SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- BAA for technical & cost proposals for a cooperative agreement from U.S. higher education institutes to conduct basic research focused on barrier issues relevant to progress in vertical lift technology for ongoing & future force needs.
- Notice Date
- 2/2/2011
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AMCOM-CC), ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C, Building 401, Lee Boulevard, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5577
- ZIP Code
- 23604-5577
- Solicitation Number
- W911W6-11-R-0005
- Response Due
- 3/31/2011
- Archive Date
- 5/30/2011
- Point of Contact
- Velvet Taylor, 757-878-2306
- E-Mail Address
-
Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AMCOM-CC)
(velvet.taylor@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. SECTION I. Description Section I. The Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) is soliciting technical and cost proposals to conduct Basic Research as described below and in the Supplemental Package currently available via email request only to Ms. Velvet S. Taylor, Agreement Administrator (velvet.taylor@us.army.mil), Mr. Kenneth E. Helms, Alternate POC (ken.helms@us.army.mil) and/or Ms. Linda Diedrich, Grants/Agreements Officer (linda.diedrich@us.army.mil). Upon each request, supplemental package will be uploaded to AMRDEC Safe Access File Exchange (SAFE site) for access. Proposals are required to be submitted in accordance with the guidelines set forth in this announcement, as supplemented. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and the aforementioned Supplemental Package constitute the total solicitation. There will be no formal Request For Proposals (RFPs), other solicitation requests, or other information regarding this requirement. INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this BAA is to solicit proposals for a cooperative agreement from U.S. higher education institutes to conduct basic research focused on barrier issues relevant to progress in vertical lift technology for ongoing and future force needs. This research is best conducted in a concentrated interdisciplinary center, or Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE). Since future force combat vehicles will be deployed to remote regions of the world and based on Naval vessels at sea, a variety of proposals should focus on research to enable major cost reductions in advanced vertical lift configurations suitable for these conditions. This VLRCOE Program is funded by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is managed by the National Rotorcraft Technology Center (NRTC) located at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. It is intended to support the long-term basic research objectives of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and NASA, to establish a significant dual-use technology base from which the military aviation community and the rotorcraft industry can draw substantial knowledge and capability, and to provide a source of trained rotorcraft research professionals qualified to work on DoD programs. The VLRCOE constitutes the next stage of the U.S. Army's continuing support of a Rotorcraft Centers of Excellence Program initiated in 1982. This announcement covers the VLRCOE program for five (5) program years, initiating in the Government Fiscal Year (GFY) 2011 through 2015. The Government plans to award up to three VLRCOEs. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: To be selected, proposing U.S. higher education institution must offer a range of faculty capabilities and appropriate vertical lift-related course work in a number of disciplines to establish a 'Center.' A Center may be composed of a lead university and partner universities collaborating to provide the scope of program necessary to address the widest range of technical fields. In addition, the inclusion of tasks performed collaboratively with individual investigators from other universities in order to enhance the Center's program content is encouraged. VLRCOE proposals submitted under this BAA should include research tasks in at least four of the following fields: (1) Aeromechanics, (2) Structures, (3) Flight Dynamics and Control, (4) Rotor Design and Concepts, (5) Vibration and Noise Control, (6) Propulsion, (7) Affordability, and (8) Safety and Survivability. In addition, each proposal should include at least one task addressing the field of Naval Operations. Tasks in additional fields not listed may be proposed provided they directly address the objectives of the BAA. Research tasks should be focused on basic scientific issues that are of unique importance to vertical lift and that have the potential for making significant contributions towards U.S. Army and Navy research thrusts and DOD and NASA goals and missions. Interdisciplinary research efforts should be emphasized, but should be focused on fundamental physical phenomena and understandings. Technology transfer and the partnering of this research endeavor with the U.S. rotorcraft industry, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, NASA, other Government organizations (e.g., FAA) and other academic institutions are encouraged. The use of graduate fellowships at enhanced stipend levels and/or plans for an internship program to be mentored at Government labs are also encouraged as a means of attracting the highest caliber (U.S. citizen) students to the VLRCOE program. DELIVERABLES: A VLRCOE shall present an annual program review supported by presentation materials that will document the progress and research accomplished during each program year. At the end of the 5-year program, a final program report is required for the total 5-year program. The final report shall include the VLRCOE's overall