LRBAA Today: Air Based Technologies
Dusty Lang: On Agency Announcements and the LRBAA is a BAA. One of--or two of the key differences for the LRBAA are that the topics are very broad. They're typically at a mission level and there's no specific date for the initial submission into the consideration.
Because these are very broad, we wanna make sure that we're providing some key process steps to make it--make sure we're not making it overly burdensome for folks. So we have a three-step process for this. The first step is what we call industry engagement and this is a fairly simple light lift because we--it's the stage at which you find out if it's something that we have interest in pursuing. It's a three-page white paper and a quad chart. You can also include a publicly available YouTube video that-- if it's a Tier L4 or later, and this gives the folks that are reviewing the submissions the opportunity to get a good sense of what you're looking to pursue and say whether or not that's something that's of interest to us. If it is, you'll be recommended to move forward to the virtual pitch step.
This is the step where you'll be able to submit some slides and then schedule a meeting to be able to present those slides to the government, stakeholders, for them to understand better what you're trying to accomplish. And there'll be a short period where they can do some question and answer. That question and answer is not, as through the whole process, not for them to be able to tell you how to proceed but to really make sure that they're understanding what you're trying to achieve. If there's still interest from there, they can go, "Yes, we're still looking at this and thinking it's something that is valuable for us to be able to pursue."
At that point, you'll be asked to submit the full written proposal. The goal here is that we're doing these other steps in order to make sure--you know, doing a full written proposal in a way that is conducive to everybody understanding what the actual tasks and the path forward is, is burdensome in terms of resource. So we wanna make sure both from the industry side or the academia side and the government's side, we're not adding some resource requirements without the need for things that we may not be able to pursue, either because it's not in a area that we're searching for or it's, you know, just something outside the bounds of what we would be able to pursue.
So one of the other things that I wanna do as part of this program is talk about what's happening with these topics. As I said, they're very broad and they're that way on purpose so we're leaving room for industry and academia and other folks to be creative and innovative in their submissions, but it's also, I think, good to hear about what we have going on, you know, at any one time within those mission areas. So that's why it's called LRBAA Today. And I'm very happy to, for this episode, to be welcoming Saadat Laiq to help to talk about the Air Based Technology topics.
So, Saadat, thank you so much for joining. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the--what's going on in the air-based technologies area today. Can you introduce yourself to our audience and also kind of go over what does air-based technology mean in terms of the DHS mission? Saadat Laiq: Sure, absolutely.
Good afternoon, Dusty, and it's a pleasure to be here. And to everyone tuned in, again, my name is Saadat Laiq and I'm the program manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems at the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate. My role supports improving the Homeland Security community's awareness, understanding, and utilization of airborne sensor systems as well as platforms for border security and public safety missions. I like to point out that unmanned aircraft systems are essential for rapid response and gaining invaluable situational awareness before engaging in potentially dangerous operations.
From the industry, I'm interested in hearing about-- I'm interested in hearing from industry as well as academia as well as others about projects that they are carrying out within the Enabling UAS domain. Enabling UAS is the domain that I cover, which is the opposite of Counter UAS, so Enabling UAS deals with keeping the aircraft flying, being compliant, whereas Counter UAS has to do with nefarious activities. The projects that I'm interested can be internal research and development or, as it's called within industry, IRADS, so businesses that have IRADS or carrying out IRADS, I'm very much interested in hearing about that, the type of work that you're carrying out within the Enabling UAS domain. I'm also interested in hearing from other government agencies about projects that they're carrying out within the same domain and it's a bonus when I can--when I'm hearing from other government agencies dealing with industry in helping bring the product to market, that is eventually--that is the ultimate goal: bringing the product to market.
Dusty: Thank you so much. And so you talked about S&T and you talked about research and development. Can you elaborate for us, you know, what is S&T doing in this space? You talked about what you're looking for, but what are you doing in the space now? Saadat: Sure, so I can tell you a little bit about our current investments. So, currently we are investing in fuel cell development.
