SOURCES SOUGHT
61 -- By wire kit (B-Kit) for the M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). B-Kit is defined as a system that provides the data interface and actuation necessary to electronically control all critical driving functions for an unmanned M113A3
- Notice Date
- 4/27/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 336992
— Military Armored Vehicle, Tank, and Tank Component Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command, ACC - WRN (W56HZV)(DTA), 6501 EAST 11 MILE ROAD, Warren, Michigan, 48397-5000, United States
- ZIP Code
- 48397-5000
- Solicitation Number
- TARDEC-M113M58-BKit
- Archive Date
- 6/14/2017
- Point of Contact
- William Smith,
- E-Mail Address
-
william.c.smith1019.civ@mail.mil
(william.c.smith1019.civ@mail.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- TARDEC Ground Vehicle Robotics M113/M58 By-Wire Kit Market Survey / Source Sought DESCRIPTION OF INTENT: This is a Market Survey. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this market survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market survey and any follow-on information requests. Data submitted in response to this market survey will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered. DISCLAIMER: Reference herein to any specific commercial company, product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the Department of the Army (DA). The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the DA, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this market survey questionnaire is to provide information to the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) to support a determination for installation of a by wire kit (B-Kit) for the M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). For this market survey, the B-Kit is defined as a system that provides the data interface and actuation necessary to electronically control all critical driving functions for an unmanned M113A3 vehicle. RESPONSES: Each initial response to this market survey is requested to include: 1. A brief company description (no more than ½ page) summarizing the organization's history and pertinent defense industry experience, CAGE code, business size and contact info. 2. An executive summary limit of one page in response to this market survey. 3. Point(s) of Contact (POC) with associated contact information. 4. Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for the price of one M113A3 by wire kit RESPONSES DUE: Responses to this market survey are due by 30 May, 2017. Please submit all responses and any questions prior to full response via email to william.c.smith1019.civ@mail.mil. Please format the subject line of the response email as follows: "[Organization Name] response to Market Survey- M113A3 by wire kit" RESPONSE FORMAT: Only electronic responses are requested. Please provide e-mail responses in PDF format to the Government POC(s) listed above. If you submit multiple e-mail messages, please make sure the subject lines include, for example, "message 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3," as well as [Organization Name]. All interested entities (e.g. companies, non-profit organizations, and academic institutes), regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this request for information. All material submitted in response to this market survey must be unclassified and properly marked GENERAL INFORMATION: The Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this market survey. The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. §1905 to protect information qualifying as "Confidential" under this statute. [To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term "Confidential" in the context of "Classified Information," we will use the term "PROPRIETARY."] Pursuant to this statute, the Government is willing to accept any PROPRIETARY (e.g., trade secret) restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following: 1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) "PROPRIETARY" with any explanatory text, so that the Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately protected. 2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly proprietary (excessive breadth in marking inappropriate data as "PROPRIETARY" may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting, or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are protected. 3. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the Government, may not be protected. 4. Data will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the Government will be protected in accordance with the Government's rights in the data. 5. Proprietary data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the government, shall contain the "PROPRIETARY" legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate, when only portions of an electronic file are proprietary, use the restrictive legends ‘PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:" and "PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS." 6. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text. 7. The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain proprietary information may receive only limited or no consideration since the respondent's marking of data as "PROPRIETARY" will preclude disclosure of same outside the Government and, therefore, will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available. GOVERNMENT POINT(S) OF CONTACT: William C. Smith TARDEC Ground Vehicle Robotics Email: william.c.smith1019.civ@mail.mil SURVEY QUESTIONS: General: 1. Describe your company's experience in executing research and development contracts in each of the AOIs listed. Provide specific examples for technologies that were developed under Government contracts and what relevance they have to each of the AOIs. Please state what additional research that may be needed to adapt the technologies to the AOIs. 2. Describe your company's experience in transitioning technology to the market place for each of the AOIs listed, or for robotic B-Kits (historically). 