Directorate of R&D Contracting, Bldg 7, 2530 C St, Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607

A -- HIGH SPEED CIRCUITS FOR RADAR AND EW SOL PRDA #96-01-AAK DUE 010896 POC John W. Hargrave, Contracting Officer, (513) 255-3379. A--INTRODUCTION: Wright Laboratory (WL) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) on the research effort described in Section B. Proposals in response to this PRDA shall be submitted by 8 Jan 96, 1500 hours Eastern Standard Time, addressed to (Attn: Mr. John Hargrave), WL/AAKE, Building 7, 2530 C Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7607. Proposals shall not be submitted via facsimile transmission. This is an unrestricted solicitation. Small businesses are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this solicitation. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. Proposal receipt after the cutoff date and time specified herein shall be treated in accordance with restrictions of FAR 52.215-10, copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact cited in Section F. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any amendments to this solicitation that may be published. This PRDA may be amended to allow subsequent submission of proposal dates. Offerors should 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 the contracting point of contact. B--REQUIREMENTS, (1) Technical Description: The signal processing requirements of military and commercial electronics systems are constantly increasing. These include not only device and circuit performance, but also the need for smaller size, less weight and environmental immunity. These goals will require innovative approaches for the fabrication of monolithic, high speed integrated circuits. Fortunately, advances in high speed semiconductor technologies have made it possible to move the digital interface closer to the sensor/antenna and, thereby, reduce the number of, or completely eliminate, the analog downconversion stages found in current receiver architectures. These analog functions are bulky, costly and require considerable recalibration as they drift over temperature. Emerging technologies from such programs as the ARPA GaAs/In pilot line programs and other III-V and SiGe efforts are making it possible to more easily capture the incoming signal into the robust and more temperature independent digital domain. The objectives of this effort are to further develop and optimize a high speed, digital process(es), develop building block circuits, and demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of moving the digital interface closer to the sensor in an advanced digital receiver, such as would be found in radar and/or EW applications. The approach includes the design, fabrication, test, and demonstration of high speed, digital building blocks to fill the processing gap between the RF input signal and lower speed digital ICs being addressed by commercial silicon technology. Potential demonstration circuits include analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), SRAMs and/or various digital signal processing (DSP) functions such as filtering (i.e., FIR, IIR, decimation, etc.) or transform circuits (i.e., FFT,DFT, Hilbert, etc.). Building block circuits, using the appropriate emerging technologies (HBTs, HFETs, etc.) shall be defined, designed, fabricated, and fully characterized for a candidate application. A comprehensive comparison shall be made between the existing application configuration and the advanced configuration utilizing the building block circuits fabricated as part of this effort. This detailed analysis shall quantify the improvements which are achievable as the digital interface is moved closer to the sensor/antenna. (2) Deliverable Items: (a) The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (i) Status Report, DI-MGMT-80368A/T, monthly, (ii) Funds and Man-hour Expenditure Report, DI-FNCL-80331/T, monthly, (iii) Project Planning Chart, DI-MGMT-80507A/T, monthly, (iv) Contract Funds Status Report (CFSR), DI-F-6004B/T, quarterly, (v) Presentation Material, DI-ADMN-81373/T, as required, (vi) Scientific and Technical Reports, Contractor's Billing Voucher, DI-MISC-80711/T, monthly, (vii) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Interim), and (viii) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Draft and Reproducible Final). (b) The following additional deliverable items shall be proposed: Ten (10) packaged final demonstration circuits specified under Section B. (3) Security Requirements: NONE . (4) Other Special Requirements: International Trade in Arms Restrictions apply. Public Law 98-94 applies to this cquisition. Offerors must submit approved DD From 2345, Export-Controlled DoD Technical Data Agreement with their proposal. C--ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: The total length of the technical effort is estimated to be 36 months. The contractor shall also provide for an additional 4 months for processing/completion of the final report. (2) Expected Award Date: July 96. (3) Air Force Estimate: The Air Force funding profile is $3,700,000. Multiple awards are possible. This funding profile is an estimate only and is not a promise for funding as all funding is subject to change due to Air Force discretion and availability. (4) Type of Instrument: Contract - Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) or Cost (no fee). Award of a grant or cooperative agreement, in lieu of a contract, will be considered and will be subject to the mutual agreement of the parties. Any grant(s) awarded will be cost (no fee). Additionally, any cooperative agreement(s) will require cost