The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) has a requirement to procure two (2) Warthog Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicles and accessories. The accessories include Warthog LiFePo4 battery packs, Quad Track system upgrade, Velodyne laser scanners, MicroStrain 3DM-GX5-45, Carnegie Robotics Multsense S21B, battery chargers, network switches, wireless gigabit routers, and Ouster Lidars. The requirement also includes two (2) additional Warthog Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicles with the listed accessories as Option CLINs. ERDC-CERL intends to sole source this acquisition in accordance with FAR 13.501(a) to Clearpath Robotics Inc.. The Robotics for Engineer Operations (REO) Research and Development (R&D) program requires medium-sized UGVs to be utilized as a prototype capability development platform inside the new 16,000 sqft Robotics Research Facility, in Champaign IL. This platform must also be able operate in outdoor environments that are challenging due to the terrain and weather features (off road surfaces, water barriers, etc.). The platform must have a well-established and stable low level motor controller, eliminating the need to develop these controllers rather than focusing on development of autonomous task execution The platform must have out of the box Robotic Operating System (ROS) integration, be able to carry up to 500 lbs of payload (battery, sensors, onboard computers), and must have –at a minimum- radio frequency based line-of-sight remote control capability. The Argo J5/Clearpath Warthog is a medium sized, highly customizable robotic platform that can easily adapt to mission specific payloads or configurations. The platform provides 4X4 wheeled or track-based traction, which allows it to operate in challenging terrains that are typically encountered during Combat Engineer operations. Argo J5 is just the base platform without any autonomy, whereas, Clearpath Warthog is the same platform with autonomy built-in out of the box. Clearpath is the only company that integrates the Argo J5 products with ROS capabilities. The J5/Warthog utilizes differential steering that allows it to have a zero turn radius and low center of gravity for great stability. In addition, the platform is fully amphibious and is controlled by a line-of-sight Radio Frequency remote controller. The J5 platform has the following physical characteristics: Maximum land payload: 600 lb Footprint: 60x54.5 in. Base weight: 615 lb Battery Capacity: 9.5 kWh Maximum land speed: 12 mph The J5/Warthog, with ROS capabilities added by Clearpath, is the only UGV that meets all of the requirements listed above. In addition, ERDC-CERL already owns an ARGO J8 platform and two Clearpath Jackal platforms. ERDC-CERL has invested approximately two years of development effort into these platforms and has built considerable experience and expertise that can be leveraged by continuing with this family of products. This is not a request for proposal and in no way obligates the Government to award any contract. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 336111 which has a size standard of 1,500 Employees. This is not a small business set aside. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government’s acquisition strategy. Please provide responses to this notice no later than March 2, 2020 at 11:59am, Central Standard Time (CST), to:
[email protected] Telephone responses will not be accepted. Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.