The Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium (UTIC) is pleased to announce its first awards under the Other Transaction Authority Agreement (OTA) for Undersea Technology Innovation.  Metron, Inc. has been awarded $200K for the project, Passive Energy Analysis Kit (PEAK) for Assessing AxB Passive Sonar System Performance.  Booz Allen Hamilton has been awarded $1.19M for the project, Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Environmental Sensing, Monitoring and Prediction. University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been awarded $232K for the project, Acoustic Response of Coral Reef Biota to Underwater Vehicle Traffic & Disturbance.

UTIC was awarded the OTA from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in early June 2018.  It is for three years with options for up to 10 years.

This OTA is for technology development and prototyping of undersea technology and innovative maritime systems.  OTAs facilitate more efficient acquisition of prototype systems, encourage participation by non-traditional firms who do not traditionally work with Government, and are not covered by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

The first request under the UTIC OTA was for eight prototype projects, of which three have been awarded as noted above, two are still in the review process, and three have been placed in the “basket” provision, which allows the government the opportunity to make an award anytime within the next three years.

A recent Request for Prototype Ideas (RPI) was issued to consortium members.  This process allows consortium members to provide industry feedback to the government technical points of contact on the identified topics.  Nearly 200 responses have been received covering the over two dozen identified prototype topics.  The government will review industry input and then issue a Request for Prototype Project for these topics.  That is expected to be released in early 2019 and notice will be given in FedBizOps.

The consortium now has over 200 members from 31 states, including industry (small and large), academia and nonprofit organizations.  Government sponsors who utilized the OT Agreement for the first request include:  NUWC and the Commander Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.

“UTIC is committed, through our consortium members, to provide innovative prototype solutions to the Navy’s identified undersea and maritime systems needs,” elaborated Molly Donohue Magee, the UTIC Executive Director.  “UTIC is a team effort with our consortium members, our Consortium Management Firm, Advanced Technology International, and our Navy sponsors.  We are focused on ensuring the latest undersea technology is available to our military men and women.”