R&D Contracting Directorate, Bldg 7, 2530 C Street, WPAFB, OH 45433-7607

A -- STRUCTUAL REPAIR OF AGING AIRCRAFT SOL PRDA No. 97-22-MLKT DUE 100797 POC Contact Mr. Jimmie L. Garrard II, Contract Negotiator, 937-255-7143 or Ms Patrice Nickell, Contracting Officer, 937-255-7143 E-MAIL: click here to contact the contract negotiator, garrarjl@b045mail.wpafb.af.mil. A -- INTRODUCTION: Wright Laboratory (WL/MTPN) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) on the research and prototype implementation effort described below. The initiative for this solicitation seeks to provide a structured, systems engineering response to fatigue crack and corrosion induced damage in aircraft primary structures. The manufacturing technology aspects of functions relating to identification and quantification of damage, risk assessment, repair processes, and testing/quality assurance are of general interest. Prototype implementation on Air Force aircraft systems, and a production implementation plan, are the desired outcomes of this program. A further objective of the program is to demonstrate and validate the production readiness of a Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) system by producing and demonstrating a full-scale prototype unit in a production environment and then validating the design through cost analysis and field testing. It is generally believed that the technology for the functions of risk assessment and repair processes are not mature enough for manufacturing technology investment; therefore, this solicitation will focus on the NDE functions of identification and quantification of damage and testing/quality assurance. Proposals in response to this Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) shall be received by 1 October 1997, 1500 hours Eastern Daylight Time, addressed to Wright Laboratory, Directorate of Research & Development Contracting, Building 7, Area B, 2530 C Street, Attention: Ms. Patrice Nickell, WL/MLKT, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) OH 45433-7607. 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 the restrictions of FAR 52.215-10. A copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact. No other solicitation is anticipated in regard to this requirement. A prospective bidders briefing has been scheduled for 12 August 1997 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH. The briefing will start at 1300 hours Eastern Daylight Time in Meyers Hall of Building 45 of Area B. The Government reserves the right to amend the solicitation as a result of this meeting. Official minutes of the meeting will be available to any potential offeror who requests a copy. Offerors should be alert for any PRDA amendments, including those that may permit an extension for submission of proposals. Offerors should consult the Wright Laboratory (WL) Guide entitled, "PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry" dated November 1992. 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 stated herein. The Guide is also available on the Internet, at the following address: http://www.wl.wpafb.af.mil/contract. B-REQUIREMENTS: (1) Technical Description: This project is targeted at requirements to provide rapid and accurate on-aircraft techniques for the detection and tracking of hidden cracks and corrosion damage, coupled with the capability to provide in-process and end item quality control measures and inspection techniques needed to control and verify the integrity of associated bonded repairs to aircraft structures in a depot environment. It is intended that technologies be fully matured, demonstrated in a systems context, and transitioned to depot and/or field levels to find and quantify cracks and corrosion damage in multi-layer and complex (e.g., bulkheads) metallic structures. Technology not already matured through 6.3 advanced development should not be proposed. Solutions should increase the probability of inspection (POI) and/or the probability of detection (POD) when compared with present capabilities. Quality Assurance (Q/A) aspects should quantify the critical parameters and variables relating to materials, processes, and equipment associated with repairs, and provide for their evaluation and test. Solutions must be applicable to the inspection of both unrepaired/unmodified and repaired (Q/A aspect) multiple Air Force target aircraft system structures. A minimum of two target aircraft systems are required, one to be completely demonstrated and another, the application target, to be shown by similarity. A specific requirement exists for offerors to work with Air Logistic Center System Program Offices and Technology Insertion Directorates to define, and to include, as an explicit part of their proposal, success criteria and implementation commitments obtained for successful results. Offerors are also encouraged to team with other agencies in their proposed work (such as the Federal Aviation Administration's Airworthiness Assurance Nondestructive Inspection Validation Center, Sandia National Laboratories, etc.). In developing responses, offerors must consider the requirements of and provide a migration path leading tofull Nondestructive Inspection (NDI) system production and support implementation. The products of this program will be a prototype inspection system, associated documentation and demonstration results, an interim implementation plan that addresses depot unit validation support, and a final implementation plan at the end of the contract period of performance. These implementation plans shall address, as a minimum, user training, system safety, system maintenance, software debugging and spare parts provisioning (including costs associated with all of the above where applicable). Also, the plans shall address Human Factors such as ergometrics (software and hardware), weight, display, system speed and data output to engineering functions. (2) Deliverable Items: The contractor shall deliver a prototype NDI system, test data, implementation plans, and supportability data and operations/inspection procedures such as scan and control