SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Space Based Radar On-Board Processing Broad Agency Announcement as Supplemented and Applicable to Program Research and Development Agreement
- Notice Date
- 2/12/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Space Command, SMC - Space and Missiles System Center, 2420 Vela Way, Suite 1467, El Segundo, CA, 90245-4659
- ZIP Code
- 90245-4659
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-02-18
- Response Due
- 3/15/2002
- Archive Date
- 3/30/2002
- Point of Contact
- David Block, Contracting Officer, Phone (310) 363-3187, - Ryan Space, Systems Engineer, Phone (310) 363-2636,
- E-Mail Address
-
david.block@losangeles.af.mil, thomas.space@losangeles.af.mil
- Description
- 1.1 INTRODUCTION Space and Missile Center (SMC), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announce a Space Based Radar On-Board Processing (OBP) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as supplemented and applicable to Program Research and Development Agreement (PRDA) soliciting research proposals from private industry, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations for research. The purpose of this PRDA is to design and demonstrate a prototype OBP Architecture that can meet the tactical user near real time needs of Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED). The OBP development must be affordable and capable of being transitional to the evolving SBR baseline with a planned Initial Launch Capability (ILC) in 2010. Proposed technology development must be demonstrated in 2004 or 2005 at TRL-5 as a minimum. The period of performance for proposals awarded in response to this PRDA is for FY02. Proposals shall contain a brief summary of the work from concept development through demonstration and a ceiling rough order of magnitude (CROM) price spread by Government Fiscal Year (1 Oct-30 Sep). It is expected that an effort that spans Fiscal Years will be incrementally funded. Based upon funding and other criterion, the Government intends to award multiple contracts. It is also the Government's intentions to restrict the total value of any single contract awarded as a result of this PRDA to a maximum price of $1M/FY02. Funding in later years will depend on the demonstration plan(s) that are selected. As part of the response Offerors are encouraged to propose an OBP risk reduction technology roadmap within the allotted funding described herein. Offerors are cautioned that award of any contract(s) pursuant to this PRDA is subject to the availability of funds. 1.2 PRDA ELIGIBILITY This PRDA is open only to organizations located in the United States. Proposals from foreign owned or controlled organizations will be considered if properly certified by the DoD to bid on U.S. DoD programs. This is an unrestricted solicitation. The government reserves the right to reserve the contract(s) to small business if they can satisfactorily demonstrate the requisite capability. For more information regarding OBP and this PRDA, please visit our site at http://www.losangeles.af.mil, then click on "SMC Organizations," then "XR," then "Projects," then "SBR." To be eligible for award of a contract under this PRDA, a prospective offeror must have demonstrated experience with relevant basic an/or applied research areas, and/or knowledge of overhead reconnaissance systems. Furthermore, the offeror must meet minimum responsibility standards as set forth in FAR 9.104-1. 1.4 BAA/PRDA SCHEDULE 12 February 2002 (PRDA Announcement released), 15 March 2002 (Final day to submit proposals), 12 April 2002 (Proposals to evaluations complete), 30 April 2002 (Contracts awarded) 2.0 TECHNICAL AREAS The SBR OBP Program is most interested in investigating on-board processing technologies applicable to the SBR Program. The SBR OBP Program is also interested in developing radar signal processing algorithms, associated technologies and system concepts and architectures that encompass OBP and will meet the SBR mission objectives. 2.1 DISCUSSIONS General requirements for SBR are as follows: - Mission: Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED), in priority order. - Theater tasking - Robust Theater downlink compatible with 2010 theater communication capabilities of SAR and GMTI data with sufficient resolution and timeliness to perform the SBR mission. The OBP shall accept data from the payload beamformer in the form of multiple wideband radar (i.e., unprocessed) channels pre-sub-band combination as leveraged off existing and future payload technology developments. The OBP will combine the sub-bands and create either GMTI detections or SAR image data. The SAR data may be either complex imagery data or detected imagery data. The SAR data will be downlinked to theater assets typical of the 2010 timeframe. The capacity of the OBP and associated buffers will assure timely delivery of the products with no loss of collected radar data. Front-end collection data rates will be commensurate with high resolution, multi-channel SAR, GMTI, and DTED operation for up to 25 minutes (TBR) at a time. OBP shall support SBR performance requirements (e.g. area rates, search modes, latency, probability of detection, false alarm density, etc.) as described in the Electronic Scanning Array (ESA) Technical Requirements Document (TRD), (March 28, 2001). Offerors must possess at a minimum a