The idea behind that is we want to have extended range. Drones need to fly further and they need to be on location much longer so that we can get a better sense for what's happening on the ground. We're investing in testing of drones: drones that make sense for our components.
Our components are Customs and Border Protection, it could be the Coast Guard, it could be Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it could be Homeland Security Investigations. So all these components are interested in drones. So we have retailers from our components and they say, "Hey, Saadat, what do you think about this particular type of drone?" So we offer them the ability to test and evaluate those drones. We are investing in drone cybersecurity vulnerability assessments.
We want to know the product before we buy the product, and we want to know the product's lineage. We want to know where it's coming from, we want to know whether the product might have vulnerabilities that are too risky for us, right? So we want to be able to determine the level of risk and, knowing that, helps support the Enabling UAS mission. We're also investing in IOS as well as Android app development that supports drone work, so these are some of the projects that we're currently supporting. Dusty: You got a lot going on. Saadat: Yup, we sure do. Dusty: So, great, so, thanks so much for that information.
That is really helpful. And I know, as you said, you're doing a lot and a lot of this work is being done outside the LRBAA, and LRBAA is not the only avenue you have to pursue work, which is great. Sometimes you guys have specific things you're looking for but the LRBAA, as we've discussed, is a great way to be able to, and you talked about it as well, find out what's happening in industry. So can you talk about what areas you think may be ones that are of particular interest for the LRBAA topic right now? Saadat: All right, so a good question and this is where the audience should have interest in it.
So DHS has an active interest in multi-mission drones. These drones can be fixed-wing, they can be multi-rotor type of drone configurations. We want drones that we can afford.
We don't have the DoD budget. This is DHS, okay? We want drones that offer us extended range. Again, this deals with we want to be able to go out further and we want to be able to remain on location much longer.
Drones that are modular helps our agents in the field. We want the drones to be plug and play, so if there's a cartridge or a sensor that can be removed or replaced, that is ideal. So think Lego blocks, think modular from that perspective. We want drones that are field maintainable. Technology does break down.
And we want the technology to be as simply--as simple to maintain as possible. We're looking for development to be open architecture. They're gonna certainly be open-source development and, with that, we're also looking for open-source sensors for a variety of ISR missions. So, to all the sensor developers, yes, we're interested in hearing from you and seeing the type of technology that you have to offer.
We are interested in hearing about vehicle-based remote ID detection solutions. Tell us about Beyond Visual Line of Sight capabilities for group 1, 2, 3, and 4 unmanned aircrafts. So that is a real interest for us. We're also interested in tethered drone capabilities. We're not seeing too many businesses out there that either are offering a tethered drone or perhaps offering a chip that would offer a tethered drone capability. So those that are inventing or offering the chip or are close to having it developed, tell us about what you have going on.
Again, small system--small sensor integrators, we're certainly interested in those folks. And the last item that we are tracking is, we would like to be able to move large amounts of data between an aircraft and folks on the ground. So those are some of the areas that we have a active interest in. Dusty: It's a lot. That's lots of great opportunities, which is one of the nice things about the LRBAA is there is a broad range for folks that are eligible to submit.
So, given all of the things you've just talked about, it does seem like there are opportunities for the different, you know, industry, academia, even FFRDCs, international, domestic. Can you talk about where do you think there might be some opportunities or is that--am I understanding correctly that it looks like this is very broadly applicable? Saadat: It is. So I am interested in hearing from all of the above, right? So I'm interested in hearing from industry, as you mentioned, FFRDCs, welcome their inputs. Academia, everyone. But specific--so, helpful to us would be technology integrators, okay? These are folks that understand the drone.
They're folks that understand the sensors and they know how to fuse those two types of technologies together. We want to hear from integrators that have successfully integrated solutions and it's also helpful that those folks know the Homeland Security mission. So we do have a broad mission, we have multiple components. I named a few at the outset. Again, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Coast Guard, all of these folks require drones, and they all have their unique mission sets.
