SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Communications-on-the-Move (COTM) Nulling Antenna Study
- Notice Date
- 10/18/2002
- 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-03-95
- Archive Date
- 12/4/2002
- Point of Contact
- 1Lt Dick Wong, Technical Point of Contact, Phone (310) 336-4867, - 1Lt Nikki Thomas, Contracting Point of Contact, Phone (310) 336-4602,
- E-Mail Address
-
dick.wong@losangeles.af.mil, nikki.thomas@losangeles.af.mil
- Description
- A. INTRODUCTION: The MILSATCOM Joint Program Office (MJPO), HQ Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) is interested in receiving proposals on the research and development effort described in Section B below for the Communications-on-the-Move (COTM) Nulling Antenna for MILSATCOM applications. This effort will be a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract acquired in accordance with FAR SubPart 35.016, Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), as supplemented by the procedures applicable to Program Research and Development Agreements (PRDA). Proposals shall be submitted by 19 November 2002 at 1600 hours Pacific Standard Time (PST), and addressed to: SMC/MCK; Attn: 1Lt Nikki Thomas; 2420 Vela Way, Suite 1467-A8; Los Angeles AFB; El Segundo, CA 90245-4659. This is a Full and Open Competition. The small business size standard NAICS 541710 (1000 employees) applies. The Government reserves the right to award one of the contracts to a small business that satisfactorily demonstrates the required capability. Offerors must be registered in the Department of Defense Central Contractor Registration database (http://www.ccr.gov/) to be eligible for contract award. Proposals submitted must comply with this announcement. Proposals received after the specified cutoff date will not be accepted for evaluation. The Government reserves the right to amend this PRDA and offerors should be alert for any amendments that may be published. This notice constitutes the solicitation for this requirement; no RFP or other solicitation will be issued. The Air Force PRDA procedures applicable to this acquisition may be found in the Air Force Research Laboratory BAA and PRDA Industry Guide at the following website (http://www.wrs.afrl.af.mil/contract). B. REQUIREMENTS: (1) TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: (a) Introduction: Advanced spacecraft antenna technologies form an integral element of an overall MILSATCOM communications system. Current protected MILSATCOM systems incorporate high gain nulling antennas that provide adaptive spatial discrimination on the uplink (44 GHz) and a single downlink (20 GHz). Transformational Communications (TC) studies have shown that future SATCOM systems will need to support higher data rates to existing terminal types as well as moderate data rates (T1) to a large number of small COTM terminals. Antenna technologies that are capable of producing large numbers of high gain, steerable, spot-beams that provide active nulling and facilitate frequency reuse are key enablers to the TC vision. (b) PRDA Objectives: The purpose of this PRDA is to award up to three research and development contracts on a range of transformational communication antenna technology alternatives. These contracts will have a 6-month period of performance. The effort will be focused on trade studies and analyses to identify antenna technologies for cost-effective support to small arbitrarily distributed medium data rate (~T1) users such as COTM terminals (1'- 2') as well as higher rates to existing terminals. The study should address the following high-level objectives: (i) Perform system studies and analyses to achieve a gross assessment of desirable antenna performance goals. From a systems perspective, including considerations of anticipated ground terminal capabilities and host platform limitations, determine antenna performance characteristics, such as desired beam sizes and shapes, numbers of beams, spatial separation of beams, anti-jam performance, beam adaptability. Evaluate systems constraints, such as antenna size, mass and cost. (ii) Develop conceptual designs and perform trade analyses for multi-beam antennas. Identify suitable design concepts including, but not limited to, phased array, array fed reflectors, and hopped multi-beam antennas. Consider alternative antenna subsystem architectures such as optical processing technology for improved performance and potential weight reduction. Identify risk areas and required risk reduction efforts or technology development. (iii) Provide recommendations and key performance metrics for critical technology development and prioritize these needs for adaptive multi-beam Extremely High Frequency (EHF) antenna capability. (iv) Identify technology development and prototyping efforts needed to retire risks of selected technologies and design concepts to acceptable levels for inclusion in near-term TC program developments. Include cost and schedule estimates, risk management approaches, and verification and validation test plans. Develop conceptual designs of prototype (e.g. breadboard/brassboard) hardware and test equipment. (2) DELIVERABLE ITEMS: The following items are required contract deliverables at the end of the 6 month period of performance: (i) a systems requirements allocation and antenna performance goals report, (ii) a description and associated design characteristics of the recommended antenna system(s), (iii) description