SOURCES SOUGHT
59 -- Common Helmet Mounted Display (CHMD) Production - CHMD Specification - Safety of Flight Requirements - Helmet Mount Interface - Test Plan
- Notice Date
- 4/18/2016
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334511
— Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command, ACC - RSA (W58RGZ) Aviation, SPARKMAN CIR BLDG 5303, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 35898-0000, United States
- ZIP Code
- 35898-0000
- Solicitation Number
- W58RGZ-16-R-AS11
- Archive Date
- 5/24/2016
- Point of Contact
- Stephanie Hillyard,
- E-Mail Address
-
stephanie.b.hillyard.civ@mail.mil
(stephanie.b.hillyard.civ@mail.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Test plan for CHMD Demonstration flights Helmet Mount Interface Safety of Flight Requirements CHMD Specification THIS IS AN RFI ONLY. This is Sources Sought (SS)/Request for Information (RFI) for market research to determine the availability of helmet mounted displays that meet the Army Aviation's requirements for color display and are qualified or nearly qualified for production in accordance with the Army Aviation requirements. Product Manager Air Warrior (PM AW) has an established performance specification that details the requirements for color display performance and interface to aircraft mounted components that provide the data to the display. PM AW anticipates the release, later this year, of a request for proposal for production of a Common Helmet Mounted Display. The production will provide for displays to be fielded to the Army rotary wing population for Black Hawks and Chinooks. In order to provide an opportunity to vendors to conduct preliminary integration of their helmet mounted displays with the US Army Aviation Advanced Sight and Display Computer (ASDC) and Common Display Interface Unit (CDIU), PM AW is offering demonstration opportunities to include flight of contractor hardware. Information from this sources sought is to be used for preliminary planning purposes in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10. This announcement does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) and does not commit the Government to solicit or award a contract now or in the future. Further, the Army is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. All cost associated with participating in the demonstration will be solely at the interested party's expense. The Government will cover the cost of flight time and Government support for the activities described below. Purpose: The PM AW is seeking to identify interested contractors with a qualified or nearly qualified display that may be mounted to the US Army Aviation Rotary Wing Helmet (improved HGU-56/P) and interface to the ASDC & CDIU for data for the display. Contractors are under no obligation to participate in the demonstration in order to submit a proposal in response to the future Request for Proposal. The demonstration consists of two phases: •a) Phase 1: Integration of display using data from ASDC and CDIU in the Cockpit Aircrew Procedural Trainer (CAPT) located at the PM AW facility in Huntsville, AL. The contractor may furnish a helmet or request the Government provide a helmet. The display may also be hand held if the contractor has not completed mounting to a helmet. •b) Phase 2: Integration of display onto Rotary Wing Helmet (RWH) for ground evaluations and demonstration flights on ASDC equipped UH-60L aircraft located in Huntsville, AL. The flights may include night and day demonstration opportunities. The display requirements are defined in the draft Detail Specification Item Specification for the draft Air Soldier Common Helmet Mounted Display, AVNS-DTL-10868B (attached). The specification provides the interface requirement for the display to the CDIU and ASDC for data, electrical and physical. The display must meet these interfaces in order to receive data for display in the CAP-T or in aircraft flight. The interface to the helmet is defined in the illustration (attached) and allows for either top mounted display using the current Night Vision Goggle mount or a side mount location. In order for the Government to obtain an airworthiness release for the Phase 2 demonstration flight of the vendor's display, the vendor must submit test data in accordance with the Safety of Flight (SOF) Requirements (attached). The test data must show compliance/pass with the requirements. The SOF test data must be submitted six weeks prior to the planned demonstration flight window. If the vendor does not have SOF data and does not anticipate obtaining the data in sufficient time to meet the Government's schedule, the vendor may conduct the demonstration in the Government CAPT and participate in the Ground portion of the aircraft tests. The vendor must meet the data interface requirements of the specification. The vendor is not required to meet all the other performance requirements in the specification for this demonstration. The vendor must provide the following: •1) Qualification Data for Safety of Flight •2) Displays as needed •3) Mounting Hardware for mounting display to the helmet •4) Displays must have the connector for interfacing to the aircraft cable that provides the display data The Government will provide access to the CAPT, aircraft and pilots for flight demonstration. Upon completion of the CAPT or flight demonstration, the Government will provide information related to the display operation to the contractor. The information will be in the form of subjective comments from the test pilots. The contractor will be able to participate in the pre-mission set-up and the post mission debrief. The contractor will not be allowed on aircraft during the flight. The test flights will be in accordance with the Test Plan for CHMD Demonstration Flights (attached), subject to availability of aircraft, weather, and personnel. The Government has limited access to the test assets and must schedule activities in advance. The Airworthiness Release (AWR) is issued by a separate Government organization and takes four to six weeks from receipt of SOF data to issuance of AWR. The Tentative Schedule is as follows: Safety of Flight Data due No later than 31 May 2016 Phase 1 Window: May 2 through 10 June, 2016 Phase 2 Hardware Available for flight: NLT 29 June 2016 Phase 2 Flight Window or CAPT Demonstration: 6 July through 17 August 2016; Flight Demonstration may be scheduled earlier depending on issuance of Airworthiness Release and aircraft availability. Instructions: Request that interested parties provide a written response to this RFI NLT 9 May 2016 to Stephanie Hillyard, Stephanie.b.hillyard.civ@mail.mil, 6726 Odyssey Drive Huntsville, AL 35806. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged. If the contractor anticipates participating in the Phase 2 flight, the contractor shall notify the Point of Contact No later than 10 days after the RFI is issued. The remaining information may be submitted as requested in the RFI. Submissions can be through written correspondence and/or electronic mail. Responses should include, at a minimum: name and address of the interested company or organization; contact information for the primary POC; a brief description of the potential offeror's company/organization a description of candidate product to include performance capabilities (2-3 pages only) the vendor's intent to integrate a display in the CAPT and the vendor's intent to participate in a flight demonstration; the extent of SOF data availability for flight demonstration; schedule of the vendor's activities to get to flight demonstration with timeframes for integration efforts in the CAPT (Phase 1); delivery of SOF data; and Phase 2 flight or CAPT event Attachments: •a) Detail Specification Item Specification for the Air Soldier Common Helmet Mounted Display, AVNS-DTL-10868B (Draft) •b) Helmet Mount Interface Illustration •c) Safety Of Flight Requirements •d) Test Plan for CHMD Demonstration Flights
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