SOURCES SOUGHT
69 -- Advanced Spatial Awarenss Trainer
- Notice Date
- 6/2/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 333319
— Other Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Specialized Contracting Squadron, 2021 First Street West, Randolph AFB, TX, 78150-4302
- ZIP Code
- 78150-4302
- Solicitation Number
- FA3002-05-R-0035
- Response Due
- 6/17/2005
- Archive Date
- 7/2/2005
- Description
- AIR EDUCATION AND TRAINING COMMAND (AETC) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR AN ADVANCED SPATIAL AWARENESS TRAINER (ASAT) Reference Number: FA3002-05-R-0035 Introduction: As part of Market Research, this Request for Information (RFI) will be used to determine if there are sources capable of providing Air Education & Training Command (AETC) with an Advanced Spatial Awareness Trainer (ASAT). A firm-fixed price contract is contemplated for the possible purchase of six (6) training devices over a period of time as established by the Government. The first training device would be located at Randolph AFB, TX and if determined to be acceptable, the possibility of more training devices could be purchased for five (5) different Undergraduate Pilot Training base locations, on a time schedule established by USAF needs. The North American Industry System Code (NAICS) for this acquisition is 333319 with a size standard of 500 employees. Once Market Research has been completed, the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be placed on the Federal Business Opportunities website http://www.eps.gov. At present there is no time line for posting an RFP. It will be the responsibility of prospective offerors? to check this site regularly for any postings or changes. Prospective offerors? must be registered in the DoD Central Contracting Registration (CCR). Registration may be accomplished at http://www.ccr.gov. All responsible small businesses are encouraged to respond to this RFI. All prospective offerors? shall indicate their size standard (large business, 8(a), etc) when replying to this RFI. If two (2) or more small business are determined to be qualified, then this will be a small business set-aside. In your response briefly describe your company?s experience with these types of training devices or similar items, current or past contracts that deal with the aforementioned products or similar products, and any information you deem relevant. Provide a point-of-contact to include an e-mail address, your Federal Cage Code and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS). If two (2) or more small business are determined to be qualified, then this will be a small business set-aside. Responses are due NLT COB 3:00 CST on 17 Jun 05 via e-mail. NOTE: This information is for market research only. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP), solicitation, or an indication that the government will contract for this requirement. The government will not pay for information received in response to this RFI and is in no way obligated by the information received. 1. Summary: AETC/DO is considering purchasing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) ground-based spatial disorientation countermeasure trainers, termed the Advanced Spatial Awareness Trainer (ASAT). The ASAT must be capable of providing spatial disorientation (SD) illusions of both the vestibular and visual nature. Additionally, the ASAT must be capable of providing 1) routine flight simulation with momentary accelerations in the traditional six degrees of freedom (pitch, roll, yaw, heave, surge and sway) and 2) display a visual scene of at least 100 degrees horizontal and 40 degrees vertical. 2. Pre-proposal Conference and Site Visit: A pre-proposal conference and site visit will be held after the request for proposal (RFP) is issued. 3. Pricing: Responding vendors are requested to provide pricing data on additional pre-priced options that exceed this baseline performance specification. 4. Warranty Information: Vendors should supply overall warranty information on their ASAT devices, parts, subassemblies, and subcomponents including parts warranted by individual manufacturers. Any expected annual maintenance costs, and any anticipated computer upgrades should also be included. 5. Basic Method of Acquisition: AETC?s intent is open to either purchasing or leasing the device(s). We are looking to acquire a total of 6 devices as funding becomes available. It is anticipated that the follow-on purchases will take place about one year from the acceptance of the first device. 6. Governing Product Directives: No specific MILSPEC Standards apply to this purchase, but it is anticipated that vendors should be able to show the government that similar devices have met some type of FAA flight simulator standards. 7. Specific Mandatory Specifications/Requirements/Capabilities: a. Cab or Cockpit Configuration: 1) Cockpit Size: Any pilot candidate in the Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (JSUPT) program must be able to sit comfortably in the cockpit. In other words, if the person is of an anthropometric size to enter pilot training, then that person must be able to fit just like they would fit in the actual USAF T-6 Texan II aircraft. 2) Seat and rudder pedals: The seat should be adjustable in forward-backward and up-down directions. It is highly desirable for the rudder pedals to be adjustable as well (forward-backward), and include the traditional aircraft toe-brake feature. 