Request for Development UARS Night-Time Wildfire Reconnaisance

The Resource Stewardship Consortia is providing businesses, educational institutions and entrepreneurs the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to provide night-time wildfire reconnaissance utilizing unmanned aerial and robotic systems (UARS).

The purpose of this Request for Demonstration (RFD) is to evaluate proof of concepts that may provide added value to the Oregon Department of Forestry in fighting wildfires. The added value will be measured in terms of the information provided that:

 Improves existing night time reconnaissance performance and lowers costs,
 Improves deployment of firefighting resources.
 Increases safety of / reduces risks to firefighting personnel, and
 Provides reliability of information.

Based on performance outcomes, the Oregon Department of Forestry may provide contracting
opportunities for the 2015 fire season. Contracting opportunities will be based on a “Call When Needed Agreement.” The demonstration information will also be shared with the FAA and federal, state and local agencies involved in wild fire management.

The proof of concept will be achieved through three stages.

1. Interested vendors will respond to this RFD with a written proposal. – July 14th

a. This will be preceded by a User-Vendor Conference in Redmond on June 26th

(1:30 PDT @ the Redmond City Hall Conference Room A -716 SW Evergreen Ave) and based on this dialogue, a final RFD will be disseminated to interested parties on June 30th
.
b. A screening will occur of these proposals by independent reviewers, excluding the Oregon Department of Forestry. All vendors that meet the criteria established in the RFD will be invited to proceed. – July 17th

2. Demonstration and verification of capabilities will occur at a designated FAA Oregon test
site of the Vendor’s choosing –

a. Test flights at an Oregon Test Range will require the following documentation:
i. A Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
ii. An independent safety review, risk assessment & flight planning guide,
iii. An airworthiness certification, registration with the FAA
iv. Operator manual
v. A definition of weight and balance.

b. The UAS provider must have UAS flight insurance and provide 3rd party liability and indemnify the selected Test Range from liability.

3. Based on the demonstration results, three (3) vendors will be selected by independent reviewers, excluding the Oregon Department of Forestry, to proceed – August.

The three selected vendors will be given the opportunity, dependent on the 2014 fire situation, to work directly with Oregon Department of Forestry Aviation Manager and Incident

Management Teams to provide night time fire reconnaissance to:

a. Enable the Night Operation Section chief to view the fire through the use of an electronic device(s) and transmit/store data for a period of not less than twelve hours,

The UAV must be capable of sustained flight for twelve hours or be capable of launch/re-launch on a periodic basis during the twelve hour period.

b. Detect hotspots, identify spot fires across fire lines and map the fire perimeter for
planning purposes,

c. Provide digital data for ODF mapping,

The software used for GIS support is ArcGIS. The preferred data transfer format is the ESRI File Geodatabase. Other formats that are readable include Shapefile (SHP), GPS Exchange (GPX), and KML. If the data transferred from UAV detection is points only then a text file could be used if formatted properly.

d. Provide detailed images and information for morning fire briefings,

e. Provide a communications relay,

f. Submit information for evaluation and research.

The written proposal due July 14, 2014 shall include the following:

1) Corporate information

2) Description of systems and technologies to be deployed

3) Description of how the systems and technologies will address proof of concept requirements

4) Statement of how and when the proposed application will be tested

5) Proposed metrics and related methodology to evaluate the application

6) Statement of financial capabilities to undertake the proof of concept and assurances that all FAA requirements are met.

Vendors participating in this proof of concept will be responsible for all costs associated with  their participation in the evaluation and demonstration portions of this project. This includes an administrative fee to the Resource Stewardship Consortia of $2,500 to participate. This fee will cover costs associated with the independent evaluation of proposals, related research and the execution of this RFD.

Parties interested in being involved with this proof of concept application should make their intention known by June 23rd, submitting an “intent to participate” notification to: Glen Salo …

Gsalo@RiversideResearch.org
or
David Foote … dfoote@concordspirit.com