SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Broad Agency Announcement for Magnetometer Technologies
- Notice Date
- 4/27/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- US Army C-E LCMC, Acquisition Center - Washington, ATTN: AMSEL-AC-W, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700
- ZIP Code
- 22331-0700
- Solicitation Number
- W909MY-06-R-0024
- Response Due
- 6/5/2006
- Archive Date
- 8/4/2006
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This requirement is issued under Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) W909MY-06-R-0024, sponsored by the U. S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, Night Vision a nd Electronic Sensors Directorate, Countermine Division, Ft. Belvoir, VA. This BAA is issued by the Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command Acquisition Center Washington under provisions of paragraph 6.102(d)(2) and paragraph 35.016 of th e Federal Acquisition Regulation which provides for competitive selection of research and development proposals submitted in response to this announcement. Accordingly, proposals selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competit ion and fully compliant with PL 98-369, The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. The entire BAA is posted on the Interagency Business Opportunities Page (IBOP) at https://abop.monmouth.army.mil. Any amendments to this BAA will only be posted at the IBO P. There will be no formal request for proposal or any further solicitation document issued in regard to this BAA. Therefore, interested parties should be alert for any amendments that may be published. It is recommended that all interested parties regi ster for the solicitation specific mailing list that will provide email notification of any updates to the BAA. Full proposals will also be submitted to the Government via the IBOP web site. No paper copies will be accepted. Proposals are due on 5 June 2006. Award(s) against this BAA can be made for three years after receipt of proposals and notification of selectability. Specific costs and terms and conditions will be negotiated prior to award. The Government contemplates the awarding of Cost Reimburs ement (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. The maximum length of an award will be three yea rs. There is no a priori judgment regarding the number or size of individual awards or the allocation of total research and development funds across the technology solutions listed above. Prospective Offerors should note that this BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to make an award or pay proposal preparation costs generated in response to this announcement. The cost of proposal preparation for response to a BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any res ultant contract or any other contract. However, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Funds, beyond the current Fiscal Year, are not presently available for the research interests represent ed in this BAA, however, funds are planned in the Future Years Defense Plan for this research. No contract award will be made unless appropriated funds are available for payment for the effort being acquired. Prospective offerors are further reminded tha t only a duly warranted Contracting Officer may obligate the Government. Any resultant contract award would include all clauses required by Federal Acquisition Regulations and appropriate supplements. This BAA is intended for the development of research efforts in support of the NVESD Countermine Division. In order for any proposal to be considered, the proposed effort MUST meet the definition of basic or applied research and development found at FAR 35.001. The selection of one or more proposals for aw ard will be based on a peer and scientific evaluation of each Offerors response (to include both technical and cost aspects) to determine the overall merit of the proposal in response to this announcement. Potential offerors are reminded that only a duly warranted contracting officer may obligate the Government to an agreement involving the expenditure of Government funds. Prior to proposal submission, potentia l offerors are encouraged to contact the Subject Matter Expert (SME), Dr. J. Thomas Broach, NVESD, at tom.broach@nvl.army.mil with a copy to the Contracting Officer. However, after proposal submission, all questions and discussions must be directed to the Contracting Officer. Offerors are encouraged to use the IBOP question and answer function. However, in the event that is not feasible, questions may be directed to the Contracting Officer via email. The selection of contract(s) for award will be based o n a scientific and engineering peer review evaluation of proposals. The business and contractual aspects, including cost, will also be considered as a part of the evaluation. Proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted in accordance with a common work statement. The purpose of the evaluation will be to determine the relative merit of the technical approach proposed in each response to the BAA. Evaluation and selection of proposal(s) for award will be made on the basis of the potential benefits occurring to the Government when weighed against the cost of the proposal. Additional primary considerations will include an independent Government assessment of the probability of success of the proposed approach and the availab ility of funding. The Army will attempt to review proposals within 60 calendar days after receipt. Upon the completion of proposal evaluation, offerors will be notified of selectability or non-selectability. Selectable proposals will be considered for fu nding; non-selectable proposals will be destroyed. One copy of non-selectable proposals may be retained for file purposes. Not all proposals deemed selectable will be funded. Decisions to fund selectable proposals will be based on funds available, scien tific and technical merit, and potential contribution and relevance to the Armys mission. Proposals may be considered for funding for a period of up to three years after notification of selectability. The Government reserves the right to select for awar d all, some, or none of the proposals received. The specific evaluation factors are listed in the BAA posted on the IBOP. Offerors should submit one (1) electronic copy of the proposal through the Army Single Face to Industry Interactive Business Opportun ities Page (IBOP). Facsimile transmissions, hard copies, or electronic media transmissions will not be accepted. Complete proposal prepration instructions are contained in the BAA posed on the IBOP is https://abop.monmouth.army.mil. Eligibility: A prosp ective recipient must also meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with the performance schedule, prior record of performance, integrity, organization, experience, operational controls, technical skills facilitie s and equipment. 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, hi storically black colleges and universities and minority business enterprises and institutions. Foreign contractors may also participate in this BAA. While classified contracts are not anticipated, contingent upon the proposed technology solution, contrac tors may require access to classified material or information. In such situations, only those organizations that can meet the established security requirements are eligible to participate in this BAA. Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFR DC) are permitted to participate, however, offerors are reminded of the limitations in their use (see FAR 35.017) and must provide documentation in the proposal that work is not otherwise available from the private sector. Also, registration in the Contra ctor Central Registration prior to award is mandatory. For additional information and guidance concerning qualifications and standards for responsibility of pe rspective contractors, please refer to FAR Part 9. Organizational Conflicts of Interest: Awards made under this BAA are subject to the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. All Offerors a nd proposed subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are providing scientific, engineering and technical assistance (SETA) or similar support to any Government technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations mus t state which office(s) the Offeror supports, and identify the prime contract number. Affirmations should be furnished at the time of proposal submission. All facts relevant to the existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in the FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. The disclosure shall include a description of the action the Offeror has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize or mitigate such conflict. Offerors should also indicate if the propos ed effort, or similar effort, is the subject of an on-going IR&D program or has been submitted under other solicitations. Central Contractor Register (CCR): In accordance with FAR 52.204-7 and DFARS 252.204-7004, an offeror must be actively registered in the Central Contractor Register located at http://www.ccr.gov/ to be eligible for award. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION. The objective of this BAA is to conduct scientific investigations of the use of magnetometer technology and its ability to detect 155 mm artill ery shells while the sensors are mounted on a moving vehicle. The military mission envisioned for this capability is as follows: A magnetometer is mounted on a mine protected vehicle such as an RG-31. The vehicle travels on roads at convoy speeds and in real time detects 155 mm artillery shells that are located within 5 meters of the sensors. The geo-location of the detections is recorded for use by follow-on activity. This program is intended to perform scientific investigations of variables and trade-o ffs affecting sensor performance. These variables include detection range, vehicle speed, 155 mm shell variability (magnetic moments) and 155 mm shell orientation. A three-phase approach will be used for this effort, and contractors are encouraged to struc ture their response, including cost proposal, in this manner. The word target in the following narrative denotes a 155 mm artillery shell. The magnetic moment of 155 mm artillery shells varies significantly from shell to shell but the values are expected t o fall approximately in the range 0.6 A-m2 to 8.0 A-m2. Phase I. Quasi static investigations. In this phase, the sensor performance will be investigated and quantified before it is mounted on the vehicle so that the effects of the vehicle can be separated from intrinsic sensor performance. The objective of this phase is to derive a fundamental understanding of the limits of the magnetometer in detecting 155 mm artillery shells (targets) and to investigate how to distinguish target signals from clutter sig nals (any measurable signal not caused by a target). Experimental studies of detection as a function of range, target orientation, and target magnetic moment will be conducted. Experiments will be conducted in a clutter free and a cluttered environment so that the fundamental limit of the sensor to detect a target can be separated from effects of clutter. The ability to locate the detected target using sensor data shall also be investigated. An investigation of useful detection features in the sensor data a nd the ability to discriminate target features from geomagnetic or other clutter shall be conducted. The sensor/target data and the knowledge gained during Phase I will form the basis for the Phase II investigation. Phase II. Vehicle integration investiga tion. The objective of this phase is to understand the effects that the vehicle (on which the sensor is mounted) has on the magnetometer signal and to incorpor ate techniques for mitigating these effects. The magnetometer will be mounted on the vehicle during this phase, and an experimental investigation will be conducted to determine the effects of the vehicle and vehicle motion on the sensor/target signal. It is the Governments intention to provide a military vehicle, such as an RG-31 or Casspir, as GFE to successful offeror(s) for Phases II and III. The capability to accurately geo-locate the detected targets shall be incorporated into the test bed and into t he experimental investigation. Experiments shall be conducted to collect data as a function of vehicle speed as the speed is incrementally increase from zero to 75 km/hr and as a function of distance between the sensor and the target. These experiments sha ll be conducted using numerous targets for the purpose of determining how the detection signal varies over a population of targets. The target location errors shall be experimentally quantified. Techniques shall be implemented to reduce the (expected) deg rading effects that the vehicle/vehicle motion has on the target detection capability. The effectiveness of these techniques will be experimentally verified. The investigation of target-clutter discrimination that began in Phase I shall continue as applied to data obtained in Phase II. Phase III. Test Bed Performance Characterization. This phase consists of performance quantification of the sensor-vehicle test bed after all mitigation techniques have been implemented. The detection-false alarm performance shall be quantified as a function of vehicle/sensor speed and distance from sensor to target in a variety of clutter environments. Target location errors shall be quantified. All data collected during this program will be provided to the Government so th at the Government and its contractors can perform signal processing studies. The POCs for this BAA are: Countermine Division SME: J. Thomas Broach, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Countermine Division, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, U.S. Army RDECOM CERDEC, Voice (703)704-1035, FAX (703)704-2467, tom.broach@nvl.army.mil; C-E LCMC Acquisition Center Contracting Officer: Ms. Peggy A. Melanson, ATTN: AMSEL-AC-WA-D, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Room 1126, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700, Tel: 703-325-6096 (DSN: 221-6096), Fax: 703-428-1658, E-mail: peggy.melanson@cacw.army.mil, Contract Specialist: Ms. Carrodena Johnson, tel: 703-325-8677, E-mail: carrodena.johnson@cacw.army.mil.
- Place of Performance
- Address: US Army C-E LCMC, Acquisition Center - Washington ATTN: AMSEL-AC-W, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue Alexandria VA
- Zip Code: 22331-0700
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 22331-0700
- Record
- SN01036597-W 20060429/060427221007 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |