[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 112 (Tuesday, June 12, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32300-32302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-11257]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2007-27657]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Command Center 
Decision Support Tools and Concept of Operations

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for public comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces its intent to enter into a 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Raytheon 
Corporation's Mission Innovation Group, to identify and investigate, 
via currently available modeling and simulation techniques, the 
potential of conceptual Next Generation, Command Center Decision 
Support Tools and Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for enhancing maritime 
security. The Coast Guard invites public comment on the proposed CRADA 
and also invites other non-Federal participants, who have the interest 
and capability to bring similar in-kind contributions to this type of 
research, to be considered for entry into similar CRADAs.

DATES: Comments and related material on the proposed CRADA, and 
preliminary inquiries about participation in CRADAs, must reach the 
Docket Management Facility on or before July 12, 2007. Proposals from 
other potential, non-Federal CRADA participants must reach the Docket 
Management Facility on or before December 10, 2007.

[[Page 32301]]


ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2007-27657 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S. 
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one 
of the following methods:
    (1) Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor W12-140, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
    (3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (4) Delivery: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor W12-140, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-
366-9329.
    Potential, non-Federal CRADA participants may submit inquiries and 
CRADA proposals to James W. Gynther, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center, 1082 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340-6048 (e-
mail: [email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
contact James W. Gynther, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development 
Center, 1082 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340-6048, telephone 860-
441-2858, e-mail: [email protected]. If you have questions on 
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Renee V. Wright, 
Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    All comments received will be posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will include any personal information you have 
provided. We have an agreement with the Department of Transportation 
(DOT) to use the Docket Management Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy 
Act'' paragraph below.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your 
name and address, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2007-27657) and give the reason for each comment. You may submit your 
comments by electronic means, mail, fax, or delivery to the Docket 
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit 
your comments by only one means. If you submit them by mail or 
delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8 by 11 
inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing. If you submit them 
by mail and would like to know that they reached the Docket Management 
Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or 
envelope. We will consider all comments received during the comment 
period.
    Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time, click on ``Simple Search,'' enter the last 
five digits of the docket number for this notice, and click on 
``Search.'' You may also visit the Docket Management Facility, West 
Building Ground Floor W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 
DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the 
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

    Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADAs, are 
authorized by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-
502, codified at 15 U.S.C. 3710a). 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). The 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as an executive agency under 5 
U.S.C. 105, is a Federal agency for purposes of 15 U.S.C. 3710a and may 
enter into a CRADA. DHS delegated its authority to the Commandant of 
the Coast Guard (see DHS Delegation No. 0160.1, para. 2.B(34)) and the 
Commandant has delegated his authority to the Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center.
    CRADAs are not procurement contracts. Care is taken to ensure that 
CRADAs are not used to circumvent the contracting process. This 
typically includes advertisement in the Federal Register to give all 
potential CRADA partners opportunity to participate, remove any 
appearance of favoritism, and limit the risk of future litigation by 
non-CRADA partners. CRADAs have a specific purpose and should not be 
confused with other types of agreements such as procurement contracts, 
grants, and cooperative agreements.

Goal of Proposed CRADA

    Under the proposed agreement, the Coast Guard's Research and 
Development Center (USCG R&DC) would collaborate with non-Federal 
participants. Together, the R&DC and its CRADA participants would 
identify and investigate, via currently available modeling and 
simulation techniques, the potential of conceptual Next Generation, 
Command Center Decision Support Tools and CONOPS to enhance maritime 
security. This joint research would also provide additional 
understanding of the processes and support tools within USCG and other 
command centers, which have the responsibility to detect, assess, and 
interdict maritime threats within the coastal waters of a sovereign 
state.
    The R&DC, with its CRADA participants, will create and employ a 
structured and collaborative test environment to evaluate concepts and 
technologies for Next Generation Command Center Decision Support Tools.

Party Contributions

    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Provide candidate Command Center Decision Support Tool 
Concepts;
    (2) Provide Command Center personnel to serve as (a) Subject Matter 
Experts during simulation environment and conceptual support tool 
development and (b) Test Subjects during the concept evaluation 
exercises; and
    (3) Review of the CRADA partner's Draft Results Report after each 
concept evaluation exercise.
    We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions 
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) The provision of appropriate modeling and simulation 
environment(s) for evaluating conceptual Next Generation, Command 
Center Decision Support Tools;
    (2) Development and execution of a modeling and simulation test 
plan(s);
    (3) Analysis of modeling and simulation results;
    (4) Development of a Draft CRADA Results Report after each concept 
evaluation exercise; and
    (5) The provision to the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development 
Center of all Final CRADA Results

[[Page 32302]]

Reports in electronic format suitable for distribution to other 
interested, qualified parties upon request.

Selection Criteria

    The Coast Guard reserves the right to select for CRADA participants 
all, some, or none of the proposals in response to this notice. The 
Coast Guard will provide no funding for reimbursement of proposal 
development costs. Proposals (or 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 four single-sided 
pages (excluding cover page and resumes). 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.
    This is a technology transfer/development effort. Presently, the 
Coast Guard has no plan to procure the Next Generation, Command Center 
Decision Support technology being investigated under this CRADA. Since 
the goal of this CRADA is ``to identify and investigate the potential 
of conceptual Next Generation, Command Center Decision Support Tools,'' 
and not to set future CG acquisition requirements for same, non-Federal 
CRADA partners will not be excluded from any future CG procurements 
based solely on their participation within this CRADA.
    Special consideration will be given to small business firms/
consortia, and preference will be given to business units located in 
the U.S.

    Dated: May 29, 2007.
T.W. Jones,
CAPT, USCG, Commanding Officer, R&D Center.
[FR Doc. E7-11257 Filed 6-11-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P