SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Research and Development of Manufacturing Technology Improvement for Advanced Uncooled Infrared Focal Plane Arrays
- Notice Date
- 6/2/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Interior National Business Center Acquisition Services Division, Southwest Division Building 22208 (Upstairs) Ft. Huachuca AZ 85613
- ZIP Code
- 85613
- Solicitation Number
- BAA 03-04-FH
- Response Due
- 7/14/2003
- Archive Date
- 6/1/2004
- Point of Contact
- Nancy E. Johnson Contracting Officer 5205380421 Nancy_E_Johnson@nbc.gov; Jane Bourne COR 5205331642 Jane_A_Bourne@nbc.gov;
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Point of Contact above, or if none listed, contact the IDEASEC HELP DESK for assistance
(EC_helpdesk@NBC.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) (BAA-03-04-FH) constitutes the entire solicitation for this effort. Except for the Proposer Information Packet (PIP) (see below), no additional information is available, nor will a formal request for proposal or other solicitation regarding this notice be issued, requests for the same will be disregarded. INTRODUCTION: The Department of Interior, National Business Center, Acquisition Services Division, Southwest Branch, Fort Huachuca, AZ, acting on behalf of the US Army's RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, is issuing this BAA to solicit proposals addressing innovative solutions to the manufacture of Advanced Uncooled Infrared (UCIR) Focal Plane Arrays (FPA). Multiple awards are anticipated. Total funding for this effort is expected to be to up to sixteen million dollars ($16M) over four years for this BAA. Information in this BAA is supplemented by a Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) that provides further information on the eligibility, support, research areas, preparation and submission of proposals, and selection criteria. It is available on the World Wide Web at <a href=http://www.nbc.gov/mantech.cfm> http://www.nbc.gov/mantech.cfm</a>. This pamphlet may also be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or official mail. Send requests for PIP to the Department of Interior, Fort Huachuca by email to Jane_A_Bourne@nbc.gov or call 520-533-1642. PROGRAM BACKGROUND: The Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate seeks innovative solutions to addresses the development and refinement of the manufacturing processes for Advanced Uncooled Infrared Focal Plane Arrays. This BAA addresses the development and refinement of the manufacturing processes of the advanced small pixel uncooled detector and associated calibration and vacuum packaging technologies. The detector and packaging tasks will address the needs for both the 320x240 and 640x480 arrays, with emphasis placed on the 640x480 array. The overall goal is to substantially reduce the cost and improve the availability of these UCIR FPAs for current and future Army applications in order to maintain US warfighter overmatch. These applications include soldier systems such as thermal weapon and man portable sights, unmanned air vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles, missile systems including MRM (TERM) and NetFires and surveillance systems. Ultimate applications of the advanced UCIR FPA technology beyond this BAA are anticipated to lie in systems supporting Future Combat Systems sensor technology and Objective Force sensors. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES: Proposals are invited for innovative demonstrable manufacturing solutions to improve and implement a process design, fabrication, calibration and test approach for the UCIR FPA in order to obtain a 8X or more decrease in the 640x480 unit minimum cost relative to current costs. This goal may be met by the proposal's demonstration of a projected unit production cost on the basis of a hypothetical production buy comprising not less than 100 640x480 units/week over a 24-month period by improving its manufacturing process. This hypothetical buy in no way commits the government to actually place such orders. A baseline lot shall be fabricated, upon which an analysis shall be conducted identifying manufacturing process steps that are low in yield, low in throughput or high in labor content, and may therefore benefit from manufacturing process initiatives to improve these areas. These initiatives shall be developed and integrated into the process flow in a minimum of fifteen (15) subsequent UCIR FPA lots of at least 6 wafers to determine their viability and impact on overall cost reduction. For each lot processed the overall cost of the UCIR FPA, assuming conditions in the paragraph above, shall be calculated. The goal of the program is for the final lot cost to result in an overall 8X or more decrease in cost for 640x480 UCIR FPAs. The final lot shall also demonstrate the capability to process and yield FPAs at a rate of 100 units / week. TECHNICAL AND RESEARCH AREA: This BAA solicits proposals to improve Advanced Uncooled Infrared (UCIR) Focal Plane Array (FPA) manufacturing techniques. The offeror shall provide rationale for the allocation of funding between initiatives and UCIR FPA fabrication. This rationale shall include the number and type of UCIR FPAs, and cost and risk of initiatives. The offeror shall support the integration of the UCIR FPAs developed herein into a minimum of two systems to demonstrate viability and performance. The offeror shall discuss a method of technology transfer to provide processes developed on this program to other IR vendors. This shall include process documentation and four industry wide program reviews. The manufacturing process initiatives chosen to reduce the overall cost of this assembly shall focus on improving yield, reducing labor content and increasing throughput. In general, the initiatives may be in