So we want to be able to offer them solutions, and getting inputs from systems integrators can be helpful. Dusty: Nice, so, and one of the things, I'm sure, that is helpful is, I mean, you guys work with a broad, you know, range of folks already so you already have, you know, some of the great players in the industry, but it's always nice to get new ideas from new players and I would imagine as a new player it's a little bit daunting perhaps to come into this and not necessarily know where to start and I think you've given a lot of great information here, but is there some place where they can start doing some research to--because in order to be able to submit, they're gonna have to come with knowledge. You can't just say, "Hey, we're proposing this and it's completely off the wall and we don't know where it fits or how it fits or whatever." So are there some resources that you can offer for folks new to this area? Saadat: Yeah, absolutely. So, watch the news. That's it.
That is a great resource, right? So, take a keen interest in the type of work that DHS is performing, okay? So that's kind of obvious. Take a look at our component websites. Again, the components are, like, Coast Guard and CBP, right, Customs and Border Protection. Go to their websites, take a look at the work that they're carrying out, find out what they're doing in the unmanned space. I'm going to offer a few nuggets that will be helpful to--for submitting your--for your offers, right? First thing I want to mention is that it is difficult for government to keep up with industry, okay? So industry has great solutions and we want to hear about those solutions. New products are entering the market all the time, so obsolescence is an issue.
So as you're proposing technologies, it really has to be great technology. It should not be the kind of technology that we might be able to procure commercially. It should be--it should be leaps in evolution. So we're interested in hearing from offers that can take a concept and turn it into a product within 12 to 18 months.
That would be ideal. So this goes back to industry moving quickly and us having capability now to be able to support our missions. We're looking for businesses that have manufacturing capability, okay? If those manufacturing capabilities are in-house, that's great. If they're not, you might have a partner or at least have a plan, right? So you may have a great solution and you've done an excellent job submitting the offer. Talk a little bit about your manufacturing capability.
It instills more confidence. We would like to hear from folks that are plugged into the FAA so that is helpful, for example, important stuff in the area of remote ID, as well as Beyond Visual Line of Sight solutions, okay? So, experience with the government or, shall I say, relevant experience with the government, that's important. Again, we're interested in modular field-serviceable drones and, yeah, looking to hear from academia, national labs, and industry.
Dusty: Thank you, great. And for those that are, I should have mentioned, furiously trying to scribble down these URLs, we put them in the chat so you can avoid that typo or, if you're like me, you're writing it all down very, very quickly and then later can't read your chicken scratch, so we'll get those into the chat and I think they already were posted. So, one of the things you mentioned in one of--in the previous conversation, is we don't have DoD budget. We are very fortunate to have some colleagues with some larger budgets to be able to handle their mission but we're not--we're not in that same realm. So when we're looking at cost thresholds, we often get the question of why we don't put something in the LRBAA topics related to what is the threshold for submissions to these topics. I know it's challenging, but can you talk at all about what cost thresholds there might--how people may consider how they price things when they're submitting their proposals? Saadat: Mm-hm, sure thing, yeah.
So I won't be putting out a number. So, I will say that funding depends on the scope of the project. For work that has never been done before, it might be able to justify more funding. Work that is similar to existing work is not going--it may not have as much funding, okay? I expect most offers will be coming to S&T for funding that gets them to demonstration ready. We want to be able to fund so that you can take it to--so that we can take it to conclusion, okay? So we want to know about mature technologies. I do not intend on funding projects that are similar to commercially available products unless the offer is proposing a system solution that is--that might be disruptive.
An example of a disruptive technology might be a drone that is approved for Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations. Another disruptive technology might be a lightweight fast-charging battery that offers unprecedented range, okay? So that could be something that could be justified for more funding. And again, we're interested in group 1, 2, 3, and 4 rotary as well as fixed-wing aircrafts. Dusty: And you touched on this at the beginning but help folks understand this.