SECRET security clearance level in order to obtain a copy of the TRD. To obtain a copy of the TRD, call the SBR Program Office, Lt Ryan Space at (310) 363-2636. Security Clearance must be verified. Proposals to the PRDA shall identify key interface parameters such as data rate, power requirements, word length, speed, storage capacity, buffer requirements, number of ports (channels), redundancy, interchangeability, etc. Processor and Mass Data Storage (MDS) size, weight, power, cost and radiation tolerance are key parameters and will be factors in determining contract award(s). Output data shall be compressed for communications downlink capability. Output data and communications interface capability and parameters shall be proposed. Note that the MDS and downlink capabilities shall also support raw wideband data downlink to CONUS. All OBP algorithms shall be documented as well as all OBP features that would allow on-orbit algorithm modification. For the purpose of this PRDA, the Government considers the OBP to include MDS, Back End Processor (BEP) and interface elements (at the beamformer/pulse compression interface). The BEP shall provide algorithm capability for sub-band combining to create either GMTI detections or SAR image data. OBP system proposed concepts that incorporate a complete FEP (distinct from current payload designs and including A/D, channelizers and beamformer) with a BEP shall provide justification as to how this enhances performance, cost parameters, and the SBR mission. Output data shall be compressed for communications downlink capability, if appropriate. Output data and communications interface capability and parameters shall be proposed. Note that the MDS and downlink capabilities shall also support raw data (post-FEP) downlink to CONUS. 3.0 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS Offerors interested in submitting a proposal are cautioned that only a Government Contracting Officer may obligate the Government to any agreement involving the expenditure of Government funds. 3.1 PRDA VALIDITY PERIOD The Contracting Officer will accept proposals up to, but no latter than 4:00 PM PST on 15 March 2002. 3.2 INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS 3.2.1 DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS The delivery address for proposal being submitted via US mail, commercial courier or Government courier is: If Unclassified: ATTN: David Block/ 180 Skynet Way, Suite 2234/ LA AFB, SMC/XRZ/ El Segundo, CA 90245 If Classified: ATTN: SMC/XRS / 180 Skynet Way, Suite 2234 / LA AFB, SMC/XRS / El Segundo, CA 90245 / Inside Label/Receipt: ATTN: David Block (XRZ) Offerors are strongly cautioned that proposals must be submitted in sufficient time to arrive by 4:00 PM PST on 15 March 2002. Offerors are advised to leave sufficient time in their delivery plans for any intermediary handling of proposals. All mailed in or hand delivered proposals must be submitted with a softcopy of the proposal in CD format. The Space and Missile Systems Center is a secure facility. Offerors who do no possess SMC access badges, that are hand delivering proposals in accordance with the above instructions, shall submit visitor requests at least 48 hours in advance of delivering the proposal in order to gain entry into SMC. To initiate visitor requests, call Marzella Colter at (310) 363-2508 and Lt Ryan Space at (310) 363-2636. Hand delivery of proposals by offerors who do not possess access badges will not be accepted unless a visitor request was submitted prior to delivery. Additionally, hand delivery of proposals will only be accepted for TOP SECRET or SCI proposals. For security screening purposes, hand delivery proposals must be submitted to: Outside Label: ATTN: SMC/XRS / Bldg 125/Vault / Inside Label/Receipt: ATTN: David Block (XRZ) 3.2.2 AWARD NOTIFICATION Letters notifying offerors of the Government's decision to accept or reject their proposal will be sent to offerors after the evaluation of their proposal has been completed, or upon the decision that funding will not be available. The rejection notification letter will include comments on why a proposal was not selected. 3.3 CONTRACT TYPE The Government contemplates a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) type contractual arrangement. It is the Government's intent to incorporate the offerors technical proposal by reference as the Statement of Work for any contract resulting from the proposed effort. 3.4 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS A complete proposal package shall consist of the following: (1) Cover Page (2) Executive Summary (3) Technical/Management Section (4) Price Section (5) Security Section The following submission instructions apply: (1) Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with paragraph 3.2.1 DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS. (2) Proposals must contain all applicable restrictive markings, e.g., proprietary markings, use marking, security markings. All proposals shall clearly indicate limitations on the disclosure of their contents. The offeror is cautioned that portions of the proposal may be subject to release under terms of The Federal Freedom Information Act, 5 USC 552. (3) Records or data bearing a restrictive legend may be included in the proposal. Any proprietary data that the offeror intends to be used by the Government for evaluation