R&D Contracting Directorate, Bldg 7, 2530 C Street, WPAFB, OH 45433-7607

A -- PARTS OBSOLESCENCE MANAGEMENT TOOLS SOL BAA 97-11-MLKT POC Contact William O. Beeman, Contract Negotiator, 937-255-3506 or Bruce J. Miller, 937-255-3506 E-MAIL: click here to contact the contract negotiator, beemanwo@wl.wpafb.af.mil. INTRODUCTION: Air Force Research Laboratory, Manufacturing Technology Directorate (WL/MT) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) for the program entitled "Parts Obsolescence Management Tools". The solicitation number is BAA-97-11-MLKT. For consideration, proposals in response to this BAA shall be received by 97NOV05, 1500 hours Eastern Time, addressed to Wright Laboratory, Directorate of R&D Contracting, Building 7, Area B, Attn: (Mr. William O. Beeman, WL/MLKT) Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607. This is an unrestricted solicitation. Small businesses are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this solicitation. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. Proposal receipt after the cutoff date specified herein shall be treated in accordance with restrictions of FAR 52.215-10. A copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published. Offerors should obtain a copy of the WL Guide entitled, "PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry." This guide was specifically designed to assist offerors in understanding the PRDA/BAA proposal process. Copies may be obtained from the contracting point of contact stated herein or the Wright Laboratory Contracting Web Page (www.wl.wpafb.af.mil/contract/hp.htm). There will be an additional related solicitation issued against this requirement in approximately four months. The additional solicitation will focus on demonstrations of the products of contracts resulting from this solicitation and other topics related to the use of commercial microcircuit technologies in defense systems. A company not selected for an award under this BAA would not be precluded from submitting a proposal on the second BAA. B -- REQUIREMENTS: (1) Technical Description: Parts obsolescence problems are prevalent in fielded and developmental systems where the service life or development cycle is longer than the manufacturing life of one or more of its components. With the typical manufacturing life of most electronic components today being two to four years it is expected that most defense systems will have obsolescence problems before fielding and certainly experience obsolescence during service life. The purpose of this effort is to develop parts obsolescence management decision tools and reverse engineering tools for defense systems affected by parts obsolescence. It is expected that any parts obsolescence management decision tools developed by this effort will be generic enough in nature to support parts obsolescence management decision making for electronic and non-electronic items (e.g. engines, aircraft structures, etc.). This BAA will be divided into two areas for proposal and evaluation purposes. Area A will address parts obsolescence management decision tools for electronic and non-electronic items. The parts obsolescence management decision tools will support electronic configuration items and non-electronic configuration items (e.g. engines, aircraft structures, etc.). There are multiple options available to handle any given obsolescence situation that arises. The focus of obsolescence management decision tools is to provide the parts obsolescence management community the information necessary to determine the most cost-effective solution with consideration of all the relevant variables. Relevant variables may include current system availability, system life cycle plans, system content, existing engineering data, system testing costs, current system operating costs, redesign and manufacturing costs, and impacts on system hardware and software configurations. Proposed projects should enhance the current state of the art by providing for consideration of all relevant variables influencing a parts obsolescence situation and better information integration across legacy obsolescence management tools. It is also anticipated that Area A tools will enable parts obsolescence management personnel to be more proactive in their approaches to parts obsolescence management. This will be made possible by having better information and predictive tools from Area A developments. Area B will address the development of reverse engineering and manufacturing tools necessary to design and manufacture a cost effective form, fit, function, and interface replacement for electronics items affected by parts obsolescence. Focus topics should include the extraction of accurate and useful reverse engineering information from legacy data sources and reverse engineering automation tools to decrease the time and cost to engineer and manufacture complex form, fit, function, and interface replacement electronic items. There are several engineering and manufacturing solutions available for the obsolescence problems manifested at the integrated circuit level of integration (e.g. Generalized Emulation of Microcircuits (GEM), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), etc.). Therefore, Area B will address the levels of electronic integration from the printed circuit board to the subsystem. It is envisioned that Area A and Area B developed tools will be used in practice the following way: Area A obsolescence management decision tools will be used by parts obsolescence management personnel to determine the most cost effective engineering and manufacturing approach to resolve a parts obsolescence situation. Possible parts obsolescence management solutions recommended by Area A tools may include, but not be limited to: perform a life of type lot buy of the integrated circuit; or reengineer the integrated circuit with a generalized emulation of microcircuits (GEM) approach; or engineer and manufacture a form, fit, function, and interface compliant replacement printed circuit board with newer integrated circuit technologies; or engineer and manufacture a form, fit, function, and interface compliant replacement subsystem. Each of the recommended solutions would be accompanied by cost and