sharing. (5) Government Furnished Property: None contemplated. (6) Size Status: For the purpose of this acquisition, the size standard is 500 employees (SIC 8731). (7) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the contracting point of contact upon deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign contractors should be aware that restrictions may apply which could preclude their participation in this acquisition. D--PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: (1) General Instructions: Offerors should apply the restrictive notice prescribed in the provision at FAR 52.215-12, Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data, to trade secrets or privileged commercial and financial information contained in their proposals. Proposal questions should be directed to one of the points of contact listed below. Offerors should refer to the instructions contained in the WL ''PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry'' referenced in Section A of this announcement. Separate technical and cost proposal volumes are required and must be valid for 180 days. Proposals must reference the above PRDA number. Proposals shall be submitted in an original and five (5) copies. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be evaluated against the criteria set forth below in the Section E - Basis of Award. Offerors are advised that only contracting officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the Governent. (2) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information on prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, data and facilities, and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal and are not included in the page limit discussed below. The technical proposal shall include a Statement of Work (SOW) detailing the technical tasks / phases proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort and be suitable for instrument incorporation. Offerors should refer to the WL Guide to assist in SOW preparation. Any questions concerning the technical proposal or SOW preparation should be referred to the technical point of contact cited below. (3) Cost Proposal: The cost proposal / price breakdown shall be submitted on a SF 1411, together with supporting schedules, and shall include a cost and person-hour breakdown by task . Copies of the above-referenced form may be obtained from the contracting point of contact cited below. (4) Page Limitations: The technical proposal shall be limited to 75 pages (12 pitch or larger type), double-spaced, single-sided, 8.5 by 11 inches. The page limitation includes all information, i.e., indexes, photographs, fold-outs, appendices, attachments, etc. with the exceptions stated above. Pages in excess of this limitation will be removed from the proposal and will not be evaluated by the Air Force. Cost proposals have no page limitation, however, offerors are requested to limit cost proposals to 75 pages as a goal. (5) Preparation Cost: This announcement does not commit the Air Force to pay for any proposal preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this PRDA is not an allowable direct charge to any resulting award, or any other procurement instrument. However, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost as specified in FAR 31.205-18. E--BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on an evaluation of an offeror's proposal (both technical and cost) to determine the overall merit of the proposal in response to the announcement. The technical aspect, which is ranked as the first order of priority, shall be evaluated based on the following criteria which are of equal importance. (1) Understnding of the Problem: The proposal will be evaluated on the basis of the offeror's understanding the scope of the work required and their background in design, fabrication, and evaluation of high speed digital IC technology. The offeror's understanding of the technical requirements for the intended application will also be evaluated. Discussion of critical issues identified and a plan given for overcoming expected technical problems will also be evaluated, (2) Soundness of the Approach: Evaluation of the proposed approach will be based on the identification of new and creative solutions and the offeror's description of their planned approach for the investigation of materials, device structures, processing techniques and test circuit fabrication to meet the objectives of this program. The proposer's discussion of their preferred approach and the identification of the risk area (technical, schedule, and cost) and alternative approaches in critical high risk areas will also be evaluated, (3) Special Technical Factors: The proposal will be evaluated on the basis of the competence, experience, and availability of scientific and engineering personnel as well as the availability of necessary research, fabrication, design and evaluation facilities. Cost is ranked as the second order of priority. No other evaluation criteria will be used. The technical and cost proposals will be evaluated at the same time. The Air Force reserves the right to select for award any, all, part, or none of the proposal(s) received. F--POINTS OF CONTACT: (1) Technical Points of Contact: Mr. Ronald L. Bobb or Dr. Edgar J. Martinez, WL/ELDE, Bldg 620, 2241 Avionics Circle Ste 17, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base OH 45433-7319, (513) 255-3802 or 255-8636. (2) Contracting/Cost Point of Contact: Mr. John Hargrave, WL/AAKE, Bldg 7, 2530 C Street, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7607, (513) 255-3379. (0324)

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