of all simulation analyses performed, (iv) a technology and prototype risk-reduction plan with schedule, cost estimates and a work breakdown structure to take these technologies to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6, (v) trade studies of anti-jam (AJ) protection versus complexity/cost, (vi) draft performance specifications of both the antenna system concept and prototype experiment and (vii) technical interchange meetings (one day) (TIMs) with the Government management team(s) every month. Contractor recommendations on the most cost effective method of holding these technical interchange meetings will be solicited. TIMs may consist of, but are not limited to, teleconferencing, video teleconferencing and meetings held at contractor and/or Government locations. Briefing packages and similar presentational materials associated with these meetings are deliverables to the Government. Offerors may provide inputs at two levels: (1) proprietary and (2) non-proprietary with specific and clearly marked designations of the proprietary areas. The final presentations must be non-proprietary and must contain complete final descriptions in the form of analyses, simulation analyses, solutions, designs and techniques and thus must not contain proprietary information. Deliverable items (i), (iii), (v), and (vi) will be treated as non-proprietary and cannot contain any information the contractor does not want included in future government-generated technology or requirements documentation provided to the TC community. Reports from each TIM (Microsoft Word document or annotated PowerPoint document) will be due within 3 business days of the TIM and will be delivered electronically to the Technical POC listed below. (3) SECURITY REQUIREMENTS: (a) This acquisition will require access to classified material. Each PRDA contract will include a Contract Security Classification Specification (DD Form 254). Work performed under this acquisition may be classified up to and including the DoD SECRET level. (b) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Contracts will be awarded only to US companies. Foreign teaming, licensing, or subcontracting is not allowed. Proposals must be submitted with information no higher then SECRET classification. If an Offeror's proposal contains classified material it must be delivered/transmitted via normal security procedures IAW NISPOM guidance to the address and point of contact indicated above in Section A. (4) GOVERNMENT BUDGET: The Government's estimated budget of $1.6M for this PRDA effort may be divided between three contracts. Contracts may be awarded for unequal amounts. C. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) This PRDA is available at http://www.FedBizOpps.gov. (2) No pre-proposal conference will be conducted. D. PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: (1) GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Potential offerors shall follow FAR 52.215-1(e), Instructions to Offerors-Competitive Acquisitions, for any restrictions on disclosure and use of data contained in their proposals. Proposals shall be valid for a minimum of 90 days. Proposals must reference the PRDA number above. Proposals shall be submitted in original and five paper copies, plus one electronic copy. The electronic proposal copy must be compatible with Windows 2000 and must be submitted in any of the following program formats, as appropriate: Microsoft (MS) Word 2000, MS Excel 2000, MS Project 2000, MS PowerPoint 2000. Electronic copies shall be on 3.5-inch diskette, compact disk (CD) or 100mb-Zip disk. Proposals shall be evaluated using the criteria stated in this solicitation. Offerors are advised that only the Contracting Officer is legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the government. (2) ORAL PRESENTATIONS: Oral presentations will not be authorized. (3) CONTRACT/PRICE PROPOSAL: Please contact the Contracting POC listed below for the DD Form 254 and the Representations and Certifications that are required at proposal submission. It is anticipated that the pricing of this action will be based on adequate price competition; therefore, offerors are not required to submit cost or pricing data. However, if after receipt of proposals it is determined that adequate price competition does not exist, the Offeror shall provide current, complete and accurate cost or other pricing data at the Contracting Officer's request. (4) TECHNICAL PROPOSAL: Offerors shall identify in the technical proposal, in accordance with the format specified at Department of Defense FAR Supplement 252.227-7017, any use or disclosure restrictions asserted on technical data to be delivered under this contract. The technical proposal shall consist of two primary sections. The first section will describe the study plan/approach. The second section will describe the Offeror's ability to perform the plan/approach consistent with the evaluation criteria for Team Strengths. This section will include examples of recent, relevant activity in this area and a description of key team members (including subcontractors), their role on the team, and their qualifications. Subcontracting Plan: If selected for award, offerors will be required to submit a subcontracting plan in accordance with FAR Part 19.7 for each contract that is expected to exceed $500,000 that has subcontracting opportunities. (5) ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Each proposal shall