SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Board Agency Announcement for the Department of Navy Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) Demonstration Project
- Notice Date
- 3/24/2005
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- N00167 9500 MacArthur Blvd West Bethesda, MD
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- N0016705BAA08
- Archive Date
- 3/24/2006
- Description
- INTRODUCTION: All sources, including traditionally non-defense commercial business entities and academia, are invited to submit proposals to assist DON in demonstrating and validating innovative concepts and technologies to reduce operating and maintenance costs, improve operational readiness, and reduce mishap risks associated with Navy and Marine Corps flight operations through the collection, download, storage, management, analysis, distribution and presentation/visualization of flight data. Proposed concepts should include technologies and/or processes sufficiently mature to begin near-term operational demonstrations within one to six months of contract award. The initial concept demonstration and assessment will last for approximately 12 months; however, the Government may elect to extend the demonstration beyond 12 months to refine concepts if warranted by data and user feedback collected, and offerors should include an approach for such a possibility in their! proposals. A final product from this solicitation will be a utility assessment based on the operational demonstration. The proposed concepts received from this BAA and the corresponding results of the DON MFOQA Demonstration Project are expected to support the future acquisition of MFOQA technology by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) PMA-209, Air Combat Electronics. BACKGROUND: Minimizing operational costs and reducing mishaps are essential to achieving improved operational readiness within the DON aviation community. Lessons learned during the development and implementation of commercial Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) programs have indicated the potential for a high return-on-investment from proper flight data collection and analysis, which allows operators to achieve operating/maintenance cost reductions and improved safety. Based on the benefits attained from commercial FOQA programs, DON has recognized the potential safety and operational efficiency improvements from a similar concept tailored to Naval aviation, referred to as Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA). MFOQA is a knowledge management process in which flight performance and aircraft systems/maintenance data are collected, downloaded, analyzed and visualized in a Windows-based environment for use by the operator to improve operational readi! ness. The goal of MFOQA is to provide quantifiable information in an intuitive form that operators, including individual aircrew as well as squadron/Fleet leadership, can use with minimal training to assess flight crew and aircraft system performance to identify and proactively address unfavorable trends and/or performance pertinent to aircrew training, aircraft maintenance, flight operations and safety. DON MFOQA DEMONSTRATION: DON is conducting a multi-phased MFOQA operational demonstration to validate the potential benefits in improved readiness and mishap reduction through routine analysis and visualization of aircraft systems and aircrew performance flight data. The approach for the demonstration incorporates a spiral development process and rapid fielding of a limited solution with emphasis on operational settings and Fleet-user involvement. The demonstration is tailored to specific aircraft type/model/series, units and missions, with the focus on software-based solutions. Both fixed-wing (F/A-18C/D) and rotary-wing (SH-60B) aircraft demonstrations will be conducted and other demonstration platforms are also being considered (e.g., V-22, T-45, H-53, AV-8, F/A-18E/F, MH-60R/S). In addition to the limited MFOQA capability currently within DON, there is interest in assessing and validating new technologies and concepts that can expand existent MFOQA capability to fur! ther demonstrate the potential benefits to Naval aviation from this knowledge management process. DON will integrate MFOQA-related concepts selected via this BAA into a single operational demonstration, and will support the further development and validation of those concepts assessed to best satisfy future DON MFOQA requirements. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL: This Broad Agency Announcement shall be effective from date of publication through one (1) year of the demonstration project. However, for consideration of initial MFOQA Demonstration funding, proposals shall be received not later than June 7, 2005. PROPOSAL CONTENT: Each proposal must stand-alone and will be evaluated on its own merit. A proposal shall consist of: 1. ONE-PAGE SYNOPSIS that includes a short title of the proposal; the offeror?s name/address/point of contact/telephone/fax/Internet address; brief narrative description including expected technical data deliverables, relevant goals/objectives of offer, and other information germane to the proposal; potential benefits (including projected cost savings) of technology and/or process proposed; and suitability of the proposed concept to be included in a near-term operational demonstration. 2. COST BREAKDOWN, to include both an initial 12-month demonstration and assessment as well as sustaining engineering support to extend the operational demonstration. The cost breakdown should be sufficient for contract award and to allow the Government to modify the scope of the effort to be consistent with available funding. A cost summary (with Excel spreadsheet in elec! tronic format) shall be submitted. 