You know, at S&T we do R&D. We do not do procurements, so if you're looking at, hey, we have this great technology and it's completely developed, there are ways and paths that you can get that information into the appropriate stakeholders or customers at DHS but the LRBAA is for R&D and so that's great information on what you're looking for in terms of, you know, and how to cost it because I do think that folks need to keep in mind, one, cost it accurately because if you go too high we'll have to throw it out to begin with because we won't be able to afford it, potentially. If you go too low, then when we get to the end, we may not be able to afford it because we thought it was lower, so it's always important to come in realistic and to know what that end goal is so that you can understand what they're--where they're trying to go, so. And as part of that, can you help them with anything that may be beneficial for them to include in their submissions that help to demonstrate to you that they do know where they're going and how they're gonna get there? Saadat: Yeah, sure. Before I respond to that, I wanted to bring up another item that related to internal research and development.
So, industry may have situations where a sponsor has pulled out for any number of reasons, okay? But the technology is mature enough and you might need just a little bit more funding to conclude the effort. So, for that reason, IRAD--I bring up IRAD, okay? Bring that to us, but when you bring it to us, talk about cost, schedule, and scope. So, I would like to see that in the proposal.
Cost, schedule, and scope has to make sense, and with that, the profit also has to be reasonable. So this goes back to we don't have the DoD budget. So, I like Gantt charts.
If you have Gantt charts, please include them, okay? If you can't fit the entire Gantt chart, right, give me an abbreviated version so that we can get a sense that you guys know your tasks, you know your milestones, you know what the dependencies are, and we wanna hear about those dependencies. We know that there are certain issues taking place right now, for example, with supply chain issues, so tell us what those dependencies are. Deliverables have to be clear, okay? So make sure that your proposal is focused and proposals that do not have cost schedule and scope detail, it's a bad impression. It tells the reviewers that not enough thought was put into the proposal. So please do your best. Dusty: I love Gantt charts as well.
They're one of my favorite tools for planning purposes and to see where things are going and to try to make mitigating, you know, strategies, so I think that's a great suggestion for folks to think about. So thanks--you've provided a lot of information. There's so much that's going on under this topic that folks may not have realized are all parts and pieces of this and it helps to appreciate all the work that's being done.
When you think about, you know, you put this topic out there and you have, you know, this mission to support. When you think about ideal outcomes for this topic, what comes to mind for you? Saadat: So, the ideal outcome is working with a contractor, okay, that is going to meet the timeline and is going to provide us the product that we asked for or the solution that we asked for. So if we're able to give you a 12-month contract and work will not get completed within time, that's not a good situation for you nor S&T. It's very difficult to extend contracts. So work has to get done on time.
But more importantly, the product, see, S&T is not a procurement arm for the components, so I wanna make that clear to the audience. We are helping the components. We are there to provide them technical expertise, okay? So when industry comes to us with a product or a solution, we wanna be able to take that and we expect that product will eventually be able to make it to the market or at least the industry will be able to deliver it to our components. So the products have to be transitionable.
They have to be able to--we need to be able to get them to our components. So for those reasons, I am looking at technologies that are within the technology readiness level 5, 6, and 7, okay? It doesn't mean that we're not interested in other technologies, but we are interested in mature technologies, and those are the type of any technology that we would like to fund. Ideally, the technologies are going to be open architecture, open source.
This is a--this is a competitive space. It's more competitive for small businesses. You have businesses that are in the space today, but they may not be in the business a year from now. So that is where proprietary technology can be a challenge for us. Again, not saying that not have proprietary technology but it's easier to work with open architecture or open source, okay? So we have to carefully evaluate risk. Dusty: So, thanks so much.
