Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL -- Wright Research Site, Det 1 AFRL/PK, Bldg 167, Area B, 2310 8th Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433-7801

A -- MATERIALS PROCESSING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SOL ML-00-03 POC William O'Hara, Technical Contact, Phone (937)255-1995, Email william.ohara@wpafb.af.mil -- Felix Turner, Contract Negotiator, Phone (937)255-5069, Email felix.turner@wpafb.af.mil WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=R&ProjID=ML-00-03&LocI D=904. E-MAIL: William O'Hara, william.ohara@wpafb.af.mil. Notice of Contract Action ML-00-03 for " MATERIALS PROCESSING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT". The Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Metals, Ceramics and NDE Division, is contemplating the award of a 48 month [technical effort] program to establish the processing conditions required to control microstructure and the mechanical properties of aerospace materials. The objectives of this research program are to determine the processing conditions required to achieve various microstructures and mechanical properties in advanced aerospace materials, to develop and apply analytical and numerical models for process design, and to validate such process models by physical modeling in the AF Materials Processing Laboratory (MPL), thus fostering a center of excellence for materials processing. Emphasis shall be given to monolithic metal and intermetallic alloys, and advanced metal intermetallic, and ceramic composites, laminates, and materials with graded microstructures for use in advanced engine, airframe and space applications. To this end, material behavior models shall be developed to address constitutive, fracture, and texture evolution and phase transformation behavior. Materials of different compositions and starting configurations shall be studied under both simulative-laboratory and pilot-plant conditions. The material behavior models shall be incorporated into finite element codes or closed form analytical models to study deformation, powder consolidation, vapor deposition, solidification, or other processes for the manufacture of high temperature materials. Numerical or analytical results shall be verified by physical modeling methods. In addition, novel processes to enhance microstructure/texture control, avoid fracture, or reduce cost shall be investigated. Special attention shall be focused on processes that are particularly robust. Furthermore, property data shall be obtained, and the relationships among microstructure, texture, processing conditions, and mechanical properties shall be determined. The output of this work shall form the basis for a scientific understanding of materials behavior under processing conditions and the application of this understanding to the design of laboratory and production-scale processes. The investigation shall be iterative and aimed at optimizing processing efficiency and engineering properties. Research and development experience in all of the above areas is expected of the successful offeror. The contractor will be required to maintain and operate the AFRL/ML Materials Processing Laboratory on-site at Wright Patterson AFB OH. Moreover, substantial interaction with domestic industry, other government laboratories, and universities is expected. It is anticipated that the baseline budget will support 2 research engineers, 5 technicians, and 1 administrative person-year/year level of effort. The estimated effort shall be 3800 hours of engineering/program management effort per year, 9500 hours of technician effort per year, and 1900 hours ofadministrative support per year. Total Effort: 15,200 hours of engineering/program management effort, 38,000 hours of technician effort, and 7600 hours of administrative support for a total of 60,800 hours of effort. It is estimated that $200,000 ($50,000 per year) shall be budgeted for the purchase of materials and travel for the life of the contract. a. The Principal Investigator (engineer/manager) shall have an advanced degree in mechanical engineering or materials engineering with experience in physical and mechanical metallurgy and analytical modeling of deformation and solidification processes. The Principal Investigator shall be responsible for the management of the facility as well as the documentation of research tasks performed in the Materials Processing Laboratory via reports, success stories and publications in technical journals. The Principal Investigator shall also spend 33% of their time conducting research, including but not limited to, FEM modeling of deformation and solidification processes. b. At least one research engineer shall be a solid state scientist with an advanced degree and have a minimum of three years experience including demonstrated expertise in texture measurement, interpretation and prediction for aerospace materials used in advanced airframe and propulsion systems. c. The five technicians shall have knowledge of and demonstrated experience with the operation of modern pilot plant metalworking and casting equipment. At least two technicians should have extensive experience in high temperature testing and metallography of various metallic materials. In addition to the above, it is anticipated two research engineers and one technician person-year/year level of effort will be required for special project work. The estimated effort for the special project work shall be 3800 hours of engineering effort per year and 1900 hours of technician effort per year. Total Effort: 15,200 hours of engineering effort and 7600 hours of technician effort for a total of 22,800 hours of effort. a.At least one metallurgical engineer shall have an advanced degree in metallurgical engineering and have a minimum of ten years experience in the metallurgy of aerospace materials used in advanced airframe and propulsion systems and in metal matrix composites. At least one metallurgical or mechanical engineer shall have a minimum of three years experience in FEM modeling of deformation processes. b. The technician shall have knowledge of and demonstrated experience with the operation of modern pilot plant metalworking equipment. Firms responding should indicate whether they are, or are not, a small business, a socially and economically disadvantaged business, a woman owned business, a historically black college or university or minority institution. For this item, the general definition to be used to determine whether your firm is "small" is as follows: A "small" business concern is a concern that is independently owned and operated, is not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on government contract and with its affiliated, the number of employees does not exceed 500 persons. SIC Code 8731 applies. "Concern" means any business entity organization profit with a place of business in the United States, its possession, Puerto Rico, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, including but not limited to an individual, partnership, corporation, joint venture or association. The Air Force reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto. Small business respondents should provide a statement of capabilities to assist the Air Force in making a set-aside decision. In addition to the statement of capabilities please provide answers to the following questions: (1) Does your company intend to submit a proposal in response to the upcoming solicitation as a prime contractor? If yes, please answer questions 2 through 6 below. (2) How many people does your company employ? (3) What experience (types and duration) do your employees have that you consider to be relative to this effort? (4) Will you need to hire additional personnel to perform this effort? If so, how many? How have you hired people in the past? (5) Is your company's accounting system approved by DCAA or DCMC? If not, how does your company intend to financially administer a cost-type contract? (6) Are there any other factors concerning your company's ability to perform the upcoming effort that the Air Force should consider? Large businesses are only required to submit a statement of interest to receive a copy of the request for proposal (RFP). All respondents shall include in any request their assigned commercial and government entity code. Respondents are further requested to indicate their status as a foreign-owned/foreign-controlled firm and any contemplated use of foreign national employees on this effort. Responses should be sent to: ATTN: Felix E. Turner AFRL/MLKM 2310 8th Street Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607 Non-technical assistance may be secured by calling Felix E. Turner at (937) 255-5069. An ombudsman has been established for this acquisition. The only purpose of the ombudsman is to receive and communicate serious concerns from potential offerors when an offeror prefers not to use established channels to communicate his concern during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. Potential offerors should use established channels to request information, pose questions, and voice concerns before resorting to use of the ombudsman. Potential offerors are invited to contact ASCs ombudsman, Mr. Daniel L. Kugel ASC/SY, Bldg 52, 2475 K Street, Suite 1., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7007 or email Kugeldl@sy.wpafb.af.mil, phone (937) 255-3855 with serious concerns only. Direct all requests for solicitations and routine communication concerning this acquisition to Felix E. Turner at (937) 255-5069. Closing date for submission of responses is thirty calendar days from the publication of this notice. Firms should reference "ML-00-03" in their responses. Request for proposal release for this program is projected in July 2000. This program will not be republicized prior to solicitation. Posted 05/31/00 (D-SN460063). (0152)

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