3. UP TO 35 PAGES OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, including, but not limited to: (1) Detailed description of the proposed technology and/or process (including text plus diagrams and photos as applicable); (2) Evidence of proven commercial or Government application, when applicable; (3) Technical approach, to include timeline and flexibility, and technical data deliverables, for proposed concept; (4) Potential for reducing operating/maintenance costs and/or improving safety in operations and/or training, and a proposed approach to evaluate the military utility within the operational demonstration that includes proposed metrics for validating benefits specifically to aircraft maintenance, operations, training and/or safety; (5) Ability to integrate with existing DON aircraft systems, personnel and processes; (6) Operator/maintainer training required to utilize the technology and/or implement the proposed concept; (7) Concept of Operations (CONOP! S) and required logistics support, including that required for a demonstration at an operational squadron as well as to sustain a residual capability following conclusion of the demonstration; (8) A draft Statement of Work (SOW) for possible incorporation as an attachment to a resulting contract or agreement award that clearly details the scope and objectives of the proposed effort, without any proprietary restrictions, and identifies separate optional task areas; (9) A summary of any proprietary rights to pre-existing results, prototypes, or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the proposed technology and/or process and how these rights impact the offeror?s ability to achieve the goals/objectives stated in the proposal, or, if there are no claims of proprietary rights, a statement to that effect; (10) Relevant experience of key personnel and submitting organization, capability of facilities, etc. Items 8-10 can be included as attachments and are not included ! in the page count above. The scope of this BAA encompasses all areas of MFOQA for DON aircraft platforms including the areas of maintenance, operations, safety and training. Emphasis is on concepts that can begin demonstration quickly and that utilize existing aircraft data sources and do not involve the addition of on-aircraft hardware or software and that can be automated to an extent that little or no additional burden is added to operational personnel. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: (a) automated methods for flight data analysis to detect significant events, anomalies and trends (e.g., data mining, data fusion and data visualization); (b) techniques to discern/predict human factors or external factors indirectly from recorded flight data (e.g., crew work load, crew focus, environmental and other flight hazards.); (c) data/information presentation techniques that maximize understanding of complex data; (d) data architectures (both hardware and softwa! re) to automatically collect, sort and distribute data and information within various elements of an operational squadron (over LAN) as well as to higher levels in the command and support infrastructure (over WAN) that address database/data warehouse/data security concerns; (e) data storage/archival/retrieval capabilities; (f) dissemination and sharing of collected data and analysis products (e.g., electronic dissemination, server-client architectures, online query capabilities, etc.); (g) open architecture technologies or generic concepts that improve efficiency across disparate platforms; (h) technologies/approaches that are specific to a given operational environment or aircraft (e.g., F-18, H-60, V-22, T-45, H-53, AV-8, shipboard or land-based, including detached operations); and (i) in-flight data collection and download technologies (real-time or post-flight). PROPOSAL FORMAT AND SUBMISSION: Proposals shall be on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, printed on one side of sequentially numbered pages, utilizing Times New Roman font no smaller than 11 point (10 point for graphics and charts); line spacing shall be at the discretion of the offeror. An original and two copies of the proposal, plus an electronic copy in Microsoft Word format on either a 3.5 inch floppy disk or CD, shall be submitted to: Commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division; Code 5300, Attn: Dr. David Haas; Bldg. 2, Room 203; 9500 MacArthur Blvd.; West Bethesda, MD 20817-5700. Proposals shall be unclassified; if the offeror considers additional classified information to be necessary to adequately represent the concept being proposed, the unclassified proposal should be annotated accordingly and the offeror will be contacted to coordinate receipt of the classified information at the Government?s discretion. QUESTIONS: Questions of 50 words or less will be accepted for clarification of this BAA and can be submitted by email to Mr. Phong Nguyen at nguyenph@nswccd.navy.mil. Offeror questions shall indicate company name, address, telephone number, point of contact, fax number, and email address. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The selection of one or more sources for contract award will be based on a scientific or peer review process. Proposals will be evaluated, in descending priority, on: 1. Technical approach, to include maturity and availability for near-term demonstration. 2. Potential benefit/value to DON MFOQA goals. 3. Ability to interface with existing aircraft systems. 4. Cost (associated with near-term demonstration). 5. Offeror experience/ expertise. Cost will be evaluated for realism and reasonableness in conjunction with technical merit and timely availability. The selection of sources for contract award shall be based on the above evaluation criteria and funds availability. The type of contract anticipated is cost plus fixed fee which may be incrementally funded. GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE BAA: This notice itself constitutes the BAA as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). The Government reserves the right to select for award, any, part of, all, or none of the proposals received. This BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any proposal costs related to this announcement. Offerors are advised that only the Contracting Officer is legally authorized to commit the Government to the obligation of funds. NON-GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL: The Government intends to use support contractors and independent experts to assist in the proposal review/selection process, and to provide advice relative to selected technical areas. These personnel are restricted from disclosing information contained in any proposal for any purpose to anyone outside the proposal review/selection process. By submission of its proposal, an offeror agrees that its proposal may be disclosed to these personnel for the purpose of providing t! his assistance.
- Record
- SN00775763-W 20050326/050324212727 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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