contain a section addressing the following: Awards made under this PRDA are subject to the provisions of the FAR Subpart 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. The existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. This disclosure shall include a description of the action the Offeror has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate such conflict. If the Offeror believes that no such conflict exists, then it shall so state. (6) VOLUMES/PAGE LIMITATIONS: (a) Volume 1 (Technical). The proposal will include chapters for the Executive Summary, Technical Proposal, and Other Technical Documentation. Chapters have the following page limitations: Executive Summary (1 page), Technical Proposal (20 pages), and Other Technical Documentation (unlimited). The Other Technical Documentation category shall be separately tabbed and include a Statement of Work (SOW), a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), key personnel resumes, etc. (b) Volume 2 (Other Contract Documentation and Contract/Price Proposal). Unlimited pages. This volume shall include Representation and Certifications, any other pertinent contract documentation, and a price proposal that provides adequate information to obtain cost reasonableness. (c) Page limitations shall be treated as maximums. When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two pages. Each page shall be counted except the following: (1) Cover Pages, (2) Table of Content; (3) Tabs; and (4) Glossaries. (d) Format: Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches, single spaced and text shall be no less than 12 point font size. Use at least one-inch margins on the top and bottom and one inch side margins. Pages shall be numbered sequentially by volume. (e) Other documentation: Legible tables, charts, graphs and figures shall be used wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall be uncomplicated, legible and shall not exceed 11 x 17 inches in size. Foldout pages shall fold entirely within the volume and may only be used for large tables, charts, graphs, diagrams and schematics; not for pages of text. Foldout pages will be counted as two pages. If foldout pages have print on both sides, the foldout will be counted as four pages. For tables, charts, graphs and figures, the text shall be no smaller than 10-point font size. (f) Binding and Labeling: The proposal should be separately bound in three-ring loose-leaf binders that permit the volume to lie flat when open. Staples shall not be used. A cover sheet should be bound in each book, clearly marked as to volume number, title, copy number, solicitation identification, the Offeror's name and any restrictive markings, including security classification, for data enclosed. The same identifying data should be placed on the spine of each binder. E. BASIS FOR AWARD: Contract award decisions will be based on a competitive selection of proposals resulting from review/evaluation by a panel of Government and non-Government evaluators. Proposals will be evaluated for Soundness of Approach and Team Strengths, which are of equal importance, and Price, which is of lesser importance. (1) Soundness of Approach relates to meeting the objectives of the PRDA; and (2) Team Strengths are characterized by (a) demonstrated ability to provide broad, innovative, and creative solutions to COTM Nulling Antenna systems, and (b) key personnel with a high degree of experience and demonstrated innovation. Price will be evaluated for reasonableness. Government evaluators will rank proposals and recommend awards based upon best overall value to the Government in accordance with these criteria. To be eligible for award, the Offeror must currently possess the security clearances specified in the DD Form 254. The Government reserves the right to award all, part, or none of an Offeror's proposal. The Government also reserves the right to make no award. F. NOTICE OF USE OF NON-GOVERNMENT EVALUATORS: Offerors are advised that employees of MITRE Corp, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and the Aerospace Corp will assist the Government in evaluating proposals submitted under this announcement. They will have authorized access to all portions of the proposal data and discussions. This includes access to price evaluations/negotiations data. The resulting contract(s) will incorporate a special contract requirement to allow these contractors or Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) to review, evaluate and analyze documents generated during contract performance. Potential offerors having objections to non-government personnel evaluating their proposals and/or contract documentation should contact the Contracting Officer prior to submitting their proposals. G. OMBUDSMAN: An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from offerors or potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. The Ombudsman should only be contacted with issues or problems that have been previously been brought to the attention of the Contracting Officer and could not be satisfactorily resolved. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the selection process. The SMC Ombudsman is Mr. William Orzech, SMC/PK, (310) 363-0588. H. POINTS OF CONTACT: See below.
- Place of Performance
- Address: At contractor's facility.
- Record
- SN00190421-W 20021020/021018213402 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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