Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- GROUP III - MARITECH NEAR TERM TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION SOL BAA96-01 DUE 110796 POC Mr. Robert Schaffran, ARPA/TTO, FAX (703)696-2204. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) is soliciting proposals for cooperative, cost-shared projects for the development of ship designs and process technologies. This BAA is a continuation of the ARPA MARITECH program for revitalizing the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry. PURPOSE: This BAA solicits proposals to develop innovative, world class ship designs with a specific market and/or customer(s) in mind and the production processes and technologies required to construct them competitively for the international marketplace. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS: Proposals shall be submitted by teams that could include shipyard(s), ship owner(s)/ operator(s), equipment and/or material suppliers, and breakthrough technology developers, possibly from non-shipbuilding industrial sectors. Team members are those who are investing in the project, exposed to financial risk, and who will only receive benefit if the project is successfully commercialized. MARITECH requires that proposals be cost sharing. ARPA can only invest a maximum of 50 percent of the total project cost. TECHNICAL APPROACH: Proposals must demonstrate a commitment to develop a producible ship design that will cost less to build than those resulting from past practices. The technical approach shall address: (a) market analysis and targeted marketing plan, (b) innovative design concept(s) that satisfy the projected market demand, integrated with innovative build strategies that facilitate U.S. construction at competitive cost and schedules, (c) an approach for the development of required ship and shipbuilding process technology, (d) innovative financing package(s) for ship construction, including any requirements for government backing, and (e) an approach for applying lessons learned from this project to future ship designs for alternative markets. The duration of these projects will typically be 18 to 24 months. ABSTRACTS: Offerors are encouraged to submit an abstract of their proposed work. Any offeror whose abstract is found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Program will be invied to submit a full technical and cost proposal. Such an invitation does not assure subsequent contract award. A full proposal may be submitted in lieu of an abstract for evaluation with all full proposals. Abstracts shall be submitted in the following format: (a) 8.5 x 11 inches, single or double spaced, in at least 11 point type, (b) Title page, signed by an authorized officer, clearly labeled ''PROPOSAL ABSTRACT,'' including this BAA number, proposal title, and offeror's administrative and technical points of contact with telephone and fax numbers, (c)Summary (five single-sided pages maximum), to include technical ideas proposed, their anticipated contribution to the above described efforts, anticipated results, and total cost. Offerors shall submit abstracts (original and two copies) to: Advanced Research Projects Agency/TTO, Attn: Mr. R. Schaffran, MARITECH Program, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. No fax or e-mail abstracts or proposals will be accepted. Abstracts must be submitted by 1600 hours local time on December 8, 1995. If a full proposal is subsequently invited, the offeror will be provided with a specific date for submission. PROPOSALS: Proposals shall consist of two separately bound volumes: Volume I shall provide the technical proposal and the management approach, Volume II shall address cost. The proposal shall be prepared in the following format: (a) Page format: 8 .5 x 11 inches, one-sided printing, numbered pages, (b) Margins: Not less than one inch (exclusive of page numbers), (c) Line spacing : space and one-half or doubled spaced, (d) Type size: At least eleven point type. Technical proposals will be a maximum of forty (40) pages long. Material appearing after the fortieth page will not be considered. Each proposal must bear a cover sheet with the following information clearly displayed: This BAA number, Title, Name and Address of Lead Organization, Administrative Point of contact, name, telephone number, and fax number, Signature of Authorized Officer. Volume I Technical: Volume I shall have the following four sections: 1 - Executive Summary: no more than five (5) pages, summarizing the entire technical proposal. 2 - Body of the Proposal: The body shall include: (a) approach to strategy/process technology that will be developed and implemented, (b) management plan that identifies the consortium members (those project investors who are at financial risk) and describes their roles and responsibilities, (c) a personnel and corporate experience and facilities section, and (d) a business plan for the financing and marketing of the proposed ship ( the business plan shall address how the new ship and build strategy will be implemented such that commercial competitive advantage will be derived by the shipyard(s)), and (e) a commercial benefits section addressing anticipated commercial benefits to the U.S. shipyard that will result from the project, including how any developed technology and lessons learned from the project can be applied to other ship designs either commercial or Navy. 3 - Statement of Work: Supply a brief Statement of Work that discusses the specific tasks to be carried out, including a schedule of significant events and measurable milestones. 