COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 23,2000 PSA#2670 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contract Management
Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714 A -- ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS SOL RA 00-49 DUE 100600 POC Dr.
Richard Wlezien, DARPA/TTO, Fax (703) 696-8401 WEB: Click here for a
copy of the RA, http://www.darpa.mil/baa/#tto. E-MAIL: Click here to
send via e-mail questions regarding, RA00-49@darpa.mil. PROGRAM
OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION: The goal of the Advanced Propulsion Systems
Research Announcement (RA) is to solicit innovative concepts for
advanced turbine propulsion systems and critical propulsion system
technologies. The objective is to increase efficiency relative to
current-technology supersonic aircraft and reduce takeoff and landing
noise. Advanced propulsion systems will enable supersonic vehicles
having greater unrefueled range, greater area coverage, and lower
overall operational cost when integrated into advanced aircraft.
Studies suggest that gas turbine engines with increased
thrust-to-weight ratios, higher by-pass ratios, and improved thrust
specific fuel consumption are required to support aircraft having
sustained supersonic cruise. This announcement is focused on the
evaluation, integration, and maturation of multiple breakthrough
technologies that can ultimately be integrated into an efficient
advanced engine for long range supersonic aircraft. DARPA is soliciting
proposals for research on innovative engine cycles and the key
technologies required to enable these cycles. This RA focuses
specifically on the development of advanced gas turbine concepts that
can dramatically improve the long range, sustained cruise performance
of supersonic aircraft and which have the concomitant potential to
reduce landing/take-off noise to an acceptable level. It is anticipated
that the primary offerors for this RA will be propulsion system
integrators willing to consider new and innovative propulsion concepts.
AREAS OF INTEREST: DARPA is interested in advanced hydrocarbon fueled
gas turbine concepts and key enabling technologies that attain the
following goals: thrust to weight ratio of 7.5, bypass ratios up to
5.0, and thrust specific fuel consumption of 1.05 lb/hr/lbf at cruise.
Engine performance at these levels should be consistent with the goals
of long range flight (approaching 6000 nmi), high-speed flight (Mach
2.4) and low vehicle gross weight (100,000 lbs) when integrated into
advanced aircraft designs. Preliminary systems studies indicate
dramatic efficiency improvements are possible with the successful
demonstration and integration of multiple innovative technologies.
Technologies of interest are diverse and are not limited to those
discussed in this RA. The ultimate value of the technologies developed
under this solicitation will be judged by two criteria: 1) the degree
to which they contribute improved performance over the engine
operating map but particularly in supersonic cruise and
landing/take-off noise reduction, and 2) their viability in a real
system as confirmed by engine configuration and system studies. Of
particular importance are those technologies addressing engine cycles
and configurations that move off the evolutionary trend line and that
can be successfully integrated into an engine design. Engine cycle
concepts include, but are not limited to, high pressure, high bypass
multiple spool cycles, inter-stage turbine burning, exoskeletal
engines, variable cycle engines, and other innovative concepts that are
amenable to supersonic cruise applications. DARPA envisions engine
cycle conceptual studies with sufficient fidelity to allow first order
comparisons to at least include two-dimensional flow path definition,
aero-thermodynamic performance estimates, and a discussion of system
complexity and risk. Each engine cycle proposal will also include a
tabular listing of parameters for the proposed engine cycle. Enabling
technologies should be relevant to the thrust to weight, thrust
specific fuel consumption, and bypass ratio goals. Examples include
aspirated compressors and other adaptive flow control technologies
enabling lightweight fans for higher bypass ratios and smart structures
for nozzles and inlets. High temperature materials such as monolithic
ceramics, evaporatively cooled turbine blades, and counter rotating
stages enable more compact engine cores, greater thermal efficiency,
and higher thrust to weight ratio. The offeror should indicate how the
technology would be integrated into a future engine cycle and the
potential benefit of the proposed technology. PROGRAM SCOPE: Up to $3.0
million will be available in FY 2001 for basic awards and initial Phase
2 options. Multiple awards are anticipated and may take the form of a
grant, cooperative agreement, or a technology investment agreement.
