Concepts of Operation for future use of AUVs - Prior Information

The Royal Navy will shortly be issuing a contract opportunity notice for a requirement to develop Concepts of Operation (CONOPS) for the future use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). This PIN is intended to give notice to the market of the upcoming contract opportunity. The requirement needs to be delivered by the end of the financial year 21/22 and is expected to have a budget of £0.4m (Ex VAT), the upcoming notice will be OFFICIAL however the contract deliverables will be classified SECRET. Due to the volume of work in the timeframe the Authority sees benefit in putting potential suppliers in contact with each other to facilitate collaboration and consortium bids. As such, any organisations who are interested in the contract and might be interested in collaborating, who also hold (or could hold by January 1st 2022) suitable security clearance are encouraged to email their contact details to NAVYCOMRCL-MEPG@mod.gov.uk. On November 22nd those details will be shared between the interested organisations. Please confirm in that email your name, organisation, job role and if the required SECRET clearance is ‘currently held’ or ‘could be held’. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will accept single bidders for the contract. There is no requirement to undertake the above collaboration or to submit your contact details in the way outlined above to bid. The contract will comprise of three non-lethal mission sets (Anti-Submarine/Surface Warfare; Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; and Seabed Warfare); these will be used by the study to consider AUV operational employment over the next 30 years. In each of the three cases, the output comprises a CONOPS including the full range of operational employment of vehicle and systems and an outline of the likely operational constraints, particularly technical challenges. The CONOPS will be presented in the form of a Joint Concept Note; there is no prescribed format but a logical structure along the following lines is recommended. A short concept production paper will be provided to aid the process. As a guide, the concept should be no more than 50 A4 pages including foreword, preface, and lexicon; with the addition of cover sheets, pictures, and editorial processing the final published form should not exceed 70 pages. a. Preface. These should incorporate the purpose, context, aims and assumptions. b. Describe the problem. The drivers for the concept and the operational environment should be explained. c. Detail of the Concept. The themes and ideas within the concept should be ordered and articulated to provide insights and impacts. Analysis using the Defence Capability Framework will focus the work and ensure the product is comprehensive. d. Implications for Capability Delivery across the Defence Lines of Development (DLODs). e. Conclusions and Recommendations.