SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- BAA06-43 - BioFuels
- Notice Date
- 7/5/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714
- ZIP Code
- 22203-1714
- Solicitation Number
- BAA06-43
- Response Due
- 7/5/2007
- Archive Date
- 7/20/2007
- Description
- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) BAA06-43 BioFuels; CLOSING DATE: One year from the date of publication in www.fbo.gov and www.grants.gov; PROPOSALS FOR FIRST SELECTIONS DUE: 4:00 pm(Arlington VA local time), 19 Sep. 2006. POC: Dr. Douglas Kirkpatrick, DARPA/ATO; Email: BAA06-43@darpa.mil; Proposers? Day: 25 July 2006 (See bottom for more information) Website: http://www.darpa.mil/ato/solicit/BioFuels/index.htm PROGRAM OBJECTIVE AND DESCRIPTION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency?s (DARPA) Advanced Technology Office (ATO) is soliciting proposals under this BAA for BioFuels. The Defense Department has been directed to explore a wide range of energy alternatives and fuel efficiency efforts in a bid to reduce the military?s reliance on oil to power its aircraft, ground vehicles and non-nuclear ships. DARPA is interested in proposals for research and development efforts to develop a process that efficiently produces a surrogate for petroleum based military jet fuel (JP-8) from oil-rich crops produced by either agriculture or aquaculture (including but not limited to plants, algae, fungi, and bacteria) and which ultimately can be an affordable alternative to petroleum-derived JP-8. Current commercial processes for producing biodiesel yield a fuel that is unsuitable for military applications, which require higher energy density and a wide operating temperature range. The detailed specification for JP-8 properties may be found at http://www.desc.dla.mil/DCM/Files/t83133e.pdf. Proposers should exclude Section 3.1 of MIL-DTL-83133E, which requires ?petroleum, tar sands, oil shale, or mixtures thereof? feed stocks. Subsequent secondary processing of biodiesel is currently inefficient and results in bio-fuel JP-8 being prohibitively expensive. The goal of the BioFuels program is to enable an affordable alternative to petroleum-derived JP-8. The primary technical objective of the BioFuels program is to achieve a 60% (or greater) conversion efficiency, by energy content, of crop oil to JP-8 surrogate and elucidate a path to 90% conversion. Proposers are encouraged to consider process paths that minimize the use of external energy sources, which are adaptable to a range or blend of feedstock crop oils, and which produce process by-products that have ancillary manufacturing or industrial value. Current biodiesel alternative fuels are produced by transesterification of triglycerides extracted from agricultural crop oils. This process, while highly efficient, yields a blend of methyl esters (biodiesel) that is 25% lower in energy density than JP-8 and exhibits unacceptable cold-flow features at the lower extreme of the required JP-8 operating regime (-50F). The focus of this program is to develop alternative or additional process technologies to efficiently produce an acceptable JP-8 surrogate fuel. Potential approaches may include thermal, catalytic, or enzymatic technologies or combinations of these. It is anticipated that the key technology developments needed to obtain the program goal will result from a cross-disciplinary approach spanning the fields of process chemistry and engineering, materials engineering, biotechnology, and propulsion system engineering. The key challenges are to develop and optimize process technologies to obtain a maximum conversion of crop oil to fuel. The resulting product should comply with current aviation fuel specifications and standards including MIL-DTL-83133E (with the exception of Section 3.1). While the efficiency of the oil to JP-8 conversion process is the primary objective of this solicitation, the cost and availability of the necessary feedstock materials should also be considered. The development of conversion process technologies compatible with oils from a broad range of crops, potentially including new crop stocks selected specifically for their oil harvest, is preferred. Proposers will be required to provide a production cost model supporting their assertions of affordability. It has been demonstrated that oil-producing crops (seeds and algae for example) can be genetically modified or selected to have certain desired agronomic characteristics, such as a higher yield of specific triglycerides. Proposers to the BioFuels program are encouraged to consider the use of selected crop oils (or mixtures) including specific cultivars, strains, etc., to maximize the conversion energy efficiency (crop oil to fuel). While the use of existing crop strains or cultivars is allowable and encouraged, efforts in genetic engineering or modification of crops are outside the scope of the BioFuels program and proposals for such efforts will not be considered. The program will be an exploratory evaluation of processing crop oils into a JP-8 surrogate biofuel, resulting in a laboratory scale production to be tested at a suitable DOD test facility. The successful proposer is expected to deliver a minimum of 100 liters of JP-8 surrogate biofuel for initial government laboratory qualification. This final deliverable is in addition to any interim materials the proposer provides the government for intermediate test and evaluation purposes. Proposers should clearly identify the schedule and scope of any requested in-progress testing the government is to perform. This BAA shall remain open for one (1) year from the date of publication on www.fbo.gov