OpportunityTitle: Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA)
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: See Program Announcement
Description: The U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center, RTP Contracting Division, on behalf of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, is issuing the FINAL Program Announcement (PA), W911NF-08-R-0012, for the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA). The purpose of this United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) Program Announcement (PA) is to solicit offers that will help fulfill the research and development goals of the U.S. Department of the Army. The objective of the Alliance is to conduct research creating the technical foundation supporting development of future autonomous unmanned systems. To achieve this objective the Alliance will advance fundamental science and technology in several key areas including the ability of unmanned systems to sense and fully understand the local environment in terms of both features and activities; the ability to interact intelligently with the surroundings to successfully conduct meaningful activity; individually or as part of a team, to readily adapt to changing situations and to learn from prior experience; the ability to be integrated safely and successfully into human activity; the ability to dexterously manipulate objects in a human-like fashion and to maneuver unfettered in cluttered, complex environments. The Army envisions the Alliance will bring together government, industrial, and academic institutions to address research and development required to enable the deployment of future military unmanned ground vehicle systems ranging in size from man-portables to ground combat vehicles. The FINAL ROBOTICS CTA PA has been posted at the Robotics CTA website: www.arl.army.mil/robotics. This PA will result in the award of two instruments: (1) a cooperative agreement as defined at 31 U.S.C. 6305 for the execution of the Fundamental Research Component; and (2) a procurement contract as defined in 31 U.S.C. 6303 for the execution of the Technology Transition Component that will be awarded to the Integration Lead Organization of the selected Consortium. The cooperative agreement for the Fundamental Research Component will be awarded to a Consortium of academic and industrial organizations. To assure the creation of a well focused research program, the consortium will be kept small, ideally with approximately six members. The consortium will be led by an organization that will be charged with spearheading the technology integration and technology transition efforts. This organization will be designated as the Integration Lead Organization (ILO) and its CTA activities shall be conducted in the United States. There will be no limitation to the place of performance for other organizations participating in the Consortium. However Consortium activities, conducted under the Technology Transition Component of the Alliance and directly related to military applications may come under the jurisdiction of the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and appropriate controls must be in place when foreign entities are part of the Consortium. Additionally, the Consortium must include an HBCU/MI member(s) that will participate substantially in the research effort and receive at least 10% of the funding for the Fundamental Research Component. The Consortium will function as a collective of equal partners deciding upon all Consortium matters equally. Since unmanned systems draw upon a broad palette of technologies, it is expected that the Consortium will be enhanced by a constantly changing group of additional researchers and research organizations chosen jointly by the Consortium and the Government to complement research already undertaken by the Consortium and Government. These researchers and research topics, while part of the annual program plan, will be subawardees to one of the Consortium partners and not part of the Consortium proper. The procurement contract will be awarded to the ILO for the Consortium. The ILO is expected to subcontract with other entities (both members of the Consortium and other organizations as appropriate) to achieve the technology transition efforts. Individual tasks will be issued under the procurement contract as transition opportunities are identified from the research results under the cooperative agreement. The proposal will form the basis for the Initial Program Plan and will set the stage for subsequent annual program plans. Therefore the technical proposal should be detailed, identifying proposed research activities to the task level, specific research goals and timelines for each proposed research task, and the proposed set of personnel that will conduct these activities together with their qualifications. It should identify proposed mechanisms for intra-consortium and intra-alliance collaboration. It should specify proposed educational opportunities for Government researchers and mechanisms for further developing the research and educational programs of the HBCU/MI members. Plan funding levels are set forth in the FINAL Robotics CTA PA. Contingent upon available funding, the Army expects to support the Robotics consortium for five years with an option for an additional five years.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: ernie.dixon
GrantorContactText: Ernest Dixon &lt;br/&gt;Procurement Analyst &lt;br/&gt;Phone 919-549-4270