Department of the Navy, Carderock Division Headquarters, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Bethesda, MD 20084-5000

A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) IN THE AREA OF STEALTH VERSION TECHNOLOGY SOL N00167-97-BAA-0001 DUE 120496 POC POC Doris Rosenblatt (301) 227-3302 / Contracting Officer Elaine D. Weschler (301) 227-1696. STEALTH VERSION BROAD AREA ANNOUNCEMENT The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, as the Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA) lead laboratory for submarine HM&E, is soliciting proposal abstracts from industry involving technologies applicable to development and demonstration of new concepts and components for improved submarine stealth performance and affordability. Initiatives for significant cost reduction while improving or maintaining performance are of major interest. abstracts within the following areas are being sought: hydroacoustics, structural acoustics, acoustic sensors, and non-acoustic signatures. NSWCCD expects to make multiple contract awards from $200,000 to over $1,000,000 each in 1996 and 1997. The following provide a brief description of topics to be addressed by individual abstracts. HYDROACOUSTICS AREA. LOW-COST, QUIET HYBRID BOW DOME: Technology involving a composite shell in combination with highly damped material may satisfy all acoustic requirements with significant cost savings compared to current design practices. This effort will engineer a dome configuration, fabricate a large dome model, and accomplish a dome performance evaluation. REDUCED COST CAST-IN-PLACE BOW DOME BOOT: Existing technology for fabricating and applying visco elastic materials to external ship surfaces should satisfy all boot acoustic requirements at significant cost savings compared to current manufacturing practices. This effort will engineer an installation process, accomplish a large-model bow dome installation, and support a boot performance evaluation. COMPOSITE FLOODPORTS: Advanced material technology should permit a reduction in the ship impact and life- cycle maintenance of current floodport designs. This effort will involve the definition of a new design for direct replacement of existing floodports, followed by design engineering, large-scale testing, fabrication and full-scale evaluation. FAIRWATER/SAIL: Current design practices and materials involve significant cost and ship impact. This effort will involve definition of new sail design concepts, including geometries and materials, followed by concept evaluation using small and large physical models. RADIATED NOISE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM: It is desired to obtain quantitative measurements of the radiated noise produced by a large submarine model as it ascends from a depth of approximately 900 ft. to the surface, propelled only by its own buoyancy. The noise sources are flow-related, and source localization on the model is important. The model is not constrained during its ascent, and therefore its location and/or orientation must be ascertained as part of the measurement process. This effort will involve the definition, fabrication and demonstration of a measurement system concept. TOTAL SHIP PERFORMANCE MONITORING: Installed acoustic and vibration sensors provide a source of data for estimating own-ship acoustic signatures and identifying noise sources. This effort will involve the definition and evaluation of potential computational techniques and system tradeoffs for accomplishing acoustic performance monitoring functions. STRUCTURAL ACOUSTICS AREA. INTEGRATED DECK STRUCTURES: Conventional design approaches for the internal deck and bulkhead structures which are necessary to support submarine machinery, equipment and ancillary components result in silencing provisions that are expensive and have significant ship impact. New approaches for internal structure and mounting design may permit significant cost savings, reduced ship impact and overall acoustic/ shock performance improvement. This effort will involve the definition, engineering, fabrication and evaluation of advanced truss, hull attachment and mount design concepts, and computational design tools. ADVANCED MOUNTS: Advanced ship designs require improved equipment/structure mounts to realize full potential. Air, elastomeric and active/passive hybrid technology available in commercial mounts may be able to satisfy ship acoustic and shock isolation requirements with significant cost savings. This effort will define, engineer, fabricate and evaluate mount design concepts for shipboard applications. ACTIVE SYSTEM NOISE CONTROL: Significant economies in terms of ship impact and cost may be achievable by applying active noise control techniques to various piping and machinery systems. This effort will define, engineer and demonstrate system concepts, components and design guidance for active system noise and vibration control, and involve development of design guidance. ACTIVE TECHNIQUES FOR NOISE CONTROL AND SHOCK MITIGATION: Passive methods are expensive in term of total cost and ship impact. Active technologies demonstrated in the commercial field and other areas offer promise of substantial savings in applications such as wave number conversion, shock mitigation, noise source control, hard-mounted equipment vibration reduction, and low-frequency acoustic signature reduction. HULL DAMPING MODEL: The type, amount and location of damping material affects the acoustic/vibration response of ship structures to external excitation. Optimizing the damping material installation will minimize ship cost. This effort will involve development and evaluation of a computational model for estimating the impact of alternative treatment applications on complex ship structures. HIGH PERFORMANCE ACOUSTIC BAFFLE: Significant reduction in bow sonar self-noise and ship target strength is anticipated from utilization of advanced materials in a composite baffle structure. This effort will engineer and fabricate a baffle configuration for structural and acoustical performance evaluation. IMPROVED ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS: Current materials used for acoustic signature reduction have a significant ship impact penalty. Materials having greater low-frequency velocity reduction, less compressibility and lower density are highly desirable. This effort will involve design, fabrication and