Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF MARCH 30, 2006 FBO #1585
SPECIAL NOTICE

18 -- Hydrocarbon Boost- LOX/HC, 250k lbf Sea Level, Thrust Technology Demonstrator

Notice Date

3/28/2006
 

Notice Type

Special Notice
 

NAICS

541710 — Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
 

Contracting Office

Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFFTC - AF Flight Test Center, 5 S WOLFE AVE, Edwards AFB, CA, 93524-1185
 

ZIP Code

93524-1185
 

Solicitation Number

RFI
 

Response Due

5/11/2006
 

Description

Government Request for Information THIS RFI IS ISSUED UNDER FAR PART 10 MARKET RESEARCH ALL REQUIRMNETS IDENTFIED IN THIS BAA ARE TENTATIVE AND WILL BE FINALIZED PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF THE BAA. THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT ON THE BASIS OF THIS RFI OR TO OTHERWISE PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITED. The information provided is entirely voluntary and will not impact the ability to bid on future requirements. This request for information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), a request for proposal (RFP), or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response will be treated as competition sensitive information only. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or part, any contractor's input resulting from this RFI. The information you provide may be utilized by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in developing its acquisition strategy and in its Statement of Work/Statement of Objectives and Performance Specifications. The information resulting from this RFI may be included in one or more BAA?s, which will be released to industry. Industry is encouraged to respond with information not constrained by proprietary data rights. However, if proprietary data is included in your reply, it is to be marked appropriately. This is an unclassified RFI open to US DoD and DoD propulsion subcontractors only. Prime foreign company participation is excluded. Additionally, a resulting future acquisition will involve data that are subject to export control laws and regulations. Only propulsion contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Services Center (DLSC) shall be provided copies of the resulting BAA or other data subject to foreign disclosure restrictions when the BAA is issued. Contact the Defense Logistics Services Center, 74 Washington Avenue N., Battle Creek, Michigan 40917-3084 (1-800-353-3572) for further information on the certification process. You must submit a copy or AFRL must have a copy on file of your approved DD Form 2345, Military Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your request for the solicitation. All replies to this RFI are to be provided to the USAF by electronic copy and may be followed by an oral presentation not to exceed 4 hours at AFRL Edwards, CA. Program Description The Air Force is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for planning purposes only to allow potential propulsion contractors to submit questions, comments and suggestions prior to the potential release of a competitive Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) PKTA-06-01. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain propulsion contractor input to enable AFRL to define the best approach for an efficient and successful component and rocket engine concept demonstration test program. AFRL is particularly interested in technical concepts and program approaches that will insure program success while meeting all the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) Hydrocarbon Boost Phase II goals and operability metrics. Your comments/ questions are solicited on a proposed program that will analyze, design, fabricate, deliver and provide test hardware for critical component and engine system demonstration tests for innovative technologies to reduce risk for future highly operable systems. The component and engine designs demonstrated by this program could be the basis for a future contracted Rocket Engine development program and are to be traceable to the ?Vision? design space. Therefore, potential propulsion contractors must have existing experience or qualifications with the analysis, design, manufacturing, and testing of high thrust LOX/HC engines. This includes the existing manpower and in-house/ contracted facilities capable of efficiently and successfully meeting both the technical and program goals of this program. A draft of BAA-PKTA-06-01 associated with this RFI shall be forthcoming approximately 2 weeks after RFI post date. The engine conceptual design and hot firing ground tests are to be conducted for a reusable Oxidizer Rich Staged Combustion (ORSC) cycle engine with 250K lbf sea level thrust, using the propellants Liquid Oxygen (LOx) and Rocket Grade Kerosene (per Mil-DTL-25576D) to meet all the IHPRPT Hydrocarbon Boost Phase II goals as well as additional Operability metrics. Thus, selection of the engine pressure schedules, nozzle area ratio, propellant flow rates, turbomachinery, and mixture ratios of the preburner and the main thrust chamber must not only consider booster sea level and vacuum flight performance, but also flight reliability, reuse requirements and production costs. Also ground and in flight ignition, cooling, combustion stability of both the preburner and the main thrust chamber, and must consider risk, reuse, and reliability of the engine system. The BAA is currently planned to be issued to industry in June of 2006 with a planned authority to proceed (ATP) in January of 2007. One cost plus contract with hybrid fee structure entailing fixed fee (CPFF), and/or incentive fee (CPIF), and/or award fee (CPAF) unclassified contract may be awarded for this liquid rocket engine demonstration test program. Maximum