Collaborative efforts and teaming is encouraged. Under technology
investment agreements cost share must be 50/50 to the extent
practicable. To the extent an offeror proposes 50/50 cost share or
greater, the Government will consider waiving or reducing most patent
and data rights. Proposals should address a basic award (Phase 1) and
a priced option (Phase 2). Phase 1 should be 6 months in duration, and
Phase 2 may extend up to an additional 18 months. Detailed pricing is
required for the Phase 1 effort. Rough order of magnitude (ROM)
costing may be used for pricing the Phase 2 effort. Phase 2 should be
priced in two options of 6 and 12 months duration, respectively. This
RA is coordinated with twocompanion solicitations: 1) RA00-47: Quiet
Supersonic Platform Technology Development (technologists) and 2)
RA00-48: Quiet Supersonic Platform System Studies and Technology
Integration (airframe system integrators). Awardees under this RA will
be required to exchange technical information with the participants
selected in the other solicitations. In particular the Systems Studies
will be performed to evaluate which technology options have the
highest payoff for flight propulsion system efficiency and noise
reduction when viewed in the total system context. There will be at
least one mandatory formal technical interchange meeting (nominally at
month 3) during Phase 1 and a second meeting during Phase 2 (nominally
at month 9). Each proposal shall include a statement that the offeror
agrees to: a) the formal exchange of technical information with other
Program participants, subject to signed non-disclosure agreements and
b) participation in the interchange meetings. This RA constitutes the
entire solicitation for this effort. No additional information is
available, nor will a formal request-for-proposal or other solicitation
regarding this Notice be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded.
PROPOSALS: Any responsible offeror capable of satisfying the needs
identified in this RA may submit a proposal. It is anticipated that the
primary offerors for this RA will be propulsion system integrators
willing to consider new and innovative propulsion concepts. Such
offerors may include foreign firms to the degree that they are eligible
to receive awards resulting from this solicitation. Such offerors may
also include foreign personnel as part of their proposed resources to
the degree that these personnel are eligible to perform research and
development required by awards that may result from this solicitation.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority
Institutions (MIs) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others
in submitting proposals; however, no portion of this RA will be set
aside for HBCU and MI participation because of the impracticality of
reserving discrete or severable areas of research. Proposals must be
received by DARPA at the address identified below on or before 2:00PM,
ET, 6 October 2000. Proposals received after the closing date and time
of this RA will not be reviewed or evaluated. Offerors intending to
include classified information or data as part of their submissions
shall, in advance of providing their proposals to DARPA, contact the
Security POC for this RA (Mr. Rick Hohman, DARPA/SID 703-696-2385) for
guidance. As soon as the proposal evaluation is completed, offerors
will be notified that 1) the proposal has been selected and will be
funded, 2) the proposal has been selected pending the availability of
funds, or 3) the proposal has not been selected. Unless otherwise
advised by the offeror at the time of submission, non-selected
proposals will be destroyed; however, one copy of non-selected
proposals may be retained for file purposes. An award resulting from
this RA may take the form of a grant, cooperative agreement, or
technology investment agreement, depending upon the nature of the work
proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and
other factors. If warranted, portions of resulting awards may be
segregated into pre-priced options. The Government reserves the right
to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received.
