U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Acquisition Center -- Washington Operations Office, 2461 Eisenhower Ave., Alexandria, VA 22331-0700

A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR MINE DETECTION AND UXO DETECTION/NEUTRALIZATION SOL DAAB15-00-R-1001 DUE 110999 POC Peggy A. Melanson, Contracting Officer, 703-325-6096 WEB: Click here to connect to the Interagency Business Opportunity, abop.monmouth.army.mil. E-MAIL: Click here to send email to the Contracting Officer., pmelan@hoffman-issaa2.army.mil. The US Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Acquisition Center-Washington (CAC-W) on behalf of the CECOM Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), Science & Technology Division and the US Navy, Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technology Division, is soliciting proposal abstracts (or white papers) for development of technologies to detect mines (antitank (AT) and antipersonnel (AP) mines (both metal and plastic)) and to detect and neutralize unexploded ordnance (UXO) under CAC-W solicitation DAAB15-00-R-1001. This notice constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2). No request for proposal (RFP), solicitation, or other announcement of this opportunity will be made. This BAA has two objectives. The first objective is to develop advanced mine/UXO detection technologies to provide new or improved downward or forward-looking mine/UXO detection capabilities and means for confirming those detections. The detection can be accomplished using ground penetrating radar, acoustic methods, or nuclear quadrupole resonance techniques, with the ultimate goal of demonstrating technologies for primary (scanning) mine/UXO detection capabilities with a 0.95 Probability of Detection (Pd) and 0.02 False Alarm Rate (FAR per square meter). For confirmatory sensor technologies the ultimate goal should be a demonstrated capability for detection of 1.0 (Pd) and 0.001 (FAR). Proposals addressing ground penetrating radar with synthetic aperture radar processing, acoustic sources with various receiving schemes, confirmation detection technologies, and individual mine detection algorithms and sensor fusion algorithms necessary to provide a robust mine detection and confirmation capability are of particular interest. Confirmation sensors that detect features of a mine that are unique to mines and result in virtually no false alarms while maintaining an extremely high probability of detection are also of interest. Proposals that address the scanning or confirming sensor technologies, development of aided target recognition (AiTR) or automatic target recognition (ATR) signal processing, data fusion, and or a combination of the above are also acceptable. The second objective is to develop UXO neutralization technologies and means for confirming those neutralizations. For the UXO neutralization objective, concepts of neutralizing hazards associated with electronic anti-handling features and neutralizing electronic safe and armed fuzes are encouraged. Neutralization confirmation efforts should focus on capabilities of determining reactions in UXO due to impact of an explosive driven slug/liner or localized thermal event. Technologies that lead to the detection and desensitization of the main explosive charge through chemical or other methods are also sought. The proposed technologies shall address individual AT/AP mines (plastic and metallic encased; RDX/TNT/PETN explosive fill) and UXO, whose burial depths can vary from surface laid to 20 cm below the ground surface. UXO can be buried considerably deeper. Burial depth is measured from the surface of the ground to the top of the target. The landmines will range in size from 4.5 cm to 38 cm (which covers AP to AT respectively) in diameter or width and must be detected and reported in time for vehicle speeds of up to 15 km/hr for primary (scanning) sensor; up to 1-5m2/min for handheld applications and speeds appropriate for airborne applications. The proposed research technologies are required to collect data and eventually demonstrate, at NVESD's mine lanes facilities (Ft. Belvoir and Ft. AP Hill (demo site 71 alpha)), high probabilities of detection (Pd) and very low false alarm rates (FAR). The mine detection technologies may eventually be inserted into ongoing spiral development programs in NVESD's Countermine Division or such programs as the Ground Standoff Mine Detection System (GSTAMIDS) or the Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) run by the Program Manager for Mines, Countermine and Demolitions (PM-MCD). Approximately $3,400,000 (FY00-FY02) of Army advanced technology development funds and approximately $10,000,000 (available over a four year period beginning October 1, 2000) of Navy Applied Research funds are anticipated to be to conduct these research and development efforts. Awards against this BAA can be made for 2-years after receipt of proposals. Specific costs and terms and conditions will be negotiated prior to award. The Government contemplates the awarding of Cost Reimbursement (Cost, CPFF) type contract(s), however, proposals based on an other contract type will be considered. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. The maximum length of an award will be 3 years. There is no "a priori judgement" regarding the number or size of individual awards or the allocation of total research and development funds across the functional areas listed above. Proposals are due by 9 November 1999 at 1400 hours Eastern Standard Time and must be submit in 2-copies on two separate CD ROM, or IOMEGA Zip, or Jazz disks in pdf format or in MS Software (Word, Excel, etc) format to CECOM Acquisition Center-Washington, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700. PROPOSAL ABSTRACT SUBMITTAL All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal abstract. However, only those offeror's invited to submit full proposals will be permitted to submit a full proposal. The purpose of the proposal abstract (or white paper) is to preclude unwarranted effort and expense by potential offerors in preparing a full technical and cost proposal for efforts not considered responsive or for efforts evaluated to have very low overall probability of obtaining support. Proposal abstracts are limited to seven pages and shall consist of 3 primary sections: Technical, Management and Cost. The Technical section shall consist of a clear description of the technology(s) being proposed, a metric comparison of proposed technology improvement over existing technology approach(s), the objectives of the proposed effort, the technical issues to be resolved to accomplish the objectives, the approach to resolving these issues, and an assessment of the timetable for insertion into the on-going spiral development mine detection programs. The Management portion shall include specific prior experience in the proposed technology areas, facilities, and a plan of action with milestones. The Cost portion shall consist of a one page cost breakdown of the effort being proposed to include options for level of effort, contract duration and technology approach(s). In addition to the seven pages, a one page curriculum vitae for the Principal Technical Investigator, Project Manager, and other key personnel should be submitted EVALUATION AND FUNDING PROCESSES CECOM-AC-Washington will respond to each proposal abstract with a recommendation to propose or not propose. Those invited to submit a full proposal will be provided with the time, date and format for submission. NVESD/EOD will attempt to review proposal abstracts within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt and will allow proposers at least thirty (30) calendar days to submit their full proposals. As soon as the proposal evaluation is completed, the proposer will be notified of selectability or non-selectability. Selectable proposals will be considered for funding; non-selectable proposals will be destroyed. (One copy of non-selectable proposals may be retained for file purposes.) Not all proposals deemed selectable will be funded. Decisions to fund selectable proposals will be based on funds available, scientific and technical merit, and potential contribution and relevance to NVESD/EOD mission. Proposals may be considered for funding for a period of up to two years. