Office of Naval Research, 800 North Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660

A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA): CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE: HUMAN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ADVANCED TRAINING TECHNOLOGY SOL ONR 96-018 POC Jan Dickieson (703) 696-0369. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) Accelerated Capabilities Initiative (ACI) for Improved Operational Support Through Condition-Based Maintenance is a five-year program which began in FY96 aimed at enhancing affordability and safety. Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare ONRs intent to competitively fund research and that no request for proposals (RFP), solicitation or other announcement of this opportunity will be made. For the HUMAN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ADVANCED TRAINING TECHNOLOGY thrust area in this Condition-Based Maintenance ACI, ONR seeks proposals for projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of Human- Computer Interfaces (HCI) for diagnostic and prognostic decision support, as well as classroom and embedded training for existing (e.g., Integrated Condition Assessment System (ICAS)) or soon-to-be-developed integrated sensor systems that support condition-based maintenance. This thrust area of the ACI will concentrate on shipboard engineering watchstanders and maintainers and aircrews for rotary wing aircraft. Details regarding this area of the ACI can be downloaded from the Federal Information Exchange, Inc. (FEDIX) Internet web page at http://web.fie.com, or can call 301-258-0953 or 800- 783-3349 for on-line help. Proposed research should be summarized in a three to five page concept paper (12 point or larger font) in accordance with the Programmatic Information section described in FEDIX. The concept paper should describe a nominal two year effort with one optional year continuation. It should describe the proposed research along with a rough order of magnitude of the proposed programs cost. Concept papers should be submitted to Ms. Jan Dickieson, Office of Naval Research, ONR 342, 800 North Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22217-5660, FAX 703-696-8343. Submission of proposals is not restricted in any way to any particular entity. Team proposals which include participants from industry, academia, and/or Navy or other Government laboratories are desired. Cost proposals where a government lab is included in the proposal as part of a team should be predicated on separate awards to the government lab and the team partners. Government agencies will not be in direct competition with industry. Proposers should state in their proposal that it is submitted in response to this BAA. Evaluations of both concept papers and full proposals will be conducted using the following evaluation criteria: (1) Overall scientific, technical and/or socio-economic merits of the proposal, (2) Potential naval relevance and contributions of the effort to the agencys specific mission, (3) The offerors capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposal objectives, (4) The qualifications, capabilities and experience of the proposed Principal Investigator, team leader or key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposal objectives, (5) Realism of the proposed cost and the availability of funds. Selected participants will be invited to submit full technical and cost proposals for evaluation by ONR using the above noted evaluation criteria. An invitation to submit a full proposal does not guarantee funding. This announcement is open for one year from date of publication. Although concept papers will be accepted throughout the year, the evaluation of those papers initially received will begin six weeks after publication of this notice. The standard industrial classification code is 8731 with the small business standard of 500 employees. In addition, contract proposals that exceed $500,000 submitted by all but small businesses, must be accompanied by a Small, Small Disadvantaged and Women-Owned Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9. For awards made as contracts, evaluation of the socio-economic merits will include the extent of commitment in providing meaningful subcontracting opportunities for small business, small disadvantaged businesses, woman-owned small business concerns, and historically black colleges and universities. This is to notify potential proposers that each grant or cooperative agreement that may be awarded under this announcement or solicitation to an institution of higher education must include the following clause: As a condition for receipt of funds available to the Department of Defense (DoD) under this award, the recipient agrees that it is not an institution that has a policy of denying, and that it is not an institution that effectively prevents, the Secretary of Defense from obtaining for military recruiting purposes: (A) entry to campuses or access to students on campuses, or (B) access to directory information pertaining to students. If the recipient is determined, using procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement section 558 of Public Law 103-337 (1994), to be such an institution during the period of performance of this agreement, and therefore to be in breach of this clause, the Government will cease all payments of DoD funds under this agreement and all other DoD grants and cooperative agreements, and it may suspend or terminate such grants and agreements unilaterally for material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of award. If your institution has been identified under the procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement section 558, then: (1) no funds available to DoD may be provided to your institution through any grant, including any existing grant, (2) as a matter of policy, this restriction also applies to any cooperative agreement, and (3) your institution is not eligible to receive a grant or cooperative agreement in response to this solicitation. A subsequent down select from funded efforts will be made for the remaining two years to meet the governments needs based upon the feasibility, affordability, and availability of test platforms. This notice constitutes an ONR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). (0232)

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