accomplishments, research paper publications, degree recipients along with subsequent career paths, patents filed, and technical accomplishments of each task. The VLRCOE shall submit Federal Financial Reports (SF 425) on a quarterly basis and a final within 90 days after the Agreement expiration date. SECTION II: Award Information ANTICIPATED FUNDING LEVEL AND PERFORMANCE PERIOD: The anticipated total Government funding for the program is approximately $4,000,000 per year over the five-year program duration. However, the total proposed budget for each proposal shall not exceed $2,500,000 per year. It is intended that a Center will be a competitive environment, both within each individual Center and between the Centers, in which the annual program review will provide opportunities for evaluating progress on technical tasks and making changes to the program as needed. Although a five-year program with specific tasks will be negotiated for each Center prior to award, the Government reserves the right, pursuant to the terms of the Agreement governing modifications and additional research, to add new tasks or make changes to existing tasks as additional Government funding becomes available and/or funding is redirected from tasks that are not productive. TYPE OF FUNDING INSTRUMENT: The Government anticipates an award of a Cooperative Agreement under 10 U.S.C 2358, as the Government desires to be substantially involved in the performance of the VLRCOE Program. Offerors must provide at least half of the costs of the program to the maximum extent practicable. This is a matter of DoD policy. The purpose of the cost share is to ensure the recipients have a vested interest in the program's success. Cost participation may be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions, where cash is considered of significantly higher quality in demonstrating commitment to the project. Cost participation will be considered in accordance with the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations, DoD 3210.6-R paragraph 34.13 (Cooperative Agreement) (but also see paragraph 37.530 pertaining to Other Transactions for Research) accessible at the following link: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/321006r34p.pdf. This announcement will remain open until 4:00 p.m. EST Thursday, March 31, 2011. Awards under this announcement are anticipated to be made by June 1, 2011. However, unless the offeror specifies a different expiration time, proposals will be considered valid for Government acceptance through September 30, 2011. The Government reserves the right to select for award any, all, part or none of the proposals received. Any award, partial or full, is conditioned upon being evaluated as meritorious as a VLRCOE as described in Section V below. SECTION III. Eligibility Information: Participation is limited to U.S. institutions of higher education. Further, all work or research performed under the cooperative agreement(s) resulting from this announcement must be performed within the United States. Proposals including work or research that will be performed outside of the United States, in whole or in part, are not acceptable and will not be given further consideration for award. SECTION IV. Application and Submission Information: Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the detailed instructions and formats in the Supplemental Package available upon request via email request only to Ms. Velvet S. Taylor, Agreements Administrator (velvet.taylor@us.army.mil), Mr. Kenneth E. Helms, Alternate POC (ken.helms@us.army.mil) and/or Ms. Linda Diedrich, Grants/Agreements Officer (linda.diedrich@us.army.mil). GENERAL: Offerors must submit a proposal for a 5-year research program developed based on research fields discussed in Technical Description Section with examples in Appendix D in this BAA. The proposal should include the following three sections: Management Section, Budget Section and Technical Section. Offerors should submit an original and three (3) hard copies of the entire proposal and 2 CDs. Each CD shall contain all three sections requested with the technical and management in PDF Format and the budget section in Microsoft Office (Excel) format. Hard copies of proposals should be submitted on plain, white letter-size paper only, utilizing one side of the page with no foldout pages. This precludes the use of cardboard stock, plastic covers, colored paper, and binders such as three-ring, spiral and plastic strips. The Management and Budget Sections (Sections B.1 and B.2) are limited to a total of 20 pages inclusive of both sections. The Technical section (Section B.3) is restricted to 70 pages. Page limitations are inclusive of any drawings, charts, etc., and exclusive of section dividers, table of contents, list of figures/tables, glossary of terms and cross-referencing indices (which are not considered content pages). The evaluators will read only up to the maximum number of pages specified. Pages shall be standard 8 x 11 inch paper and main body type shall be not less than a 10-pitch minimum font size, not less than single spacing (a maximum of 6 lines per inch) with margins at least 1 inch. Types smaller than 10-pitch are permitted only for captions, sub/super-scripts and labeling of figures and graphs. Proposals should be marked with the above solicitation number (W911W6-11-R-0005) and addressed to the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, ATTN: CCAM-RDT (Ms. Velvet S. Taylor), 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 before the award of any 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) will be published as an amendment to this announcement. Proposals will not be accepted via FAX or electronic mail. Only materials within page limitations will be evaluated. Proposals