plans. The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (a) Status Report, DI-MGMT-80368/T, monthly; (b) Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report, DI-FNCL-80331/T monthly; (c) Project Planning Chart, DI-MGMT-80507A/T monthly; (d) Contract Funds Status Report (CFSR), DI-MGMT-81468/T, quarterly; (e) Presentation Material, DI-ADMN-81373/T, as required; (f) Scientific and Technical Reports, Contractor's Billing Voucher, DI-MISC-80711/T, monthly; (g) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Draft and Reproducible Final); and (h) Scientific and Technical Reports, Implementation Plan, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Interim and Final). (3) Security Requirements: It is not anticipated that any project would require access to classified information. (4) Other Special Requirements: International Traffic in Arms Regulations apply. C-ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: The total length of the technical effort is estimated to be 24 months. The contractor shall also provide for an additional 4 months for processing/completion of the final report. (2) Expected Award Date: January 1998. (3) Government Estimate: The Government funding profile is estimated to be as follows: Fiscal Year (FY) 98 -- $1.4M, FY99 -- $1.1M, FY00 -- $0.7M for a total of $3.2M. This funding profile is for all awards anticipated under this solicitation, is an estimate only and is not a promise of funding as all funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. (4) Type of award instrument: Cost Share Contract, Cooperative Agreement, or Other Transaction. (5) Government Furnished Property: None contemplated. (6) Size Status: For the purpose of this acquisition, the size standard is 500 employees (Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 8731). (7) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the contracting point of contact cited below 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 elsewhere herein. Offerors should consider instructions contained in the WL PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry referenced in Section A of this announcement. Technical and cost proposals, submitted in separate volumes, are required and must be valid for 180 days. Proposals must reference the above PRDA number. In an effort to move toward paperless contracting, offerors are encouraged to submit cost and technical proposals via electronic means on computer disk or CD-ROM. Please note that classified information shall NOT be submitted on disk. If proposals are not submitted on computer disk or CD-ROM by electronic means, they shall be submitted in an original and five copies. If proposals will be submitted by electronic means, submit 2 paper copies and 4 electronic copies. The disks shall be 3.5 inch high density disks, MS-DOS formatted and virus free. It is acceptable to supply graphics/exhibits in a separate hard copy or as part of the electronic file. Providing the Technical Proposal on floppy disk is voluntary and will not affect proposal evaluation. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered against the criteria set forth herein. Offerors are advised that only contracting officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the Government. (2) Cost Proposal: Adequate price competition is anticipated; therefore, offerors are not required to submit certified cost or pricing data. An offeror must submit cost or pricing information only to the extent necessary to permit the Air Force the ability to determine the reasonableness and realism of the cost and/or price. The offeror's format for submitting such information is acceptable; however, offerors are encouraged to use a Standard Form (SF) 1448, Proposal Cover Sheet (Cost or Pricing Data Not Required). Copies of the SF 1448 may be obtained from the contracting point of contact stated herein. Cost proposals are not restricted in length, have no specific page layout requirements, and should address funding periods of performance. Work breakdown structures are neither required nor desired. Cost proposals should be organized to include three sections in the following order: total project cost, cost sharing and in-kind contributions, and cost to the Government. Section 1 -- Total Project Cost: This section will give a detailed breakdown of costs of the project. Cost should also be broken down on a task-by-task basis for each task appearing in the Statement of Work (SOW). This should include all of the proposed cost to the Government and cost sharing by the offeror. The following information should be presented in the offerors' proposals for each major element of the effort: total cost of the particular element, total offeror cost share, funding requested from the Government, and make-up of costs. Sufficient information should be provided in supporting documents to allow the Government to evaluate the reasonableness of these proposed costs, including salaries, overhead, material purchases, fair market rental value of leased items, and the method used for making such valuations. Profit/Fee shall not be proposed based on it being disallowed in the use of Cost Share Contracts, Cooperative Agreements, and Other Transactions. Section 2 -- Cost Sharing and In-Kind Contributions: This section will include: (1) the sources of cash and amounts to be used for matching requirements; (2) the specific in-kind contributions proposed, their value in monetary terms, and the methods by which their values were derived; and (3) evidence of the existence of adequate cash or commitments to provide sufficient cash in the future. Signed statements are required from outside sources of cash. Proposals should contain sufficient information regarding the sources of the offeror's cost share so that a determination may be made by the Government regarding the availability, timeliness, and control of these resources. For example: How will the funds and resources be applied to advance the progress of the proposed effort? What is the role of any proposed in-kind contributions? (3) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal shall