3) The cab must be light tight to produce the auto kinesis illusion. It must also contain adjustable background lighting and/or adjustable flood lights. When needed, the entire cockpit must be able to remove any background lighting, i.e. display screens must look as if they are turned off. 4) Instrumentation or head-down displays must reflect the same instrument arrangement as the T-6A aircraft, as much as possible. When this requirement cannot be met, the vendor will inform the program manager for written acceptance of the deviation. Photos of the T-6A instrument panel are attached. 5) It is desirable that several of the instruments have interactive capability; e.g. an adjustable altimeter for changes in barometric pressure altitude, an adjustable airspeed set marker, a course set knob, and a heading set knob, etc. Standard flight simulation navigation (including instrument approaches and en-route navigation) and communication (UHF/VHF) capabilities are required. 6) Out-the-window (OTW) viewing scene: This feature is critical when producing visual illusions. It is also very important when producing flight realism. The OTW viewing scene of the virtual world must be at least 100 degrees horizontal and at least 40 degrees vertical--as measured from the eyes of the pilot when their head is in the normal sitting flight position. Larger is preferred. The scene itself must be of a high enough resolution so that it doesn't appear to be "jumpy" or partially rendered. 7) Headset: A functional, adjustable standard headset must be incorporated in the cab. Constant communication to the console operator is a requirement. Communication should be free of distortion and background noise. The console operator must be able to cut all verbal communications to the cockpit with one keystroke action. 8) Camera: An infrared camera for observing the pilot in the cab is required. 9) Night-Vision Goggle (NVG) compatibility: A desirable feature is that of being able to use a NVG when flying the ASAT. b. Motion Platform 1) The motion platform must be able to produce six degrees of freedom (DoF) motion--pitch, bank, yaw, heave, surge and sway. Pitch motion must be at least +/- 20 degrees from level. Bank must be at least +/- 20 degrees, and yaw must be capable of sustaining constant rotation in either direction without any limits. Total linear displacement, except heave, is not specified but the ASAT is required to produce momentary accelerations in the linear displacement directions of surge, sway and heave. These are minimum acceptable criteria. 2) Standard 220 AC (3 phase) electrical requirements are recommended, but if more (or unique power) is required, please specify in your proposal. (E.g. Line conditioning, clean power) 3) Sub-threshold motion in pitch, roll and yaw is required. 4) Facility environmental restrictions should be defined by vendor (Air conditioning, temperature limits, air flow requirements, etc) Degree of Freedom DisplacementRequirement VelocityRequirement AccelerationRequirement Pitch +/- 20 0.5 ? 20 ?/sec 0.5 ? 60 ?/sec? Roll +/- 20 0.5 ? 20 ?/sec 0.5 ? 60 ?/sec? Yaw Continuous 0.5 ? 120 ?/sec 0.5 ? 10 ?/sec? Heave (if provided) +/- 10 cm 0.5 ? 40 cm/sec Acceptable turbulence characteristics Surge Not specified Not specified Not specified Sway Not specified Not specified Not specified TABLE I. Motion Requirements c. Console (workstation) 1) Color monitors for all displays at the workstation are required. The total number of displays is not specified, and the display surfaces should be shielded from overhead lights. 2) The graphical user interface should contain multiple features. Control of the imagery is critical. Features like time-of-day, in-flight visibility and associated changes of in-flight visibility (fog conditions, ceilings, in and out of cloud effects), and adjustment of runway dimensions (width/length) and sloping are all necessary. In addition, individual pre-programming of the motion is required, and pre-programming of many of the visual features should also be available. It is absolutely critical to allow for ?conditional? events to occur. Conditional events are those motion and visual changes which happen at pre-determined points in space, or at a specified run time in the simulator space-time world. This important feature will be discussed further during the site visit. 3) Simulated flight and changes in the cockpit instrumentation must be controlled at the workstation. The console operator can demonstrate the flight characteristics without getting in the cab, and that any and all of the flight instruments have a feature where they can be frozen, blanked, or removed at the wish of the same console operator. These features must also be tied into the conditional event feature. The console operator must be able to either freeze an instrument whenever they desire, or an instrument can be pre-programmed to do the same thing when a conditional event is reached. 4) The console operator must be able to move the aircraft throughout the database in the traditional three dimensions (latitude, longitude, and altitude) with the aid of a cursor. Instantaneous altitude changes are also requested. 