[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 65 (Monday, April 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18431-18433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07848]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2015-0197]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Unmanned Aircraft 
System Demonstration for Support of Coast Guard Missions in the Arctic

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 Conoco 
Phillips Company (COP) to evaluate unmanned aircraft system (UAS) 
capabilities, benefits, risks and technical limitations of operating 
UAS from land and/or off a Coast Guard Cutter in a maritime 
environment. The Coast Guard will conduct flight testing and evaluation 
of UASs under a wide variety of simulated but realistic and relevant 
real-world maritime operational scenarios, such as ice operations, 
marine environmental monitoring, marine safety, search and rescue, and 
potentially other Coast Guard mission sets. While the Coast Guard is 
currently considering partnering with COP, the agency solicits 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, who have the interest and 
capability to bring similar contributions to this type of research, to 
consider submitting proposals for consideration for similar CRADAs.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov, or reach the Docket Management Facility, on or 
before April 20, 2015.
    Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must reach the Coast 
Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) on or before April 27, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments using one of the listed methods, and see 
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION for more information on public comments.
     Online--http://www.regulations.gov following Web site 
instructions.

[[Page 18432]]

     Fax--202-493-2251.
     Mail or hand deliver--Docket Management Facility (M-30), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Hours 
for hand delivery are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays (telephone 202-366-9329).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice 
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact LT Keely Higbie, 
Project Official, Surface Branch, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center (RDC), 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT 06320, 
telephone 860-271-2815, email [email protected]. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Cheryl 
Collins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-9826, 
toll free 1-800-647-5527.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on this 
notice. All comments received will be posted, without change, to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information you have 
provided.
    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).
    Comments should be marked with docket number USCG-2015-0197 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).
    Mailed or hand-delivered comments should be in an unbound 8\1/2\ x 
11 inch format suitable for reproduction. The Docket Management 
Facility will acknowledge receipt of mailed comments if you enclose a 
stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope with your submission.
    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 the Web site's instructions. You can also view the docket at 
the Docket Management Facility (see the mailing address under 
ADDRESSES) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

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 other types of 
agreements such as procurement contracts, grants, and cooperative 
agreements.
    Under the proposed CRADA, the Coast Guard would collaborate with 
one non-Federal participant. Together, the RDC and the non-Federal 
participant would identify and investigate the potential of the UAS to 
contribute to the Coast Guard's mission effectiveness and determine the 
utility of the UAS to support Coast Guard operations and assets at sea.
    The RDC, with the non-Federal participant, will develop a 
demonstration test plan and evaluate the UAS using quantitative and 
qualitative measures under a wide variety of simulated but realistic 
and relevant real-world maritime operational scenarios The 
demonstration would be conducted both on land and/or on a cutter 
operating in an Arctic maritime environment over a period of 
approximately 14 days.
    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Develop the demonstration test plan to be executed;
    (2) Provide the cutter that the system will be installed on;
    (3) Determine the electromagnetic compatibility of the system on 
the cutter to determine if safe flight operations can be accomplished;
    (4) Conduct a Privacy Threshold Analysis as required for the 
demonstration to be conducted;
    (5) Conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment as required for the 
demonstration to be conducted;
    (6) Coordinate spectrum approval for the system to be used
    (7) Develop, route, and receive an ``interim authority to test'' 
approval, authorizing the installation of the system onboard the 
cutter;
    (8) Develop the interface control document, engineering change 
proposal, and technical data package as required to install the system 
onboard the cutter;
    (9) Coordinate and receive interim flight clearance for the 
demonstration to be executed;
    (10) Provide airspace coordination and de-confliction for execution 
of the demonstration test plan;
    (11) Develop the communications plan to be used for the 
demonstration;
    (12) Analyze demonstration test plan data in accordance with the 
CRADA demonstration test plan; and
    (13) Develop the demonstration final report, which will document 
the methodologies, findings, conclusions, and recommendations of this 
CRADA work.
    We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions 
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Provide UAS equipment, including air vehicles, land based 
ground control stations, forward eyes for the cutter, and all other 
equipment required to conduct the demonstration as described in the 
demonstration test plan;
    (2) Provide operators for UAS equipment;
    (3) Provide UAS technical data;
    (4) Provide shipping for all UAS equipment to and from the cutter 
and other appropriate locations to be used under the CRADA;
    (5) Install and remove the system and all UAS equipment from the 
cutter;
    (6) Provide an approved certificate of authorization from the 
Federal Aviation Administration for the UAS equipment; and
    (7) Required travel, associated personnel, and other expenses.
    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:

[[Page 18433]]

    (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 COP for participation in 
this CRADA. This consideration is based on the fact that COP has 
demonstrated its ability to operate UAS in an Arctic maritime 
environment, and its UAS's widespread use throughout the Department of 
Defense. However, we do not wish to exclude other viable participants 
from this or future similar CRADAs.
    This is a technology demonstration effort. Since the goal of this 
CRADA is to identify and investigate the potential of the UAS to 
contribute to Coast Guard mission effectiveness in an Arctic maritime 
environment, non-Federal CRADA participants will not be excluded from 
any future Coast Guard procurements based solely on their participation 
in 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.
    This notice is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).

    Dated: March 20, 2015.
Captain Dennis C. Evans, USCG,
Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2015-07848 Filed 4-3-15; 8:45 am]
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