SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- BAA - Expendable Communications Buoy
- Notice Date
- 5/13/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, NUWC Division Newport, Simonpietri Drive, Newport, RI, 02841-1708
- ZIP Code
- 02841-1708
- Solicitation Number
- N66604-05-R-4076
- Response Due
- 7/1/2005
- Archive Date
- 7/16/2005
- Description
- This synopsis is being posted to both the Federal Business Opportunities(FBO) page located at http://www.eps.gov and the Navy Electronic Commerce on Line(NECO) site located at http://www.neco.navy.mil. While it is understood that FBO is the single point of entry for posting of synopsis and solicitations to the internet, NECO is the alternative in case FBO is unavailable. Please feel free to use either site to access information posted by the Navy Sea Systems Command. THIS IS A TOPICAL BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) IN SUPPORT OF AN AT SEA DEMONSTRATION TO REFINE CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS (CON-OPS) AND REQUIREMENTS FOR AN EXPENDABLE SUBMARINE COMMUNICATIONS BUOY This project, identified as the Expendable Communications Buoy (ECB), is to provide submarine communications while at depth via a satellite constellation. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT) seeks technology needed to enable satisfaction of the functional and performance requirements established for the ECB. Proposals shall describe basic design and construction of an ECB and interface unit that will meet and operate in a typical submarine operating environment as describe below. Include performance and test objectives described herein. We anticipate that this will include (6) prototype buoys for communications performance and launch test evaluation and an additional (2) ECBs for ship board in-water testing that can be completed no later than ten (10) months after contract award. The proposal will address two configurations of the ECB. The first (Phase I) configuration of the ECB needs to demonstrate a capability of performing one- way submarine communications over a satellite system to shore. The second (Phase II) configuration of the ECB shall demonstrate a two way communications link to the submarine via an expendable fiber optic pack. The submarine operating environment identified below is pertinent to both the Phase I and Phase II configurations except where noted. Deployment demonstrated from the existing 3" diameter submarine signal ejector tube. It is desirable that this be done while transiting at up to 6 knots while submerged. Demonstrated satellite communications on the surface in up to sea state 5 conditions is desirable. The ECB upon deployment will be positively buoyant and acoustically benign. The ECB shall be capable of being programmed while inside the submarine signal ejector tube via a fiber optic link and controller. The offereror will develop the user interface and the controller will accept and program the buoy with message formats to be furnished by the government once the contract has been awarded. The buoy shall accept and recycle for verification a data stream consisting of performance parameters and message. The message will be stored in a non-volatile solid state device of at least 512 Kilobytes. Demonstrate a programming capability of the ECB through a program operating in the MS Windows environment including a delay to transmit feature is desirable. The government can provide a software program that the offeror may use as guidance for development of the ECB programming and operating software. The interface unit will connect to the ships LAN via an Ethernet connection to provide for programming the ECB from the submarine radio and control rooms. The ECB will have a self contained power source that is submarine safe. The use of non-pyrotechnic devices in the design of the ECB for functional requirements is a goal of this demonstration. At the end of the mission all material shall not be visible at the surface. The ECB internal circuitry that controls timing, activation, deployment, communications, message memory and scuttling shall be contained within the buoy housing. Typical submarine temperature ranges include long term (more than 7 days) storage temperature of -20? to 55? C. Short term (less than 7 days) storage temperature ranges of -5? to 40? C. Vibration per MIL-STD-167 type 1 up to 33 Hz is operationally typical in the submarine environment. Launch induced mechanical shock loading characterize by a pulse of 110 g 1/2 sine wave of eleven milliseconds duration is common. Additionally the ECB shall not suffer damage when subjected to a 200 pound load on a 32 inch moment arm for ten seconds. As an engineering goal the Phase I ECB will be subject to hydrostatic pressures up to 1050 psi. The Phase II ECB will be subject to hydrostatic pressures up to 250 psi. The ECB shall not contain materials that are considered hazardous within a submarine environment including: Asbestos and asbestos compounds Beryllium and beryllium compounds Cadmium Carcinogens Chlorofluorcarbons Flammable or combustible materials Fragile or brittle materials Lead or lead components Lithium and lithium compounds Magnesium or magnesium alloys Mercury or its compounds or amalgams Phenols or phenolic compounds Polychlorinated biphenyls Polyvinyl chloride Zinc or zinc alloys Each ECB shall be marked with Contract and Manufactures CAGE as well as Part number, serial number, Power source expiration date, and any pertinent cautions related to handling or stowage. The ECB shall be manufactured using entirely new material and to contractor workmanship standards. Predicated reliability of the ECB shall be addressed. The government will supply the winning contractor with L band modems (including op licensing), L band patch antennas if needed. Details of this GFM can be furnished upon request. The government reserves the right to perform laboratory testing, prior to ship board in-water testing, to verify that the supplied buoys meet or exceed the performance requirements of this solicitation. The Phase II ECB will utilize a fiber optic tether that connects the submarine to the ECB. This tether will be a minimum of 4 kilometers in length. The Phase II design will incorporated all features for deploying the fiber within the ECB housing. The Phase II ECB communications link goal is to demonstrate at speeds of 6 knots a surface communications time of 20 minutes at a 50% duty cycle. The Phase II ECB needs to ascend to the surface at a minimum of 2 ft per second. If the phase II approach incorporates a separate lifting body the design shall preclude the possibility of the lifting body and fiber optic tether being drawn into the submarine propeller. SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS ? Proposals are desired addressing technical approaches to the ECB requirements. Proposals may be submitted at anytime during this period. Offerors must state that their proposals will be valid for 180 days from submission. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, portions, or none of the proposals received. All communication and technical questions concerning this acquisition should be directed to Ray Smith, SmithRD@npt.nuwc.navy.mil. (401) 832-5939; mail address Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport, Code 5912, Simonpietri Drive, Bldg. 11, Newport, RI 02841. Proposals should be addressed to the Contracting Point of Contact (POC) stated above. his is an unrestricted solicitation. The North American Classification System (NAICS) code applicable to this acquisition is 541710 with 500 employees. Organizations wishing to participate should submit proposals six (6) copies of the Technical/Management Proposal and one (1 ) hardcopy of the Price Proposal) along with one CD-ROM to the Commercial Acquisition Department, Building 11, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, Attn: Ray Smith, Code 5911, Simonpietri Drive, Newport, RI 02841-1708 by 1 July 2005, 2:00 P.M. ? Proposal length, exclusive of cost and pricing data, should not exceed forty (40) 8? x 11 inch typewritten pages and should specify the technical area of concern addressed (i.e., Expendable Communications Buoy). ? Each proposal should contain the offeror?s Technical Approach and a Statement of Capabilities. Offerors should identify proposed costs with a breakdown of cost elements such as direct labor, overhead, G&A, fee or profit, and any other significant cost factors, with separate pricing provided for each proposed SOW Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Pricing should be based upon the assumption that work would begin no sooner than 45 days after proposal submission. Pricing for phase I and phase II configurations shall be separate. The combination of phase I and phase II is expected not to exceed $1,400,000. Alternate proposals and pricing will be considered. Award of Phase I is not a guarantee of phase II. The proposal should also contain offeror?s point of contact information. Subcontracting Plan Requirements: Offerors submitting proposals requiring a Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 19.702 shall include a draft plan as an attachment to their cost volume. If an offeror has a comprehensive subcontracting plan, the offeror shall so state in their cost volume and provide a copy of the signature page of the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan and any supplements to the plan, the identification number thereof and any pages identifying the subcontracting goals. Submitted plans must be approved by the PCO prior to contract award. Proposals containing data that is not to be disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the government except for evaluation purposes shall include the following statement on their title pages: ?The proposal includes data that 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 this proposal. If however, a contract is awarded to this offeror as a result of, or in connection with, the submission of these data, the government shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose these data to the extent provided in the resulting contract. This restriction does not limit the government?s right to use the information contained in these data if they are obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained on sheets (insert page numbers or otherwise identify the sheets)?. Each restricted data sheet should be marked as follows: ?Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this proposal.? This statement may be in a small font and should be at the bottom only of each applicable page. All material submitted to NUWCDIVNPT under this announcement shall be considered Government property. The Government requires unlimited data rights with regard to any procurement, with the possible exceptions of (1) a negotiated position for data rights to existing concepts that may be further developed under a procurement and (2) for efforts conducted under procurement with leveraged funds. ? The Government shall analyze proposals received in response to this BAA in order to identify and evaluate potential organizational conflicts of interest. If applicable, Organizational Conflict of Interest clauses shall be included in any resulting contract (see FAR 9.5). Specific deliverables, delivery schedule, and other terms will be negotiated with successful offerors. PROPOSALS WILL BE EVALUATED AS FOLLOWS: 1. Overall scientific and technical merits of the proposal: The approach proposed to accomplish the required objectives, the offeror' capability, related experience, past performance, facilities, personnel, and the unique combinations of these, which are integral factors for achieving the proposal objectives. 2. Proposed Cost. To be eligible for award an offeror must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Subpart 204.73. An offeror, who is not registered, may register at http://www.ccr.gov/index.cfm. Offerors not registered are highly encouraged to register immediately. Technical/Management Proposal Contents. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL CONTENTS: Format of Part I of the proposal shall be as follows (page limit of 40 single-sided pages): I Cover Page. The cover page should include the BAA title and reference number, name and telephone number, fax and email for the principal points of contact (both technical and contractual), and the page should also contain the proprietary data disclosure statement, if applicable. Ii Table of Contents. It is highly recommended that the offeror use the Table of Contents as a final quality-control checklist. Iii List of Illustrations/Tables. This list is a quick reference of charts, graphs, tables, and other important information. Iv Executive Summary. The summary should present an organized progression of the work to be accomplished, without the technical details, so that the reader can grasp the core issues of the proposed program. 