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

A -- COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCES SOL DAAD19-00-R-0005 DUE 100400 POC Ms. Patricia States, Contracting Officer (919) 549-4272 WEB: Download Program Announcement and Related Information, http://www.arl.mil/alliances. E-MAIL: Submit Email to the Contracting Officer, alliances@arl.mil. The U.S. Army Materiel Command Acquisition Center is issuing on behalf of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), a Program Announcement, including a Request for Proposal (RFP), for the new Collaborative Technology Alliances 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 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 ofCollaborative Technology Alliances. The purpose of the Collaborative Technology Alliances 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 that is expected, but not required, to function 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 transition of the technologies developed under the cooperative agreement to Government specific applications. 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. Budget information for each Alliance will be included in the Program Announcement. When issued, the Program Announcement may be downloaded at the Collaborative Technology Alliances website at: http://www.arl.mil/alliances. A DRAFT Program Announcement was issued for the Collaborative Technology Alliances program, an Opportunity Conference was held in June 2000, and a number of questions have been posed and answered concerning the program. The DRAFT Program Announcement, minutes from the Opportunity Conference and the questions and answers have been made available at the website listed above. Further, this website will include a place for interested parties to provide information concerning their capabilities and interests to facilitate partnering and teaming opportunities. ARL will be hosting an Open House for the Collaborative Technology Alliances program at the Adelphi, Maryland location of ARL on 17 August 2000. The purpose of this Open House is to provide interested parties with information concerning the current research efforts and interests of ARL. This Open House will provide interested parties the opportunity to learn more about the program, see some of the ARL facilities, and meet some of the researchers who will be involved as partners in the Alliances. Interested parties are required to pre-register for the Open House. Registration forms and additional information can be found on the Collaborative Technology Alliance website described above. Questions or comments may be submitted to the email address alliances@arl.mil. Posted 07/26/00 (W-SN478860). (0208)

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