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

A -- PARTS OBSOLESCENCE AND THE APPLICATION OF COMMERICALLY MANUFACTURED ELECTRONICS SOL BAA- 98-14-MLKT POC Contact William Underwood, Contract Negotiator, 937-255-3506 or Bruce J. Miller, Contracting Officer, 937-255-3506 -- INTRODUCTION: The Manufacturing Technology Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Technology Directorate (AFRL/MLM) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) for the program entitled " Parts Obsolescence and the Application of Commercially Manufactured Electronics ". The solicitation number is BAA-98-14-MLKT. For consideration, proposals in response to this BAA shall be received by 21 May 1998, 1500 hours Eastern Time, addressed to Air Force Research Laboratory, Directorate of R&D Contracting, Building 7, Area B, Attn: (Mr. William Underwood, AFRL/MLKT) Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607. This is an unrestricted solicitation. A preproposal briefing will be held at 1:00 PM on April 2, 1998 at Area B, Building 653, Cafetorium at Wright-Patterson AFB OH. Please notify the technical point of contact listed below no later than March 30, 1998 if you plan to attend. Small businesses may propose on all or any part of this solicitation. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. Proposal receipt after the cutoff date specified herein shall be treated in accordance with restrictions of FAR 52.215-1(c). A copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published. Offerors should obtain a copy of the WL Guide entitled, "PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry." This guide was specifically designed to assist offerors in understanding the PRDA/BAA proposal process. Copies may be obtained from the contracting point of contact stated herein or the Air Force Research Laboratory Contracting, Wright Research Site, Contracting Office Web Page (http://www.wrs.afrl.af.mil/contract/). This is the follow on solicitation referenced in BAA-97-11-MLKT "Parts Obsolescence Tools", which was published in the CBD on 19 SEP 1998. BAA-97-11-MLKT efforts are establishing commercially available parts obsolescence management decision tools and reverse engineering tools for electronic systems affected by parts obsolescence. It is expected that any parts obsolescence management decision tools developed by that effort will be generic enough in nature to support parts obsolescence management decision making for electronic and non-electronic items (e.g. engines, aircraft structures, etc.). Offerors awarded contracts under this BAA will be expected to track the technology efforts and interface in good faith with the companies receiving awards under BAA-97-11-MLKT. They will be expected to provide meaningful requirements and inputs that will help those companies develop useful products. Government organized workshops shall be held semi-annually during the projects to encourage this interfacing and information exchange. Therefore, all Offerors shall include adequate travel costs to attend these meetings. They are tentatively planned to be held at Wright-Patterson AFB OH. This BAA effort focuses on the demonstration and application of the products resulting from BAA-97-11-MLKT and key technical issues that are necessary for improving the use of commercial microcircuit technologies in defense systems (Ref. AREA A). Regardless if a company was or was not selected for an award under BAA-97-11-MLKT all companies are still eligible to submit a proposal on this BAA. B -- REQUIREMENTS: (1) TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Parts obsolescence problems are prevalent in fielded and developmental systems where the service life or development cycle is longer than the manufacturing life of one or more components. With the typical electronic components today being manufactured for only two to four years before new components and manufacturing processes replace them, it is expected that most defense systems will have obsolescence problems before fielding and will certainly experience obsolescence during service life. The two purposes of this BAA are: a) Application of Commercially Manufactured Electronics (ACME): The objective of ACME is to address key technology driven issues required to increase the cost effective use of commercially manufactured electronics at the chip, board, and box level as military parts become obsolete. b) Enact pilot program efforts which establish best business policies and obsolescence management processes and demonstrate their cost effectiveness for defense systems. Therefore, this BAA is divided into two Areas for proposal and evaluation purposes. AREA A: "Application of Commercially Manufactured Electronics (ACME)" : Previous and current Air Force manufacturing technology programs have identified problems and issues encountered in producing military electronic hardware both on military and on a commercial lines. Several of these technology problems and trends have continually surfaced over the years. While being able to potentially take advantage of commercial volumes of piece parts (passive and active), military systems will be reliant on using custom Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) or other large specialty Integrated Circuits (ICs). The military demand for IC's is low, making it difficult to ensure that these components are available over time. The obsolescence of components and processes occurring in the ASIC industry, is having a major impact on the military's ability to affordably use these key products. As commercial ASIC processes change to allow more ICs per wafer, the IC drive voltage requirements and noise margins decrease. The reductions require improved voltage, current, and EMI control in military power supplies and power distribution systems if we are to use commercial technologies in defense systems. Reliability, packaging, and assembly of these large components are major concerns. In general, if a device is not designed to operate in a given environment, the environment must be changed through packaging techniques to meet the operational range of the device. At the very least we must know, with much better accuracy, how long the device will last in