SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) Advanced Cargo Handling System Risk Reduction (ACHRR)
- Notice Date
- 3/7/2008
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C, Building 401, Lee Boulevard, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5577
- ZIP Code
- 23604-5577
- Solicitation Number
- W911W6-08-R-0007
- Response Due
- 4/23/2008
- Archive Date
- 6/22/2008
- Point of Contact
- Pat Hagginbothom, 757-878-4818
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Aviation Applied Technology Directorate
(phagginbothom@aatd.eustis.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Section I: Description: The Aviation Applied Technology Directorate is soliciting technical and cost proposals for conduct of a Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) aerial cargo handling (CH) system concept study and design described below. Proposals are require d to be submitted in accordance with the guidelines set forth herein and the referenced supplemental package. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) constitutes the total solicitation. There will be no formal Request for Proposals (RFPs), other solicitatio n requests, or other information regarding these requirements. Submissions that merely promise incremental improvements over the existing state of the art are not of interest to the Government. Introduction: The future JHL is envisioned to be a vertica l takeoff and landing (VTOL) aerial system capable of conducting around the clock high tempo VTOL insertion/extraction operations into/out of austere, unprepared , restricted, complex locations to include compatibility with shipboard operations; transporti ng large numbers of personnel and/or heavy equipment and cargo. The purpose of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to obtain new, unique and innovative ideas for solutions to technological and operational challenges. This study is focused on the ident ification and technical substantiation of a viable cargo handling system design concept as input to designing the future JHL aerial system. This BAA will develop a conceptual design and promising component technologies that enable an assessment of new car go handling systems to improve aircraft cargo handling capabilities. Through this effort, technologies are expected to be matured to TRL 3+ (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept) and a path defined to show h ow they can be matured to a TRL 6 by 2014. This effort will identify concepts, technical risks, and impacts to aircraft size, performance, operational suitability, cost, schedule and critical path technologies. This program will result in a series of tec hnologies that can be transitioned to support JHL and other future airlift systems. For this program, transition is defined as the continuation of technology development through a future advanced technology demonstration for potential application on JHL o r other future aerial systems. Technical Requirements: The Government is seeking new and innovative cargo handling concepts and solutions that significantly enhance productivity, total system survivability, mission effectiveness and sortie generation rate and load factor for JHL, and other fixed or rotary wing platforms. Specifically, the Government desires to advance the state-of-the-art by investing in the development and demonstration of technologies to: minimize (objective is to eliminate) external ma terial handling equipment to support maneuver and sustainment missions in austere and rugged areas; reduce (objective is full autonomy with human-in-the-loop (HITL) oversight) cargo handling personnel; and reduce load, restraint/release and unload times (o bjective load/unload time is 10 minutes and 3 minutes, inclusive of restraint and release) . Through this effort, technologies are expected to be matured to a minimum of TRL 3 (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept). Technology area investments are expected to contribute to overall operational performance. Offerors shall describe a clear path for development/maturation to a TRL of 6 by 2014. A JHL notional model performance specification (MPS) has been dev eloped to provide a representative example specification for JHL. Potential investment areas are primarily for internal cargo operations, but innovative concepts for external operations will also be considered. Key focus areas include , but are not limit ed to, all functionalities and operation of the overall cargo handling system(s) and subsystems, including automation assisted loading/unloading of vehicles a nd cargo; means of rapid restraint and release; methods to ensure safe operations on sloped or rugged terrain or ship decks (anchored or underway); operational manning requirements (minimizing personnel workload); flexibility through modularity/kitability ; crew /flight engineer efficiency; minimizing time and labor to reconfigure aircraft for various modes of transportation requirements; onboard automatic weight, balance and CG measuring and management systems; around-the-clock /adverse weather capability for externally acquiring and discharging loads without ground support personnel; airdrop; aerial refueling; selective offloading; quick electrical/data interconnect (wired or wireless); asset visibility; interoperability with joint and commercial sectors; and advanced external load flight control and load stabilization and in-flight external load management (e.g. automatically adjust load attitude to minimize drag or improve stability at various speeds); standoff loading. This BAA effort shall define syst em level design concepts and/or individual components