provide information pertaining to both the technology development and insertion aspects of the proposed effort. The development aspects shall be dealt with in terms of specific objectives, and the technical issues, approach, staffing and resources relating to the development of the proposed solution which meets the objectives. Issues and approach aspects should be clearly tied to the technical objectives. They should include a discussion of the technical barriers to be overcome and the technical risks expected during the conduct of the project. The insertion aspects should be discussed in terms of the proposed demonstrations for the near term and the requirements and approaches to fully productionize and infuse the results across the aging aircraft fleet as appropriate. Special emphasis should be given to the success criteria which will be employed to determine the technical transition feasibility of the effort and to the business aspects related to commercialization and support of the prototype system developed as a part of the effort. A detailed discussion of metrics should be provided which addresses both technology and insertion aspects. A clear plan for mitigating all identified technical and business risks, including a description of alternate approaches to be taken if the planned mitigation efforts are unsuccessful, is expected. 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 in the technical proposal. The technical proposal shall include a SOW detailing the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort and suitable for contract incorporation. Offerors should refer to the WL Guide referenced in Section A to assist in SOW preparation. Public Law 98-94, Section 1217 applies; therefore, offerors are required to either prepare a DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, and forward the DD Form 2345 along with any attachments to the form to: United States/Canada Joint Certification Office, Defense Logistics Services Center, Federal Center, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA 49017-3084, or provide evidence that registration and certification under the United States/Canada Joint Certification Program is already on file. Copies of the DD Form 2345 may be obtained from the contracting point of contact stated herein. Any questions concerning the technical proposal or SOW preparation shall be referred to the technical point of contact cited in this announcement. (4) Page Limitations: The technical proposal shall be limited to 50 pages (12 pitchor larger type), double-spaced, single-sided, 8.5 by 11 inches. If electronic means are used, it shall be readable by Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0. The double spacing requirement shall be satisfied by Microsoft Word's double spacing method and the 12 pitch or larger type requirement shall be satisfied by setting the Microsoft Word for Windows font size (point) at 10 or larger. The page limitation includes all information, i.e., indexes, photographs, foldouts, appendices, attachments, etc. Pages in excess of the 50 page limitation will not be considered by the Government. The cost proposal does not have a page limitation; however, offerors are requested to keep the cost proposal to 20 pages as a goal. If electronic means are used, it shall be readable by Microsoft Excel for Windows version 5.0. (5) Preparation Cost: If selected for negotiations, qualifying offerors will be required to submit a subcontracting plan. This announcement does not commit the Government to pay for any response preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this PRDA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting or any other contract; 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 response (both technical and cost aspects) 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 in descending order of importance: (a) soundness of offeror's technical approach including the proposed Statement of Work; (b) completeness and specific nature of the implementation approach mutually agreed to with, and as indicated by, endorsement(s) from the demonstration and application System Program Offices; (c) the offeror's understanding of the scope of the technical effort andrequirements to productionize and insert the prototype system for multiple applications; (d) new and creative solutions; and (e) availability of qualified technical personnel and facilities. Cost and/or price, which includes consideration of proposed budgets and funding profiles, is a substantial factor, but ranked as the second order of priority. No other evaluation criteria will be used. The technical and cost information will be evaluated concurrently. The Air Force reserves the right to select for award of a Contract, Cooperative Agreement, or Other Transaction any, all, part, or none of the proposals received. The Government reserves the right to award any resulting contract using the Research and Development Standard Contract format as specified in DFARS 235.70. F -- POINTS OF CONTACT: (1) Technical Contact Point: Engineer, Mr. Michael D. Waddell, WL/MTPN, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-6543, 937-255-7277. Contracting/Cost Contact Point: Contract Negotiator, Mr. Jimmie L. Garrard II, WL/MLKT, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7607, 937 255-7143. Direct all routine communication concerning this acquisition to the points of contact shown above. (2) An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from offerors and potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the Contracting Officer, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements and recommendations to the appropriate government personnel. When requested, the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the selection decision. Interested parties may contact the Ombudsman, Mr. Mike S. Coalson, ASC/SYI, Building 52, Room 136, 2475 K Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7642, e-mail: coalsoms@sy.wpafb.af.mil, telephone: 937-255-5535, extension 232. See Note 26. (0219)

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