The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) is seeking commercially available Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopy based handheld chemical identification systems for identifying small bulk amounts of explosives.
Identification capabilities should include, but not be limited to, commercial and military explosives, as well as Home Made Explosives (HME) such as urea nitrate, ammonium nitrate containing materials, and potassium chlorate containing materials. The handheld identification systems should be designed for operation in both indoor and field environments.
NSWC plans to select FTIR or Raman handheld chemical identification systems to be included in a user scenario based evaluation. Following completion of the evaluation, a final report will be written and available for use by government agencies, Department of Defense services, and law enforcement organizations.
Users such as Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams whose duties relate to various aspects of explosive identification and threat mitigation will be participating in this evaluation. The users will be provided training for the FTIR or Raman handheld chemical identification systems as proscribed by the manufacturer. Subsequently, the users will be asked to assess the performance of the FTIR or Raman handheld chemical identification systems chemical identification systems against real-world threats in variety of scenarios.
Once the scenario is completed, the user will be requested to complete a survey assessing the performance, applicability, and usefulness of the kit as well as the training received. The users will be allowed to provide feedback to manufacturers’ onsite; however manufacturers will not be allowed to interact with the users during the scenarios.
The announcement serves to survey product availability prior to other contracting actions for the effort. It is expected that for this evaluation the government will need to lease four units of each system selected for approximately two weeks. In addition, at least one vendor representative must be onsite to provide training over the course of approximately one week during the evaluation.
Further details are available under Solicitation Number: N0017414SS005.
