Notice of Intent - UNMANNED VEHICLE & SONAR

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Contract Opportunity

The Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Michigan Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit requires an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with side scan and bathymetric multibeam sonar.

The USGS is aware of no other source that can provide the above. Therefore, it intends to make an award to Blue Robotics unless it is contacted by any vendor who believes they have similar technical expertise and can provide the same product(s). Vendors are invited to contact the Contract Specialist, Miranda Blankenship, via email at Miranda_blankenship@ios.doi.gov no later than 1:00 PM EDT, Friday, July 24th, 2026, with an affirmative answer.

Sole Source Justification States the Following Parts:

Contracting Agency: The Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Michigan Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.102(a), I hereby determine that the required services/products for an unmanned surface vessel (USV) are available from only one responsible source, and competition is precluded. No other vendors are known to provide services that meet the Government’s requirements without resulting in unacceptable duplication of cost or delay.

This acquisition is restricted to the following source:
Blue Robotics, Inc.
2740 California Street
Torrance, California 90503, USA
Phone: 310-533-9184

Description of Supplies: The supplies consist of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) meeting the following criteria:
USV must use an open source and completely customizable operating system.

Catamaran hull design not to exceed 47 X 36.5 X 18 inches when deployed and 47 X 28 X 95 inches when folded for transport and not exceed 32 lbs. in weight (without payload or batteries)

Payload capacity (batteries and instrumentation) of at least 30 lbs.

Includes at least 3 serial UART ports, 1 ethernet port, 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 16-bit 3.3 V ADC, and 1 16-bit 6.6 V ADC

Have a minimum endurance of 18 hrs

Wireless range with omnidirectional antennae of at least 200 m and at least 800 m with directional antenna

Cellular communication equipped

Wireless controller for manual navigation

Payload bracket to support attachment of other sensors and wet link penetrators to allow cables to traverse the hull

Include ethernet switch or other means to integrate multiple data sources (e.g., 2 or more sonar units)

Include a Cerulean Sonar Omniscan 3D 450 SS or equivalent 450-kHZ 16-channel side scan sonar system

Include a Cerulean Surveyor Multibeam echosounder or equivalent 240 kHz 16-channel multibeam sonar system with an 80-degree swath, depth range of up to 100 meters, and a built-in IMU to provide pitch and roll compensation

1080p USB camera with depth rating of 400 m, preinstalled wetlink penetrator and USBconnection or equivalent

Open-source, customizable operating system and software

Includes and uses readily available 14.8v 18 AH or greater lithium batteries

Blue Robotics Inc is the only reasonably available source that can meet the Government’s requirement based on the following: Other companies which produce ROVs or USVs use proprietary software for their operating systems which limit the survey equipment that can be added aftermarket and thus limit the mission profiles that can be performed using a single platform. An open-source operating system is required to allow unit scientists and students to add additional instruments, cameras, sonar, and other devices as required to meet the research needs of our cooperators, and to program the USV to perform missions integrating those aftermarket additions. USGS is actively testing multiple sonar devices, ranging from recreational to survey-grade devices, that require flexible integration options to preserve data integrity. This flexibility is not possible with other USVs that use proprietary software for their operating systems.

Market research was conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 to identify potential sources capable of fulfilling this requirement. Market research was conducted via internet searches, searches of GSA Advantage, and conversations with other government and academic users of USVs in their research programs. This market research indicates no other manufacturer’s equipment can be fully integrated with existing USGS survey equipment due to the proprietary operating systems used by the manufacturers.

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