And so, I wanna give folks some resources for the LRBAA before we go to some questions from the audience. So we had some submitted and we'll have some that have been put up now as we're here, but if you have additional questions that you think Saadat may be able to help with, please make sure to get those into the Q&A as we go over the LRBAA resources. So there's two things that I wanted to make sure folks were aware of. The first one is this LRBAA Today webinar series, today's topic, "Air-Based Technologies," is the latest one but we've done several.
Like I said, we're in the third season so you can go find all of the previous episodes and learn more about other particular topics and we'll put the link to that in the chat. And then the other thing is, is as I mentioned at the beginning, the LRBAA, for more information about how this works and what the program does in general, not specific to this topic, we have an Insights Outreach webinar episode that we did that you can reference and learn more of the details for, for that. So now, and before--we'll go into some questions but before folks leave too early, at the end, I'm gonna show them how they can get to this topic and apply. So stay tuned for that.
But first, some questions from the audience. All right, some of these we may have been able to do already but let's look at what's out there. Have to put on my old people's glasses. So, "Any updates on USA--" I keep saying that.
"UAS jamming technologies for critical infrastructure sites? Detection software is useless if a drone can't be prevented from entering restricted airspace." Saadat: Good question. I'm the Enabling UAS person.
Again, my goal is to keep the aircraft up in the air, make sure that it supports the regulations that those aircrafts need to adhere to. Counter UAS is another program manager within DH S&T, so any updates relating to UAS jamming really should be addressed to Counter UAS. Dusty: And that's--thank you for making that distinction so nicely because it is difficult when you're in industry and you're not as familiar with how the government works to understand that these two technology areas are separated and we did a C-UAS LRBAA Today webinar that folks can check out in the previously mentioned webinar series that link was sent out.
Okay, a second question: "How will DHS manage long-term requirement for sense and avoid, detect and avoid? Will it be an onboard solution or a ground-based solution?" Saadat: I think it's going to be a combination of both, onboard solution as well as ground-based solutions. Those solutions are needed for group 2 and 3 aircraft. We are very much interested in hearing from industry about the sense and avoid. But specifically, the type of work that will be compliant with the FAA's Beyond Visual Line of Sight. So, we're interested in both, aircraft as well as ground-based solutions.
Maybe the solution is shrinking of existing sensors, okay? Could be an engineering effort. So we'll just have to take a look at what drops in for the LRBAA. Dusty: Thank you.
"Can you give another quick description of what you mean by UAS enabling technologies?" Saadat: Okay, so a UAS enabling technology could be a fuel cell, okay? Again, remember, this is all about keeping the bird in the air and supporting the missions. Within the Enabling UAS space, it's all about supporting the components' mission. So a component may be--a component might have drones for intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance activities, and they might be collecting large amounts of data. That data needs to be processed.
So the backhaul infrastructure needs to exist and it needs to be such that data can be transmitted between the aircraft and ground without any disruption. So, disruptions in the form of latency, any type of disruptions, okay? So, Enabling UAS is all about supporting law enforcement type of missions, it's about responding to disasters. I hope that provides a little bit better explanation for what Enabling UAS is about. Counter UAS is--would be about drone activities that are not legal.
Dusty: All right, thank you. I think that will be helpful. And here's one, you know, a lot of times folks will point out that the government uses a lot of acronyms so if there's any acronyms that were used today and you're not sure, you can reach out to us and I'll--we'll talk about how you can do that at the end here, but this one has an acronym in it that I don't know. Maybe you can talk about that as you answer the question.
So, "Do the sUASs need to be compliant with the DLA Blue List or will you do your own lineage check?" Saadat: That's a good question. Glad somebody asked that. So, yeah, the Blue UAS is the DoD version of drones that are okay to use for missions. We can certainly take a look at blue UAS drones. We want to have--DHS will have its own approved UASs so, in short, the answer is No, it can be drones that will pass the cybersecurity vulnerability assessments.
