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

A -- LONG RANGE SCIENTIC PROJECTS SOL BAA 97-024 POC Code 00ST (703)696-5419 BAA 97-024 The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is interested in receiving proposals for long-range projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of naval operations. This notice constitutes ONR's Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2). Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare ONR's broad role in competitively funding meritorious research across a spectrum of science and engineering disciplines. No request for proposal (RFP), solicitation or other announcement of this opportunity will be made. This announcement will be open for one year from date of publication or until replaced by a successor BAA. Proposals may be submitted any time during this period. Awards may take the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions. Proposal submission is not restricted in any way to any particular entity. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, minority institutions, and small and disadvantaged businesses are encouraged to participate. Before preparing proposals, potential offerors are encouraged to contact the ONR Program Officer whose program best matches the offeror's field of interest as listed in the ONR Home Page accessible through World Wide Web at http://www.onr.navy.mil. OFFERORS MUST STATE IN THEIR PROPOSAL (PREFERABLY ON THE COVER PAGE) THAT IT IS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS BAA. All proposals should also be accompanied by a completed certification package which can be accessed on the ONR Home Page at ''Contracts & Grants'' and then to ''How to Submit a Proposal''. For grant proposals (normally submitted by universities) the certification package is entitled ''Certifications and submittal statement document''. For contract proposals (normally submitted by commercial and non-profit contractors) the certification package is entitled ''Representations and Certifications''. Award decisions will be based on a competitive selection of proposals resulting from a scientific/technical review. Evaluations 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 agency's specific mission; (3) the offeror's 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 and key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposal objectives; (5) realism of the proposed cost and availability of funds. For awards made as contracts the socio-economic merits of each proposal will be evaluated based on the commitment to provide meaningful subcontracting opportunities for small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business concerns, historically black colleges and universities, and minority institutions. The standard industrial classification code is 8731 with the small business size standard of 500 employees. In addition, contract proposals that exceed $500,000 submitted by all but small business, must be accompanied by a Small, Small Disadvantaged and Women-Owned Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9. (0196)

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