Inactive

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) has a requirement to procure the renewal of and u... The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) has a requirement to procure the renewal of and upgrades to the existing Vortex Studio Simulations software licenses, as well as for the purchase of three separate environmental/location scenario specific model add-ons (desert, mountainous, and model track). The current requirement also includes joystick and control components that are compatible with the software, and development services to add soil tuning functionality. ERDC-CERL intends to award a purchase order on a sole source basis to Simulations CMLABS Inc. in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). Vortex Studio Software is published and distributed solely by Simulation CM Labs. Simulation CM Labs has provided a letter stating that they will be directly selling and distributing the Vortex Studio software licenses, and support work to all US Government entities, confirming they are the sole source for fulfillment of this requirement Vortex Studio is simulation software designed specifically for construction equipment and has an abundance of unique and novel functionalities that make it the only software of its kind available in the commercial marketplace. It has a multi-body dynamics engine coupled with a unique discrete element modeling – mesh (DEM-Mesh) hybrid soil simulation. This enables real-time simulation of earthmoving operations using construction equipment such as an excavator, for which there is an existing model that can be used out of the box. Vortex provides an SDK that has been shown by other research programs to enable easy integration of the simulation with a ROS control software stack. This enables performance of software in the loop (SIL) simulation with earthmoving equipment, allowing for the development of control algorithms and autonomy capabilities for engineer Army Engineers. Vortex Studio software enables accurate real-time simulation of construction equipment multi-body dynamics and soil-tool interaction physics. Use of an accurate simulation is vital to the development of control systems and autonomy for earthmoving equipment. Simulations of construction equipment in Vortex enable our engineers to rapidly iterate designs for these controllers without the danger that development on a physical machine pose. Additionally, use of a simulator dramatically reduces both the development time and the cost of fuel and machine maintenance. Simulation enables designers to easily explore hypothetical environmental and soil conditions without the need to transport heavy construction equipment to areas where those conditions are present naturally. It is also trivial to reset the environment in simulation to compare designs, whereas this is nearly impossible with real soil. In addition, Vortex Studio natively supports ROS 2 integration which will enable REO program engineers to seamlessly integrate this simulation with our existing perception and autonomy stack. Accurate real-time simulation of soil-tool interaction is especially important for this work as it enables us to collect large quantities of data needed to train our learning-based control systems. The REO program has previously acquired a Vortex Studio simulation and is using that in current research and continuity is required. Due to all of the above, no software other than Vortex Studio could be utilized in the REO program for these functionalities at this point in time. Switching to another software would create an insurmountable amount of reengineering activities that the REO team does not have the capacity to manage. Because of these reasons Simulations CMLABS Inc. is the sole source for this procurement. This is not a request for proposal and in no way obligates the Government to award any contract. 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 the date and time listed at the top of this posting, to: CERL-CT-QUOTES@usace.army.mil 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.