Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington VA 22203-1714

A -- A MARTIECH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION SOL BAA96-42 DUE 011797 POC Mr. Robert Schaffran, DARPA/TTO, fax (703) 696-2204. A MARITECH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION SOLICITATION BAA 96-42, DUE: January 17, 1997, POC: Mr. Robert Schaffran, DARPA /TTO, Fax (703) 696-2204. Purpose: This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is issued as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) MARITECH Program. The MARITECH Program is Congressionally directed under the National Shipbuilding and Shipyard Conversion Act of 1993, which states ''the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the amount of funds provided by the Secretary to a non-Federal government participant does not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of technology development and technology transfer activities.'' This BAA solicits proposals for advanced technology development projects that will dramatically improve the practices and processes used for the design and construction of ships in the United States, surpass international commercial competition, and yield significantly more affordable Navy ships. Scope: The following two technology thrust areas are the focus of this BAA: 1. Advanced Business Practices: This area addresses requirement analysis, supplier relations and material procurement, human resource management, customer relations (including ship life cycle support) and marketing, and cost estimating and financial management systems. The objective of this area is to develop, and demonstrate innovative application of new technologies and processes that would vastly improve a shipyard(s)' capabilities in these areas and its interoperations among suppliers, customers, and other shipyards. These technologies could include improved communications, electronic commerce, improved employee training tools, advanced management systems, and the technologies to integrate some or all of these areas. 2. Total Process Systems: This thrust area addresses development and demonstration of system-wide, integrated, design and production technologies. The emphasis is on revolutionary advances in enterprise-wide systems for the shipbuilding industry that would dramatically reduce the total time of the design and construction process in U.S. yards. Technologies could include but are not limited to dynamic modeling/simulation of total process, product to process decomposition, production planning and scheduling, material tracking and control, advanced CAD/CAM/CIM, beyond international state-of-the-art steel fabrication, assembly and outfitting processes, yard layout, and integration of these with one another and with management systems technologies. Proposal Requirements: Offerors may propose in one or both areas. Demonstration of the developed technologies is a required end product. Where possible the demonstration should be at a shipyard in support of the design and construction of an existing or new ship design. Commercialization of the enabling technologies should be stressed. Teaming is strongly encouraged. Teams shall include, as a minimum, breakthrough technology developer(s) and shipyard(s). Teams should also include suppliers, owner/operators, designers, etc. if it would improve the overall project. Team members are those who are contributing (investing) in the project and who will only receive benefit if the project is successfully commercialized. MARITECH requires that proposals be cost-shared. DARPA can only invest a maximum of 50 percent of the total project cost. Proposal Format: Proposals shall consist of two separately bound volumes: Volume I shall provide the technical proposal and the management approach, and 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 double spaced, (d) Type size: At least eleven point type. Only one proposal from a particular consortium will be accepted and shall address one subject area. Technical proposals will be a maximum of forty (40) pages long. Cover: Each proposal must bear a cover sheet with the following information: This BAA Number, Title of Proposal, Name and Address of Primary Sponsoring Organization and Consortium Members, Name, telephone number, and FAX number of Administrative Point of Contact and Technical Point of Contact, Signature of Authorized Officer. Volume I - Technical: Volume I shall have the following four sections: (1) Executive Summary: Not more than five (5) pages, summarizing the entire technical proposal. (2) Body of Proposal: Include (a) a technical approach section that describes the technology(ies) that will be developed and demonstrated, (b) a 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, (d) a business plan for commercializing the developed technology. The business plan should address how the new technology will be implemented such that commercial competitive advantage will be derived by U.S. shipyard(s), and (e) a commercial benefits section that addresses anticipated commercial benefits to the U.S. shipbuilding industry that will result from the project, including how the developed technology can be applied to both commercial or Navy ship construction. (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 name 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. (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, including each team members' cost contribution and the Government's cost contribution per task. Offerors shall provide exhibits as necessary to substantiate cost elements. (2) Cost to the Government: This section must specify the total costs to be supported using MARITECH funds. (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. Evaluations: It is the policy of DARPA to treat all 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 proposals and provide advice on specific technical areas. PRC, Inc. is restricted by its contract from disclosing proposal information. Contractor personnel are required to sign non-disclosure statements. By submission of a proposal, the offeror agrees that technical and management proposal information may be disclosed to selected PRC, Inc. technical experts for the limited purpose stated above. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, proposals will be handled for administrative purposes by a support contractor, PRC, Inc. Selections under this BAA will be made by using the evaluations of government personnel only. Evaluation Criteria: Evaluation of proposals will be based on the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: criteria a, b and c are of greatest weight and are equal in weight to each other, criteria d, e and f are of less weight but equal in weight to each other: (a) the potential significance of the proposed and demonstrable effort to help U.S. shipyards surpass the performance of competitive foreign yards by dramatically improving business practices and/or dramatically reducing ship design and construction time. (b) the innovative aspects and scientific merits of the proposed effort, and the feasibility of the approach and demonstrable technical objectives, (c) the strength and commitment of the consortium members measured by their cost sharing contributions and the economic risk/exposure associated with this cost sharing, (d) 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, (e) the consortium member capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques, or unique combinations thereof that are integral factors for achieving the proposed objectives, and (f) cost and cost realism. Note: cost realism will only be significant in proposals that have significantly over- or underestimated the cost to complete their effort. General: 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. DARPA anticipates that initial selections will be made during the second quarter fiscal year 1997. If there is money available after the initial selections are made, proposals may be reviewed and accepted as they arrive. This solicitation will remain open for 365 days from the date of this announcement. The Government reserves the right to award contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other agreements under this solicitation. 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 these 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. Awards made under this Broad Agency Announcement are subject to the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. All offerors and proposed subcontractors must state in writing, at the time of proposal submission, whether they are supporting any DARPA technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations must state which office(s) the offeror supports, and identify the prime contract number. All facts relevant to the existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. This disclosure shall include a description of the action the Contractor has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate such conflict. 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 invited 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: Defense 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. Initial proposal invitations will be selected from abstracts that are submitted by 1600 hours local time on October 18, 1996. Proposal Submittal: Offerors should 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 96-42 to: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/TTO, Attn: Mr. R. Schaffran, Tactical Technology Office, MARITECH Program, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. No fax or e-mail proposals will be accepted. To be considered in the initial selection, proposals must be received by 4:00 p.m. local time on January 17, 1997. It is the responsibility of the offeror to verify proposal delivery. The Government is not responsible for any costs associated with proposal preparation or submittal. (0254)

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