Office of Naval Research, 800 North Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660

A -- NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM SOL BAA 98-002 DUE 012498 POC Brian Glance ONR, 252 (703) 696-2596 BAA 98-002 The Office of Naval Research solicits proposals addressing a variety of Partnership Programs as outlined in 10 United States Code Chapter 665 (SS 7901-7903), the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Approximately $10M is available for new Partnership research efforts subject to final approval by the National Ocean Research Leadership Council. Team efforts among academia, industry, and government participants with cost sharing/augmentation of joint efforts between government and the private sector are strongly encouraged. Consistent with the intent of the enabling legislation, proposals are being sought in the following major topic areas: (Topic A) Partnership efforts to develop and/or demonstrate Coastal and Open Ocean Observational Technologies to establish the means for continuous, high resolution measurements of oceanic processes. Such efforts must embrace networking and broad accessibility to all derived data in near or real time. Autonomous and/or long-term and/or distributed approaches that provide a new observational capability for the ocean community are solicited. Examples include next generation reporting drifter buoys, low-cost autonomous vehicles and vertical profilers, and the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System. There is also interest in the development and demonstration of components for these systems. Approximately $6M is available to support 4 to 6 large projects in the range of $750K to $1.5M per year for up to 2 years. In addition, focused Partnership efforts to develop sensors and instrumentation packages compatible with future systems described above are solicited. Two to three awards in the range of up to $250K per year for 2 years for these smaller projects are anticipated. (Topic B) Partnership efforts to develop and exploit Regional Scale Coastal and Open Ocean Prediction Systems that integrate existing military and civil observing and prediction systems including networked sensor systems, and capitalize on existing and planned satellite open ocean and coastal remote sensing systems. The goal of this topical area is to develop cutting edge 4-D nowcast and forecast systems for the open ocean and coastal ocean to address civil and military requirements. Partnering with organizations currently operating prediction systems is strongly encouraged. Approximately $4M is available for 2 to 4 awards in the range of $750K to $1.5M per year for up to 2 years. Proposals are due no later than 4PM EST, January 27, 1998. Interested offerors are requested to submit a notice of intent to propose by December 19, 1997 to NOPP BAA/ONR 32, Room 407-8, Office of Naval Research, 800 N. Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22217-5660. An abstract of the intended research with title and a list of the potential partners (by name and affiliation) is sufficient. The purpose of this notice of intent is preparation of peer review activities; please provide sufficient data to determine subject matter experts without conflicts of interest. The notice of intent to propose should be limited to one page. Interested offerors who fail to submit a notice of intent may still submit a proposal, which will be considered if received by the deadline. Eighteen copies of the proposals are due not later than 4:00PM EST on January 27, 1998. Proposals should be submitted to NOPP BAA/ONR 32, Room 407-8, Office of Naval Research, 800 N. Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22217-5660. Proposals received at ONR after this date and time will not be considered. All proposals should indicate the BAA number and which topic area is being addressed on the cover page. Separate proposals should be submitted for each topic area. E-mail and facsimile materials are not acceptable. The proposal should describe the scientific and technical issues, define the approach, and outline the anticipated results and benefits of the proposed effort. User needs/requirements to be addressed by the efforts should also be identified or endorsed by the appropriate user communities. A budget estimate by cost and time (total and broken down by year) as well as resumes of the principal investigator(s) should be included. The period of performance should be nominally one year but may be up to two years with a starting date on or about 1 June 1998. Additional information, proposal format information and other details can be found on the NOPP Website: "http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/ocean" No request for proposals (RFP), solicitation, or other announcement of this opportunity will be made. Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions, as determined by the Secretary of Education to meet requirements of 34 CFR Section 608.2 and 10 U.S.C. Paragraph 2323(a)(1)(C), are particularly encouraged to participate. Awards may take the form of contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements. Proposal submission is not restricted in any way to any particular entity. Offerors must state in their proposal (preferably on the cover page) that it is submitted in response to this BAA. All proposals should also be accomplished by a completed certification package which can be accessed through the World Wide Web at http://www.onr.navy.mil/02/howtosubmit.htm. Evaluations of the proposals will use the following selection criteria: (1) relevance of the proposed research to Partnership objectives, including a) support of critical research objectives or operational goals that meet Partnership, National and Navy requirements, b) broad participation within the oceanographic community, c) partners with a long-term commitment to the proposed objectives, d) resources shared among partners, and e) the degree of cost-sharing by partners with the requested Partnership funding, (2) overall scientific and technical merits of the proposal, (3) the offeror's capabilities, related experience, and facilities or unique combinations of these that are critical to the proposal objectives, (4) the qualifications and experience of the proposed principal investigator and key personnel, (5) degree of significant partnering among at least two of the following parties, academia, industry or government, (6) realism of proposed costs, (7) socio-economic merits of the proposal (see the following). For awards made as contracts, the socio-economic merits of each proposal will be evaluated based on the commitment to provide meaningful subcontracting opportunities for small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small business concerns, historically black colleges and universities, and minority institutions. The standard industrial classification code is 8731 with the small business size standard of 500. In addition, contract proposals that exceed $500,000 submitted by all but small businesses, must be accompanied by a Small, Small Disadvantaged and Women-Owned Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9. The final distribution of awards among topics will depend on quality of proposals and availability of funds. Additional Information is available on the World Wide Web at: "http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/ocean " under "Additional Points of Interest". This notice constitutes an ONR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). Questions regarding business and legal matters relating to this BAA should be directed to: Office of Naval Research, Attention Brian Glance (Code 252), Room 720, Ballston Towers One, 800 N. Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660, (703) 696-2596. Technical questions may be submitted by E-mail to "noppbaa@onr.navy.mil" or by fax to "NOPP BAA" (703) 696-2007 if necessary. (0316)

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