|
COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF may 31,1995 PSA#1357Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Contracts Management Office
(CMO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714 A -- TRANSTECH SOL BAA 95-30 POC Grant E. Mayberry, Contracting
Officer, (703)696-2438. The Advanced Research Projects Aency, Maritime
Systems Technology Office, (ARPA MSTO) and Software and Intelligent
Systems Technology Office (ARPA SISTO), are soliciting proposals to
meet the transportation and logistics planning and operations needs of
the 21st century. This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency
Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in FAR 6.102 (d)(2)(i). Information
in this CBD announcement is NOT complete. Prospective offerors MUST
also refer to the Proposer Information Packet before submitting an
abstract or a proposal.The goal of this new program, TransTech, is to
investigate and demonstrate technologies that will make a fundamental
difference in transportation. The program will capitalize on the
revolutionary advances made in communications, simulation, planning,
presentation, retrieval, and visualization technology, as well as seek
mechanical systems to improve the intermodal system performance and
efficiency. ARPA plans to establish a broad network linking
transportation/ logistics suppliers and users giving our forces
powerful new tools to efficiently and flexibly manage the
transportation and logistics 'war' envisioned for the 21st century
warfighter. TransTech will also support the development of systematic
investment and policy decisions about our national civilian and
military transportation infrastructure. This will facilitate improved
decision making by military planners and ultimately permit us to meet
the strategic mobility requirements for the next century. The TransTech
program will be developed using revolutionary advances in key
technologies of Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence
(C3I), advanced design processes based on virtual prototyping and
advanced modeling, high performance computing, distributed networking,
and human computer interaction. The objectives of the TransTech
program are to develop new technologies for the next century that will:
(1) Allow distributed real-time visualization and interaction with all
elements of the military and commercial transportation infrastructure.
(2) Allow efficient and effective real time control, planning,
replanning, and rehearsal of the movement of forces and materiel, both
for deployment and re-deployment. (3) Allow decision makers at all
levels, from operators to policy makers, to make and validate
systematic investment and policy decisions about the transportation
infrastructure. (4) Achieve Total Asset Visibility from factory to
foxhole using advanced communications architectures, databases and
Automated Identification Technologies (AIT). (5) Develop and
demonstrate emerging enabling technologies to enhance transportation
system performance especially the physical handling and packaging of
cargo to meet throughput requirements at intermodal gateways, the
mitigation of relative motion for amphibious operations in the Theater
of Operations, and Automated Identification Technologies (AIT) for
tracking assets. TransTech will focus development efforts in three
areas defined below. Each area is of equal importance. Proposers,
either individual or teamed, are encouraged to propose in any or all of
these three areas. ARPA may select for award a subset of the acceptable
proposals to construct a balanced program meeting its needs. It will
not be necessary for proposers to have experience in military
transportation and/or logistics. Proposers must be willing to cooperate
and exchange information in an integrated program with other
contractors and be willing to be assigned to a prime contractor, or
integrator, chosen by ARPA. Pending approval of funding, a total of
approximately $10M may be available in FY96 for funding multiple
efforts. Size of awards and duration of efforts will vary according to
the type of effort undertaken. Cost Plus Fixed Fee type contracts are
anticipated to be awarded, however, offerors may propose other types.
In the latter situation, ARPA will make a decision on a case by case
basis choosing the type most advantageous to the Government. Area 1.
TransWeb: TransWeb is defined as the communication network, software,
hardware, and data architectures, standards, and protocols that allow
distributed resources (users, data, applications and systems) to
interact. TransWeb will enable a high fidelity synthetic environment
that accurately depicts the national military and commercial
transportation infrastructure. TransWeb will permit multiple users to
access the same data (both real and simulated), view the same displays,
and interact with the environment and one another. TransWeb will
provide the integrating environment, permitting other transportation
systems, models (for example: ports (air, land, sea), transport
vehicles (ship, truck, rail, plane), cost, labor, combat support,
environment (weather, pollution, etc.), and safety), and data to work
together seamlessly and efficiently. An information services layer will
allow the user in government or industry to access all distributed
resources of TransWeb. The information will be assimilated and
organized in a visual fashion. Area 2. Applications: The Applications
area will include development of individual models and simulations that
are used in planning and executing logistics and transportation
operations, including Total Asset Visibility, as well as optimization
routines. This area will also include applications for Infrastructure
Investment Planning which will permit the transportation users and
planners (including Congress, DoD, Department of Transportation,
Municipal Planning Organizations, etc.) to make informed decisions
regarding investment in the infrastructure. New models and simulations
may be developed, along with standards for model interoperability and
seamless data exchange, which must be closely coordinated with Area
One TransWeb. Information gathering techniques for real time update of
transport and infrastructure information will be developed, along with
techniques for combining and displaying the data. Area 2A. Logistics
Planning: Area 2A is the focus of the Logistics for the Warrior (LFW)
program in SISTO. The goal of the LFW program is to build and deploy
multi-echelon, collaborative logistical support tools that integrate
planning, execution, monitoring and decision support systems to achieve
logistical reallocation and redeployment within and between future
combat theaters. To effectively support logistics planning, the concept
of a logistics anchor desk (LAD) is being investigated. Essentially an
anchor desk is a means of organizing resources to obtain access to
multiple systems and decision aids that provide logistical information
when it is needed and where it is needed. Further, it also provides
the flexibility of determining how the information will be presented to
support combat and mobilization operations. It is anticipated that LAD
will be seamlessly integrated into TransWeb during the TransTech
program. The LAD in the year 2001 would be a synthesizing facility
capable of existing at various organizational command levels to provide
distributed planning tools and expert ''virtual staff'' assistance to
theater and deployed joint task force logistics staffs. The LAD would
support mission rehearsal and refinement for the Joint Task Force (JTF)
staff while enroute to the forward deployed JTF headquarters. Key
aspects of the LAD are focused collaborative planning, real-time
connections to defense logistics data sources and other LADs, and
dynamically reconfigurable software. It is envisioned that the LAD
would be capable of being dynamically configured to allow creation of
customized information systems that can be individually configured
without conventional reprogramming. Area 3. Critical Transport
Technologies: The final area will identify and develop critical
technologies focused at physical systems that will make a revolutionary
and fundamental impact on intermodal system performance and efficiency.