5) Recording of the total simulator profile is desired, but not required. However, the capability to display, record, and print a portion of the profile, like the ILS approach is required (in both glide slope and localizer). Please provide a list of cost options for various levels of recording capabilities. d. Specialized Features 1) The ASAT must be able to generate acceptable SD illusions of both vestibular or visual origins and combinations of both sensory types. Acceptable illusions will be decided by the government. 2) The workstation must be able to generate formation profiles so the operator in the cab can fly with the virtual lead aircraft. Simulated air refueling is also a desired feature. So a pre-programmed tanker should be included in the data base. 3) Although the distributed mission training concept (i.e., linking several devices together via the WAN/LAN) is not a requirement, AETC would like to know about the cost of this technology. 8. Vendor Solution: Interested vendors should propose their best solution for the above requirements and features. Because there are no specific military standards for such a device, we are hoping to work with the potential vendors to make sure they understand the different levels of importance of the listed requirements. Not all features may be required in the final product, but knowing more about the capabilities is important to the final product. We would like to better understand the vendor?s capabilities and options for both flight simulation and SD illusions. Supportability/ maintainability/reliability parameters and maintenance concepts are to be included in the proposal. First level maintenance will be done by Air Force personnel; vendors should define follow on maintenance options, e.g. on-site, on-call, etc. The requirements mentioned in this document are intended as threshold minimums. Options can be priced separately. 9. Technical Manuals, Operator and Maintenance Training The Government will request that offerors include all applicable technical manuals and one week of on-site operations and maintenance training at Randolph AFB, TX upon delivery of the first device. Any additional training needed at the vendor?s factory, or third party site, should be mentioned in the response to the RFI. The intent is that the vendor delivers a fully functional commercial-off-the-shelf Advanced Spatial Awareness Trainer (ASAT) system. It is incumbent that the vendor identify to AETC the training plan recommendations and typical costs for that training in the response to this RFI. 10. Location/Operation Parameters: This first device will be operated/maintained at Randolph AFB, TX by the 12th ADS. Subsequent devices will be shipped as specified by the AETC program manager. 11. Definitions: a. Spatial Disorientation Countermeasure Trainers ? a ground-based device capable of producing visual and vestibular illusions, while at the same time producing motion sensations typical of a flight simulator. Several of the specific illusions are spelled out in text Spatial Disorientation in Aviation, published by AIAA, 2004. Continual yaw motion is critical. Details will be provided if requested. b. Flight Simulator ? a ground-based device capable of producing flight simulation sensations of both motion and visual specifications. Those specifications may vary and it is recommended that vendors interested in this RFI review practices used by the FAA when certifying the motion and visual characteristics of a flight simulator. Cab motion and visual scene motion should be instantaneous, while the difference between stick inputs and cab motion should be less than 150 milliseconds. Less is better. c. NVG capability ? Using an NVG while in the flight mode is desired. The pilot should be able to look through the intensification tube when viewing the outside world and see a realistic NVG image, and look underneath the tubes while looking at and seeing the cockpit instrumentation. 12. Contracting Officer Data: It is the Government?s intention to award to ONE contractor. All interested business concerns shall indicate interest in this acquisition by providing the company name, capabilities stated above, mailing address, phone number, and electronic mail address to the Contracting Officer. All responses must be sent to Jerry Strubbe AND Debbie Aguirre at AETC/CONS. In addition to any pricing data submitted as a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM), Vendor Catalogs and/or Price lists, it is requested that potential offerors provide sufficient written information supporting their capability to provide the commodity requested. This information should, as a minimum, include (a) degree of experience in SD trainer development, and (b) provide past corporate information with commercial and Government contracts with references and points of contact and (c) Vendor Catalogs and/or Price lists. Provide this required information via electronic mail. Perspective bidders must have the financial backing to defray mobilization and operating costs for at least ninety (90) days. Internet and e-mail capabilities are a must! Central Contract Registration (CCR) mandatory. 13. Point(s) of contact: AETC/CONS ? Mr. Jerry Strubbe or Ms. Debbie Aguirre, DSN 487-2122, Comm (210) 652-2122. Email: jerry.strubbe@randolph.af.mil or debbie.aguirre@randolph.af.mil NOTE: See Amendment 01 for attachments
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