SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- Market and Literature Investigation and Research of Printed Electronics
- Notice Date
- 12/27/2007
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- Contracting Office
- RDECOM Acquisition Center - Natick, ATTN: AMSRD-ACC-N, Natick Contracting Division (R and BaseOPS), Building 1, Kansas Street, Natick, MA 01760-5011
- ZIP Code
- 01760-5011
- Solicitation Number
- USA-SNOTE-071227-003
- Archive Date
- 3/26/2008
- Point of Contact
- thomas.roan, 508-233-6263
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to RDECOM Acquisition Center - Natick
(thomas.roan@natick.army.mil)
- Description
- Under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, 3, the U.S. Army RDECOM, Acquisition Center, Natick Contracting Division, intends to award a sole source contract to Research Triangle Institute, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709- 2194 to provide Market and Literature Investigation and Research of Printed Electronics. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. It is not a solicitation or a request for offers. Information received will be conside red solely for the purpose of competitive procurement in the future. Interested Parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center, Natick Contracting Division, via e-mail. No solic itation package is available. The Government anticipates awarding a firm-fixed price contract. The North American Industry Classification System for this procurement is 541690. Responses must be received no later than January 23, 2008 at 5:00 PM. Questio ns concerning this synopsis may be directed to Thomas F. Roan Jr , Contract Specialist , at thomas.roan@natick.army.mil or 508-233-6263 . Statement of Work The Contractor shall investigate the commercial market to identify and document the latest technology advances and anticipated developments associated with low cost, ultra low power, single-use printed electronic components and devices, and the process and viability of incorporating such printed electronics into packaging materials. The purpose of the market investigation is to explore the commercial markets capability to ultimately produce packaging systems incorporating printed electronics to provide an automated real-time or on-demand visual display of ration status, to include a shelf-life assessment based on environmental history. The concept envisioned is a printed electronic circuit platform with multiple sensors and a display that is printed on a flexible substrate (e.g., in the form of a label or device), which is then integrated or applied to plastic films for pallet loads and/or cases of rations such as the Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) or Unitized Group Ration (UGR). Based on input and data from printed environmental, temperature and other sensors, this all in one ce ntral circuit could provide a real-time electronic display of remaining ration shelf life (the key feature), package integrity and tampering, and/or food quality and safety. The Contractor shall focus the investigation on domestic products. Howe ver, foreign technology may also be identified if there is a high potential for a U.S. manufacturer or distributor. The Contractor shall research the printed electronics field to identify industry leaders and key players, including companies dev eloping and printing electronic components and those integrating such components into printed circuits; their anticipated technology developments; industry forecasts; potential vendors for fabricating the system based on technology maturity level and appli cability to ration packaging; and the availability, capability, and producibility of the printed electronic circuit. Key issues include component and circuit design, printing, prototype fabrication, and sensor, circuit, and packaging integration. The Con tractor shall document the producibility of the system, potential technical challenges, and the estimated costs to produce the system. Specifically, the research shall include the following: a) Conduct a review of the literature and industry related to printed electronics to identify potential US and foreign technical capabilities and manufacturers of candidate commercial components and systems. Review the state-of-the-art and emerging innovations in printed electronic technologies to determ ine their adaptability and market readiness to provide the printed components for the above application. Describe the suitability of these electronic component s for military use in the field to include durability under a range of environmental conditions and proper disposal and recycling requirements. These circuit components will typically include the power (battery), antenna, a thin-film display, sensor eleme nts (time/temperature), circuitry, switches, and/or microprocessor. Determine which electronic components can currently be printed and which are still in development or cannot be printed. b) Study the processing and integration technologies availab le off-the-shelf to mass produce the printed electronic circuitry and other components envisioned for the design. Identify the most likely technologies that allow the smart design to be incorporated into flexible plastics packaging. c) Identify va rious commercial sources for implementing the smart packaging material based on above findings. Identify several key commercial sources for design of system and for manufacturing the printed packaging material(s). d) Describe any potential technic al, logistical, and/or operational barriers for implementation of this technology into ration packaging, provide potential technologies and/or methods to overcome such barriers, and estimate the costs to overcome the obstacles. e) Identify and des cribe: o The number of steps and number of different parties it will take to develop the complete system. o The complexity or difficulty of the research and development steps. o Integration issues. o Interfaces for connecting the printed sens ors to the algorithm. o Optimal methods and mechanisms for incorporating the printed circuit. o Optimal placement of the circuit on the package or unit load for effective monitoring. o Compatibility of the circuit device with various packaging ma terials such as stretch-wrap, flexible films, and/or corrugated boxes. f) Identify and estimate the anticipated costs of the printed and other circuit components and the circuit device, unit costs, and anticipated economies of scale for the integra ted circuit and the entire packaging system(s) at the pallet and/or shipping case level. Because the final system must be cost