U.S. ARMY SOLDIER SYSTEMS COMMAND, ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE, ATTN AMSSC-AD, NATICK MA 01760-5011

A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING WORK SOL DAAK60-96-R-9001 DUE 093096 POC Contract Specialist DONALD TULLIS facsimile (508) 651-5286. After approx. 10 Nov 95, facsimile (508) 233-5286. See below for information required from vendors requesting copy of BAA. (Site Code DAAK60) Research and development opportunities at the US Army Soldier Systems Command, (SSC) Natick, MA. The BAA is general in nature, and identifies scientific and technical areas of interest for research and/or exploratory development. It is requested that any organization responding to this notice, if they have not been awarded a contract/order from the Soldier Systems Command / Natick RD&E Center within the past two years, provide the following information: business size (small/large/foreign); tax identification number; Contractor Entity Code (CEC); Contractor and Government Entity (CAGE) Code; principle Federal Supply Classification (FSC) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. Proposals submitted in response to the BAA will be considered only if they fall within the parameters of eligibility for BAA consideration, per FAR 35.016, to wit: scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on a specific system or hardware solution. Areas of interest are divided into groups, as follows- - (A) Combat ration research and development, with objectives of contracts being improved storage stability, distribution efficiency, consumption and acceptance enhancement, and human performance/ maintenance enhancement. Foods and their packaging systems must be capable of supporting highly mobile, widely disbursed troops in climatic extremes and contaminated environments. (B) Protective Packaging Systems, for protection of food and food service equipment, clothing and individual equipment, and tentage and organizational equipment from threats like fire, theft, natural and man-made environmental threats to the contents, and transportation hazards. Work under this topic may involve improvement of existing packaging systems or development of new systems. (C) Food Service & Field Service, including: combat food service equipment for feeding of individuals and of groups of varing numbers of personnel, including all sanitary / environmental considerations related to this; advanced organizational and field service support equipment. (D) Clothing and individual equipment (CIE), including: advanced integrated combat clothing system for the individual military person in the field, with technical challenges involving ballistic protection, flame/thermal protection, chemical protection, environmental including chemical and biological protection, countersurveillance, directed energy protection and clothing and equipment design and sizing; ballistic protection for individuals; individual laser eye protection; microclimate cooling for the individual soldier; bioengineered materials, and; lightweight sensors and electronic components for advanced protective and tactical helmet; (E) Soft/rigid wall shelters and organizational equipment, including: soft shelters (with protection against environmental threats, Chemical/Biological (CB) threats, infrared and other forms of detection, and camouflage characteristics, and resistance to electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic pulse (EMI/EMP), and ballistics); tactical rigid wall shelters (using advanced material technologies for lightweight protection; capable of operating under environmental extremes); (F) Airdrop systems, including advanced personnel and cargo airdrop systems such as but not limited to new parachute/delivery concepts, unique personnel and container delivery methods, and advanced materials, new design and manufacturing techniques for round parachutes and ram-air gliding wings, and experimental and analytical investigation of parachute dynamics. (G) Textile technology centers (must be United States institutions of higher learning) The programs to be covered under this topic group must include protection of the individual soldier against battlefield threats such as ballistic, chemical, biological, fire, thermal and directed energy, while ensuring survival under extremes of environmental (temperature and humidity) conditions; (H) Modeling and simulation, including: unit performance modeling; enhancement of the present Integrated Unit Simulation System (IUSS) software; additions to the IUSS program, including small unit command and control; parachute systems; smoke and chemical cloud travel; human factors, et al; airdrop system vulnerability simulation; (I) Advanced materials from renewable resources, including: protein based polymers; aqueous processing of biopolymers; enzyme-based processing of biological and chemical compounds; bioceramic plant products; biosensors for chemical wastes; bioengineered rubbers and elastomeric proteins; enzymes for protective materials; biodegradable surfactants and detergents; bioengineered protein-based adhesives; complex fiber-reinforced materials, and; biodegradable fibers and films through liquid crystalline processing.(0264)

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