That's the short version, so it does not necessarily have to be a blue UAS. So if you have a drone, bring it in, through the LRBAA process, right? And we can work the process of the cybersecurity vulnerability assessments. Dusty: There's two questions that I'm gonna answer very quickly instead of passing them over to you and they just-- so one was related to can you use OTAs or do we use OTAs or consortiums through the LRBAA? So those are two different kinds of things.
The OTA, Other Transaction Authority, is a type of vehicle that's used to partner with folks, so there's grants, there's contracts, there's OTAs, there's different ways that we can partner with folks. And all of those are eligible under the LRBAA. The other important part of their question, consortia, is a No. So there is a piece at the beginning of the solicitation that says: "This is--the LRBAA does not do this," and it talks about consortias and, you know, those types of kind of agreements.
We're looking to be able to do an agreement with industry and there is an entity with whom we are working. Saadat mentioned earlier, you know, being able to talk about whether you can manufacture and those sorts of things. You can subcontract, you can have those types of partnerships, meaning that if you're a company and you do, you know, R&D but you have a good relationship with a manufacturer and then they're going to be doing that, that can be a subcontract under the effort. If there's more specific questions, you can reach out to us. The other one that I wanted to talk about is the question related to how we contact the team, the sUAS team.
And the answer to that, for the purposes of the LRBAA, is that the contact method is through the--to find out if there's interest in what you're trying to do, is that first step of industry engagement. It's a light lift on purpose, and that's how we're--that's the mechanism in to say, "Here's what we--here's the idea that we have and we're submitting it to you." So it's--the LRBAA is specifically a vehicle to hear what your ideas are versus a, "Hey, what do you think we should do?" For those sorts of things and, Saadat, you had mentioned this in a conversation we had prior to today's webinar when we were talking about it, the sam.gov is another resource folks can use to learn and it's one I had not necessarily heard used in that context, but I think makes a lot of sense, to go out to sam.gov and say, you know, put in some keywords and see what is out there. For those not familiar with it, real quickly, sam.gov is where all the opportunities for RFIs or
Requests for Quotes or Requests for Information, Requests for Proposals, are put, and it's a really great place to learn about what is being sought. Okay, so more questions for Saadat, the guy we're here to hear about today. You mentioned tethered drones. There was a question that was asking about and I know we chatted about this, whether we wanted to be a co-sponsor. It was a general question of would we--are we interested in co-sponsoring on DoD-type efforts? Do you wanna talk about the ways that we can work with or from the technologies with DoD? Saadat: Yeah, we can certainly take a look at the work that you're currently performing for DoD.
It has to--there will be research on your part to see what mission sets--what mission set or sets it fits for DHS. And if the mission case is there or the business case is there, then we can certainly look at that. Dusty: No, we're not afraid to let them do some of the heavy work and then come in and make it terrible for us, right? Okay, "Is platform output content/intelligence considered UAS enabling technology?" Saadat: I'm sorry, is what is considered? Dusty: "Is platform output content/intelligence considered UAS enabling tech?" I think they're saying what's being put out from-- Saadat: Oh, I see, okay. So the--I get, yeah. Our focus is the engineering development, okay? So with respect to output content, I think that might be referring to, in the question, what's in there, intelligence, so I imagine that would--the person asking the question is talking about, like, data gathering.
So that's--that would be--that deals with the mission. It's not my area. My area specifically deals with building the tool, okay? So, I wanna make sure that I am providing my components the right type of hammer. How they use the hammer, I have nothing to do with it. So that would be a conversation with the benefactor of the hammer, so that's where you would talk to the folks over at Coast Guard or Customs and Border Protection or Homeland Security Investigations or what have you, and also, this goes back to the comment that Dusty made earlier: take a look at the RFIs. Sometimes the RFIs will give you some background and the RFI may come out of our components, so you wanna have a good sense for what these drones are being utilized for.