schedule impact information. These are some of the possible recommendations that could be provided by Area A parts obsolescence management decision tools and is meant to be representative but not all encompassing. After the parts obsolescence management decision is made by the cognizant program office the engineering and manufacturing tools developed in Area B would be utilized. The strength of these tools is the ability to extract form, fit, function, and interface information from legacy data sources to assist in automating the process of engineering and manufacturing the replacement unit. With the capture and creation of form, fit, function, and interface information for engineering complete, additional Area B tools could be used to automate the process of engineering the complex form, fit, function, and interface replacement electronic items. It is expected that recent advances in the areas of top-down design and simulatable specifications developed by the Continuous Electronics ENhancements using Simulatable Specifications (CEENSS) (www.ece.uc.edu/~kbse/ceenss) and Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors (RASSP) (www.rassp.scra.org) programs and commercial computer-aided design (CAD) companies will be utilized. Access to low cost, high quality printed circuit board manufacturing facilities may also be included in Area B tool developments to take advantage of the latest commercial abilities to manufacture low volume, high mix items cost effectively; thereby lowering the manufacture costs for the reengineered electronics item. Technology and standards under development by the Electronics CAD/CAM Exchange (Ecce) (www.inmet.com/ecce) project may assist in meeting this goal. Information on these programs is available on the World Wide Web at the addresses listed in parentheses after each program name. It is expected that commercialization of all tools developed in Areas A and B shall occur and the plans for accomplishing this shall be included in the proposal. Commercialization is deemed to be of such importance that it is also included as a critical part of the technical evaluation criteria. Organized workshops shall be held bi-annually during the projects to encourage the sharing of ideas, the development of linkages between the tools and the transition of developed technologies. Therefore, all offerors shall include adequate travel costs to attend these meetings; tentatively planned to be held at Wright-Patterson AFB OH. (2) Deliverable Items: The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (a) R&D Status Report, DI-A-3002A/T, monthly; (b) Funds and Manhour Expenditure Report, DI-FNCL-80331/T monthly; (c) Project Planning Chart, DI-MGMT-80507A/T quarterly; (d) Contract Funds Status Report (CFSR), DI-F-6004B/T, quarterly; (e) Presentation Material, DI-3024A/T, as required; (f) Informal Technical Information Contractor's Billing Voucher, DI-S-30593/T, monthly; and (g) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Draft and Reproducible Final). (3) Security Requirements: It is anticipated that work performed as a result of this BAA will be unclassified. (4) Other Special Requirements: None. C -- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: The total length of the technical effort is estimated to be 24 months for Area A and 36 months for Area B. The contractor shall also provide for an additional 4 months for processing/completion of the final report after completion of the technical efforts. Offerors may be awarded work described as Area A or Area B or both Area A and B. If awarded both areas the work shall be performed concurrently, for a total period of performance of 40 months, including reporting. (2) Expected Award Date: 1998 January -- April. (3) Government Estimate: The government anticipates approximately $500,000 per contract award for Area A and approximately $1,500,000 per contract award for Area B. Multiple awards are possible. This funding profile is an estimate only and is not a promise for funding as all funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. (4) Type of contract: Based upon Section 256 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 (Public Law 103-337), the use of a Cost share contract or a cooperative agreements (which contains cost sharing) is required. It is noted that FAR part 31 sets forth the principles for allowable cost share pertaining to contracts while the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDFARS)(32CRF21-37) defines allowable cost sharing for cooperative agreements. (5) Government Furnished Property: None contemplated. (6) Size Status: For the purpose of this acquisition, the size standard is 500 employees (SIC 8731). (7) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Foreign contractors should be aware that this acquisition is limited to firms from countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Public Law 98-94 and ITAR are applicable to this procurement action. D-PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: (1) General Instructions: Offerors should apply the restrictive notice prescribed in the provision at FAR 52.215-12, Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data, to trade secrets or privileged commercial and financial information contained in their proposals. Proposal questions should be directed to one of the points of contact listed elsewhere herein. Offerors should consider instructions contained in the WL PRDA and BAA Guide for Industry referenced in Section A of this announcement. Technical and cost proposals, submitted in separate volumes, are required and must be valid for 180 days. Proposals must reference the above BAA number. Proposals shall be submitted in an original and ten copies. In addition to the hard copies, full proposals, both technical and cost, are required to be submitted on 3 -1/2 inch DOS-formatted floppy disks or CD-ROM in Microsoft Word Version 7.0. All responsible sources may submit a proposal, which shall be considered against the criteria, set forth herein. Offerors are advised that only contracting officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the government. (2) Cost Proposal: Adequate price competition is anticipated. Based upon this ignore the pricing requirements