[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 211 (Wednesday, November 2, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66204-66206]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23811]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2022-0348]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement--Artificial 
Intelligence (AI) Detection With Coast Guard Optical Sensors

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

[[Page 66205]]


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 companies 
to evaluate autonomous detection and tracking systems to determine its 
potential use in Search and Rescue planning. The Coast Guard will 
provide video output from various sensors to detect and characterize 
targets for search along with collaboratively developing methods to 
evaluate the effectiveness of the autonomous detection and tracking 
systems to allow for the integration with accepted search planning 
systems and methodologies. From a recent demonstration, the Coast Guard 
is currently considering partnering with Zelim to investigate their 
artificial intelligence-based casualty detection system, SARBox, and 
solicits public comment on the possible participation of other parties 
in the proposed CRADA, 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 December 2, 
2022. Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must also reach the 
Coast Guard on or before December 2, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov 
following website instructions. Submit synopses of proposals regarding 
future CRADAs to Ms. Shelly Wyman at her 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 Ms. Shelly 
Wyman, 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-2022-0348 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 
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 CRADA, the Coast Guard's Research and 
Development Center (R&DC) will collaborate with one or more non-Federal 
participants. Together, the R&DC and the non-Federal participants will 
evaluate autonomous detection and tracking systems to determine their 
potential for search and rescue planning that may greatly increase 
mission performance on select USCG platforms and improve Maritime 
Domain Awareness(MDA) capability.
    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADA 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 video output from various Coast Guard sensors to test 
and integrate with non-Federal participant(s) autonomous detection 
systems;
    (3) Provide access to and coordinate the use of necessary Coast 
Guard facilities, surface assets, and R&D Center equipment to 
facilitate assessments. Responsible for ensuring that all necessary 
approvals have been obtained before the execution of the test plan;
    (4) Provide discussions on sound search planning theory to help 
identify ways of collecting quantitative measures to better define the 
effectiveness of AI technology compared to current SAR efficiency 
calculations;
    (5) Collaboratively collect and analyze demonstration test plan 
data; and
    (6) Collaboratively develop a summary documenting 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 the autonomous detection and tracking system and all 
other equipment to conduct the demonstration described in the 
demonstration test plan;
    (2) Provide engineering support, including all required operators 
and technicians to conduct the demonstration;
    (3) Provide shipment and delivery of all autonomous detection and 
tracking system equipment required for the demonstration; and
    (4) Provide travel and associated personnel and other expenses as 
required.
    (5) Assist with compiling the results of the demonstration(s) with 
R&D Center that documents the methodologies, findings, conclusions, and 
recommendations under this CRADA.
    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

[[Page 66206]]

(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 Zelim for participation 
in this CRADA, because they have a solution in place for providing an 
AI casualty detection system that can be used on multiple platforms 
using Coast Guard optical sensors. 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 
how AI detection can be utilized with Coast guard optical sensors. The 
goal of this CRADA is to identify and determine methods of checking 
effectiveness of AI systems compared to current accepted Search and 
Rescue standards and 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: October 27, 2022.
Daniel P. Keane,
Captain, USCG, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2022-23811 Filed 11-1-22; 8:45 am]
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