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. EVALUATION CRITERIA Proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted in accordance with a common work statement. Evaluations of the proposal abstracts (white papers) and proposals will be conducted using the following selection criteria (listed in order of importance): 1. The overall scientific or technical merits of the proposal. a. The extent to which the proposed approaches are improvements over the methods presently used. New or unique ideas/approaches will be given special consideration if based on sound scientific principles with supporting data. b. degree in which proposed technology's phenomenology/approach will be implemented and assessed. c. The degree to which the proposal addresses the technical goals listed in this BAA topic description. 2. The offeror's understanding of the technical and operational issues associated with the intended host platform (handheld, ground based vehicular or airborne) and implementation (primary or confirmatory sensor suite). 3. The potential contributions of the proposed effort to the NVESD/NAV-EOD mission as it is related to Mine/UXO detection or UXO neutralization and confirmation of neutralization. 4. The offeror's capabilities, record of past performance in related efforts, and the adequacy of the proposed facilities of the project. 5. The qualifications, capabilities and related experience of the proposed principal investigator, team leader, and other key personnel. 6. The reasonableness and realism of the proposed costs and fees for the proposed effort and availability of funds. BASIS FOR AWARD The selection for contract award will be based on a scientific and engineering peer review evaluation of proposals. The business and contractual aspects, including cost, will also be considered as a part of the evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation will be to determine the relative merit of the technical approach proposed in each response to the BAA. Evaluation and selection of proposals for awards will be made on the basis of the potential benefits occurring to the Government when weighted against the cost of the proposal. Additional primary considerations will include an independent Government assessment of the probability of success of the proposed approach and the availability of funding. Awards made under this BAA are subject to the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. All offerors and proposed subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are providing scientific, engineering and technical assistance (SETA) or similar support to any Government technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations must state which office(s) the offeror supports, and identify the prime contract number. Affirmations should be furnished at the time of proposal submission. All facts relevant to the existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in the FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. The disclosure shall include a description of the action the offeror has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize or mitigate such conflict. Offerors should also indicate if the proposed effort is the subject of an on-going IR&D program. It is the our policy to treat all proposals as privileged information before award and to disclose the contents for evaluation purposes only. All reviewers are made aware that proposals shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed in whole or in part, for any purpose other than to evaluate, without written permission of the offeror. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, proposals may be handled, for administrative purposes only, by a support contractor. The support contractor is prohibited from competition in NVESD/EOD technical research and is bound by appropriate nondisclosure requirements. This BAA is issued under the provision of Paragraph 6.102 (d) (2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) which provides for the competitive selection of basic research proposals. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA that are selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and are in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369, "The Competition in Contracting Act" of 1984. This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay for proposal preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or to 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. Proposals will be considered from organizations interested in conducting scientific research, such as colleges and universities, commercial firms, nonprofit research institutes, small business and small disadvantaged business concerns, historically black colleges and universities and minority business enterprises and institutions. . Contingent upon meeting established security requirements, industries of all foreign countries are eligible to participate in this BAA. At present classified contracts are not anticipated. If a subcontract(s) with a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) is proposed, offerors are reminded of the limitations in their use (see FAR 35.017) and must provide documentation in the proposal that work is not otherwise available from the private sector. To be eligible for award of a contract, a prospective contractor must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with the performance schedule, prior records of performance, integrity, organization, experience, operational controls, technical skills, facilities and equipment. Also, registration in the Contractor Central Registration prior to award, is mandatory. For additional information and guidance concerning qualifications and standards for responsibility of perspective contractors, please refer to FAR Part 9. There will be no formal request for proposal or any other solicitation document issued in regards to this BAA; therefore, interested parties should be alert for any BAA Amendments that may be published in the Commerce Business Daily or posted on the Interagency Business Opportunity Page (abop.monmouth.army.mil) under the BAA solicitation number (DAAB15-00-R-1001). The Government strongly encourages the informal discussion of any proposed effort prior to the submission of a formal proposal. Questions concerning contractual, cost, or pricing format may be directed to the Contracting Officer, Ms. Peggy Melanson 703-325-6096. Questions on technical matters related to mine detection should be referred to Mr. Kelly Sherbondy (703)704-2448 or ksherbon@nvl.army.mil. Questions on technical matters related unexploded ordnance should be referred to Mr. Chris O'Donnell 301-744-6848 x262. All interested parties are encouraged to contact the cited individuals at any time prior to proposal submission in order to obtain clarifications and guidance. Offerors are cautioned that all such inquiries must be made prior to Government receipt of proposal abstracts. Once a proposal abstract is received by CECOM Acquisition Center-Washington, all communications should be through the Contracting Officer. Prospective offerors are cautioned that only the Contracting Officer is legally authorized to commit the Government. Posted 10/06/99 (W-SN389128). (0279)

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