contained the WL PRDA/BAA Guide for Industry. The accompanying cost proposal/price breakdown shall be furnished with supporting schedules and shall contain a personhour breakdown per task. It shall also contain details as to the development of material, travel and subcontractor costs. An analysis of each major subcontractor shall be performed by the offeror and included in the cost proposal. This review of subcontractors' proposals shall discuss the adequacy of their technical approach in meeting their assigned tasks. Also, discuss the adequacy of the proposed labor hours, labor mix, materials and travel to accomplish the proposed effort. Details of the cost sharing to be undertaken and the rationale for the cost share percentage should be included in the cost proposal. (3) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information such as synopses of prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, data and facilities, and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal and are included in the page limit. The technical proposal shall include (a) a Statement of Work (SOW) detailing the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort, suitable for contract incorporation. Offerors should refer to the WL Guide referenced in Section A to assist in SOW preparation. Any questions concerning the technical proposal or SOW preparation shall be referred to the Technical Point of Contact cited in this announcement, (b) a statement of intention, if any, to use foreign nationals; (c) a breakout of person hours for each major task in the SOW; and (d) the names and qualifications of subcontractors, and the level of effort to be subcontracted. Offerors are notified that the SOW, or any part thereof, may be incorporated by reference, in any resulting award. The paragraph numbering used in the technical proposal for the technical approach discussion, the SOW tasks, and the cost proposal shall correlate. (4) Page Limitations: The technical proposal shall be limited to 30 pages (12 pitch or larger type), double-spaced, single-sided, 8.5 by 11 inches. Margins shall not be less than 1.25". Proposals submitted shall be readable by Microsoft Office products. The double spacing requirement shall be satisfied by Microsoft's Word's double spacing method and the 12 pitch or larger requirement shall be satisfied by setting the Microsoft Word For Windows type size (point) at 10 or smaller. The page limitation includes all information, i.e. indexes, photographs, foldouts, appendices, etc. The government will not consider pages in excess of this limitation. Cost proposals have no limitations, however, offerors are requested to keep cost proposals to 50 pages as a goal. (5) Preparation Cost: This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay for any response preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting or any other contract. However, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost as specified in FAR 31.205-18. If selected for negotiation, qualifying Offerors will be required to submit small business subcontracting plans. E -- BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on an integrated evaluation of an offeror's response (both technical and cost aspects) to determine the overall merit of the proposal in response to the announcement. The technical aspect, which is ranked as the first order of priority, shall be evaluated based on the following criteria which are of equal importance: (a) new and creative solutions; (b) the offeror's understanding of the scope of the technical effort; (c) soundness of the offeror's technical approach, commercialization approach and proposed SOW; and (d) the offeror's past experience and the availabilityof qualified technical personnel. Cost and/or price, which includes consideration of proposed budgets, cost sharing ratios, the cost sharing percentage rationale and funding profiles, is a substantial factor, but is ranked as the second order of priority. No other evaluation criteria will be used. The technical and cost information will be evaluated at the same time. The Air Force reserves the right to select for award of a contract, grant or other assistance instrument, any, all, part, or none of the proposals received. Award of a grant, in lieu of a contract, to universities and nonprofit institutions will be considered and will be subject to the mutual agreement of the parties. F-POINTS OF CONTACT: (1) Technical Points of Contact: Engineers, Bill Russell (937) 255-7371 (email russelwe@ml.wpafb.af.mil) or Tony Bumbalough (937) 255-2644 (email bumbalab@ml.wpafb.af.mil), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7739. Contracting/Cost Point of Contact: Questions related to the contract/cost issues should be directed to the Wright Laboratory, Directorate of Research and Development Contracting, William O. Beeman, WL/MLKT, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7607, (937) 255-7143/3506, email beemanwo@wl.wpafb.af.mil. (2) An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from offerors and potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the Contracting Officer, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements and recommendations to the appropriate government personnel. All potential offerors should use established channels to voice concerns before resorting to use of the Ombudsman. When requested, the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the selection decision. Interested parties should direct all routine communication concerning this acquisition to William O. Beeman, Contract Negotiator, WL/MLKT, Building 7, 2530 C Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7607, Telephone 937-255-3506. The Ombudsman should only be contacted with issues or problems that have been previously brought to the attention of the Contracting Officer and could not be satisfactorily resolved at that level. These serious concerns only may be directed to the Ombudsman, Mr. Mike S. Coalson, ASC/SYI, Bldg. 52, Room 136, 2475 K Street, Wright Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7642, email coalsoms@sy.wpafb.af.mil; telephone 937-255-3855. See Note 26. (0260)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0006 19970919\A-0006.SOL)