Commander, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, Code 210000D, 1 Administration Circle, China Lake, CA 93555-6100

99 -- ENERGETICS AREAS PARTNERING ANNOUNCEMENT SOL N68936-00-R-0034 DUE 012801 POC Anita Dale, Contract Specialist, (760) 9399656, Doreen Robbins, Contracting Specialist, (760) 939-9665 This announcement is being issued as a full and open competitive announcement under the authority of 10 USC 2519 "Federal Defense Laboratory Diversification Program to pursue the national security objectives of 10 USC 2501. " The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), China Lake, CA, a division of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), is soliciting short concept papers to support the Energetics Strategic Plan at its China Lake site. Currently, Navy consolidation discussions are being held among Navy laboratories that perform energetics based business. These on-going discussions may result in this announcement being broadened to include these labs through the issuance of supplemental CBD announcements. NAWCWD, a division of NAVAIR, intends to develop business-based partnerships between government, industry and academia in several strategic thrust areas. One such thrust is Energetics. The goal is to strengthen the energetics mission capabilities, improve business practices and develop the skill mix and expertise needed to support the warfighter of the 21st Century. Concept papers selected from this announcement will be competitively selected with the intention of establishing formal partnerships with the Weapons Division of NAVAIR. Successful partnerships will consist of government, industry and academia having nationally recognized experts and resources (expertise, real property, investment capital, etc.) and will be capable of providing world class support to the energetics discipline. NAVAIR's Weapons Division will bring to these partnerships one of the nation's largest holdings in land, air and sea space. NAWCWD offers environmental permits not otherwise available to academia and private industry to conduct RDT&E activities. NAWCWD offers some of the most extensive and complex RDT&E facilities worldwide, and employs recognized world experts in the energetics discipline. The objective of successful partnering is to unite complementary capabilities and resources, reduce government/industry/academia duplication and reduce operational costs by exploiting synergistic opportunities to share facilities, equipment, personnel, workload and infrastructure costs. The "best of the best" are, therefore, being sought to pursue the development of business-based partnerships for research and cooperative activities in the following energetics areas: Area 1 -- Warheads -- Penetrators (Soil, Concrete, Rubble); Blast and Fragmentation Warheads; Warhead Modeling and Design (air, surface, and subsurface); Materials and Material Behavior. Area 2 -- Fuses -- Micro Mechanical Microelectronics and novel electronic packaging; Compact Power supplies; Modeling and Design (electronics, mechanical); Detonation transfer analysis; Safety analysis. Area 3 -- Energetics Materials -- Synthesis of Energetic Ingredients, Binders, and Plasticizer; Propellant and Explosive Formulation and Processing; Liquid Fuels; Modeling and Detonation Mechanics; Scale-up to Production; Simulation of Explosive Phenomena; Insensitive Munitions; Hazardous Waste processes. Area 4 -- Propulsion -- Synthesis of Energetic Ingredients, Binders, and Plasticizer; Propellant Formulations & Processing; Composite materials; Nozzles, Actuators, and Controls; Plume Signal Mitigation; High Speed Air Breathing Propulsion. Area 5 -- Test & Evaluation -- Environmental conditioning; Insensitive Munitions; Propulsion (Solid & Air Breathing); Test & Evaluation instrumentation (radiographic, video, pressure, temperature, etc); Facilities Design. Area 6 -- Rapid Prototyping -- Specialty Prototyping technologies; Composites; Structural, aerodynamics, thermal and materials analysis and design; Computer integrated prototyping/manufacturing; Integrated rapid manufacturing and development. NAVAIR's Weapons Division is seeking new and creative ideas for establishment of a new business model that is designed to maximize success for all potential partners. In order to establish successful partnerships, innovative business concepts and practices will be employed for each partnership. Potential partners should submit concept papers describing viable partnering concepts that will enable the goals of this announcement to be achieved. The Weapons Division requests that papers not only describe overall goals and objectives of the partnership, but also describe proposals for new ways of teaming which might be considered. To maximize potential benefits of this effort, the Weapons Division is receptive to any and all creative ideas that could be considered for adoption. These ideas should not be limited to what has been done before, and will be considered as a demonstration of creative possibilities for consideration. Unique and untested partnership concepts will be considered as will location of partnerships within the confines of Military land and its vicinity. In addition to any new concepts proposed, responses should include relevant technical achievements in the area of energetics; the level of effort available and required (e.g., in-house workload, manpower, facilities, permits, etc.); energetics business projections for the next five years; perceived benefits and concerns associated with the described partnership; desired partnership duration; and references from prior or current partnering relationships. The following will be used as evaluation criteria: 1) Extent to which the national defense security objectives will be advanced or enhanced, 2) Technical excellence offered, 3) Qualifications of participants in research, development and test activities offered by the partnership, 4) Assessment of timely private sector investment, other than through the partnership, 5) Potential effectiveness of the partnership in furthering the development and application of energetics technology and state of the market for energetics, 6) Extent of financial commitment of eligible firms to the partnership, 7) Extent to which the partnership does not unnecessarily duplicate partnerships with other agencies, 8) Extent to which the partnership reduces duplication of facilities, and 9) Assessment of past partnerships. Following competitive selection of concept papers, NAWCWD will utilize various appropriate legal authorities to formalize the partnership arrangements. These mechanisms could include Cooperative Agreement(s), Other Transaction(s), Commercial Service Agreement(s), GOCO, COCO, land leases, privatization of operations, and procurement contracts that would be pursued without further competition. Offerors of concept papers selected for further consideration will be invited to participate with NAWCWD in the development of a joint business plan. A cooperative effort to draft subsequent formal documents to legalize partnership arrangements is desired. Government funding is not available for reimbursement of expenses incurred to develop and implement partnerships. Parties interested in partnering with the Weapons Division of NAVAIR should possess financial capital for real property investments and a broad customer base with the expectation of sharing in-house facilities and infrastructure operating costs on a pro-rata basis. In view of security considerations, parties interested in partnering must not be owned or substantially controlled by foreign governments, firms, institutions or individuals. This announcement is open for the submission of concept papers for a period of one year from the publication date of the announcement. An initial date of 20 March 2000 has been established to encourage earlier submissions so as to facilitate earlier progression toward fulfilling partnership goals. Those parties submitting concept papers by the initial date will be perceived as most interested and will be given priority consideration. A maximum of five (5) pages per concept paper is desired. If attachments accompany concept papers, attachments should not exceed a total of fifteen (15) additional pages. A hardcopy original and one electronic version should be submitted. Send the original to: Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, ATTN: Anita Dale, Code 210000D, 1 Administration Circle, China Lake, CA 93555-6100. Send the electronic version to: dalear@navair.navy.mil Supplemental announcements may be issued as required. If additional information pertaining to this announcement is required you may contact Al Lopez by email at: lopezag@navair.navy.mil A CD describing NAWCWD's energetics capabilities is also available from Mr. Lopez upon request. Information describing the capabilities of other Navy energetic labs will be provided when the supplemental CBD announcements are released. Posted 01/25/00 (W-SN418854). (0025)

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