Inactive

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) mission is “to safeguard America’s borders thereby protecting the public from dangerous people and materials while enhancing the Nation’s global economic com... U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) mission is “to safeguard America’s borders thereby protecting the public from dangerous people and materials while enhancing the Nation’s global economic competitiveness by enabling legitimate trade and travel.” In support of this mission, CBP deploys air, land, and marine assets to patrol and safeguard U.S. border areas, as well as effectively detect and interdict potential threats beyond our borders. In order to successfully carry out its mission, CBP requires situational awareness at and between Ports of Entry (POE) across a broad spectrum of environments such as desert, mountains, forest, and littorals. In many locations, natural and manmade terrain features, coupled with vegetation, negatively impact line of sight and/or the ability for officers and agents to communicate. Further, many CBP operating areas are austere, lack infrastructure (power, commercial cellular, structures, etc.), and have highly variable weather conditions. Recent advancements in commercial technology, such as Hybrid-Lift Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and other innovative capabilities, may provide CBP the ability to address surveillance and communications gaps across multiple missions and environments by providing the required elevation to clear line of sight obstacles. Business concerns are notified that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Hybrid Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (H-sUAS) procurement will be utilizing the commercial solutions opening (CSO) procedure in accordance with Section 880 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 880) for Fiscal Year 2017, Title VIII, §880 (Public Law 114-328), and will be subject to the limitations outlined in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program (CSOP) Guide. This solicitation is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Customs and Border Protection (CBP) CSOP and is intended to be used to competitively procure innovative commercial items and technologies. CBP has developed this pilot program to be implemented outside the normal Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements to engage traditional and non-traditional Government Contractors, including start-up companies. This pilot program is intended to promote competition with a streamlined approach to address specific needs for innovative commercial items. The CSO procedures are described throughout the attached General Solicitation document. This General Solicitation announcement invites prospective submitters to respond to the attached solicitation document. The CSO solicitation process will include a multi-phased solicitation and evaluation approach: Phase 1 - Submission and Evaluation of the Written Solution Brief, which may also include invitation for Oral Presentations/Product Demonstrations, and Phase 2- Request for Full Proposal Submission. Potential offerors are hereby advised of the following: 1. Solicitation for solution briefs is not a guarantee that award and obligation of funds will be made. 2. The costs incurred by offerors in the preparation and submission of their solution briefs in response to solicitations will not be paid by the Government. 3. Government responses to questions received from the related pre-solicitation notice are attached. 4. The Contractor shall be International Standards Organization 9001:2015 compliant or Capability Maturity Model Integrated Level 3. UPDATE: This solicitation due date and time has been updated. Re-submission of proposals is not required.