and www.grants.gov. Although the Government may select proposals for award at any time during this period, it is anticipated that the majority of funding for this program will be committed during the initial selections. Proposers may submit a full proposal at any time up to the BAA closing date. In order to be considered during the initial round of funding, full proposals must be submitted to DARPA, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714 (Attn.: BAA06-43) on or before 4:00 pm (local Arlington VA time), September 19, 2006. The Government encourages responses to this BAA by non-traditional defense contractors, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, small businesses, small disadvantaged business concerns, Historically-Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Minority Institutions (MI), large businesses and Government laboratories. Teaming arrangements between and among these groups are encouraged. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for organizations of a specific business classification due to the impracticality of preserving discrete or severable areas of research in the technologies sought. Government/National laboratory proposals may be subject to applicable direct competition limitations, though certain Federally Funded Research and Development Centers are excepted per PL 103-337 ? 217 and PL 105-261 ? 3136. Any responsible and otherwise qualified offeror is encouraged to respond. This BAA affords proposers the choice of submitting proposals for the award of a Grant, Cooperative Agreement, Contract, Technology Investment Agreement, and other Transaction for Prototype Agreement, or such other appropriate award instrument. The type of procurement or assistance vehicle is subject to negotiation. The Government intends to issue awards based on the optimum combination of proposals that offers the best overall value to the Government. The Government reserves the right to award without discussion. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this BAA. The Government also reserves the right to select for award some portion(s) of the proposals received; in that event, the Government may select for negotiation all, or portions, of a given proposal. The Government may incrementally fund any award issued under this BAA. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The criteria to be used to evaluate and select proposals for this project are in descending order of importance: (a) Technical Approach; (b) Potential Contribution and Relevance to the BioFuels Program Objectives and the DARPA Mission; (c) Offeror?s Capabilities and Related Experience; (d) Technology Transition Approach; and (e) Cost Reasonableness and Realism. Each proposal will be evaluated on the merit and relevance of the specific proposal as it relates to the program rather than against other proposals for research in the same general area, since no common work statement exists. SECURITY: The Government anticipates proposals submitted under this BAA will be UNCLASSIFIED. Guidance regarding the marking, packaging, and delivery of classified proposals is provided in the Proposers Information Pamphlet (PIP) associated with this BAA. ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE: Additional information regarding program objectives, anticipated schedule, technical milestone criteria, and proposal preparation and submittal is provided in the Proposers Information Pamphlet (PIP) associated with this BAA. Proposers choosing to respond to this BAA may access these documents at www.fbo.gov and www.grants.gov. Proposers? Day: DARPA realizes that non-conventional DoD and DARPA performers will be required for successful execution of the BioFuels program. In an effort to disseminate information about BioFuels expediently, DARPA will be hosting a Proposers? Day. Proposers? Day is currently scheduled to be held in the following location: Adam?s Mark Hotel, Denver Colorado, July 25, 2006. DARPA views the Proposers? Day as a venue to not only provide information about the BioFuels Program, but to promote discussion on the topic, address questions from potential proposers, and provided a forum for potential proposers to present their capabilities for teaming opportunities. Potential proposing organizations will be limited to sending a max of four attendees. Proposers? Day Registration Information: Please send e-mail to BAA06-43@darpa.mil not later than July 14, 2006 if you plan to attend. In your e-mail, please include your name, company name, phone number, e-mail address, and citizenship. Foreign nationals should complete and return a DARPA Foreign National Visitor Request (DARPA Form 60) not later than July 14, 2006, if they wish to attend the Proposers? Day. The DARPA Form 60 will be sent to you based on declaration of citizenship. The Proposers? Day will be unclassified and open to all potential bidders. The BioFuels program may be subject to U.S. Export Controls (International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)) and National Security regulations. All performers must meet the requirements for participation set by those regulations. The Proposers? Day is voluntary. Attendance is not required to propose to any potential BAA that may be issued on this topic. This information will also be available through the BioFuels website: http://ww.darpa.mil/ato/solicit/Biofuels/index.htm NOTE: Do not contact the contracting officer with respect to this announcement. All questions should be sent to BAA06-43@darpa.mil.
- Record
- SN01083134-W 20060707/060705225835 (fbodaily.com)
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