A -- ORGANIC AIR VEHICLE (OAV) SYSTEM SOLICITATION

Notice Date

December 21, 2000

Contracting Office

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contract Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714

ZIP Code

22203-1714

Solicitation Number

PS01-01

Response Due

February 8, 2001

Point of Contact

Technical POC: Mr. Samuel B. Wilson, III, DARPA/TTO. DARPA/CMO POC is Ms. Robin Swatloski, e-mail: swatloski@darpa.mil.

Description

The DARPA Tactical Technology Office (DARPA/TTO) has issued a draft solicitation for the Organic Air Vehicle (OAV) program. The solicitation is available in electronic form only, and is posted on the DARPA/TTO web page (http://www.darpa.mil/tto/solicitations.html). The Organic Air Vehicle (OAV) program is one of several technologies supporting the DARPA/ARMY Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. This program will define, design, develop, manufacture, integrate and demonstrate a new, autonomous, affordable OAV to support the needs of FCS for on-demand situational awareness capability for small units. The Organic Air Vehicle program has an aggressive schedule. The program is driven by the FCS schedule, which has a critical milestone of demonstrated technology readiness for FCS selection and incorporation into the system, on 15 April 2003. Contractor teams are required to propose designs that are defined, as well as where and how the still maturing technologies will fit in. Under the agreement, the prototype system will be developed, fabricated, integrated and tested. Vehicles must be available for military demonstration/use approximately ten months later (approximately December 2001). Based on feedback from the military and the continued development of various technologies, the design will evolve, but any changes to the airframe itself or electronic systems will be minimal. It is anticipated that vehicles will be available as various technologies reach acceptable maturity levels to be integrated into the hardware. Several OAV releases to the military for demonstrations/use are expected during the program at appropriate technology development intervals. The solicitation describes the program plan and evaluation criteria for a multi-phase approach. The Organic Air Vehicle program will be executed as an "Other Transaction for Prototypes," using DARPA's authority under Section 845, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, as amended. In order to broaden the technology and industrial base available for meeting Department of Defense needs, new conditions have been put forth on the use of Section 845 Other Transaction for Prototype authority by the recent enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2001. Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2001 (Public Law 106-398) became law on 30 October 2000. Section 803 modifies our authority to use the Other Transactions for Prototypes. In summary, for proposals submitted under this solicitation there must be either at least one nontraditional defense contractor participating to a significant extent in the prototype project; or, if there is no nontraditional defense contractor participating to a significant extent, at least one of the following circumstances exists; at least one third of the total cost of the prototype project is to be paid with funds provided by parties to the transaction other than the Federal Government; or, the senior procurement executive determines that exceptional circumstances justify the use of a transaction that provides for innovative business arrangements or structures that would not be feasible or appropriate under a contract. Team composition is a critical evaluation factor, as teams must cut across a broad range of technologies for an OAV system. This solicitation encourages small businesses to propose; however, offerors can be large businesses, National or Government Labs, etc. To this end, DARPA invites all interested offerors to provide capability statements to assist with teaming arrangements. In light of the new Section 803 language for other transactions for prototypes conditions, offerors are requested to specify on their capability statements whether or not they qualify as a nontraditional defense contractor. Capability statements will be posted on the web with the solicitation. Specific information content, communications, networking, and team formation are the sole responsibilities of the participants. DARPA does not endorse the information and organizations posted. Interested parties are encouraged to read the Evaluation Criteria for Proposals section of the Solicitation. For details on proposal submission requirements, location and time see the solicitation at the website specified below. DARPA expects to make one or more awards no later than 1 March 2001. The final solicitation is expected to be posted no later than 8 January 2001. No additional notice will be published for the final solicitation. Questions and comments concerning the draft solicitation can be directed to the DARPA Agreements Officer via email at PS01-01@darpa.mil.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001226/ASOL007.HTM (W-356 SN5094P1)