of a potential system, which provide a significant performance improvement over state of the art cargo handling technologies and meets the cargo handling capabilities in the MPS. Offerors shall perfor m concept tradeoffs; quantify/substantiate improvements; conduct proof-of-concept demonstrations (where applicable); describe a clear path for technology development for each concept and/or component to a TRL 6 by 2014, including critical enabling technolo gies development strategy; predict impact to aircraft design and performance; and identify impact to payloads (if any). Key considerations include performance; operational suitability; subsystem size and weight; reliability; scalability; flexibility; affo rdability; risk; and maintenance requirements. Section II. Award Information: ANTICIPATED FUNDING LEVEL AND PERFORMANCE PERIOD: The Government intends to make multiple awards; however no award is anticipated to be for more than $2 million of Governm ent funding. Period of performance shall not exceed 18 months. Proposals must follow the guidelines described in this announcement and the supplemental package. TYPE OF FUNDING INSTRUMENT: The Government seeks to maximize industry participation and antic ipates making multiple awards. The Government anticipates award of conventional contracts subject to the FAR or cost-shared Technology Investment Agreements (TIAs). Due to the commercial application of the preponderance of this technology, the Governme nt considers award of a TIA (Cooperative Agreement under 10 U.S.C 2358) or Other Transaction for Research (10 U.S.C. 2371) appropriate and of potential interest. This BAA will remain open until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time April 23, 2008. Awards under this anno uncement are anticipated to be made by August, 2008. However, unless the offeror specifies a different expiration time, proposals will be considered valid for Government acceptance through December 31, 2008. The Government reserves the right to select for award any, all, part or none of the proposals received. Further, the Government reserves the right to select for award only a portion of an offeror's proposal (i.e., certain tasks vs. total program). Multiple proposals from the same offeror will be accept ed and evaluated independently (See Section V). The Government seeks to include the diversity of technologies, approaches, and breadth of treatment of the entire cargo handling system and may deem an otherwise less meritorious proposal as desirable to inc rease the coverage of all aspects of the system. Furthermore, the Government may accept greater risk in a proposal to meet these objectives. This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any proposal prepara tion costs. Section III. Eligibility Information: The supplemental package will contain, and performance will require access to, technical data that are subj ect to export control and deemed militarily critical. In accordance with established policy and procedures for the dissemination and withholding of technical data that disclose critical technology with military application, awardees need to be enterprises certified via DD Form 2345 to obtain export controlled technical data. Participation of foreign sources as subcontractors is encouraged subject to approval, authorization or licensing procedures. Due to the complexity and technical considerations of the JHL Advanced Cargo Handling Risk Reduction (ACHRR), this announcement is not set-aside for small businesses although they are encouraged to propose. Section IV. Submission Information: This BAA is the only solicitation that will be issued. The informat ion contained in this announcement is insufficient to produce a meritorious proposal. Specific instructions to offerors and the JHL Model Performance Specification (MPS) are contained in the supplemental package available to qualified U.S. sources who hav e certification via DD Form 2345. GENERAL: The technical proposal shall be limited to 30 content pages except as otherwise stated in the supplemental package. The technical proposal shall contain a statement of work to which the offeror proposes to be bou nd, program milestones, a description of facilities to be employed in the effort and a program management section. Resumes of key personnel shall be provided. The Cost Proposal should include a funding profile (a cost breakout by month), cost breakdown p roviding man-hours and monthly costs by task, all pricing rates used, and equipment and materials listings, if applicable. Subcontractor proposals, if applicable, including pricing rate details, should be provided concurrently with the prime contractor's s ubmission. Proposals must be submitted in original and 8 copies (Technical/Management Volume), three (3) copies (Appendices) and 2 CDs of each. Proposals should be marked with the above announcement number and addressed to the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C (Pat Hagginbothom), Building 401, Lee Boulevard, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5577. Offerors desiring an explanation or interpretation of this announcement must request it in writing. Oral explanations or instructions given bef ore the award of any contract/agreement will not be binding. Any information given to a prospective offeror concerning this announcement which is necessary in submitting offers or the lack of which would be prejudicial to any other prospective offeror(s) w ill be transmitted to those prospective offerors who request the supplemental package. For purposes of this BAA, late proposals will be treated in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. A