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COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 19,1998 PSA#2162

COMMERCIAL OPERATION AND SUPPORT (O&S) SAVINGS INITIATIVE (COSSI) OF THE DUAL USE APPLICATIONS PROGRAM (DUAP) STAGE II AWARDS The Department of the Navy proposes to enter into fixed price production contracts for Stage II of the COSSI program with successful Stage I participants. The COSSI of the Dual Use Applications Program (DUAP) is a joint program of the Army, Navy, and AirForce, Director, Defense Research and Engineering, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and is administered by the joint Dual Use Program Office (JDUPO). This program is funded by Congress in the Fiscal Year 1997 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Act (Public Law 104-208). Its purpose is the insertion of commercial products and processes into fielded military systems to reduce O&S costs by a) reducing the costs of parts and maintenance, b) reducing the need for specialized equipment, c) increasing reliability and d) increasing efficiency of subsystems. The program is structured in two stages: 1) in Stage I, particpants develop, manufacture, and deliver prototype "kits" to the military for installation into a fielded DoD system -- each kit will consist of a commercial product or process that has been adapted, qualification tested, and readied for insertion; 2) In Stage II, military customers decide whether to purchase a reasonable production quantity of kits and, if applicable, optional maintenance service agreements. JDUPO conducted the competition for Stage I in which cost sharing by participants was required. The use of "Other Transactions" as the agreement type for Stage I was necessary to incentivize participants who do not normally do business with the government. The authority to use such agreements for prototyping relevant to weapons systems was given to DARPA by Section 845 of the Fiscal year 1994 Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 103-160), as amended. In using "other transactions," participants, many of whom do not normally do business with DoD, were induced to offer their commercial technology, and contribute part of the costs to develop and test their commercial kits for use in military fielded systems with the expectation that the military services would buy production quantities of the kits. In particular, the JDUPO's solicitation for the COSSI Stage I program stated that if Stage I has been successful, the military customer may purchase reasonable production quantities of the kit. Proposals included target prices for the kits and any maintenance service agreement if necessary. The solicitation stated the goal is to purchase the selected kits and, if applicable, maintenance agreements in Stage II: -- without recompetition -- at a fair and reasonable price based on an analysis of the value of the kits -- without requiring proposers to provide detailed cost and pricing data For those projects that successfully complete Stage I, the only way to realize savings is to award Stage II production contracts. Participants contributed a total of approximately $58,000,000 of their own funds for Stage I because of the incentive of potential awards of Stage II production conracts without recompetition based on JDUPO's solicitation. Estimated target costs of Stage II production kits were evaluated as part of the Stage I awards. Stage II production contracts will be awarded if the kit prices are determined to be fair and reasonable. In order to realize almost $2 billion in projected O&S savings in the long run, it is in the public interest to award non-competitive, firm fixed price contracts for the production of commercial products or processes for Stage II to those projects successfully tested during Stage I of COSSI. The Stage II projects and the contractors are as follows: a. Lithium Ion Polymer Battery. This project will replace Zinc-Silver oxide bateries in three Navy underwater vehicles (the MK-30 target, MK-8 Seal Delivery Vehicle, an the ASDS) with commercial Lithium Ion Plymer batteries. Contractor: Alliant/Valence LLC, Horsham, PA. b. Potable Engine Test Cell Capability for H-53 Series Helicopters. This project will adapt the commercially available engine test equipment item, the JETCAL 2000, for use on the H-46 and H-53 helicopters. This will greatly reduce costly engine removals as well as allow for maintenance actions on site. Contractor: Howell Instruments, Fort Worth, TX. c. USMC/SIGINT/EW Systems Interoperability. This project will use a commercial communications gateway to increase the interoperability of four current USMC systems. The upgraded PC hardware and associated software will bring the USMC Common Electronic Warfare and Intelligence Gateway up to commercial X.400 & X.500 stadards. Contractor: California Microwave, Woodland Hills, CA. d. Install and Support an Integrated Aircraft Usage and Condition Monitoring System in the H-60 and H-53 Helicopters. This project will install a commercially available on-board Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics system aboard the H-60 and H-53 helicopters. Contractor: B.F. Goodrich Aerospace, Vergennes, VT. e. Tivoli Integrated Systems (Software) Management Tools. This project will use web-based technologies for configuration management of 4,155 JMCIS workstations distributed globally. This adaptation of commercially used software will allow for more efficient distribution, installation and control of critical command and control programs throughout the fleet. Contractor: Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX. f. Reconfigurable Logic Engine for Legacy Systems (AN/SPS-67) Radar. This project concerns use of computer-aided reverse engineering tools to design commercially-based replacements for the SEM-A cards in the AN/SPS-67 shipboard radar. Seventy unique designs will be reduced to one, and subsequently, the 300 card system will be reduced to seven VME cards. Contractor: VISICOM Laboratories, Inc., San Diego, CA. g. Laser Cladding Applications in the Operation and Support of Land Based Vehicles. This projects entials modifying Caterpillar Corporation's commercially successful laser beam cladding technique for refurbishing components to qualify for use on Marine Corps land-based vehicles. Contractor: Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, IL. h. COTS Insertion Program for the AN/BQR-22A Sonar Receiving Set by replacing the current custom hardware and software in fleet submarines with COTS hardware and interfaces and open architecture softare. Contractor: Signal Processing Systems, San Diego, CA. i. FltCast. This project will modify commercially available "Point Cast" internet software to permit the tailoring of data and information transmission by fleet customers. Contractor: Texas Instruments, Inc., San Jose, CA. j. E-2C/C-2A Propeller Blade Inspection Kit. This project concerns the fielding of a COTS Blade Inspection Kit, using infrared and digital imagery technology, for assessing the integrity of E-2C/C-2A propellers during routine scheduled maintenance. Contractor: Newco, Inc., Florence, SC. k. Commercially Based Processing for F/A-18 C/D. This project will replace the current assembly-language based software in the F/A-18 C/D mission computer with software written in a commercially based, object-oriented, higher order language that is easier to maintain. Contractor: McDonnell Douglas Corp, St. Louis, MO. l. Military Qualification of High-Reliablity Lightweight 24V/30Ah Aircraft Battery. The project concerns qualification of a commercially available, high-reliability, lightweight 24V/30Ah battery for military aircraft starting operations. The battery, known as the HORIZON, uses unique designs and processes that result in a greater than 4X advantage in strating life and 25 percent less weight than typical military aircraft batteries. Contractor: Electrosource, Inc., San Marcos, TX. E-MAIL: lopezm@spawar.navy.mil, lopezm@spawar.navy.mil. Posted 08/17/98 (W-SN238113).

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