purposes only must be so identified. The offeror must also identify any technical data contained in the proposal that is to be treated by the Government as limited rights data. In the absence of such identification, the Government will be assumed to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the proposal. (4) Classified proposals shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with applicable National Security policies and guidance documents for Collateral and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) to include: the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), the NISPOM supplement for SCI activities, EO12958, the Air Force SBR Security Classification Guide, dated 11 Oct 01, the NRO Security Classification Guide 5.1, dated May 2000, the NRO security manual dated June 2000, other applicable DCID Directives and Executive Orders, and the Space Based Radar System (SBR) Program Protection Plan. For a copy of the SBR Program Protection Plan call Gale Michel at (703) 808-7930 or Lt Suji Yoo at (310) 363-0837. (5) The extent of agreement section of the proposal cover page shall indicate any objections and/or issues the offeror has with the terms and conditions of the sample contract. 3.5 CONTRACTUAL CONTENT Packaging and Marking requires standard commercial practices unless otherwise proposed. The proposal should specify the appropriate inspection and acceptance as either Source or Destination. The Government will furnish no equipment, information, material, labor or facilities. 3.6 PROPOSAL CONTENT 3.6.1 COVER PAGE The Cover Page shall not exceed 4,000 characters (approximately one page). See Attachment 1, Proposal Format. 3.6.2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Executive Summary shall not exceed 8,000 characters (approximately two pages). See Attachment 1, Proposal Format. 3.6.3 TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT The Technical/Management Section shall not exceed 28,000 characters (approximately seven pages). See Attachment 1, Proposal Format. 3.6.4 PRICE The Price Section shall not exceed 4,000 characters (approximately one page). See Attachment 1, Proposed Format. 3.6.5 SECURITY The Security Section shall not exceed 4,000 characters (approximately one page). See Attachment 1, Proposal Format. 4.0 PROPOSAL EVALUATION 4.1 CRITERIA Proposals submitted in response to this BAA/PRDA will be evaluated in the following areas: Technical/Management, Price and Security. 4.1.1 TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT CRITERIA The following criteria are applied during step 1 of the evaluation (see section 4.2). (1) Prior Experience with Radar Processing. Due to the short timeline involved it is imperative that the principal project personnel, institution, or corporation demonstrate prior experience with radar signal processing and design and fabrication of processors. (2) Potential Contributions to SBR. The applicability and potential impact of the proposed effort to the SBR mission. The SBR Program is most interested in projects that significantly impact the ability of the SBR to accomplish its warfighter mission and provide dramatic improvement through new mission capabilities that directly solve critical intelligence problems. (3) Innovation of the proposed effort. The degree to which the proposed effort presents a new approach to achieving the SBR goals. This could involve the clever use of existing technology or where necessary, the development of new technologies. (4) Scalability and Adaptability. The ability of the proposed architecture to incorporate changing SBR requirements. As throughput requirements and algorithms changes occur, the proposed design should have the flexibility to incorporate these changes. (5) Uniqueness of the proposed effort to SBR. The degree to which the proposed effort is solely, and uniquely applicable to SBR. Due to funding constraints, the SBR Program is most interested in projects that are unique to the SBR Program with little or no likelihood of development by other Government sources. The following criteria are applied during step 2 of the evaluation (see section 4.2): (1) Technical Approach. The degree to which the Offerors technical approach demonstrates understanding of the technical challenges, including: a. Description of the OBP objectives, tasks and subtasks. b. Interface/interchangeability of the OBP c. OBP architecture design concepts that leverage off existing and future technology developments. d. Discussion of scientific and engineering practices. e. Discussion and understanding of the technical risks. f. Implementation of processing algorithms for SAR, GMTI (2) Management and Risk Management Approach. The degree to which the offerors management and project plans demonstrate the ability to effectively and efficiently manage and administer the program to a successful conclusion, including: a. Insight into the project's progress and into the issues that will arise during the course of the project, b. A project schedule that reflects the key events of the project and depicts a realistic, time-phased plan to achieve the proposal's objective, c. A project schedule that reflects key milestones, and technology development, which clearly works to mitigate identified risk areas for SBR OBP, d. Clear descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of any teaming organizations describing the offerors approach to providing management direction and oversight to these teaming organizations, e. Clear descriptions of the experience and qualifications of key personnel, f. Adequate available facilities, equipment and information to achieve the proposal's objectives, g. Program risk identification and mitigation approaches. 