4 - Address information: Supply the mame of company, address, Point of Contact, telephone and fax number of all consortium members, contractors, and subcontractors.Volume II - COST: Volume II shall have the following three sections: Section 1 - Total Proposed Cost: This section must give a detailed breakdown of costs on a task-by-task basis for each task appearing in the Statement of Work. Cost breakdowns shall include materials, direct labor, subcontracts, indirect costs and other direct costs such as special equipment or travel. A table summarizing the breakdown of costs per task, per team member, per year is required. Offerors shall provide exhibits as necessary to substantiate cost elements. Section 2 - Cost to the Government: This section must specify the total costs by task to be supported using MARITECH funds. Section 3 - Fund Matching and In-Kind Contributions: This section shall include: (a) the sources of cash and amounts to be used for matching requirements for each task, and (b) the specific in-kind contributions proposed for each task, their value in monetary terms, and the methods by which their values were derived. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL: Offerors shall submit proposals ( original, three copies and a 3-1/2-inch floppy disk in WordPerfect 5.1/PC or 2.0/Mac or Microsoft Word 2.0/PC or 4.0/Mac, referencing BAA 96-01 to: Advanced Research Projects Agency/TTO, Attn: Mr. R. Schaffran, MARITECH Program, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. It will be the responsibility of the offeror to verify the delivery of its proposal to the MARITECH Program. The Government is notresponsible for any costs associated with abstract or proposal preparation or submission. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA: Evaluation of proposals will be based on the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: criteria (a) and (b) are of greatest weight, and are equal in weight to each other, criterion (c) is of lesser weight than criteria (a) and (b), criteria (d), (e) and (f) are of least weight but equal in weight to each other. (a) The potential significance of the proposed effort to enhance U.S. commercial shipbuilding competitiveness by reducing ship design and construction time and cost. (b) The strength and commitment of the consortium members measured by their cost sharing contributions, particularly on the part of the participating shipyard(s). (c) The consortium member capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques, or unique combinations thereof that are integral factors for achieving the proposed objectives. (d) The innovative aspects and scientific merits of the proposed effort, and the feasibility of the approach and technical objectives. (e) The qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed management team, consisting of the principal investigator and personnel who are key to program success. This management team must clearly demonstrate the leadership and vision to carry out the project, enhancing the corporate business structure to engage the international marketplace. (f) Defensibility of estimated costs and anticipated results, showing realistic task schedule and hourly rates associated with tasks. FUNDING: Present planning is that up to $15 million may be made available to fund responses to this announcement. The Government reserves the right to award contracts, grants or cooperative agreements under this solicitation, however, multiple, cost-shared cooperative agreements, which are anticipated to be up to $4 million (total cost, Government and industry), are expected to be awarded. Proposers are encouraged to submit multiple-year, multi-phase proposals. The first phase efforts should be for no less than six months. Options may be included in the additional phases of final negotiated agreements. Awards will be based on proposal merit and funding availability. ARPA anticipates that selections will be made during the second quarter of fiscal year 1996. This solicitation will remain open for 365 days from the date f this announcement. Abstracts and proposals received after the initial round of evaluations will be evaluated, however, abstracts will not be accepted after 270 days from the publication date of this announcement. Depending upon the availability of funds, some of these proposals may be accepted. EVALUATIONS: It is the policy of ARPA to treat all abstracts and proposals as competitive information and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation. The Government intends to use selected technical experts from PRC Inc. to read abstracts and proposals and provide advice on specific technical areas. This contractor is restricted by its contract from disclosing any submitted information or using it for purposes other than performing the technical assessment. Contractor personnel are required to sign non-disclosure statements. By submission of an abstract and/or proposal, the offeror agrees that its technical and management information may be disclosed to those selected technical experts for the limited purpose stated above. Any information submitted with an abstract or proposal for which the offeror does not consent to limited release to these contractors must be clearly marked and submitted segregated from other material. Selections under this BAA will be made only by government personnel using evaluations by government personnel. CONTRACTUAL: All responsible sources may submit a proposal for consideration. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit proposals, however, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of MARITECH technologies for exclusive competition among entities. This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2) (I). The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. (0311)

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