the given environment. This means reliable packaging, assembly, or other reliability approaches become critical, not only in terms of physical protection and thermal control, but most importantly in life prediction. Improved reliability prediction and verification are key factors in managing parts obsolescence and are important for the effective use of commercial products. The government is interested in and welcomes creative approaches to addressing the following issues: 1) the effective military application and assembly of commercial ASIC devices as their processes and drive voltages change over the years, specifically understanding the capability of ASIC processes and macro-cells to produce integrated circuits which meet military requirements without impacting the ASIC vendor's processes and business. This includes packaging, assembly, improved power sources, or other approaches required to reliably use these commercial components in military systems. 2) The verification and assessment of existing physics of failure reliability models and tools against a commercial company's field return data. Release of the company'sdata would not be required, just the assessment of the value and recommendations on model improvements. AREA B: "Obsolescence Management Pilot Program(s)": This section addresses, through pilot type demonstration programs, improving corporate level policies and procedures, the cost effectiveness of parts obsolescence management tools (being developed under BAA-97-11-MLKT), and the effectiveness of technology efforts developed in Area A of this BAA. The focus of the obsolescence management decision tools being developed under BAA-97-11-MLKT is to provide the obsolescence management community with timely information and commercially available tools necessary to determine the most cost-effective solution which considers relevant variables. Relevant variables include current system availability, system life cycle expectations, system part content (indenturing), existing engineering data, system testing costs, current system operating costs, redesign and manufacturing costs, and impacts on system hardware and software configurations. In addition to these variables, affordable life cycle costs are impacted directly by the business practices and policies used. The importance of business practices and policies was endorsed when parts obsolescence was the number one issue identified by the Lean Forum IV electronics sector. Lean policies and procedures directly apply and must be cost effectively maintained and integrated within the corporate structure. Management of parts obsolescence must be viewed and implemented from both system engineering and business perspectives. It must become institutionalized as an important corporate function. The following areas are especially important: obsolescence management data collection and maintenance (including manufacturing and design costs); Form Fit Function and Interfaces (F3I) definitions; corporate specific decision matrices; timely information exchange across the corporation including cycle times and flow rates; and design processes and procedures. All these activities must continually improve to insure maximum cost effectiveness. During the first year and a half to two years of Area B effort, a pilot type program should baseline current procedures and practices (collecting engineering, business and cost data), establish quantifiable metrics, and interact with the tools and technology development programs. The selected Offerors should actively help those tools and technology efforts define and evaluate their products to insure successful utilization by corporations and government repair centers. Also during this period, the pilot effort, should formulate, streamline, and implement improved lean corporate processes and policies. Ideally during this period, the awardees would also be meeting with AFRL/MLM sustainment representatives, appropriate repair centers, System Program Offices (SPO's) or System Program Directors (SPD's) to determine what would be the best demonstrations to give the contractor and their potential customers confidence in using the tools and concepts established in this BAA and BAA-97-11-MLKT. A system/subsystem demonstration within the Area B pilot program should be defined and selected no later than the end of the second year of the program. The demonstration selection is an important activity and will require Government approval before any further work on a pilot demonstration effort would proceed. Any demonstration within Area B must document the cost effectiveness of the policies, and the utility of the tools established under BAA-97-11-MLKT and the Area A technologies developed in this BAA. It must document cost versus performance tradeoffs. The demonstration time frame is expected to last an additional two or three years for a total Area B activity of between four and five years. Proposed projects should enhance the current state of the art by considering all relevant variables influencing a parts obsolescence decision making process and improved information integration and dissemination. This effort enables parts obsolescence management personnel to be more proactive in their approaches to parts obsolescence management. The effort should demonstrate, validate and document the benefits and cost avoidance of utilizing a corporate approach and "lean" concepts in parts obsolescence management.