1.0 Technical Approach. 1.1 Application and Technical Discussion nature of the work: The preferred technical approach should be described in as much detail as is necessary or useful to establish confidence in the approach. Every issue should be identified and compared with the successes/failures of previous approaches. A tradeoff analysis is a good way to make this comparison and should be supported by theory, simulation, modeling, experimental data, or other sound engineering and scientific practices. 1.2 Technical Program Summary: This section summarizes the above technical discussion in an orderly progression through the program, emphasizing the strong points of the proposed technical approach, and how the proof of concept will be demonstrated and/or tested. 1.3 Risk Analysis and Alternatives: The proposal evaluator(s) will formulate a risk assessment and it is in the best interest of the offerors to have their own understanding of the risk factors presented. Critical technologies should be identified along with their impact on the overall program as well as risk mitigation strategies. 1.4 Transition or Insertion Plan: Discuss possible uses/users for this technology development, and suggestions for its production and dissemination. 1.5 References: Include the basis for, and reference, the findings cited in the technical discussion. 2.0 Special Technical Factors. In this section, the offeror should describe any capabilities the offeror has that are uniquely supportive of the technology to be pursued. The following items are offered as possible areas to be addressed. 2.1 Capabilities and relevant experience. 2.2 Previous or current relevant R&D work and points of contact. 2.3 Related contracts and points of contact. 2.4 Facilities/resources. 3.0 Schedule. The schedule represents the offerors commitment to perform the program tasks in an orderly, timely manner. 3.1 Time Line Chart by Task: Each major task identified in the SOW should appear as a separate WBS element on the program schedule. Decision gates and planned meetings, such as kick-off, presentations (including final presentation on the effort), design reviews, technical interchange meetings, demonstrations, tests, etc., should be included in the Time Line. The Time Line should also indicate the anticipated meeting sites. 3.2 Identify Milestones: Describe specific one-time events that would occur during the course of the project that would signify a decision point, government review, demonstration or test, or deliverable. 4.0 Program Organization. In this section, the offerors should present how they will be organized to conduct this project, and to address difficult technical issues. Any pertinent or useful information may be included in this section, but a minimum recommended response should address the following: 4.1 Organization Chart(s) with Key Personnel: Include prime offeror and team member organization charts. 4.2 Management and Technical Team: This should specifically identify what tasks will be performed by each party and why each subcontractor or team member, if any, was selected to perform its task(s). 4.2.1 Offeror Responsibilities. 4.2.2 Subcontractor(s) or Team Member Responsibilities 4.2.3 Consultant(s) Responsibilities. 4.3 Labor Mix Schedules (See http//www.ecraft.npt.nuwc.navy.mil/documents for a list of eCraft labor categories. 4.4 Resumes of Key Personnel: Include the resumes of the Key Personnel, be they offeror, subcontractor, team member, and/or consultant personnel. 5.0 Appendix (es). Appendices may include technical reports, published papers, and referenced material. Submission of commercial product advertising brochures as part of the Appendix (es) is not desirable. Offeror's Statement Of Work (SOW) a. It is the intent of the Government to attach the offeror?s SOW, as written into the resulting award document. This will occur only if the offeror?s SOW accurately describes the work to be performed, is enforceable, and is void of inconsistencies. The following is offered as a recommended format for the SOW. Begin this section on a new page. Start your SOW at Paragraph 1.0. 1.0 Objective: This section is intended to give a brief overview of the technology effort and should describe why it is being pursued, what you are trying to accomplish, and what aspect of this BAA is being addressed. 2.0 Scope: This section should include the technology area(s) to be investigated, objectives/goals, and major milestones for the effort. 3.0 Background: This section includes any information, explanations, or constraints that are necessary in order to understand the requirements. It may include relationships to previous, current and future operations. It may also include techniques previously tried and found ineffective. The offeror shall identify appropriate specifications, standards, and other documents that are applicable to the effort to be performed. Monthly progress and financial spending reports are required. 4.0 Tasks/Technical Requirements: 4.1 The detailed description of tasks which represent the work to be performed, are contractually binding. Thus, this portion of the SOW should be developed in an orderly progression and in enough detail to establish the feasibility of accomplishing the overall program goals. The work effort should be segregated into major tasks and identified in separately numbered paragraphs according to the decimal system as described herein. Each numbered major task should delineate, by subtask, the work to be performed, deliverables and CDRL items. The SOW must contain every task to be accomplished. The tasks must be definite, realistic, and clearly stated. Our department no longer issues solicitations or amendments in paper form. Instead, they may be accessed at our web site http://www.npt.nuwc.navy.mil/contract/. We also provide electronic access in our Bid Room.
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- SN00807798-W 20050515/050513213256 (fbodaily.com)
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