R&D Contracating Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607

A -- HIGH PERFORMANCE MILITARY PRODUCT REALIZATION - PART 1 OF 2 SOL BAA 95-60-MLK POC Contact William T. Underwood, Contract Negotiator, (513) 255-3506, or Douglas Harris, Contracting Officer, (513) 255-3506. The Air Force's Manufacturing Technology Directorate (WL/MT), as part of Wright Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB OH, is soliciting proposals for High Performance Military Product Realization under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) that demonstrate the benefits of advanced manufacturing practices such as those being researched by the Lean Aircraft Initiative (LAI). For maximum consideration, proposals in response to this BAA must be received by 1500 EST, 19 June 1995, addressed to WL/MLKT, ATTN: Mr. William Underwood, 2530 C street, WPAFB, OH 45433-7607. FAR 52.215-10 applies to both the 19 June 1995 and 30 April 1996 proposal submission due dates. This is an open ended BAA. While technical and cost proposals will be accepted through 30 April 1996, only those technical and cost proposals received by 1500 EDT on 19 June 1995 will be considered for FY95 award. This is an unrestricted solicitation. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments. Offerors may request a copy of the WL Guide entitled, ''PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry''. This guide was specifically designed to assist offerors in understanding the PRDA/BAA proposal process. Copies may be requested from WL/MLKT, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-6503, telephone (513) 255-3506. B-REQUIREMENTS: (1) Background: The LAI is a joint industry-academia-labor-government consortium led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and chartered to evaluate the implications of adapting the principles of lean production to aerospace manufacturing. Lean production is a term coined by MIT researchers to capture the common, successful practices of the Japanese automobile industry as a model. The LAI research agenda is focused across several dimensions of a production enterprise, including supplier relationships, product development, factory operations, and human resources. The Lean Implementation Initiative (LII) is a joint services effort to mitigate the risk of implementing recommendations from the LAI. Requirements germane to this solicitation, which is the first in the LII, are the result of findings from the LAI Factory Operations focus group. (2) Technical Description: This solicitation targets those improvements within a manufacturing facility that enhance the productivity and quality of production activities and create an environment for continuous improvement, commensurate with reductions in cost and cycle time. The Factory Operations focus group has embraced factory flow optimization as a rich objective for improvement. One best practice approach to flow optimization is rearrangement of the factory to group similar products along their common production processes, while striving for continuous flow through and across those groupings or modules. The modular factory then is a reorganization of production resources into semi-autonomous modules, each with total responsibility and authority for a set of processes, adding value to the product to ensure success for the entire enterprise. Typically, modules are arranged within the factory around the assembly sequence, with the next higher assembly operation as the customer. The module is characterized by: empowerment of workers and teams, emphasis on training for skill interchangeability, dedicated capital equipment, aggressive inventory reduction, focus on work flow velocity, shop floor density to reduce transportation time, and gain-sharing incentives for employees. Many enabling approaches are employed in reaching these objectives, including benchmarking, pull-driven scheduling, activity-based methods, process variability reduction, simulation, and labor-management cooperation. Reconfigurability of the machine cells within these modules is another critical enabler of production capability which can effectively compensate for significant demand variation. Derivation and demonstration of these concepts for the defense production environment will require consideration of business practice changes, infrastructure improvements, and identification of the barriers and disincentives to their accomplishment. Offerors are encouraged to construct proposed efforts around an integrated set of pathfinders and a pilot demonstration. Pathfinders are quick-hitting, demonstration-oriented efforts with defined scope and metrics. The pilot demonstration would then employ the results of one or more pathfinder phases in addition to tracking against specific production metrics. Improvements proposed in response to this announcement should focus on demonstration of one or more of the aforementioned modular factory concepts against weapon systems programs in production or in transition to production. Successful offerors will demonstrate emphasis on up front (pre-proposal) assessment of cost drivers and affordability concerns on which to base the proposed effort. Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation should: clearly define the nature and scope of the problem being addressed, including relevant data and metrics, identify the generation and analysis of a baseline on which to launch improvements, and, clearly identify demonstrations and their benefits for the customer. Additionally, offerors must define a method for ensuring widest dissemination of results, specifically identifying the means by which companies participating in the LAI can adopt results. Finally, offerors should describe or illustrate how proposed improvements fit into a longer term corporate improvement strategy. (3) Deliverable Items: The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (a) Program Plan, DI-MGMT-80909/T (one time, 4 months after contract award), (b) Technical Report Study/Services, Technology Transfer Plan, DI-MISC-80508 (one time), (c) R&D Status Report, DI-A-3002A/T, (monthly), (d) Scientific and Technical Reports, Interim Report, DI-MISC-80711/T, (annually), (e) Scientific and Technical Reports, Final, DI-MISC-80711/T, (draft and camera ready copy, one time, upon completion of effort), (f) Presentation Material including a demonstration video, DI-A-3024A/T, (as required), (g) Contract Funds Status Report (CFSR), DI-A-6004B (quarterly), (h) Informal Technical Information (contractor's billing voucher), DI-S-30593. Other data items may be appropriate as required. (4) Security Requirements: It is anticipated that work performed as a result of this BAA will be unclassified. Data generated by the resulting contract may be subject to export control and/or subject to International Traffic Arms Regulation. U.S. organizations are asked to contact the contracting officer immediately if they anticipate employment of foreign nationals on this program. C-ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: Technical effort is expected to last approximately 36 months plus an additional 4 months for final reporting. (2) Expected Award Date: September 1995. (3) Government Estimate: The government anticipates 1-2 awards for a total government funding no greater than $8.5M. (4) Type of Contract: Based upon section 256 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 (Public Law 103-337), cost sharing is required. Cost shared contracts or cooperative agreements are anticipated. It is noted that FAR part 31 sets forth the principles for allowable cost share pertaining to contracts while OMB Circular A-110 defines allowable cost sharing for cooperative agreements. A copy of OMB Circular A-110 may be obtained upon request by calling 202-395-4660. (5) Government Furnished Property: It is the offeror's responsibility to identify and arrange for the use of any equipment. (6) Size Status: Firms responding should indicate their size status as well as indicating whether they are or are not a socially and economically disadvantaged business or a woman owned business. For this award, small businesses are considered to employ 500 or fewer employees. SIC code 8731 applies. (7) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: All foreign owned or foreign controlled firms are asked to immediately notify the contracting officer upon deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign and foreign controlled contractors should be aware that restrictions may apply which could preclude their participation in this acquisition. (8) Presolicitation Briefing: A bidders' conference was held in Dayton, Ohio on 5 April 1995 for this effort. Copies of the slides presented are available from the technical point of contact. (0122)

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