[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 230 (Friday, December 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56980-56981]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25926]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[Docket No. USCG-2017-1032]
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Cellular Phone
Geolocation Development
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of intent; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces its intent to enter into a
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with TriaSys
Technologies Corp, to investigate the potential operational use of
cellular phone direction finding technology. The intent to enter in a
potential CRADA with TriaSys Corp is based on market research and
visits to vendors with advertised expertise in this unique application
of technology in the maritime environment for Search and Rescue. While
the Coast Guard is currently considering partnering with TriaSys
Technologies Corp, the agency is soliciting public comment on the
possible nature of and participation of other parties in the proposed
CRADA. In addition, the Coast Guard also invites other potential non-
Federal participants to propose similar CRADAs.
DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before January 2, 2018.
Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must reach the Coast
Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) on or before January 2,
2018.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov in
accordance with Web site instructions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact Donald Decker,
Project Official, C4ISR Branch, U.S. Coast Guard Research and
Development Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT 06320, telephone
860-271-2701, email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Participation and Request for Comments
We request public comments on this notice. Although we do not plan
to respond to comments in the Federal Register, we will respond
directly to commenters and may modify our proposal in light of
comments.
Comments should be marked with docket number USCG-2017-1032 and
should provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. You
should provide personal contact information so that we can contact you
if we have questions regarding your comments; but please note that all
comments will be posted to the online docket without change and that
any personal information you include can be searchable online (see the
Federal Register Privacy Act notice regarding our public dockets, 73 FR
3316, Jan. 17, 2008). We also accept anonymous comments.
We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be
submitted using http://www.regulations.gov, contact the Coast Guard
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Documents mentioned in this
notice and all public comments, are in our online docket at http://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by following that Web site's
instructions. Additionally, if you go to the online docket and sign up
for email alerts, you will be notified when comments are posted or a
final rule is published.
Do not submit detailed proposals for future CRADAs to the Docket
Management Facility. Instead, submit them directly to the Coast Guard
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Discussion
CRADAs are authorized under 15 U.S.C. 3710(a).\1\ A CRADA promotes
the transfer of technology to the private sector for commercial use, as
well as specified research or development efforts that are consistent
with the mission of the Federal parties to the CRADA. The Federal party
or parties agree with one or more non-Federal parties to share research
resources, but the Federal party does not contribute funding.
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\1\ The statute confers this authority on the head of each
Federal agency. The Secretary of DHS's authority is delegated to the
Coast Guard and other DHS organizational elements by DHS Delegation
No. 0160.1, para. II.B.34.
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CRADAs are not procurement contracts. Care is taken to ensure that
CRADAs are not used to circumvent the contracting process. CRADAs have
a specific purpose and should not be confused with procurement
contracts, grants, and other type of agreements.
Under the proposed CRADA, the R&D Center will collaborate with one
non-Federal participant. Together, the R&D Center and the non-Federal
participant will collect information/data for performance, reliability,
maintenance requirements, human systems
[[Page 56981]]
integration and other data on cellular direction finding technologies.
After an initial installation and familiarization period, the Coast
Guard plans to evaluate a designated platform outfitted with the
communications technology for a period of one week.
We anticipate the Coast Guard's contributions under the proposed
CRADA will include the following:
(1) Develop the Demonstration Pilot Assessment Plan to meet the
objectives of the CRADA with a diverse set of real-life mission
scenarios.
(2) Provide the pilot demonstration support in and around
Charleston, SC.
(3) Coordinate Pilot demonstration from onboard a USCG cutter.
(4) Collaborate with non-Federal partners to prepare demonstration
documentation including equipment assessments, final report(s), and
briefings.
We anticipate that the non-Federal participant's contributions
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
(1) Assist the R&D Center in the development and drafting of all
CRADA documents, including the pilot demonstration assessment plan,
equipment assessments, final report(s), and briefings.
(2) Provide and maintain the direction finding equipment to ensure
the system is usable.
(3) Secure, with R&D Center assistance, Special Temporary Authority
(STA) to employ the equipment within the desired frequency bands.
(4) Provide technical support, training and maintenance throughout
the period of performance to ensure maximum availability and utility of
the networks.
The Coast Guard reserves the right to select for CRADA participants
all, some, or no proposals submitted for this CRADA. The Coast Guard
will provide no funding for reimbursement of proposal development
costs. Proposals and any other material submitted in response to this
notice will not be returned. Proposals submitted are expected to be
unclassified and have no more than five single-sided pages (excluding
cover page, DD 1494, JF-12, etc.).
The Coast Guard will select proposals at its sole discretion on the
basis of:
(1) How well they communicate an understanding of, and ability to
meet, the proposed CRADA's goal; and
(2) How well they address the following criteria:
(a) Technical capability to support the non-Federal party
contributions described; and
(b) Resources available for supporting the non-Federal party
contributions described.
Currently, the Coast Guard is considering TriaSys Technologies Corp
for participation in this CRADA. This consideration is based on the
fact that TriaSys Systems has demonstrated its technical ability as the
developer, manufacturer, and integrator of cellular direction finding
equipment. However, we do not wish to exclude other viable participants
from this or future similar CRADAs.
The USCG's intent to enter in a potential CRADA with TriaSys Corp
is based on market research and visits to vendors with advertised
expertise in this unique application of technology in the maritime
environment for Search and Rescue. The research includes employment of
their antennas, equipment and graphical user interface (GUI) to
establish direction and geo-location of cellular phones in an open-
ocean environment. Specifically, the equipment will provide both a Line
of Bearing (LOB) and a Global Positioning System (GPS) location to a
cellular phone in a search and rescue scenario. The equipment will be
setup in locations with use in the open ocean environment. A Pilot
Demonstration schedule has been proposed in which TriaSys Systems will
provide their equipment. The Coast Guard Research and Development
Center (R&D Center) will prepare a Pilot Demonstration Assessment Plan
and TriaSys Systems will operate the equipment for exploratory
development over a one week period to collect information on
suitability, reliability, maintenance requirements, and ease of use.
This is a technology assessment effort. The goal for the Coast
Guard of this CRADA is to better understand the advantages,
disadvantages, required technology enhancements, performance, costs,
and other issues associated with cellular direction finding
technologies. Special consideration will be given to small business
firms/consortia, and preference will be given to business units located
in the U.S. This document is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C.
552(a).
Dated: November 14, 2017.
Bert N. Macesker,
Executive Director, Acting Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Research and Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2017-25926 Filed 11-30-17; 8:45 am]
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