COMMANDING OFFICER, ATTN NAVFAC CONTRACTS OFFICE CODE 27, NCBC 1000 23RD AVE, PORT HUENEME, CA 93043-4301

A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NAVY TOTAL ASSET VISIBILITY AND NAVY ASSET VISIBILITY SOL N47408-97-R-1882 DUE 110797 POC Contract Specialist, ROSALIE HAMMONDS, 805-982-5097 This announcement constitutes the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) under FAR 6.102 (d)(2) to solicit proposals for basic and applied research for new and innovative technology solutions to problems in the areas of NAVY TOTAL ASSET VISIBILITY AND NAVY ASSET VISIBILITY. DARPA and other USMC tasks are working on data management structures, server constructs, and network architectures. The development of these topics will be coordinated with emerging systems in order that naming standards, user management schemes, and data dictionaries will be compatible from the beginning. Compliance with Defense Information Infrastructure and Command Operating Environment and Open Database Connectivity. Part of the proposed areas listed in these BAAs are being considered 100% set-aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or Minority Institutions (MIs) as defined by the clause at 252.226-7000 of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. Interested HBCUs and MIs should provide the contracting office as early as possible, but not later than 15 days after this notice, evidence of their capability to perform the contract, and a positive statement of their eligibility as a HBUC or MI. If adequate response is not received from HBCUs and MIs, the solicitation will instead be issued, without further notice, as unrestricted, to academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and private industry. The effective period of these BAAs is through October 31, 1998 and awards may be made at any time throughout the year. Award decisions on proposals will be based on a competitive selection of proposals from a peer/scientific review. Evaluations will be conducted using the following evaluation criteria: (1) overall scientific and technical merits of the proposal, (2) potential contributions of the proposed effort to the United States Marine Corps/United States Navy's overall war fighting capabilities, (3) past performance, (4) the realism of the proposed cost and availability of funds, and (5) understanding of the research effort proposed, and experience and qualifications of the principal project personnel and/or institution or corporation submitting the proposal. Persons contemplating submission of a proposal should obtain further information and forms required for submitting a proposal by requesting in writing to the Commanding Officer, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Contracts Office, Code 271, Bldg. 41, Naval Construction Battalion Center, 1000 23rd Avenue, Port Hueneme, CA 93043-4301, Attn: Rosalie Hammonds. All requests for the solicitation package and questions regarding this BAA may be faxed to (805) 982-3015. Contact with the NFESC engineer associated with each BAA identified in this announcement is encouraged. All proposals should be submitted in original and three copies to the address noted above. In addition, all submissions should reference this announcement and should specifically identify the research area the proposal is responding to. Proposals will not be evaluated against each other since each is a unique technology with no common work statement. Proposals identified for funding may result in a contract, however, there is no commitment by the Navy to make any awards, to make a specific number of awards or to be responsible for any monies expended by the proposer before award of a contract. The following is a description of the research required for these two BAAs. TOPIC NO. BAA 97-014, NAVY TOTAL ASSET VISIBILITY. NFESC is pursuing 6.2 exploratory development in the area of asset tracking and identification under the Navy Total Asset Visibility (NTAV) project. This effort is exploring the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology in a deployed operational environment. This technology will provide the capability to track assets, manage maintenance and operation records, and remotely diagnose equipment condition. Modularity may also lend itself to integration with global positioning and satellite messaging systems. The NTAV components under development consists of a family of radio frequency tags and interrogators. The current components consist of a mix of commercially available and developmental hardware. Diagnostic equipment such as temperature sensors, fuel level indicators, and motion detectors can be added to RF tags powered via on-board vehicle batteries or garrison power sources. The technical obstacles to overcome are: 1) tag initiated communications 2) development of a package tag utilizing ASIC architectures 3) development of an interrogator in a personal dataassistant platform to include tagging operating system and long range wireless communications 4) remote diagnostics 5) incorporation of satellite messaging. The funding level for this BAA will be $150,000. The target date for initial sponsor evaluation of Phase I PROTOTYPE is AUGUST 1998. Technical questions regarding this BAA may be submitted to Mr. Bob Paguio via telephone (805) 982- 1149 or via e-mail at rpaguio@nfesc.navy.mil. TOPIC NO. BAA 97- 015 NAVY ASSET VISIBILITY. NFESC is pursuing 6.3 exploratory development in the area of asset tracking and identification under the Navy Asset Visibility (NAV) project. This effort is exploring the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology in a deployed operational environment. Presently, the Marine Corps has no deployable automated systems for management of logistics assets in real time. Lack of state of the art automation results in a time consuming and labor intensive process to locate and identify commodities. RFID technology will autonomously identify and locate specific items, allowing them to be expeditiously distributed to requesting units. The active omni-directional RFID tag systems of today will locate and discriminate among multiple vehicles, containers, crates, and pallets to which they are attached. The technical obstacles to overcome are: interfacing the RFID operating system software with legacy logistics information systems and integration of the RFID operating system software into a CSS operations center. Multiple contracts with a funding range of $130,000 -- $250,000 each may be awarded. The target date for initial sponsor evaluation of Phase I PROTOTYPE is AUGUST 1998. The NFESC technical point of contact is Mr. Ramon Flores, (805) 982-6500 or e-mail at rflores@nfesc.navy.mil. (0268)

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