possible funding to contractor for the potential contact award is up to ninety-nine million dollars ($99,000,000.00), and the program including testing can be up to 8 years in duration from authority to proceed (ATP). Tests are to demonstrate the performance and operating characteristics of the conceptual engine technologies for the potential development of future reusable LOx/RP oxidizer rich staged combustion booster engines for USAF space missions. Potential Contracted Program The possible LOx/RP liquid rocket engine component and engine assembly demonstration test program will be unclassified with limited distribution. The objectives of this future contracted effort are to provide AFRL with reusable liquid rocket engine test hardware to prove out innovative technologies. The components will be integrated for engine demonstration testing. Concept demonstration test hardware is to be provided with the most cost effective schedule for component and engine system hardware tests. Major critical engine components are summarized as follows. Rocket Engine Assembly (REA) Major components of the REA are: the Oxidizer Rich Preburner (ORPB), Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA), Turbo Pump Assembly (TPA), thrust mount, gimbal mount, thrust in-flight control, thrust vector control (TVC) and roll control if required by a single booster engine, heat exchanger(s) and/or bleed(s) for vehicle tank pressurization, and in-flight engine controller and health monitoring system. The only components to be evaluated and demonstrated during this contracted program are the ORPB, TPA, and TCA. Other engine components will not be evaluated as part of this contract unless clearly identified by the respondent as within the proposed program scope. Oxidizer Rich Preburner (ORPB) Major components of the ORPB are: the LOX and Rocket Grade Kerosene preburner flow control valves, nontoxic/ non-pyrophoric reusable igniter, injector, and mixer combustion chamber. The preburner must incorporate a stable combustion zone to provide the resulting hot oxidizer rich gas exit flow stream with uniform pressure and temperature flow distribution into the turbopump assembly turbine. A key preburner design goal is reusable and reliable ignition with the resulting stable combustion providing the uniform and repeatable temperature flow field at the exit of the preburner. Turbo Pump Assembly (TPA) Major components of the TPA are: the LOX boost pump, if required, main LOX pump, Rocket Grade Kerosene boost pump, if required, main Rocket Grade Kerosene pump, seals and bearings, and uncoated oxidizer rich gas turbine. The pump assembly must consider reusability and reliability for the booster engine requirements. Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) Major components of the TCA are: the Rocket Grade Kerosene main flow control valve, the combustion chamber and nozzle cooling jacket, the LOX rich gas and Rocket Grade Kerosene liquid injector, and a nontoxic/ non- pyrophoric reusable igniter. The TCA must meet the engine booster requirements. Government Furnished Equipment: USAF Rocket Component and Engine Test Facility AFRL will provide test facilities including test stand, power, instrumentation, all fluids, propellants, test stand integration management, and test facility interface management if requested. Funding previously identified does not include any of the costs of the AFRL test facilities, consumables, testing, and data acquisition which will be Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) provided by the USAF at no cost to the potential contractor. If GFE test facility is utilized, hardware test end items will be delivered to the test site complete with all valves, controls, orifices, and test instrumentation as identified by test interface control document (ICD). All test stand instrumentation and data acquisition systems are to be provided by the Government. Candidate contractors are to specify all electrical power requirements for their proposed hardware and instrumentation, including any potential unique requirements. The contractor shall also provide facility pressure, capacity, and flowrate requirements for the propellants to be utilized for both component and integrated system test campaigns. Also any unique ignition system power requirements or purge requirements are to be identified. AFRL technical POC will provide candidate contractors upon request with a test cell schematic showing all facility hookups and interconnection hardware. All mechanical, electrical, propellant, fluid, and gas interfaces/ requirements are to be compatible with AFRL Test Stand 2A capabilities unless otherwise identified. Responses to this RFI will be used by the government to make appropriate planning decisions. Questions for RFI Orals In order for the government to adequately assess and improve the BAA requirements and the resulting contracted programs, candidate contractors are encouraged to provide responses to the following questions. Answers to these questions should be in addition to other contractor comments and suggestions provided during the oral presentation. As part of the RFI the respondent should provide AFRL with an estimated total contracted program schedule and resulting ROM total program costs along with an estimated Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) funding profile required by government fiscal year (GFY) in million of US dollars per year. The respondent may suggest any changes to the draft BAA and contracted program scope that could improve results. Also, the respondent should discuss potential ROM program cost savings for the design and demonstration of the proposed critical component and engine assembly test program. These recommendations must consider the program need and cost for: analysis, design, materials, fabrication, delivery of test hardware, hardware modifications during tests, test liaison, post test data analysis, and all program technical and financial reporting including interim / final technical reports. Respondents are encouraged to discuss contract and program recommendations that can reduce the baseline schedule and/or cost and still meet the demonstration test objectives. 