3. Please include any brochures/literature/videos of the vehicle demonstrating ability to meet the capabilities listed in the AOIs. 4. Please describe the ROM for B-Kit integration for the first kit and subsequent kits. 5. Answers to all AOIs are not required in order to be considered. The government will seriously consider incomplete responses. Areas of Interest (AOIs) for M113A3 B-Kit: Vehicle subsystem actuation of steering, braking, acceleration, transmission, engine, and troop ramp AOI 1. General subsystem Vehicle component actuation. For each subsystem, please provide the general approach for the actuation by addressing the following: a) What previous systems has the actuator been used? b) How does the actuator determine actual position versus commanded position? c) Does the actuator have redundancy built into the design? d) What safety certification has your actuator undergone? e) Is the actuator an applique or integrated into the vehicle design (digital signal)? f) Is the system capable of self-diagnosis regarding actuator status? g) Please elaborate on your system's actuator integration. AOI 2. B-Kit has the ability to operate the vehicle's steering a) Please elaborate on your steering actuation approach and methods. AOI 3. B-Kit has the ability to operate the vehicle's brakes a) Is the system able to operate both the service brakes and the parking/emergency brakes? b) If applicable, how does the system operate the parking/emergency brakes? c) If power to the system is suddenly removed, does the system actuate the service or parking/emergency brakes? AOI 4. B-Kit has the ability to operate the vehicle's accelerator a) Please elaborate on your acceleration actuation approach and methods. AOI 5. B-Kit has the ability to operate the vehicle's electronic transmission a) Please elaborate on your transmission actuation approach and methods. AOI 6. B-Kit has the ability to start and shut off the engine AOI 7. B-Kit has the ability to actuate the rear troop ramp a) What other safety considerations do you have in place for rear troop ramp actuation (device to notify if the ramp is in open/closed position, force measurement, etc.)? Operating modes AOI 8. Explain all of the system's operating modes (e.g. inhabited takeover, full robotic). AOI 9. Provide details for each operating mode, including control authority for both a human driver and external commands (e.g. what is the system's response if, while in full robotic mode, a human driver actuates the brake?). AOI 10. If the system has emergency stop (e-stop) functionality, explain how the e-stop interacts with each operating mode (e.g. describe how the system reacts to an emergency stop signal received while the system is in "inhabited takeover" mode) Internal software AOI 11. B-Kit internal software overview a) What is the underlying operating system used in the B-Kit? b) Explain cyber protection measures used in your system. c) Explain your IOP compliance with the US Army's RAS (Robotic Strategy) AOI 12. B-Kit low-level fail safe and fault tolerance a) Explain if the system has a safe state when a fault is detected in the system. b) What measures are taken for fault tolerance (e.g. architecture considerations, redundant data, sensing, control and actuation, etc.)? c) Describe how the system addresses component and overall diagnostics, and how/if this information is used and/or provided externally (e.g. in-dash display). Emergency stop (e-stop) AOI 13. B-Kit has an integrated e-stop system a) Provide an overview of the integrated e-stop system, if one is included in the B-Kit. b) Does the e-stop system have redundancy built into the design? c) What actions are performed by the B-Kit if power is cut to the system? d) Does the system have wired switches to signal an e-stop? How many, and where can they be located? e) Can the system implement a remote e-stop? Describe the operation of the entire e-stop system with regards to the remote. f) What safety certification has the e-stop system undergone? g) What fail safe measured are implemented? h) What detailed actions are performed by the B-Kit in response to an e-stop signal, or loss of communications with an e-stop source? AOI 14. B-Kit can interface with a third-party commercial e-stop system a) Please answer the questions from the previous AOI regarding an integrated e-stop system, as they relate to using a third-party e-stop system. b) Please describe the implementation and integration details of the B-Kit with the third-party e-stop system. c) If the B-Kit also has an integrated e-stop system, explain how the two e-stop systems operate together. d) How does the B-Kit detect when the third-party e-stop is commanding a signal? e) How does loss of e-stop power impact B-Kit operation? Message interface AOI 15. B-Kit has a message interface to control the vehicle and provide data feedback a) Describe the B-Kit message interface (e.g. CAN) used to issue commands to the B-Kit, and the message interface the B-Kit uses to provide data feedback. b) What actions does the B-Kit perform if it stops receiving commands? c) Itemize vehicle and B-Kit feedback, for critical (e.g. transmission) and any additional signals (e.g. fuel level) Human interface AOI 16. B-Kit provides information to vehicle occupants on B-Kit operating condition a) What information is provided by the B-Kit onboard or remotely? b) How is information provided (e.g. dash lights)? AOI 17. B-Kit provides a blackout condition option a) If the B-Kit produces light, does it have an option for blackout conditions? Environmental protection AOI 18. B-Kit is environmentally sealed and utilizes hardened military style connectors a) Explain the type of connectors used throughout your system. b) Explain any environmental testing that has been conducted on your current or previous systems. c) Explain how you would design your system to meet military environmental testing standards, if it does not currently. d) Explain electronic component cooling for your system while remaining environmentally sealed (not allowing dirt/dust/debris into the electronic hardware). e) Explain your system's sustained operating environmental temperature capabilities. f) Explain how your system is affected by sun and humidity. Power Supply AOI 19. B-Kit uses vehicle power available and does not utilize any external power sources to function a) What voltage does your system operate (e.g. 24 volts)? b) How will the system be integrated to utilize M113 power? c) What safety certification has your system's power management undergone? d) Explain the actions your system takes when power is low/high, to include: alerts to the user, safety protocols, automatic functions, etc. Safety and Reliability AOI 20. Address your safety and reliability approach. a) What type of standards/regulations does your system comply with? (SAE, FMVSS, and ECE) b) Describe and discuss all safety components. c) What is the system's general approach to fault tolerance? d) Discuss the system's fail safe abilities. e) What methods are available either in-house or in-use for evaluating system failure modes (e.g. system simulation)? Additional materials AOI 21. B-Kit has instructional manuals a) What materials are available for installation and operating the B-Kit? AOI 22. Notification of any parts that are not made or supplied from US supply points a) Can notification be provided for any parts that are not made or supplied from US supply points? AOI 23. The M113A3 is a skid steer vehicle. Discuss experience with actuating these types of vehicles.
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