EVALUATION CRITERIA: Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished
through a technical review using the following criteria, listed in
descending order of importance: 1) Overall scientific and technical
merit including degree of innovation, understanding of the technical
and operational issues, and technical approach to addressing the stated
goals. 2) Relevance to efficiency in supersonic cruise flight
applications, landing/take-off noise reduction and control, and
viability in real systems. 3) Offeror's capabilities and related
experience, qualifications and achievements of personnel, and adequacy
of facilities and equipment. 4) Cost realism. PROPOSAL FORMAT:
Proposals that do not satisfy the following form and format
requirements will be rejected without review and returned to the
offeror. Proposals shall consist of two volumes: Volume I -- Technical
and Management, and Volume II -- Cost. Volume I shall consist of at
least two sections. Volume II shall consist of four parts. All pages
shall be printed on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper; type not smaller than 12
point. The page limitation for proposals includes all figures, tables,
and charts. The maximum total length of Sections I and II of Volume I
is thirty (30) pages. An optional Section III can be used to provide
additional information. There is no page limitation applicable to
Volume II. Binding by stapling the upper left corner is mandatory for
Volume I and preferred for Volume II; multi-ring loose-leaf notebooks
and other bulky binding techniques should not be used. An offeror shall
submit an original and five (5) copies of proposals, and each proposal
shall be signed and transmitted by an official who is authorized to
commit the offeror. Volume I -- Technical and Management -- Cover
Sheet: The Cover Sheet shall identify: RA number; technical area; lead
organization submitting the proposal; type of business (large, small,
educational institution, other not-for-profit/non-profit, etc.);
offeror's number (if any); other team members (if applicable) and their
types of business; proposal title; technical points of contact; and
administrative points of contact. Section I -- Summary of Proposal:
This section shall provide an overview of the proposed work, as well as
the introduction of associated technical and management issues. In a
manner of the offeror's choosing, this Section should provide a
succinct description of the uniqueness and benefits of the proposed
approach, relative to the current state-of-art and alternate
approaches, followed by: A) Innovative claims for the proposed
research. (Include in this section all proprietary claims to results,
prototypes, intellectual property, or systems supporting and/or
necessary for the use of the research, results, and/or prototype. If
there are no proprietary claims, this should be stated.) B.)
Deliverables associated with the proposed research, and any plans and
capabilities to accomplish technology transition and commercialization.
C.) Schedule and milestones for the proposed research, including
summary estimates of cost for each task in each year of the effort,
total cost and company cost share(s). D.) Technical rationale,
technical approach, and constructive plans for accomplishment of
technical goals. E.) General discussion of other research in this area.
F.) A clearly defined organization chart for the program team which
includes, as applicable, the programmatic relationship of team members;
the unique capabilities of team members; the task responsibilities of
team members; the teaming strategy among the team members; and the key
personnel along with the amount of effort to be expended by each
person during each year. G) Major facility requirements such as wind
tunnel testing or flight research vehicles. These requirements may
address specific facilities, but should also provide details of
facility capability requirements and estimates of total facility
occupancy and test time. At its discretion DARPA may choose to make
bulk purchases of facility time in one or more major test facilities
and apportion that test time to program participants. Section II --
Detailed Proposal Information: This section shall provide the detailed
discussion of the proposed work necessary to enable an in-depth review
of specific technical and managerial issues. Specific attention must be
given to addressing both the risks and payoffs of the proposed research
that make it desirable for DARPA to pursue. In a manner of the
offeror's choosing, this Section should provide: A.) Statement of Work
(SOW), written in plain English, that describes the scope of the
effort, the specific tasks to be performed and their schedules. B.)
Description of the results, products, transferable technology, and
expected technology transfer path(s) (enhancing Section I.B). C.)
Detailed technical rationale (enhancing Sections I. D and I. E). D.)
Comparison with other ongoing research indicating advantages and
disadvantages of the proposed effort. E.) Discussion of offeror's
previous accomplishments/work in this or closely related research
areas. F.) Description of the facilities that would be used for the
proposed effort. G.) Detail support, including formal teaming
agreements that are required to execute the offeror's proposal
(enhancing Section I.F). Section III -- Appendix (Optional): In a
manner of the offeror's choosing, this Section may provide a brief
bibliography of relevant technical papers and research notes (published
and unpublished) which document the technical ideas upon which the
proposal is based. Herein the offeror may include such papers; however,
DARPA-TTO will not consider this Section in the evaluation process.
