On behalf of U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) Division, this Special Notice is to inform vendors of a Virtual Industry Day that CBP will be hosting on January 26th, 2023 to discuss an upcoming NII procurement for Anomaly Detection Algorithm (ADA), per the Draft Statement of Work (SOW).
The Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) Systems Program exists within the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) with the mission to develop, acquire, deploy, operate, and maintain a wide variety of NII technology detection systems which support operations in all CBP operational vectors. NII technology is currently deployed to airport, seaport, international mail, express consignment, rail, and commercial truck / private vehicle / pedestrian land border port of entry (POE) operational environments. NII systems such as vehicle X-ray, radiation portal monitors (RPM), chemical detectors, etc., are tools that provide a more efficient and effective means to screen conveyances and individuals for contraband and identify threats, compared to manual search techniques.
The NII Systems Program is working to recapitalize on existing assets and expand coverage of NII scanning technology with modern, integrated Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) systems capable of greatly increasing scanning throughput. A key goal of the program is to reduce the current NII examination processing time to: (1) increase the number of cargo conveyances, private vehicles, packages, containers, and individuals scanned, (2) to improve security, and (3) reduce the number of officer / agent hours used to conduct NII examinations – both without impact to the flow of legitimate trade and travel. In recent years, the NII Program has begun executing a limited number of technology demonstrations (TDs) involving Multi-Energy Portal (MEP), Low-Energy Portal (LEP), and CT mail-scanning X-ray systems with the intent to pursue full NII integration across a wide range of NII systems, while implementing a variety of innovative concepts of operation (CONOP) to improve operational efficiencies, eliminate administrative redundancies, increase CBP officer (CBPO) productivity, and further enhance CBPO safety.
The development and implementation of Anomaly Detection Algorithms (ADA) to initially assist CBP officers and ultimately automate image analysis is a key component of the above mentioned demonstrations, with specific interest on algorithms which facilitate screening for contraband / anomaly detection in passenger vehicles and cargo conveyances. These TD system deployments are already generating a large volume of commerce image data streams, which is being compiled in CBP cloud environment and made available for various analyses including algorithm development. The desired end state for the NII Systems Program is an open-source platform that supports autonomous image analysis for low-risk trade and travel, provides assistance to CBP officers for review of high-risk trade and travel images, and the analysis of more complex images, Therefore, it is critical that all algorithms have the ability to be integrated easily into the larger NII platform and not solely be integrated into closed proprietary applications/systems. ADA should increase the thoroughness and/or reduce the time needed overall to conduct image review, to clear low-risk shipments, and to reduce CBP officer manpower commitments to sustain high volume NII scanning operations. CBP defines an algorithm as a step-by-step procedure that defines a set of instructions for a machine to perform those functions to return an output.
This Virtual Industry Day is an opportunity for Industry (vendors) and CBP to discuss the requirements indicated in the draft SOW, inform on the intended acquisition strategy, and clarify any questions before we release a formal solicitation. Feedback and questions are welcomed. The Industry Day is intended to be conducted via MS Teams. In order to participate in the industry day and receive an invitation link, vendors must email Contracting Officer, Peter Giambone at [email protected] and Austin Rackets at [email protected] informing your intention to attend the industry day. All requests to attend the industry day shall have an email subject of “Attendance to CBP NII ATR Industry Day” and be electronically submitted to the POCs mentioned above (Peter and Austin) by 3:30 PM EST on January 20th, 2023. All requests must include the names, company, and email addresses of all intended attendees.
Once the suspense date on January 20th has passed, CBP will send an invitation out to all interested attendees for the Industry Day on January 26th, in which a time of day will be determined.
In addition, if interested attendees have prepared questions for the industry day ahead of time, please ensure to provide all questions to the POCs listed above by 1:00pm on Tuesday, January 24th, in order to give time for CBP to prepare for questions. All questions shall contain a email subject of “Questions for CBP NII ATR Industry Day”.
This meeting will be conducted pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 – Market Research and Part 15.201(e). It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ) Invitation for Bids (IFB) or a promise to issue an RFP or formal acquisition in the future. This session does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever nor does it intend to award a contract on the basis of this session. All BPA Holders of the CBP ICS BPA are invited to this outreach session.
Read the Draft Statement of Work (SOW) – “NII ADA SOW 1-13-23” at the link.