So in the case of enabling technology, I am interested in, let's say, a small hyper-spectral sensor that can be integrated onto a group 3 drone, okay? I might be interested in a synthetic amateur radar that could be integrated onto a group 3 aircraft. How the component utilizes that product, I don't get into the component's business, so I hope that helps answer the question. Dusty: I think--and I think that's a great way to kind of reinforce the, what I consider and was alluding to earlier, the responsibility of the folks looking to propose to the LRBAA. We wanna make sure that it's--while we're open to really, you know, innovative ideas and new approaches and that's the purpose of it is, it's still important for them to understand where this would land and how it would be used. And why I really like the idea of the sam.gov,
because a lot of times folks will come to us and will say, "Hey, I have this idea of how to do this," and it's like, my question usually, because I'm not savvy in all the mission spaces across, you know, all of DHS's very, very broad area, is "What's being done now with--by the customer for this, and how is this better?" So if you have an idea on how to approach something, that sam.gov can be a good place to start with, what are they looking for. And obviously, if there's a specific request out there for something, submit through that, you know, and if it, you know, if it's something that inspires another idea, that's where, you know, the LRBAA is a great tool. All right, I think let's try one more question and then we'll probably be wrapping up. I wanna try to find one that helps to kind of define the interest here.
So I found one and hopefully this is a good one. "Is your team platform-centric or data-centric? As a center integrator, we always share the platform and then ask to fold space into five visits." And I just like that end part of "Let's fold space into five visits." Saadat: So we're interested in both: both platform as well as sensor.
So we want more than the real estate where the sensor can be accommodated, so it really depends on the type of platform that you're offering. It might be a great platform with the right type of sensor that might replace the capability currently in use by the component, okay? Or it might be a situation where a component is happy with the platform that they're currently using and they come to S&T and say, "Look, we've got this--we have a significant amount of assets of a particular type, we'd like a centered sensor and integrate it." I don't have that requirement, okay? But that could certainly come up.
I'm still interested in knowing more about the small sensors that industry might be able to bring to fruition. Dusty: I think I'm going to let you off the hook there with one last is there anything you wanna wrap up with before I tell folks how to find this topic? Saadat: Yeah, absolutely. So the process is straightforward.
Dusty, at the outset, mentioned that it's a three-page write-up put forward, your narrative. I would not focus too much about talking about the business. Really focus about what you have to offer. You have three pages.
Make use of those three pages. Talk about cost, okay, talk about schedule. If you can talk about risk, that would be great as well, okay? So try to give us as much information as possible. And you also have the ability to upload a video.
Videos are great. It's a great way to--for us to get a sense for you, your business, the product, et cetera, right? So, wish everyone good luck. Thank you for having me. Dusty: Thank you so much, Saadat.
And so, the topic is on our OIP portal, so the--and there's a BAA section of that. So for the LRBAA, there's the specific link and we'll throw that in the chat as well, so folks can use that to click on. You'll click on "Funding and Open Funding Opportunities," then identify the opportunity by searching under Research Area of "Securing Borders" and select topic SELF-CONTROL BORD 03 05 in the results.
You'll--if you are not registered already, you'll have to register your company and then it'll guide you through how to submit this initial industry engagement and then you'll be asked to move along through the process if there's interest. If there's questions related to the process or any challenges, or if we used an acronym today that you're not familiar with, which is unfortunately something we're so used to doing that we don't realize it, you can get more information by emailing LRBAA.Admin@hq.dhs.gov. That will be thrown into the chat as well if it hasn't already. And we have somebody that monitors that email address constantly, so we're always looking to get the answers back to folks as soon as we can and we appreciate the interest in the program. So, again, thank you very much, Saadat. This was a great opportunity to talk to folks about this topic and, hopefully, raise the bar of the number of topics we get in that have some level of interest and can help, you know, DHS S&T with the securing of our homeland.
Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for joining us and, you know, keep tuned for more LRBAA Todays coming in the future.
2023-04-16 11:47