effective, the Contractor shall develop cost estimates for producing and applying components -- to include the circuitry, sensor s, power (e.g., battery, super-capacitor), thin film display, microprocessor, and switches -- and integrated circuits into the packaging systems. As a reference, the 2005 MRE procurement was 3.4 million cases, or approximately 71,000 pallets (at 48 cases of MREs per pallet). g) Obtain product samples of printed electronic components and circuit/display devices from the companies contacted during the course of the research. h) If possible, an initial concept diagram for the integrated circui t should be prepared. The results of the investigation shall be summarized in a final market investigation report, which shall be prepared on completion of the survey. The final report shall include summaries of the above gathered information, t o include all relevant printed electronics technologies identified (components, circuits, and systems), current research and development efforts in the field, descriptions of the most suitable family of technologies, sources employing the technology, parti al solutions which together may meet the desired system characteristics, and the potential for dual-use with industry and for military fielding within three to five years. The final report shall also include background and/or survey particulars, discussio ns of issues including potential trade-offs (e.g., cost, compatibility, etc.), any known technical barriers, and descriptions, specifications, or test data of the suitable components and systems. Any technical literature, materials specifications, and pro duct samples that are obtained will also be provided to NSRDEC with the final report. Additionally, the Contractor Officers Representative may request brief, written progress reports monthly or bimonthly throughout the duration of the contract. The Contractor shall, upon award of contract and continuing for the total contract period, furnish all the necessary personnel, facilities, materials, components and supplies required to conduct a thorough investigation. Upon award of contract, the Contractor shall contact the NSRDEC technical point of contact to discuss the minimal essential characteristics of the candidate packaging system(s), which are summari zed below. The period of performance for this work effort shall be nine months from date of award, with the final report completed NLT 30 days after completion of the investigation. Desired Characteristics of Intelligent Ration Packaging System Utilizing Printed Electronics a) A printed central intelligence circuit/platform that uses conductive inks or other specialty inks on substrates and fuses multiple sensor data to provide consolidated real-time or on-demand output on ration status to a printed thin film display. This circuit may include printed integrated sensors, shelf life estimation algorithm, memory (to store all sensor and shelf life data generated and to save power), battery, thin-film display, and optionally, a transceiver. In other words, capabilities could all be internally incorporated on a chip to flash a visual signal on a printed display. The entire central circuit with actual components could be printed in fewer steps as compared to current circuit boards made with s oldered components. b) The circuit would be incorporated into ration packaging materials, e.g., applied as a label to plastic stretch wrap, to one optimal location on the unit load by the film producer or ration assembler. c) Data will be fed into an algorithm or computer program. It is envisioned that the algorithm will run on a printed microprocessor or implemented directly in analog or digital hardware. d) The key feature of the system will be a real-time or on-demand shelf l ife expiration date output via printed electronic display. The final system does not have to be a perfect indicator of remaining shelf life; but it should not over-estimate the remaining shelf life. The accuracy of a sensor-based math model should exceed that of the current printed ration termination date and manual product rotation methods. o Shelf life forecasting algorithms would read data from environmental sensors (e.g., temperature) on the circuit to compute the estimated remaining shelf li fe of rations based on environmental storage history (e.g., food degradation curves over time as a function of temperature). The algorithm would receive and process the data from the sensors and automatically stream the estimated remaining shelf life to t he electronic display to give a visual indication of ration status. o The algorithm could be designed to display data at pre-determined intervals or continuously, based on the power profile of the thin film batteries. This system would therefore eliminate the need for a hand-held reader to query individual sensor tags and download data. e) The circuit could also be designed, via the use of a transceiver or other broadcasting feature or chip, to simultaneously broadcast pallet location, s helf life expiration, or tampering information to a server, cell phone, or computer in real-time to alert military food inspectors or DoD logisticians. f) The ultimate system should be a stand-alone, complementary set of technologies to provide en tirely new capabilities. However, we believe that the existing RFID infrastructure could be leveraged so that the readers and the data storage and transmission protocols are compatible with these devices as well. g) This system would record temp erature and humidity data and turn them into actionable information via an expiration date or simple iconic indicators on a printed display -- effectively and e fficiently in real-time and all the time. In a warehouse, personnel could look at pallets or boxes and make a decision as to which ones need to be moved first by looking at the electronic display on the pallet (or ration case/box, if affordable, needed, f easible etc.). h) Possibilities for design of the final system could include: o A printed display only (no broadcast chip), e.g., This ration expires in X days. o A printed display and option of broadcasting: " Broadcast independently of any existing infrastructure to PDA, cell phone, server, pager, etc. " Broadcast using existing RFID ITV servers and network only (e.g., to assist " warehouse personnel in prioritizing shipments) " Broadcast independently to a PDA and to the ITV server. For example, broad cast to the POC or Commander at the Unit Level Overseas.
- Record
- SN01476628-W 20071229/071227223816 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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