U.S. Army Materiel Command, Natick Contracting Division, Attn: AMSSB-ACN, Natick, MA 01760-5011

A -- ADVANCED TACTICAL PARACHUTE SYSTEM SOL DAAD16-00-R-0007 DUE 031700 POC Emily Hatcher, ehatcher@natick-amed02.army.mil or Laura Maclean, lmaclean@natick-amed02.army.mil WEB: Natick Aquisition Center, Business Opportunities, Ongoing, http://www3.natick.army.mil. E-MAIL: Emily Hatcher, ehatcher@natick-amed02.army.mil. PM-Soldier Support-US Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command has a requirement for an Advanced Tactical Parachute System (ATPS). The ATPS will be a mass-assault personnel parachute system that will replace the T-10 parachute system, in an effort to reduce jumper injuries and enable combat operations at 500 feet Above Ground Level (AGL). The ATPS will be an individual troop parachute system that will consist of a main canopy and deployment system, reserve parachute and deployment system, and parachutists harness. The ATPS will have the following objective performance characteristics: Combat operations from a planned altitude of 500 ft (+/- 125 ft) AGL from military airlift aircraft traveling at airspeeds from 130-150 KIAS: jumper with accompanying load (total weight) of 332 lbs., not including the ATPS system (main parachute, reserve parachute and harness); maximum sea level standard day average rate of descent at ground impact not to exceed 16 ft/sec for the main parachute recovery, 27 ft/sec., (25 fps desired) for the reserve parachute recovery; peak opening loads not to exceed 10 G's for the main canopy and 15 G's for the reserve canopy; maximum altitude loss of 275 ft for the main canopy and 250 ft for the reserve canopies to open and achieve steady state descent. The objective weight for the ATPS system is 40 lbs., and the maximum threshold is 60 lbs. The ATPS main parachute shall have maximum oscillation angle between 2nd and 3rd vertical of 10 degrees (objective) or 15 degrees (threshold) from vertical, 95% of the time. The ATPS reserve parachute shall have a maximum oscillation of 20 degrees after first back swing. The ATPS reserve parachute shall be operable and not become entangled with a fully inflated main, a 30% main, a 5% main and a totally malfunctioning main, and shall be capable of activation with either hand. The ATPS harness shall be capable of being comfortably worn by 5th percentile female through a 95th percentile male soldier. The harness shall be designed to orient the paratrooper along the long body axis during both main and reserve parachute deployment and opening as well as just prior to ground impact. The harness shall be fitted with an equipment release for manual activation to lower accompanying equipment just prior to ground impact. Market research has identified candidate systems that demonstrate the potential for meeting Army ATPS requirements with minimal additional development effort. Therefore, proposals should address prior testing and/or development of existing systems, as proposals that discuss existing systems which demonstrate substantial compliance with ATPS performance requirements are more likely to be favorably considered for further competition than entirely new design or engineering approaches. In a Presolicitation Synopsis under Document No. W13118-9337-0001, published December 6, 1999, the Government requested potential offerors to submit White Papers discussing their proposed system or approach. However; nonsubmssion of a White Paper does not preclude offerors from submitting a proposal in response to this Request for Proposal. The RFP will be posted on or about January 30, 2000 and proposals are due no later than 2:00 P.M. EST on March 17, 2000. All documents associated with this acquisition will be released via the SBCCOM, Natick Acquisition Center Home Page:http://www3.natick.army.mil. NO hardcopies will be mailed. Proposal evaluation will include, but not be limited to, the following processes: Following the initial evaluation of proposals, a competitive range determination may be issued. Purchase Orders may then be issued to those offerors remaining in the competitive range for 5 to 10 candidate ATPS systems for government testing and evaluation as part of the source selection process. Offerors remaining in the competitive ranges will be required to provide packing/rigging, repair and training support during these tests, and will be compensated for such support as a separate Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) in the purchase order. Limited access to the drop zone will be granted to offerors remaining in the competitive range during the test program. NOTE: More than one vendor's system may be tested during the same flight test. Based on the results of the testing and evaluation of the candidate ATPS systems and evaluation of initial proposals submitted, a Source Selection Decision will be made to award one or more contracts, which will entail a base effort and three options. The basic contract will be a Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) type effort which will include the completion of the design effort and delivery of approximately 5 to 10 Design Validation Units for the conduct of a Design Validation testing program. The first option will be a Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) type effort which will include the fabrication and Developmental Testing of approximately 40 Production Ready systems. The second option will be a FPIF type effort which will include the fabrication and Operational Testing of approximately 200 Production Ready systems. Also included in this option will be the requirement for the preparation of a Technical Data Package (including drawings and a detailed specification). The third and final option will be a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) type effort for the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of approximately 5,200 systems. If multiple contracts are awarded, a down select will be performed at the conclusion of the base effort. Options will be exercised based on the success/failure of previous efforts. This acquisition will be conducted on a Full and Open Competitive basis. The applicable SIC code for this acquisition is 2399. The POC for this acquisition is Emily Hatcher, at ehatcher@natick-amed02.army.mil or Laura MacLean, at lmaclean@natick-amed02.army.mil. Posted 12/28/99 (W-SN411810). (0362)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0003 19991230\A-0003.SOL)