MIDDLETOWN – The Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium announced its first awards under the Other Transaction Authority Agreement for undersea technology innovation.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport awarded the OTA to UTIC in June.
OTAs facilitate more efficient acquisition of prototype systems, encourage participation by firms that do not traditionally work with government entities and are not covered by the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which governs procurement, according to the UTIC.
Virginia-based Metron Inc. was awarded $200,000 for the project Passive Energy Analysis Kit for Assessing AxB Passive Sonar System Performance. Booz Allen Hamilton, which is also in Virginia, was awarded $1.2 million for the project Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Environmental Sensing, Monitoring and Prediction. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a department of the University of California San Diego, received $232,000 for the project Acoustic Response of Coral Reef Biota to Underwater Vehicle Traffic & Disturbance.
In addition to the three awards, two are under review and three others are in the “basket” provision, allowing the government to make an award anytime in the next three years.
A Request for Prototype Ideas was just issued to consortium members for their feedback. According to UTIC, nearly 200 responses have been received for more than 20 identified prototype topics. The government will review industry input and issue a Request for Prototype Project for these topics in early 2019.
“UTIC is a team effort with our consortium members, our consortium management firm Advanced Technology International and our [U.S.] Navy sponsors,” said Molly Donohue Magee, UTIC executive director. “We are focused on ensuring the latest undersea technology is available to our military men and women.”
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
