Dismounted Assured PNT Systems (DAPS)

Dismounted Assured PNT System (DAPS):

The U.S. military's employment of Global Positioning System (GPS)-reliant navigation devices creates vulnerabilities due to terrain limitations, adversary jamming, spoofing, and other denial efforts. Dismounted ground units require the ability to effectively operate and navigate through a wide variety of challenging environments, to include dense vegetation, urban, mountainous, subterranean, underwater, and in the presence of electromagnetic interference or enemy jamming and spoofing efforts.

The Department of Defense (DoD) seeks novel commercial solutions to prototype an assured handheld PNT device that allows dismounted units to operate through a host of physical environments while experiencing a degraded or denied GPS signal.

Minimum Desired Specifications:

This prototype should:

  • Be a handheld solution capable of providing a robust, scalable, and upgradeable Assured PNT system that can operate in GPS degraded/denied environments.
  • Minimize power consumption for long duration dismounted operations away from battery resupply or power sources.
  • Have selectable vision modes, to include but not limited to, color mode, black and white (grayscale) mode, and night vision mode.
  • Include a path to integration into Army’s Nett Warrior System.
  • Be capable of fusing multiple sources of PNT information into a single solution.
  • Add a stable time device such as a Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) or an Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO), which will allow it to maintain accurate time throughout a 3-day mission regardless of GPS availability.
  • Be Key Management Infrastructure (KMI) aware with the ability to receive a key over the network (if keying is required).
  • Demonstrate nominal ruggedization to withstand some environmental hazards.
  • Demonstrate path to obtain GPS Directorate certification (if required)
  • Include an initial test quantity of ~25 prototype devices.
  • Size should be equal or less than existing dismounted commercial navigation receivers or personal electronic device wearables. 

The sources of PNT information may include modernized GPS signals (Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module [SAASM], M-Code), other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for integrity checks (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, Galileo, GLONASS, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System / Navigation Indian Constellation, and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System), Radio Frequency (RF)-based systems (Alternative systems, communication systems, LEO's), External sources (Anti-jam, other), Internal sources (Inertials and Clocks), and Sensors (Vision, Celestial, Magnetic, Acoustic, other).

The prototype should be delivered within 12 months of award, ready for integration and testing in operational environments with ground forces.

Awarding Instrument:

PLEASE NOTE: This Area of Interest solicitation will be awarded in accordance with the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) process detailed within W15QKN-19-X-04L1 (ACC-NJ CSO), posted to FBO in Nov 2018. Additionally this document can be found within the DIU Library at https://www.diu.mil/library.

Follow-on Production:

Companies are advised that any prototype Other Transaction (OT) agreement awarded in response to this Area of Interest may result in the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction without the use of further competitive procedures. The follow-on production contract or transaction will be available for use by one or more organizations in the Department of Defense and, as a result, the magnitude of the follow-on production contract or agreement could be significantly larger than that of the prototype OT. As such, any prototype OT will include the following statement relative to the potential for follow-on production: "In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2371b(f), and upon a determination that the prototype project for this transaction has been successfully completed, this competitively awarded prototype OTA may result in the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction without the use of competitive procedures.”

Submissions accepted from 10/17/2019 17:00 to 10/27/2019 23:59 PT

 

Solution Brief Requirements:

Solution Briefs should not exceed five (5) written pages using 12-point font or, alternatively, Solution Briefs may take the form of briefing slides which should not exceed fifteen (15). These limits are not requirements but are strongly recommended.

Suggested contents:

  • Title Page (does not count against page limit): Company Name, Title, Date, Point of Contact Name, E-Mail Address, Phone, and Address. Specifically identify the solicitation for which the Solution Brief is submitted.
  • Executive Summary (one page): Provide an executive summary of the technology.
  • Technology Concept: Describe the unique aspects of your technology and the proposed work as it relates to the solicitation. Identify whether the effort includes a pilot or demonstration of existing technology (identified as commercially ready and viable technology), or the development of technology for a potential defense application. If development or adaptation is proposed, identify a suggested path to mature the technology. Identify aspects which may be considered proprietary.
  • Company Information: Provide a brief overview of the company, including a summary of gross sales/revenue and investors / funding rounds (if applicable). Provide a summary of product history, roadmap, and go-to-market strategy.
  • Including existing customer list and/or customer case studies is encouraged.

Unnecessarily elaborate brochures or proposals are not desired. Diagrams / graphics depicting the essence of the proposed solution are strongly encouraged.

Additional Information

  1. Companies may submit multiple Solution Briefs in response to any single solicitation if each submission represents a separate and distinct concept. Individual Solution Briefs may only address one concept based on the stated Government solicitation.
  2. Questions regarding the objectives or preparation of the Solution Brief should be addressed to CSOquestions@diu.mil.
  3. Submissions must be submitted electronically via the form below.
  4. Submissions sent through other channels or after the solicitation period has ended will not be reviewed or evaluated.
  5. Solution Briefs that are not chosen for the in-person pitch phase will be notified in writing as soon as practicable. Further verbal feedback will be provided, upon request, at DIU’s discretion.
  6. Solution Briefs selected for the next (pitch) phase will be notified by email with further details and instructions.

Companies are hereby advised of the following:

  1. Solicitation for solution briefs is not a guarantee that award and obligation of funds will be made.
  2. The costs incurred by companies in the preparation and submission of their solution briefs in response to solicitations will not be paid by the DoD and are not allowable as a direct charge to any DoD contract or agreement.
  3. By submission of its solution brief, the company agrees that the DoD
    1. may reproduce the brief, or any portions thereof, to the extent necessary to evaluate the offer.
    2. may use information contained in the brief only for evaluation purposes and shall not disclose, directly or indirectly, such information to any person including potential evaluators, unless that person has been authorized to receive such information.

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