the following areas: bolometer fabrication, vacuum packaging, and calibration and testing. The use/development of a cost model is required. The model shall predict the unit costs of the FPA while varying input parameters to include; i) quantity; ii) with and without integration of manufacturing process initiatives discussed above; iii) yield; iv) labor content and v) throughput. The performance requirements are given in Table 1 and the interface in Table 2, both of which are found in the Proposer Information Pamphlet. There are several performance requirements listed as Contractor Furnished Information (CFI). The elements designated as CFI are to be monitored during the Manufacturing Program. On the basis of the results, cost trades can be performed during the course of the program. PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: See the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) which provides preparation and submission instructions for proposals. It is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nbc.gov/mantech.cfm PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: Proposals are due on or before 4:00 PM, Mountain Standard Time (not Mountain Daylight Time, which is one hour later), 14 July 2003 to the Department of the Interior, National Business Center, Acquisition Support Division, Southwest Branch, Second Floor, Building 22208, ATTN: BAA (J. Bourne), Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 85613. See the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) which provides detailed instructions on proposal submission procedures. It is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nbc.gov/mantech.cfm. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION. Proposals will be selected through a technical/scientific/business decision process using the following criteria in descending order of importance: A. Factor 1 - Experience, Personnel, and Facilities: Research and development efforts related to the BAA topic which demonstrate experience in this field; recent/current IR&D efforts and R&D contracts listed with a brief status statement; previous experience, past performance and overall personnel qualifications; availability and type of in-house test/evaluation facilities for UCIR FPAs, and night vision system components; the degree of in-house versus outside activity anticipated for the proposed fabrication, packaging, calibration and test efforts. Due to limited funds, the Government does not intend to award contracts to start-up, inexperienced or insufficiently equipped organizations. B. Factor 2 - Scientific and Technical Merit: Including, but not limited to, the scientific design and its relevance to BAA goals. C. Factor 3 - Cost: The proposed cost will be evaluated for both realism and reasonableness of the proposed resources. Selection of proposals for award shall be made on the basis of potential benefit to the Government considering the cost of each proposal. Awards will be subject to the availability of funds. Awards may take the form of a procurement contract, grant, Other Transaction, or cooperative agreement, depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and other factors. The Government reserves the right to 1) select for award all, some, one, or none of the proposals received, and 2) incrementally fund any award instrument. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION. A. Certificate Of Current Cost And Pricing Data: Upon completion of negotiations and agreement of contract price, in association with cost and pricing data submitted, the offerors shall submit a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data, see FAR 15.406-2. A Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data does not apply if an Other Transaction is being contemplated. B. Restrictive Marking On Proposals: Notwithstanding Defense policy, if information contained in the proposal is in the public domain or cannot be protected under law as trade secret (e.g., a patent application), the Government will not accept liability for failure to safeguard it against open disclosure. If an offeror wishes to restrict the proposal, the offeror should mark the title page with the following legend: "This data shall not be disclosed outside the Government and shall not be duplicated, used or disclosed in whole or in part for any purpose other than to evaluate the proposal; provided that if a contract is awarded to this BAA responder as a result of or in connection with the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use or disclose the data to the extent provided in the contract. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in the proposal if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction is contained on page ___________." C. Representations And Certifications: Offerors are to complete and return the Representations and Certifications set forth in the proposer information packet. D. Subcontracting Plan: A subcontracting plan is required, if the amount of the proposal exceeds $500,000 and the offeror is other than a small business concern. The offeror must agree to prepare, submit and negotiate in order to incorporate into the contract a plan for subcontracting to small and small disadvantaged business for participation in the effort. A subcontracting plan is not required for an Other Transaction; however, if a team arrangement is contemplated then a copy of the arrangement that provides each contractors' responsibility is requested.
- Web Link
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- Place of Performance
- Address: Contractor's Facilities
- Zip Code: 856702924
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 856702924
- Record
- SN00337888-W 20030604/030602213445 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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