Contract Award: Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) (State College, Pennsylvania) – $18,144,797

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), State College, Pennsylvania, is awarded an $18,144,797 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Undersea Systems Technologies Development. This contract provides for the development of critical undersea technologies in the areas of: 1) Multi-Material Propulsor Prototype (M2P2) design concepts; 2) Virginia Class Improved Propulsor Bearing (VIPB) development; 3) Flow noise; 4) Station keeping; 5) Materials; and 6) Acoustic monitoring. ARL shall develop critical enabling technology to significantly improve existing systems beyond the current state-of-the-art, and meet the needs of future undersea systems. Work will be performed in State College, Pennsylvania (74%); Washington, D.C. (20%); Newport, Rhode Island (4%); and Gorton, Connecticut (2%). Work is expected to be completed on Feb. 24, 2027. The maximum dollar value, including a 60-month base period, is $18,144,797. Fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds will be incrementally funded with an initial obligation of $745,000 at time of award. Funds in the amount of $15,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under the N00014-20-S-B001 Office of Naval Research long range broad agency announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology. Since proposals are received throughout the year under the long range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014-22-C-1035).