A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WIDE AREA AIRBORNE MINEFIELD DETECTION-CORRECTED

Notice Date

November 28, 2001

Contracting Office

US Army Communications-Electronics Command, CECOM Acquisition Center Washington, ATTN: AMSEL-AC-W, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700

ZIP Code

22331-0700

Solicitation Number

DAAB15-02-R-0005

Response Due

January 14, 2002

Point of Contact

Peggy Melanson, 703-325-6096, FAX 703-428-1696

E-Mail Address

US Army Communications-Electronics Command, CECOM (peggy.melanson@cacw.army.mil)

Description

This notice is reissued to correct the solicitation number. The correct number is DAAB15-02-R-0005. The remainder of the notice is unchanged. Due to size limitations, the complete BAA cannot be posted here. Please visit the Interactive Business Opportun ities Page (IBOP) for the complete document. The URL for the IBOP is https://abop.monmouth.army.mil. The BAA can be found by accessing the Army Contracting Activity drop down menu, selecting CECOM and then searching for DAAB15-02-R-0005. The US Army Commun ications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Acquisition Center-Washington (CAC-W) on behalf of the CECOM Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), Science & Technology Division is soliciting proposals for a demonstration of standoff minefield detec tion capabilities using state of the art wide area airborne sensor technology under CAC-W Broad Agency Announcement DAAB15-02-R-0005. Our intent, in conjunction with CECOM Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD), is to integrate candidate s ensors on an airborne countermine test-bed system to support data collection and phenomenology studies of surface and buried, metal cased and n on-metallic mines, using any technology approach that may be applied to wide area airborne minefield detection. It is a requirement that the technology approach be capable of minefield detection at flight altitudes greater than 1000 feet AGL, at aircraft speeds in the range of 70 to 120 knots and generate a sensor swath on the ground that is greater than 500 feet. O ther approaches that may be applicable to this wide area countermine test bed but that are outside of this flight envelope will also be considered with suitable rationale if it is clear and convincing that it is a significant breakthrough over existing sys tems. The objective of this BAA is to lay the technical foundations for development of advanced standoff mine/minefield detection technologies t hat provide improved detection performance and lower false alarms with the ultimate goal of demonstrating techn ologies having a Probability of Detection (Pd) greater than 0.9 and a False Alarm Rate (FAR) less than 0.05 events per square kilometer of sensor coverage. The proposed technologies shall address the detection of anti-tank (AT) mines and wide area munition s, which are deployed on the surface of the ground or buried up to 20 cm below the ground surface. Burial depth is measured from the surface of t he ground to the top of the mine. Landmines range in size from 10 cm to 38 cm in diameter or width. Explosive fill is typically RDX, TNT or PETN. The proposed technologies are intended for use in support of a highly mobile force; therefore real time dissemination of detection data is important. Size, weight and power consumption are not critical for the initial co ncept demonstration. All proposed research technologies are required to perform airborne data collections within 6 months after contract award against a variety of doctrinally deployed minefields at US Army test ranges. The maximum length of an award will be one year. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL Proposals shall consist of three primary sections: Technical, Management and Cost. The Technical section shall be no more than 25 pages of a concise description of the technology(s) being proposed. The technical section shal l include the objectives of the proposed effort, the technical issues requiring resolution to accomplish the objectives, and the approach to re solving these issues. At minimum, the following information is required: System description and capabilities; Da ta recording devices and their capabilities as well as recording media and format(s); Operational support requirements during flight tests; Integration of system onto NVESD test aircraft (Twin Otter, UH-60, or UH-1); Timeframe during which system would be available; Cost of a duplicate system; Description of current or past experience in remote sensing. The Management portion (10 pages maximum) s hall include pro posed team organizational structure and curriculum vitae for the Project Manager and other key personnel. The Cost portion shall consist of a cost breakdown of the effort being proposed in a manner that organizes the technical approach into meaningful phas es allowing the Government to contract for all or portions of a technical proposal. While no specific format is required, cost proposals should delineate specific direct (labor, material, travel, ODC etc) and indirect costs related to this effort. Proposal s are due by 14 January 2002 at 1400 hours Eastern Standard Time and must be submitted to CECOM Acquisition Center-Washington, ATTN: AMSEL-AC- WB-B (Melanson), 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Room 1126, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700. All proposals shall be submitted i n Microsoft Office Software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) format or Adobe pdf format via electronic media (CD-ROM, Iomega Zip (100/250 disks)). No proposal hard copies shall be provided, however, a