copy of any cited reference/clause is available from the issuing office (Pa t Hagginbothom), (757) 878-4818 or via link http://farsite.hill.af.mil/. Section V. Application Review Information. EVALUATION CRITERIA/BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on a scientific and/or engineering eval uation of proposals (both technical and cost as it relates to technical effort) in accordance with the criteria set forth in this section. The scientific, technical, and programmatic ability to satisfy the cargo handling requirements as specified in the s upplemental package. Each of the following criteria, listed in descending order of importance, will be evaluated: (1) The extent to which the proposal satisfies the topic objectives and JHL Model Performance Specification by use of innovative, efficient, and affordable solutions to the technical problem. This will include understanding of the problem, current technical barriers, and how the proposed solution eliminates those barriers, and validity of substantiating data to support performance claims. The following factors (objectives) will be considered. Factor a is significantly more important than factor b and factor b is more important than c and d, which are equal.a. Performance (time, people, material handling equipment, and suitability across mission environments) b. Weight c. Flexibility/Kitability efficiency/penalty and cube d. Payload preparation (2) The merit of the Offerors proposed approach to de velop and demonstrate the capabilities of proposed technologies. This includes the reasonableness of the proposed tasks, schedule and technical and management approach to accomplish the scientific and technical objectives. (3) The benefit of the proposed technologies. This includes a clear and reasonable path to transition the technology, as well as the justification for the estimated cost and the overall operational benefits relative to the 2014 metrics. The weight efficiency/penalty of the proposed techn ology and the flexibility of application to a wide variety of mission environments will be considered as part of its ability to effectively transition into service. (4) The capability of the Offeror to accomplish the proposed effort. This includes the e xperience and qualifications of the proposed personnel, the suitability of the proposed facilities, and the availability (or the ability to generate) of required technical and test data to validate the technology. (5) The reasonableness of the proposed co st to the Government. This includes the realism of the proposed man-hours, materials, subcontractors and other costs to accomplish the proposed individual tasks and overall effort. Any proposed cost share will be evaluated for its benefit in reducing pro gram risk, achieving program objectives, and furthering the state-of-the-art. Criteria (1) is substantially more important than (2) and (3), which are equal and substantially more important than (4) which is more important than (5). SECURITY REQUIRE MENTS: Preaward access to or generation of classified information is not anticipated. Some work to be performed under resulting efforts may be classified. Offerors shall address any perceived necessity to access or generate classified information in the p roposal. A determination has been made that the supplemental package will contain and performance will require access to and/or generate technical data the export of which may be restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U. S. C., Sec. 2751 et. seq.) or the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, Title 50, U.S.C. App.2401 et seq.. Prior to dispatch of the supplemental package, prospective offerors will be required to provide an 'Export-Controlled DoD Data Agreement' certification number i ssued in accordance with DoD Directive 5230.25. This certification may be requested from the Defense Logistics Services Center, ATTN: DLSC-FBA Federal Ctr., Battle Creek, MI 49017-3084, Telephone 1-800-352-3572. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY: The Governmen t does not anticipate furnishing any Government Furnished Property for performance of the JHL ACHRR. If Government Furnished Property is necessary, it shall be detailed in the proposal. Section VI. Award Administration Information: This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any response preparation cost. Several documents are included in the supplemental package to facilitate clear understandings of the requirement. The anticipated reporting requireme nts are addressed in Section I and in substantially greater detail in the supplemental package. Section VII. Agency Contacts. OFFERORS DESIRING A COPY OF THE SUPPLEMENTAL PACKAGE, MUST REQUEST IT IN WRITING. REQUEST MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A CERTIFIED DD FORM 2345 AND DIRECTED TO THE ATTENTION OF PAT HAGGINBOTHOM. Offerors desiring an explanation or interpretation of this announcement must request it in writing at the above address (Datafax (757) 878-0008) to the attention of Pat Hagginbothom (Contract S pecialist) and/or Rhonda Buckanin (Contracting Officer) at pat.hagginbothom@us.army.mil. Mrs. Hagginbothom and Mrs. Buckanin can be reached by telephone at (75 7) 878-4818 and (757) 878-2071, respectively.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Aviation Applied Technology Directorate ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C, Building 401, Lee Boulevard Fort Eustis VA
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Record
- SN01527160-W 20080309/080307224641 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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