Volume II -- Cost. An offeror's cost proposal shall consist of four
parts: Part A -- Cover Sheet. The Cover Sheet shall include: name and
address of offeror (include zip code); name, title, and telephone
number of offeror's business point of contact; recommended award
instrument; place(s) and period(s) of performance; total proposed cost,
separated by basic award and option(s) (if any); name, address, and
telephone number of the offeror's cognizant administration office (if
known); and, name, address, and telephone number of the offeror's
cognizant audit office (if known). Part B -- Cost Summary Sheet. A
one-page summary of program costs in tabular format, broken down by
basic award and options (with options nominally being one year in
duration); prime contractor/consortium lead, subcontractors/team
members, and funding to government laboratories and agencies; cost of
major facility utilization (such as wind tunnels) and industry cost
sharing. Part C -- Detailed Cost Breakdown. To include: (1) total
program cost broken down bymajor cost items (direct labor,
subcontracts, materials, other direct costs, overhead charges, etc.)
and further broken down by year (Government fiscal year, as
applicable); (2) major program task costs by year; (3) an itemization
of major subcontracts and equipment purchases; (4) a summary of
projected funding requirements by month; (5) a description of cost
estimating methods; (6) the source, nature, and amount of any industry
cost-sharing; and (7) the date the proposal was prepared. Where the
effort consists of multiple portions that could reasonably be
partitioned for purposes of funding, these should be identified as
options with separate cost estimates for each. If a teaming arrangement
is proposed, a cost breakdown should be provided for each team member.
Part D -- Supporting Cost and Pricing Information. This part shall
include supporting cost and pricing information in sufficient detail to
substantiate the summary cost estimates in Part C above. Costs for
subcontracts having 20% or more of the value of the work must be
substantiated to the same level of detail as the costs of the offeror.
ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: All offerors and proposed
subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are supporting any
DARPA technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract.
All affirmations must state which office(s) the offeror supports and
identify the prime contract number. Affirmations shall be furnished at
the time of proposal submission, and the existence or potential
existence of organizational conflicts of interest must be disclosed.
Organizational conflict of interest exists as a result of relationships
or other activities with other persons that cause an individual to be
unable or potentially become unable to render impartial assistance or
advice to the Government, or an individual has or might have impaired
objectivity in performing the work, or an individual has an unfair
competitive advantage. This disclosure shall include a description of
the action the offeror has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid,
neutralize or mitigate such conflict. If the offeror believes that no
such conflict exists, then the offeror shall so state in the
affirmation. NON-GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL: All proprietary material should
be clearly marked and will be held in strict confidence. Restrictive
notices notwithstanding, proposals may be handled, for administrative
purposes only, by SRS Technologies, Inc. of Arlington, VA, a support
contractor which is bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements.
Input on technical aspects of the proposals may be solicited by DARPA
from non-Government consultants and experts who are bound by
appropriate non-disclosure requirements. These non-Government technical
consultants will not have access to proposals that are labeled by the
offerors as "GOVERNMENT ONLY." Only Government evaluators will make
selections under this RA. ADMINISTRATION: All administrative
correspondence and questions regarding this solicitation should be
directed to one of the administrative addresses below; e-mail is
preferred. Answers to questions concerning this RA will be distributed
via the WWW at URL http://www.darpa.mil/baa/#tto, where DARPA/TTO
solicitations are listed. DARPA intends to use electronic mail for
correspondence regarding this RA, but offerors are cautioned not to use
e-mail to transmit material of a proprietary nature. However, proposals
must be submitted on paper, and e-mail or fax submittals will not be
evaluated. The administrative addresses for this RA are: Fax:
DARPA/TTO, ATTN: RA00-49, 703-696-8401; E-Mail: RA00-49@darpa.mil;
Mail: DARPA/TTO, ATTN: RA00-49, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA
22203-1714. Contracting POC: Ms. Barbara Meyrowitz, e-mail:
bmeyrowitz@darpa.mil. This RA may be retrieved via the WWW at URL
http://www.darpa.mil/baa/#tto. Prior to any award under this RA,
potential offerors must be registered with the Central Contractor
Registration (CCR) (http://www.ccr2000.com) and be able to receive
payment via electronic funds transfer (EFT). Posted 08/21/00
(W-SN488374). (0234) Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0002 20000823\A-0002.SOL)
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