cover letter that contains the offeror's street address as wel l as a company point of contact with current email address, telephone number and fax number, shall be included. EVALUATION AND FUNDING PROCESSE S -- NVESD will attempt to review proposals within 60 calendar days after receipt. As soon as the proposal evalua tion is completed, the proposer will be notified of selectability or non-selectability. Selectable proposals will be considered for funding; non -selectable proposals will be destroyed. (One copy of non-selectable proposals may be retained for file purpose s.) Not all proposals deemed selectable will be funded. Decisions to fund selectable proposals will be based on funds available, scientific and technical merit, and potential contribution and relevance to NVESD mission. Award(s) against this BAA can be mad e for two years after receipt of proposals. Specific costs and terms and conditions will be negotiated prior to award. The Government contemplate s the awarding of Cost Reimbursement (Cost, CPFF) type contract(s); however, proposals based on other contract types will be considered. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. There is no a prior i judgment regarding the number or size of individual awards or the allocation of total research and developm ent funds across the technology solutions listed above. EVALUATION CRITERIA -- Proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted in accordance with a common work statement. Evaluations of the proposals will be conducted using t he following four criteria (listed in order of importance): 1. The degree to which the proposal addresses the technical goals of this BAA for wide area detection performance with emphasis on operability above 1000 feet, sensor swath greater than 500 feet, buried mine and wide area munition detection performance or the proposal demonstrates, clear and convincingly, that it is a significant breakthrough over existing systems. The following may be considered under this factor: the overall scientific and techni cal merits of the proposal; the extent to which the proposed approach offers significant potential improvements in comparison to current technologies being used or developed; the degree to which the proposed technology's phenomenology will be implemented i n a hardware or software prototype and assessed in field testing (as opposed to testing in a laboratory environment or paper study). The novelty or uniqueness of the ideas/approaches will be given special consideration if based on sound scientific principl es with supporting data. 2. The offeror's understanding and implementation of the technical and operational issues associated with integration on N VESD aircraft. 3. The qualifications, capabilities and related experience of the proposed principal investig ator, team leader, and other key personnel and adequacy of proposed facilities. 4. The reasonableness, realism and affordability of the proposed costs and fees for the proposed effort. BASIS FOR AWARD -- The selection for contract(s) for award will be based on a scientific and engineering evaluation of proposals by NVESD and I2WD technical staff. The business and contractual aspects, including cost, will also be c onsidered as a part of the evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation will be to determine the relative merit of the technical approach proposed in each response to the goals of the BAA. Evaluation and selection of proposals for award will be made on the ba sis of the potential benefits accruing to the Government when weighed against the cost of the proposal. Additional considerations will include an in dependent Government assessment of the probability of success of the proposed approach and the availability of funding. Proposals will be considered from organizations interested in conducting scientific research, such as colleges and universities, commercial firms, nonprofit research institutes, small business and small disadvantaged business concerns, histori cally black colleges and universities and minority business enterprises and institutions. This announcement supercedes announcement # 50Z032 by CECOM I2WD dated Sept 2001. Respondents to the previous announcement are requested to resubmit a proposal in the digital format and media specified in this announcement. There will be no formal request for proposal or any other solicitation document issued in regards to this BAA; therefore, interested parties should be alert for any BAA Amendments that may be publis hed in the Commerce Business Daily or posted on the Interagency Business Opportunity Page (abop.monmouth.army.mil) under the BAA solicitation number (DAAB15-02-R-0005). The Government strongly encourages the informal discussion of any proposed effort prior to the submission of a formal proposal. Questions concerning contractual, cost, or pricing format may be directed to the Contracting Officer, Ms. Peggy Melanson (703)325-6096, email Peggy.Melanson@cacw.army.mil. Questions on technical matters should be re ferred to George Maksymonko (703) 704-2420, email george.maksymonko@nvl.army.mil. All interested parties are encouraged to contact the cited individuals at any time prior to proposal submission in order to obtain clarifications and guidance. Offerors are c autioned that all such inquiries must be made prior to Government receipt of proposals. Once CECOM Acquisition Center-Washington receives a proposal, all communications must be through the Contracting Officer.

Web Link

Army Single Face to Industry (http://acquisition.army.mil)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20011130/ASOL003.HTM (D-332 SN5139B4)