evaluation of new materials. HULL TREATMENT INSTALLATION SYSTEM: Different approaches exist for the installation of elastomeric material to exterior submarine hull surfaces. The keel/deck region presents unique installation requirements. This effort will involve the definition, fabrication and evaluation of a new system for keel/deck material installation. TRIM RECOVERY MODEL: The life-cycle properties of hull treatment materials impact overall ship buoyancy and depth/trim control behavior. This effort involves development and demonstration of a computational model to estimate the impact of specific material installations on ship buoyancy. HULL TREATMENT SERVICE LIFE MODEL: Ship maintenance to ensure hull treatment operational performance is expensive. In order to anticipate maintenance requirements, a capability for estimating the impact of changes in material parameters on acoustic performance would be beneficial. This effort will involve definition and evaluation of a computational model that could be used over a 15-30 year period. WIDEBAND TECHNIQUES FOR SUBMARINE TARGET STRENGTH PREDICTION AND ACTIVE CLASSIFICATION: Improved capability for estimating submarine counter-detection and -classification based on structural features and target strength. This effort will define and evaluate techniques to predict target strength and the probability of detection/ classification by active sonar. ACOUSTIC SENSORS AREA. BOW DOME EMBEDDED HIGH FREQUENCY SENSORS: Incorporation of passive sensors within the dome external mold line will eliminate current components and achieve significant performance improvement and cost reduction. This effort will engineer and fabricate a large model dome and integrated fiber optic hydrophones, support a performance evaluation, and provide a design data package. LOW FLOW-NOISE ACOUSTIC SENSOR: Externally installed acoustic sensors are subject to flow noise which degrades performance. This effort will involve the engineering, fabrication and evaluation of concepts for sensors that can be employed singly or in combination to measure far-field noise sources. NON-ACOUSTIC SIGNATURES AREA. WAKE SIGNATURE REDUCTION: The goal of this effort is to identify design concepts, including structures and materials, which will reduce detection of submarine structures and wakes, both surfaced and submerged, by radar and infrared sensors. This effort will identify approaches and initiatives for design concepts and engineering/performance/cost tradeoffs. NON-ACOUSTIC SIGNATURE REDUCTION: Development of advanced design concepts and materials to significantly reduce electromagnetic, infrared, and electro-optic signatures. This effort will define, engineer, fabricate and evaluate material and design concepts. Interested parties are being asked to initially present only an abstract. Each abstract shall include, 1)technical approach, 2)proposed program plan, 3) milestone schedule, 4) special qualifications of the offeror, and 5) rough order of magnitude of cost. Each abstract shall not exceed 10 pages, including graphics. The abstract format shall be: 8.5 x 11 inch paper, double spaced, type size no smaller than 12 point (including type in graphics and charts), and printed on one side with sequentially numbered pages. An original and 3 copies of the abstracts shall be submitted on or before 20 November 1996 and reference solicitation N00167-97-BAA-0001. Abstracts submitted after that date are welcome, but may not be evaluated because of time and funding constraints. Abstracts shall be submitted to NSWCCD, Code 3321, Doris Rosenblatt, Bethesda, MD 20084-5000. All abstracts will be evaluated at one time and consideration in one area of interest will not preclude consideration in other areas of interest. SUBMITTERS OF ABSTRACTS FOUND TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE INTENT OF THIS BAA WILL BE INVITED TO SUBMIT FULL TECHNICAL AND COST PROPOSALS. NSWCCD will respond in writing indicating whether a full proposal is requested and the date due. Format of proposals will be provided at that time. Such invitation does NOT assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a subsequent contract. GENERAL INFORMATION AND EVALUATION CRITERIA: Abstracts and proposals will be evaluated by a scientific review process for technical merit, weighing the potential benefit for meeting submarine performance and affordability goals. Abstracts and proposals will also be evaluated for cost, terms, and qualifications of the Offeror. Cost will be evaluated for reasonableness in conjunction with technical merit, but is ranked below technical merit in importance. The selection of one or more sources for invitation to submit a proposal and an eventual contract award shall be based on technical importance to the agency program and availability of funds. There shall be no formal RFP. The Navy reserves the right to select for award, any, part of, all, or none of the eventual proposals received. This BAA in an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any abstract or proposal costs related to this announcement. Offerors are advised that only the Contracting Officer is legally authorized to commit the Government to a contract. Evaluation of each proposal will be performed using the following criteria listed in descending order of importance: 1 ) overall scientific and technical merit, 2) potential for the offeror's concept to meet Navy submarine requirements 3) the offeror's capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combination of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposed objectives, 4) the qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed key personnel who will be assigned to carry out the program tasks, and 5) realism of proposed costs and availability of funds. Abstracts submitted in response to this BAA shall reference # N00167-97-BAA-0001. All abstracts, and proposals (if invited to submit a proposal) shall be submitted to the NSWCCD, Code 3321, Building 121, Room 214, Bethesda, MD 20084-5000. Interested parties are requested to submit their name, address, telephone number, and FAX number AND POC at that time. All questions concerning this BAA must be submitted in writing to Doris Rosenblatt at the above address or faxed to (301) 227-1583. Technical questions may be directed to Stan Fisher and submitted by fax (301) 227-4405. . (0303)

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