PM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 336411
— Aircraft Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- W2R2 USA ENGR R AND D CTR VICKSBURG MS 39180-6199 USA
- ZIP Code
- 39180-6199
- Solicitation Number
- W9132V24N9916
- Response Due
- 1/2/2024 8:00:00 AM
- Archive Date
- 01/17/2024
- Point of Contact
- Anna Crawford, LaShanda Areghan, Phone: 6014977771
- E-Mail Address
-
Anna.Crawford@usace.army.mil, lashanda.d.areghan@usace.army.mil
(Anna.Crawford@usace.army.mil, lashanda.d.areghan@usace.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- SBA Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)
- Description
- The Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL) of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has a requirement for a U.S Army compliant small, unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) by January 2023 on a sole source basis from Freefly Systems, Inc. (SAM UEI:� GFMENWNGBTJ7). � The sUAS must meet the requirements of the USACE Aviation program to be approved to fly. USACE currently has a list of approved drones referred to as �Blue DIU�.� The technical requirements for the multi-rotor integrated sUAS shall meet or exceed the following: The UAS must be listed on the Blue sUAS 2.0 list of vetted drones approved for DoD and USACE Aviation use, DIU's second wave of policy compliant commercial drones. The UAS must be a vertical takeoff and landing multicopter The UAS must be able to carry a payload of at least 4kg.� This does not include the weight of the UAS� batteries. The maximum gross take-off weight (MGTOW) must be less than 55 pounds. The UAS must be able to fly more than 20 minutes with the planned payload of 4kg The UAS must be able to fly in sustained winds of up to 20 knots The UAS must have the capability of being either flown manually by a remote pilot or flown using a flightplan with pre-planned waypoints. The UAS flight planning software must be either QGroundcontrol or Mission Planner. The UAS must be capable of being integrated with USACE GRL�s LIDAR sensor, a GeoCue, Inc TrueView 655. The UAS must be able to use batteries that are currently stored onsite in Kwajalein There are only three vendors on the DoD Blue DIU list of approved drones that provide a sUAS capable of meeting the Government�s requirements: Freefly, Inspired Flight, and Harris. A team from the USACE Joint Airborne LIDAR Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) currently flies the earlier version of the Inspired Flight(IF) drone on the list but confirmed that the Navy user has experienced multiple fly-aways with their IF drones. Additionally, power sources for this device are not currently station at Kwaj and do not meet the required shipping time based on shipping restrictions.� The Harris solution is a gas/hybrid drone, which would not be an option for the Government�s Kwaj mission. Additionally, restrictions on shipping this platform will delay delivery to the OCONUS location beyond the required need date.� Most importantly, the drone is needed to complete the Kwaj mission.� The Government has five sets of batteries already on Kwaj that are capable of being used with the Alta X and not the other 2 drones. There is no way to ship batteries to Kwaj for the other Inspired Flight and Harris drones in a timely manner.� The Alta X meets all the technical requirements and is compatible with the power supplies currently stationed at Kwaj and is the only solution that meets the government�s requirements. GRL is responsible for the collection of high resolution (~150 points per square meter), elevation data on the Kwajalein Atoll (Kwaj), a remote Pacific Island chain and the site of key DoD infrastructure.������ GRL collected a subset of the required high-resolution data in July/Aug 2023 using its LIDAR/EO mapping sensor, a TrueView 635, onboard an Alta 8 Pro octocopter. Due to a loose wire causing an issue with the Alta 8�s inertial measurement unit (IMU) during flight, the drone crashed and was destroyed on Aug 3, 2023. GRL is scheduled to return as early as APR 2024 and the replacement device must be delivered before then in order to do sensor integration, pilot training, and ship to the OCONUS destination. Currently, GRL has 5 pairs of batteries, which are compatible with the Alta X, stored on site in Kwaj. It is not possible to ship other batteries to Kwaj due to shipping restrictions limiting these types of batteries to only be delivered by sea, not air. The original batteries also arrived by sea, and due to limitations of no other shipping requirements at this time and time to ship via sea, there is no way to get power sources for other devices to Kwaj in time for the data collection. The Alta X drone is the only device that meets the survey grade requirements and is compatible with the current battery power in country. Getting additional batteries in country will pose additional time delays, impacting mission success. For the Government�s current and near-term requirements, the Alta X must be used and Freefly Systems, Inc., is the only vendor with the known capability to provide the Alta X. The Government intends to procure from only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i).� This notice of intent is for information purposes only.� This notice is not a request for competitive quotes or proposals.� A solicitation will not be issued.� However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency.� The information submitted must be provided in sufficient detail to demonstrate the vendor�s ability to fulfill this requirement. The contractor must also provide a description of their past experience in fulfilling requirements which are the same or similar to this requirement and references for each. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Verbal communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.� Responses to this requirement may be submitted to Anna Crawford at Anna.Crawford@usace.army.mil.� The solicitation number shall be included in the subject line of the e-mail submission.� Responses must be received no later than 10:00 AM CST, Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://sam.gov/opp/781ea3eb738746c8aab225582d5aea75/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: USA
- Country: USA
- Country: USA
- Record
- SN06921576-F 20231228/231226230043 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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