U.S. Department of Transportation - Maritime Administration, Office of Acquisition, Mar-380, 400 7th St., SW, Room 7310, Washington, DC 20590

20 -- FULL MISSION VISUAL BRIDGE SHIPBUILDING SIMULATOR (VBSS) SOL DTMA91-95-R-00013 DUE 100595 POC Contact Point, Krista N. French, (202)366-0522, Contracting Officer, John Carr, (202)366-0522 The Maritime Administration is requesting proposals be submitted for installation of a Full Mission Visual Bridge Shipbuilding Simulator (VBSS) at the US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. The USMMA Full Mission (VBSS) must be designed to train cadets in bridge team procedures, watch officer responsibilities, utilizing all bridge equipment as an aid and how to stand a safe navigational watch in compliance with the Standards of Training Certificates for Watch Keepers (STCW). The proposals may refurbish or replace the current system, which ever is in the best interest of the Government, as determined by the weighted evaluation factors in the solicitation, to meet the upgrades in the solicitation. The Merchant Marine Academy wants to upgrade the present simulator with a modular system standard supported product 1ine hardware and software that is less expensive to maintain, operate and easily upgrade to new cost efficient networked computing sub-systems. The ability to provide the same level of education to midshipmen, low cost of operational ease of operation, maintenance, network and repair are evaluation factors for award. The government furnished equipment available is for computer program, performance specification, validation and acceptance test to include Hydrodynamics data ship mathematical models and visual systems. The reference material is available for inspection as set forth in the solicitation. The original acceptance test procedure for New York Harbor, Panama Canal, and San Francisco, CA will be used as the core for system and ship model acceptance testing. The present system will be utilized until the April 1996 installation . There will be a 90 day shut down period to install all upgrades and accept the system for use by the USMMA. All interested parties should submit a request in writing to receive a copy of this solicitation. Forward your request to Office of Acquisition, Mar-380, 400 7th Street, SW, Room 7310, Washington, DC 20590, Attn: Krista N. French. ''This Notice is for informational purpose for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), has a program to assist minority, women owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to acquire short-term working captial assistance for transportation related contracts. Loans are available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rates to provide accounts receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information and applicable forms concerning the STLP, call the OSDBU at (800) 532-1169. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting official listed above.'' (0230)

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