ESC/PKR, R&D Contracting Division, 104 Barksdale St., Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-1806

A -- DISTRIBUTED OBJECT COMPUTATION TESTBED RESEARCH DUE 040698 POC Carole A Stephan, Contract Specialist, 781-377-4019 or Karen M Stone, Contracting Officer, 781-377-5914 WEB: ESC Business Opportunities Web Page, http://www.herbb.hanscom.af.mil. E-MAIL: Click Here to E-mail the POC, stephanc@hanscom.af.mil. The Electronic Systems Center (AFMC) is planning to modify contract F19628-96-C-0020 with General Atomics, also known as the San Diego Supercomputer Center, for additional research on the Distributed Object Computation Testbed. This contract action is for applied research services for which the government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1. The contract type will be cost plus fixed fee. The work will be completed within the current period of performance of contract F19628-96-C-0020. The estimated cost is $300,000. Parties interested in submitting a proposal may request a solicitation package from ESC/PKR, 104 Barksdale Street, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-2116, ATTN: Ms Carole Stephan, (781) 377-4019, not later than 30 days after the publications date of this announcement. Contractors interested in this research must be able to provide a testbed capable of demonstrating an object computation environment that supports distributed processing of large archived data sets (100's of terabytes), an archival storage and retrieval system for complex document management, an intelligent agent framework, a persistent object computation system, and a distributed authentication/encryption system. Under the current contract General Atomics completed research dealing with Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) storage, retrieval, and document management requirements. Under the planned contract modification the testbed will be used to perform research on the issues related to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) document storage and retrieval requirements. Specifically, the research will demonstrate an application of high performance Metacomputing technologies to migrate a sample collection of NARA candidate objects to the target medium and format employing technologies and processes extrapolatable to one million file and multiple terabyte level physical storage volumes. The effort will include generation and capture of metadata on each object, each media volume,and unrecoverable read errors and any transformations of any object resulting from or occurring in the migration. The ability to retrieve any preserved object both on the same platform as used to create the test input and on other platforms shall be demonstrated. The Government estimate in total for this contractual effort is approximately 1.5 man-years. Work is anticipated to begin in the 3rd quarter of FY98. Offerors are requested to provide a name and telephone number of point of contact. Offerors interested in documenting their capabilities to perform this work should reference Purchase Request GDIBX6897070018 in responding to the Director for Small Business, Attn: ESC/BC, Mr. Alan Hart, 275 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-2818. Information on file at ESC/BC must be supplemented to document capabilities in the above-stated areas. Firms responding should indicate whether they are a large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a) concern, or women-owned small business, and whether they are a U.S. or foreign-owned firm. An Ombudsman has been appointed to address concerns from offerors or potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. The Ombudsman does not diminish the authority of the program director or contracting officer, but communicates contractor concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations to the appropriate Government personnel. When requested, the Ombudsman shall maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the source selection process. Interested parties are invited to call Colonel Lee H. Hughes, ESC/CX at (781) 377-5106. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes, does not constitute an IFB or RFP, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. Offerors are cautioned that only Government Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. Closing date for submission of responses is thirty (30) days fromthe publication date of this notice. See Numbered Notes 25 and 26. (0062)

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