U.S. Army Research Office, AMSSB-ACR, P.O.Box 12211, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211

A -- COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCES IN TECHNOLOGY SOL DAAD19-00-R-0005 POC Ms. Audra Crozier (919) 549-4269, Ms. Patricia States (301) 394-4348 WEB: Click here for the Collaborative Alliances in Technology, http://www.arl.mil/alliances/. E-MAIL: Click here to contact the Contracting Officer via, alliances@arl.mil. The U.S. Army Materiel Command Acquisition Center, is issuing on behalf of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), a draft program announcement, including a draft request for proposal (RFP), for the new Collaborative Alliances in Technology program. Five years ago ARL changed the way it did business. The new strategy focused in-house laboratory research on Army-specific business areas while establishing extramural centers of research in areas where state-of-the-art expertise could be leveraged to satisfy Army technology needs. The combination of government in-house, industry, and academic components striving together for excellence created a new paradigm for conducting Army research -- a "federated laboratory". The FedLab concept has proven to be an overwhelming success, a "win-win" situation for all concerned -- ARL, the private sector consortia members, and the Army system developers. The purpose of this Program Announcement is to capitalize on the past five-year's experience by expanding and improving the concept with the creation of Collaborative Alliances in Technology. The purpose of the Collaborative Alliances in Technology program is to utilize the expertise of members from educational and private industry organizations in specific areas where their knowledge and scientific efforts can be leveraged to satisfy Army technology needs. The five technological areas (to be called "Alliances") that will be pursued through this program are Advanced Sensors, Advanced Decision Architectures, Communications & Networks, Robotics and Power & Energy. It is the intent of the Government to award one cooperative agreement and one time-and-materials contract per Alliance. Each of the awards will be made to a consortium. Each Alliance will consist of, in addition to the consortium, ARL and other DOD and government R&D organizations who will work together as partners in conducting the research program outlined in this Program Announcement. Each consortium will consist as a minimum of (1) a private industry partner functioning as the lead; and (2) at least two academic institutions. One academic institution must qualify as a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or Minority Institution (MI). Both the cooperative agreement and the contract will be awarded to the same consortium team to provide the Government with a contractual mechanism to pursue technologies that are developed under the cooperative agreement. This contractual approach will enable new and improved military items that are developed under this program to reach the soldier in a timely and cost efficient manner. Awards made as a result of this Program Announcement are expected to provide for a basic period of performance of five years with an optional three-year extension period. When issued, the draft program announcement may be downloaded at the Collaborative Alliances in Technology website: http://www.arl.mil/alliances/. In addition to the draft program announcement, ARL will be hosting an Opportunity Conference on the Collaborative Alliances in Technology program in the auditorium at the Adelphi, Maryland location of ARL on 13 June 2000. Interested parties are required to pre-register for the Opportunity Conference. Registration forms and additional information can be found on the Alliance website described above. If the level of interest requires, the Conference will be repeated at the same location on 14 and 15 June 2000 as necessary to accommodate all interested parties. Questions or comments may be submitted to the email address alliances@arl.mil. Posted 05/02/00 (W-SN450448). (0123)

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