Navy turns to autonomous vessels to map the ocean floor

The Navy needs better maps of the ocean floor, but it doesn’t have the ships to capture the data.

To solve that problem, the service wants to hire contractor-owned, contractor-operated vessels that can autonomously sail and collect bathymetric (200 meters to the ocean floor) and seamount data (vessel draft to 4,000 meters.)

The Navy wants long-endurance unmanned sea vessels that can travel 2,000 nautical miles of data each month, according to solicitation documents.

The multiple-award contract is being managed by the Naval Oceanographic Office, which is responsible for collecting and maintaining high-resolution, ocean floor mapping data. The primary purpose of the contract is to support the safety of navigation for the fleet, but the data is also used to improve situational awareness.

Collecting more and higher resolution data is a goal of the Navy, but the solicitation acknowledges that the Navy itself doesn’t have the ships or manpower to collect the data itself.

The Navy plans to award a two-year contract with a $40 million ceiling. The companies will compete for task orders. The contract is set aside for women-owned small businesses.

Some of the key technical requirements include:

• 25-day continuous deep ocean surveys.
• Multibeam sonar that can measure from 200 meters to the full-ocean depth.
• Deliver 2,000 linear nautical miles of compliant data per month
• A secure online platform that will allow the Navy near-real-time monitoring.
• End-to-end encryption of all data that will be delivered via NIPRNET.

The solicitation also requires that the contractor is responsible for all equipment, operations, and logistics.

The requirements are essentially pass-fail. Failure to meet just one requirement disqualifies the bidder.

Proposals are due June 11.