(2) Deliverable Items: The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (a) Status Report, DI-MGMT-80368/T, monthly; (b) Funds and Manhour Expenditure Report, DI-FNCL-80331/T monthly; (c) Project Planning Chart, DI-MGMT-80507A/T quarterly; (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; and (g) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Draft and Reproducible Final). (3) Security Requirements: It is anticipated that work performed as a result of this BAA will be unclassified. (4) Other Special Requirements: None. C -- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: The total length of the technical effort is estimated to be 48 months for Area A and 48-54 months for Area B. Contractors shall also provide for an additional 4 months for processing/completion of the final report after completion of the technical efforts. Offerors may propose and be awarded work described as Area A or B or both Area A and B. Should an Offeror propose on both, each area should be presented in a separate proposal (A & B) with linkages and interdependencies between proposals clearly defined in the Area B, "Obsolescence Management Pilot Program(s)", proposal. If awarded both Areas the work shall be performed concurrently. (2) Expected Award Date: September 1998. (3) Government Estimate: The government anticipates three to four awards approximately $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 plus Offeror cost share per each award for Area A and approximately $6,250,000 plus Offeror cost share per award for Area B. These funding profiles are estimates only and is not a promise for funding as all funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. (4) Type of contract: Based upon Section 256 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 (Public Law 103-337), the use of a Cost share contract or a cooperative agreements (which contains cost sharing) is required. It is noted that FAR part 31 sets forth the principles for allowable cost share pertaining to contracts while OMB Circular A-110 defines allowable cost sharing for cooperative agreements. A copy of OMB Circular A-110 may be obtained upon request by calling 202-395-9068. (5) Government Furnished Property: None contemplated. (6) Size Status: For the purpose of this acquisition, the size standard is 500 employees (SIC 8731). (7) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the Air Force contracting point of contact cited below upon deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign contractors should be aware that restrictions apply which preclude their participation in this acquisition as a prime contractor. Public Law 98-94 and ITAR are applicable to this procurement action. D-PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: (1) General Instructions: Offerors should apply the restrictive notice prescribed in the provision at FAR 52.215-1(g), 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 AFRL 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 BAA number. Proposals shall be submitted in an original and ten copies. In addition to the hard copies, full proposals, both technical and cost, are required to be submitted on 3 -1/2 inch DOS-formatted floppy disks or CD-ROM in Microsoft Word Version 7.0. All responsible sourcesmay 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. Based upon this ignore the pricing requirements contained the AFRL PRDA/BAA Guide for Industry. The accompanying cost proposal/price breakdown shall be furnished with supporting schedules and shall contain a personhour breakdown per task. It shall also contain details as to the development of material, and subcontractor costs. An analysis of each major subcontractor shall be performed by the offeror and included in the cost proposal. This review of subcontractors' proposals shall discuss the adequacy of their technical approach in meeting their assigned tasks. Also, discuss the adequacy of the proposed labor hours, labor mix, materials and travel to accomplish the proposed effort. Details of the cost sharing to be undertaken and the rationale for the cost share percentage should be included in the cost proposal. (3) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information such as synopses of 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 as attachments to the technical proposal and are included in the page limit. The technical proposal shall include (a) a Statement of Work (SOW) detailing the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort, suitable for contract incorporation. Offerors should refer to the AFRL Guide referenced in Section A to assist in SOW preparation. Any questions concerning the technical proposal or SOW preparation shall be referred to the Technical Point of Contact cited in this announcement, (b) a statement of intention, if any, to use foreign nationals; (c) a breakout of person hours for each major task in the SOW; and (d) the names and qualifications of subcontractors, and the level of effort to be subcontracted. Offerors are notified that the SOW, or any part thereof, may be incorporated by reference, in any resulting award. The paragraph numbering used in the technical proposal for the technical approach discussion, the SOW tasks, and the cost proposal shall correlate. (4) Page Limitations: The technical proposal shall be limited to 30 pages (12 pitch or larger type), double-spaced, single-sided, 8.5 by 11 inches. Margins shall not be less than 1.25". As noted in paragraph D.(1) above, the electronic copy of the proposal shall be readable by Microsoft Office products. The double spacing requirement shall be satisfied by Microsoft's Word's double spacing method and the 12 pitch or larger requirement shall be satisfied by setting the Microsoft Word For Windows type size (point) at 10 or smaller. The page limitation includes all information, i.e. indexes, photographs,foldouts, appendices, etc. The government will not consider pages in excess of this limitation. Cost proposals have no limitations, however, offerors are requested to keep cost proposals to 50 pages as a goal. (5) Preparation Cost: This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay for any response preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this BAA 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. If selected for negotiation, qualifying Offerors will be required to submit small business subcontracting plans. E -- BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on an integrated 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 of equal importance: (a) new and creative solutions; (b) the offeror's understanding of the scope of the technical effort; (c) soundness of the offeror's technical approach, and proposed SOW; and (d) the offeror's past experience and the availability of qualified technical personnel. Cost and/or price, which includes consideration of proposed budgets and funding profiles, is a substantial factor, but (0083)

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