[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 168 (Thursday, August 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45505-45506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18698]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2019-0704]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Cell Phone 
Geolocation for USCG Search and Rescue

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces its Cooperative Research and 
Development Agreement (CRADA) with Callyo 2009 Corporation, to 
investigate the potential operational use of leveraging smart phone 
technology, specifically the phone's location services, to help locate 
mariners in distress more efficiently. The CRADA with Callyo 2009 
Corporation 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 partnering with Callyo 2009 Corporation, 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, who have the 
interest and capability to bring similar contributions to this type of 
research, to consider submitting proposals for consideration in similar 
CRADAs.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before September 9, 2019.
    Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must reach the Coast 
Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

[[Page 45506]]

CONTACT) on or before September 9, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov in 
accordance with website instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice 
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact Sekaran 
Jambukesan, Project Official, C5I Branch, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT 06320, telephone 
860-271-2884, 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-2019-0704 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 website'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 this CRADA, the R&D Center will collaborate with a non-
Federal participant. Together, the R&D Center and the non-Federal 
participant will collect information/data for performance, reliability, 
maintenance requirements, human systems integration and other data on 
using smart phone's location services for geolocation.
    We anticipate the Coast Guard's contributions under this CRADA will 
include the following:
    (1) Research by the parties under this CRADA will be performed 
offsite at Callyo 2009 Corporation's facilities and the RDC.
    (2) Provide web based support at the following locations:

CG Sector New York: Staten Island, NY
CG Sector Long Island Sound: New Haven, CT
CG Sector Boston: Boston, MA
CG Sector Southeastern New England: Woods Hole, MA
CG Sector Northern New England: South Portland, ME

We anticipate that the non-Federal participant's contributions under 
this CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Provide technical support, training and maintenance throughout 
the period of performance to ensure maximum availability and utility of 
Callyo 2009 Corporation i911 web based solution.
    (2) Deployment of the Callyo 2009 Corporation i911 capability, 
including the interface to the RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse, at each CG 
Sector.
    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.
    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 entered a CRADA with Callyo 2009 
Corporation for participation in this CRADA. This consideration is 
based on the fact that Callyo 2009 Corporation 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 CRADA with Callyo 2009 Corporation is based on market research 
and visits to vendors with advertised expertise in this operational use 
of cellular phone geolocation technology.
    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: August 15, 2019.
Bert N. Macesker,
Executive Director, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2019-18698 Filed 8-28-19; 8:45 am]
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