Active

Contract Opportunity

Request for Information (RFI)

SCOPE:

This is a Request for Information (RFI), as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e). The Government is issuing this RFI in an effort to understand market availability, technical characteristics, cost, and functionality of Information Technology (IT) tools, applications or products capable of satisfying the life-cycle technical, functional, operational, and/or capabilities described in this RFI.

Any information submitted by respondents to this request is strictly voluntary. This is not a request for proposal, request for quotation, or invitation for bid, nor does its issuance obligate or restrict the Government to an eventual acquisition approach. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses from this RFI or pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the use of such information. All information received from this RFI will be used for planning and market research purposes only.

To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Any proprietary information submitted should be identified as such and will be properly protected from disclosure. The Government shall not be liable for damages related to proprietary information that is not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned.

BACKGROUND:

The United States Navy (or The Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic) is assessing the impact of transformative technologies that enable divers to operate free space optics communications systems in undersea environments. This RFI requests information about any state of the art/novel products and technologies available in order to understand the market availability and technical characteristics of tactical underwater free space optical communications capabilities.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of the RFI is to request information from companies on tactical, underwater free-space optical communications (FSOC) transceiver systems that are commercially available and/or are ready for final operating capability demonstration, i.e., technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or greater. Information provided to the government will serve the purpose understanding the currently available market of these technologies, which may lead to future demonstration opportunities with operators and independent government technical assessors.

We are requesting information on tactical, underwater FSOC technologies that:

1. Are manpackable.


2. Are capable of operating underwater at depths greater than 100 m.


3. Are commercially available and/or ready for final operating capability demonstration (TRL 7 or greater).

Specific Information Sought:

1. Company information, including name, address, and website

2. Technical points of contact: phone number and email address;

3. Name of product

4. Commercial availability/demonstrability including rough order of magnitude (ROM) per unit cost.

5. A brief description of the technology. Must include simple drawing(s) depicting operation of the technology with generic components.

6. Optical transmitter divergence/cone of regard (degrees), operating wavelength(s) (nanometers), operating spectral width (nanometers), typical power consumption (W), depth rating (m), weight above water (lb), weight in water (lb), overall dimensions (LxWxH; inches or centimeters).

7. Optical receiver cone of acceptance, operating wavelength(s) (nanometers), operating spectral width (nanometers), typical power consumption (W), depth rating (m), weight above water (lb), weight in water (lb), overall dimensions (LxWxH; inches or centimeters).

8. End-to-end link budgets for operating distances of 10 m, 50 m, and 100 m at various operating depths (including maximum operating depth). Link budget output should include approximate data rate and bit error rate (BER) at each range. The environment should be oceanic. Scattering effects are not required, but additional link budgets with this consideration are appreciated. All assumptions used in estimations should be listed.

9. Description of additional supporting equipment required to fully operate optical heads including devices such as power source(s) and optical modem(s).

All information delivered must be unclassified or appropriately marked controlled unclassified information (CUI). To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Any proprietary information submitted should be identified as such and will be properly protected from disclosure. The Government shall not be liable for damages related to proprietary information that is not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned.

Questions (please include RFI number) with regard to this RFI are requested to be submitted by e-mail to:

ANTX.fct@us.navy.mil

RESPONSES:

Responses to this RFI are requested to be submitted by e-mail to:

ANTX.fct@us.navy.mil

Responses due NLT March 31, 2023 at 1700 Eastern Time.

Response should be single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font, with one inch margins all around, compatible with MS Office Word 2007, with a total page count not to exceed 3 pages. Response shall not exceed 10 MB. Each page of your package shall be printable on 8 ½” x 11” paper. Please note that some email systems may block file types such as .zip or other macro-enabled extensions; respondents should verify receipt.

Any response submitted by respondents to this request constitutes consent for that submission to be reviewed by Dr. Samuel Mellon, Dr. Robert Younts NIWCATLANTIC. The responses may be forwarded to other Government entities in consideration for applicability to other programs.

Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to provide feedback with respect to any information submitted. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. All personnel, Dr. Samuel Mellon and Dr. Robert Younts, reviewing RFI responses are government personnel and understand their responsibility for proper use and protection from unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information.

This RFI is issued solely for information purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service in any manner. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested parties’ expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

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