1. What are the critical components and how will component design problems be corrected during the component tests program to insure successful engine assembly tests. What is your baseline overall program schedule and estimated ROM funding requirements per government fiscal year? 2. What hardware quantities, number and types of tests and fabrication/rework schedule would you recommend prior to and during demonstration testing to reduce program risk, maintain schedule and insure program success? 3. Provide comments and list of any additional data required for baseline AFRL test cell installation and all mechanical, electrical, propellant interface, and sequence- timing issues. This should include any special requirements for hydraulic, electrical or pneumatic systems. 4. Discuss major design and demonstration test issues and risks to be considered in a BAA and the contracted program. Are there contract and program recommendations that can reduce the schedule and/or cost and still meet the demonstration test program objectives? 5. Are there any new materials or technologies from related or unrelated applications that could be applied to the demonstration program? If so, what are these materials and technologies and identify the risks associated with incorporating these into this contracted program. 6. The definition of a Metric for Operability has been identified as an area of high risk in the preliminary risk assessment. Definition of operability and how it impacts engine operations is ill-defined. What are the drivers/ factors such as supportability, cost, and engine readiness that define good goal sets to determine engine design requirements for operability? What metrics are to be measured to assesses progress on meeting operability goals? Identify areas for improvements (health management, building in robustness, etc) 7. What analytical and software tools do you envision being required to support a contracted program and how have these tools been validated? Do you possess sufficient computational resources either within your company or government for the proposed effort? 8. Summarize your company?s and any potential subcontractor?s background, related experience and capabilities in the analysis, design, development and testing of LOX/HC booster engines. Specifically, what lessons learned can be translated from these previous efforts into the development of a highly operable, reusable rocket grade kerosene/Lox booster. This should include production experience with numbers of engines, thrust levels, and program time periods. 9. Discuss any preburner experience for possible integration into an oxygen-rich staged combustion rocket engine that could reduce program risk. 10. Discuss current baseline design approach(s)/concept(s) for a nontoxic/ non-pyrophoric reusable ignition system for the preburner and main combustion chamber to support this potential contract. 11. Are there any novel technologies that can be inserted into this demonstration effort that will further the goal of developing a highly operable, reusable booster engine. 12. What data right limitations must this contracted program consider based on potential proprietary or patent issues? 13. Comment as necessary on the criteria which will be used to evaluate the fee areas for design, build, and test which may be investigated under a Cost plus Hybrid Fee program. 14. Comment as necessary on the proposed evaluation criteria listed in the Draft BAA. 15. Any other technical and program suggestions that would make this contracted program more efficient to meet the USAF needs and program goals. Comment as necessary on anything felt important. RFI Response AFRL is seeking capable US sources with related experience to accomplish this effort. Respondents are to respond to critical components and engine assembly as an integrated technical program contracted task. Thus, all interested parties are requested to contact Mr. Stephen Hanna within 5 business days after release of this RFI to verify their intent to comment on this RFI and subsequent draft BAA. Candidate contractors may provide their response to this RFI by written response or oral presentation that is not to exceed 4.0 hours. All audio visual requirements for the oral presentation must be pre coordinated prior the meeting. Respondents are to provide all answers to the all or a portion of the specific questions listed in this RFI during their presentation. All program technical, funding, schedule, and contractual questions and/or suggestions on the proposed program are to be provided in the response. The oral presentations will be scheduled at earliest possible time immediately after 30 days from the date of issuing the associated draft BAA. All data (e.g. proprietary) included in the replies must be marked appropriately. Technical Point of Contact Any questions and additional technical or program information may be obtained by contacting: Mr. Stephen Hanna, Phone (661) 275-6021, stephen.hanna@edwards.af.mil, Air Force Research Laboratory, Space and Missile Propulsion Division Liquid Rocket Engine Branch, 4 Draco Drive, Edwards AFB, CA, 93524
 

Place of Performance

Address: , Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)/ PRSE, 4 Draco Drive, BLDG 8351, Edwards AFB, CA

Zip Code: 93524

Country: USA
 

Record

SN01016072-W 20060330/060328212021 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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