[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 27, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22216-22217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08678]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2021-0180]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement--Beyond Visual 
Line of Sight (BVLOS) Technology for Coast Guard (CG) Unmanned Aircraft 
System (UAS) Operations

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 one or more 
cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA) with companies 
to evaluate a detect and avoid (DAA) system to determine its potential 
use in a maritime environment to enable the Coast Guard to safely fly 
sUAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). The Coast Guard will conduct 
flight testing and evaluations of sUAS under a wide variety of 
simulated but realistic and relevant real-world maritime operational 
scenarios, such as: Law enforcement; search and rescue; and maritime 
environmental responses. The Coast Guard is currently considering 
separate partnerships with Scientific Applications & Research 
Associates (SARA) Inc., Iris Automation Inc., and Echodyne Corp. and 
solicits public comment on the possible participation of other parties 
in the proposed CRADAs, and the nature of that participation. 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 reach the Coast Guard on or before May 27, 2021. 
Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must also reach the Coast 
Guard on or before May 27, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov 
following website instructions. Submit synopses of proposals regarding 
future CRADAs to Mr. Steve Dunn at his address listed in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice 
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact Mr. Steve Dunn, 
Project Official, Aviation Branch, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT 06320, telephone 
860-271-2600, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We request public comments on this notice. Although we do not plan 
to publish responses 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-2021-0180 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. For more 
about privacy and the docket, visit http://www.regulations.gov/privacyNotice. We do accept anonymous comments.
    We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal 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, will be 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

[[Page 22217]]

alerts, you will be notified when comments are posted.
    Do not submit detailed proposals for future CRADAs to http://www.regulations.gov. 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 the proposed CRADAs, the Coast Guard's Research and 
Development Center (RDC) will collaborate with one or more non-Federal 
participants. Together, the RDC and the non-Federal participants will 
evaluate detect and avoid (DAA) systems to determine their potential 
for use in a maritime environment to safely fly sUAS beyond visual line 
of sight (BVLOS).
    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADAs will include the following:
    (1) In conjunction with the non-Federal participant(s), develop the 
demonstration test plan to be executed under the CRADA;
    (2) Provide the sUAS test range, test range support, facilities, 
and all approvals required for a sUAS demonstration and assessment 
under the CRADA;
    (3) Provide government available sUAS platforms and associated 
equipment necessary to conduct the demonstration described in the 
demonstration test plan;
    (4) Provide all required operators and technicians to conduct the 
demonstration;
    (5) Conduct the privacy threshold analysis required for the 
demonstration;
    (6) Conduct the privacy impact assessment required for the 
demonstration;
    (7) Coordinate any required spectrum approval for the sUAS;
    (8) Coordinate and receive any required interim flight clearance 
for the demonstration;
    (9) Provide any required airspace coordination and de-confliction 
for the demonstration test plan;
    (10) Collaboratively collect and analyze demonstration test plan 
data; and
    (11) Collaboratively develop a demonstration final report 
documenting the methodologies, findings, conclusions, and 
recommendations of this CRADA work.
    We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions 
under the proposed CRADAs will include the following:
    (1) Provide DAA system and all other equipment to conduct the 
demonstration described in the demonstration test plan;
    (2) Provide all required operators and technicians to integrate DAA 
in government sUAS platform and conduct the demonstration;
    (3) Provide technical data for the DAA to be utilized;
    (4) Provide shipment and delivery of all DAA equipment required for 
the demonstration; and
    (5) Provide travel and associated personnel and other expenses as 
required.
    (6) Provide documentation, analysis, graphical user interfaces, and 
algorithms supporting future FAA DAA BVLOS authorizations.
    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:
    (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 the above named companies 
for participation in separate CRADAs, because they have a solution in 
place for providing detect and avoid capabilities for UAS. However, we 
do not wish to exclude other viable participants from this or future 
similar CRADAs.
    This is a technology demonstration effort to evaluate and assess 
ship/ground-based technologies which support BVLOS UAS operations. The 
goal of these CRADAs is to identify and investigate the potential of 
the sUAS and their airborne sensors to determine their potential use in 
a maritime environment by the first responder and the DHS operational 
components. 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) and 15 
U.S.C. 3710(a).

    Dated: April 20, 2021.
Captain Daniel P. Keane,
USCG, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development 
Center.
[FR Doc. 2021-08678 Filed 4-26-21; 8:45 am]
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