4.1.2 SECURITY CRITERIA Security will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis only. Failure to pass the security related criteria might be grounds for eliminating a proposal from consideration. Additionally, the following criteria apply: (1) Personnel and Facilities. The availability and commitment of adequately cleared personnel (with appropriate SCI accesses are required), required facilities, AIS and communications to support the effort in a timely and acceptable manner at the appropriate level of classification. (2) Security Management Plan. Compliance and management commitment (appropriate to the classification of the effort) with the applicable DOD 52200.1-R, NRO Security Manual (NSM) dated June 16, 2000 and/or the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) or NISPOM Supplement, DOD 52220.22-M-Supl, dated February 1995. 4.1.3 Price Criteria Price must be broken down into the tasks and subtasks described in the Technical/Management section of the proposal. Failure to do so might be grounds for eliminating a proposal from consideration. Price of proposal will also be evaluated based on the realism of proposed costs within stated budget constraints. 4.2 EVALUATION PROCEDURE It is the policy of the Air Force and NRO to treat all proposals as source selection sensitive information before award and to only disclose the contents for evaluation purposes. The offeror must indicate on the proposal cover page any limitation to be placed on Disclosure of Information contained on the proposal. The selection or non-selection of proposals for contract award shall be unilateral and shall not be subject to offerors' protest or disputes. By submission of a proposal responding to this PDRA, the offeror accepts these restrictions and consents to a waiver of any right to file a protest or receive a formal debriefing if the offer is not accepted. For this PRDA, Price, Technical and Management areas are most important. The Security area will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. The evaluation proves will occur in two steps. Step 1: Upon receipt of the proposal, an evaluation committee will perform an evaluation, using only the proposal's Executive Summary, to determine the prior experience with radar processing, potential contribution to SBR, the degree of innovativeness and the degree of uniqueness of the proposal to SBR. Proposals found to have insufficient merit based on this evaluation will be eliminated from further consideration. The offeror will be notified in writing that the proposal is no longer being considered for funding. The notification will include general rationale for the non-selection of the proposal. Offerors are strongly cautioned that the Executive Summary must address prior experience with radar processing potential contributions to SBR, the innovativeness of the proposed effort and the uniqueness of the proposed effort to SBR are required by paragraphs 3.6.2 and 4.1.1 above. Failure to address all four areas may be grounds for eliminating a proposal from further consideration. Step 2 Proposals that successfully complete step 1 will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria set forth above for step 2 of the evaluation. Offerors may be contacted during this phase by the Contracting Officer to obtain clarifications regarding their proposals. The Contracting Officer will make awards and/or conduct negotiations with offerors selected for award. In previous PRDA solicitations, there has been insufficient funding to fund all proposals that successfully completed step 1 of the evaluation. The Government anticipates that this may occur in this solicitation as well, depending upon the number and quality of proposals received. 4.3 STAND-ALONE EVALUATION The proposals will be evaluated based on the merit and relevance of the specific research proposed as it relates to the SBR OBP program objective and other criteria described above, rather than against other proposals for research in the same general area or in other areas. 5.0 AWARD Program initiation is dependent upon contract award. Awards(s) will be made to the offeror(s) whose proposal(s) conform(s) to the PRDA solicitation and whose proposal(s) is (are) considered most advantageous to the Government, considering all factors. The Government reserves the right to make awards in some, all, or none of the research areas in paragraph 2.0 above. The Government also reserves the right to make a single award, multiple awards, or no contract awards, depending on technical quality of proposals, funding availability or limitations, and the ability to negotiate a fair and reasonable price. 6.0 QUESTIONS Questions concerning this PRDA should be addressed to the SBR Program Contracting Officer, Email address: David.Block@losangeles.af.mil or telephone (310) 363-3187.
- Place of Performance
- Address: At contractor's.
- Record
- SN00025702-W 20020214/020212213219 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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