Technologies that are being considered for development include, but are
not limited to: automated identification technology, global mobile
communications, electronic data transfer, cargo handling technologies
for port through-put, mitigation of relative motion technologies for
on/off-load in unprotected waters, and packaging technologies.
Proposals for technologies not listed above are also encouraged.
Proposers, either individual or teamed, are strongly encouraged to
submit an abstract of their proposed work. The purpose of this abstract
is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror. It is not
a requirement for submission or selection of proposal. Any offeror
whose abstract is found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA
will be invited to submit a full technical and cost proposal. Such an
invitation does not assure subsequent contract award. Regardless of the
recommendation, the decision to submit or not submit a proposal is the
responsibility of the party submitting the abstract. No award can be
made without a proposal to perform the specific effort within an
estimated cost and time framework. ARPA will evaluate proposals and
make contract awards within a reasonable period of time after receipt.
Proposals and abstracts will be selected through a
technical/scientific/business decision process with technical and
scientific considerations being most important. Proposals and abstracts
submitted in a technical area are evaluated only within that area,
based on their own technical merit. ARPA will evaluate proposals and
make contract awards within a reasonable period of time after receipt.
Evaluations will be performed using the following criteria which are
the same for each area and are listed in descending order of relative
importance, criteria 1 and 2 are of greatest weight, and are equal in
weight to each other; criteria 3 is of significantly lesser weight than
criteria 1 or 2; criteria 4 is of lesser weight than criteria 3;
criteria 5 and 6 are of least weight, but are equal in weight to each
other. (1) Innovation, (2) Relevance of work proposed, (3) Technical
Approach, (4) Defensibility of the overall estimated cost, (5)
Facilities, capabilities, and related experience, (6) Personnel in
primary and subcontractor organizations. An automated-response system
has been established at ARPA to provide rapid electronic information
exchange regarding technical questions, as well as the Proposer
Information Packet (PIP). The following describes how this system
operates: (a) This System is Case Sensitive, Therefore All Commands
Should Be Written In Lower Case, (b) For information on how to use this
system, send an email message to baa-info@arpa.mil with the message
field containing ''info baa95-30'', and the text of the instruction
file will be sent by return email, (c) To obtain a copy of the Proposer
Information Packet (PIP), send an email message to baa-info@arpa.mil
with the message field containing ''get baa95-30 pip'' and the text of
the PIP will be sent by return email, (d) To obtain a copy of the
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file send an email message to
baa-info@arpa.mil with the message field containing ''get baa95-30
faq'' and the text of the FAQ file will be sent by return email, (e) To
ask a technical question regarding the BAA, send an email message to
baa95-30@arpa.mil with your question in the message field and ARPA will
answer it by return email, and both the question and answer (without
the name of originator) will be appended to the Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) file. The preferred method for obtaining the PIP, FAQ
and asking technical questions is by automated response email.
Technical questions will only be responded to in writing. If the
offeror does not have access to email, information requests or
technical questions may be sent by FAX to 703-696-2204, Attention: BAA
95-30. If the offeror does not have access to either email or a FAX
machine, written requests or questions may be sent to: ARPA MSTO, Attn:
BAA 95-30 INFORMATION, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.
Questions of a contractual nature shall be directed to Mr. Grant
Mayberry, ARPA, Contract Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive,
Arlington, VA 22203, or via phone at 703-696-2438. Abstracts and
Proposals Sent by Fax or E-mail Will Be Destroyed. There will be no
formal request for proposals or other solicitations regarding this
announcement. This BAA is open for 1 year after its appearance in the
Commerce Business Daily. Abstracts are due by 30 June 1995. Abstracts
received after that date will be evaluated, but may not be considered
during the initial round of evaluations. Proposals should be submitted
no later than 11 September 1995. Proposals received after that date
will be evaluated, but may not be considered during the initial
evaluation period. (0146) Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0001 19950530\A-0001.SOL)
A - Research and Development Index Page
|
|