must be received by the time and date stated above. For purposes of this announcement, late proposals will be treated in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. A copy of any cited reference/clause is available via link http://farsite.hill.af.mil/. Late proposals will not be reviewed or returned. SECTION V. Application Review Information: EVALUATION CRITERIA/BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources (i.e., centers or VLRCOEs) for award will be based on an evaluation of proposals in accordance with the criteria set forth below and in the Supplemental Package. The proposals will first be evaluated as an integrated, balanced center and then the 5-year program technical tasks will be subjected to a scientific peer review by a team of knowledgeable scientists/engineers. The tasks will be evaluated on their own merit without regard to other proposals submitted under thi s announcement. These evaluations will result in narrative ratings, which will be used to develop an order of merit listing for proposals and technical programs submitted under this announcement. Proposed cost will be evaluated as appropriate, for realism and reasonableness, concurrently with the scientific peer review. Note that it is possible for a proposal to be excluded from the competition if it is deemed to lack the established merits to be a VLRCOE based upon the following criteria. These criteria are equally weighted as part of the overall assessment of the viability of the offeror to become a VLRCOE: (1) Cost sharing and university support as stated in this announcement; (2) Vertical lift technology courses offered to graduate students within the Center or easily available through electronic, remote access; (3) Critical mass of technical expertise within the Center; (4) Access to experimental facilities and equipment; (5) Balance of technical tasks; (6) Partner universities and individual investigators from other universities to strengthen the Center's program; (7) Participation of Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) or Minority Institutions (MI) (Goal of 5%); (8) Prestigious Fellowships at enhanced stipend levels and other programs for attracting the highest caliber (U.S. citizen) graduate students into the VLRCOE program; and (9) Plans for an internship program for (U.S. citizen) graduate students to be mentored at Government labs. The evaluation criteria applicable to the technical tasks in the proposals will be applied to determine which of the proposed tasks will be funded in any VLRCOE agreement(s). The technical tasks will be evaluated using the following criteria: (1) Scientific merits and quality of the technical approaches of the proposed research tasks; (2) Uniqueness/relevance of the proposed task to the competitive position of the U.S. rotorcraft industry and advancement of U.S. military vertical lift technologies. Proposed tasks should be clearly distinguished from other Government-funded efforts conducted by the university; (3) Qualifications and past contributions of the principal investigators and other key research personnel in the proposed research area; (4) Quality of the technology transfer plan including partnering with the industry, military and federal aviation communities; and (5) Reasonableness and consistency of proposed budget for accomplishing the proposed research. Criteria (1), (2) and (3) are equal and substantially more important than (4) which is more important than (5). SECURITY REQUIREMENTS: All work performed under resulting agreement(s) will be unclassified and will not require access to classified material. The preponderance of research performed is anticipated to be basic or fundamental research exempt from export controls. However, it is possible that one or more project tasks may 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 Executive Order 12470. Prior to award, the successful offeror may be required to provide an 'Export-Controlled DoD Data Agreement' certification number issued in accordance with DoD Directive 5230.25 if any proposed task is determined to be subject to export controls. 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. Participation in this program is limited, regardless of tier, to U. S. entities. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY: No Government Furnished Property is anticipated under any agreement resulting from this announcement. If Government Furnished Property is necessary, it shall be detailed in the proposal. SECTION VI. Award Adminstration Information: This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to any response preparation cost. The previously referred to Supplemental Package provides detailed instructions critical to proper preparation and submission of a proposal. SECTION VII. Agency Contacts: Offerors desiring an explanation or interpretation of this announcement must request in writing via email to the attention of Ms. Velvet S. Taylor (Agreements Administrator), Mr. Kenneth E. Helms (Alternate POC) and/or Ms. Linda Diedrich (Grants/Agreements Officer) at velvet.taylor@us.army.mil, ken.helms@us.army.mil and/or linda.diedrich@us.army.mil. Ms. Taylor, Mr. Helms and Ms. Diedrich can be reached by telephone at (757)878-2306, (757)878-5909 and (757)878-4828, respectively.
- Web Link
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FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/bd83ea16050cf7719514928354aa57c3)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AMCOM-CC) ATTN: CCAM-RDT, Building 401, Lee Boulevard Fort Eustis VA
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Record
- SN02371330-W 20110204/110202233917-bd83ea16050cf7719514928354aa57c3 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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