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

A -- EVALUATION OF COMPUTATIONAL AEROELASTICITY CODES FOR LOADS AND FLUTTER PREDICTIONS SOL PRDA No 98-02-VAK POC Contact Genet R. Stewart, Contract Negotiator, 937-255-5901 or Lawrence W. Kopa, Contracting Officer, 937-255-5901 WEB: click here to view the R&D Contracting home page, http://www.wrs.afrl.af.mil/contract. INTRODUCTION: The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/VAK) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) on the research effort described below. Proposals in response to this PRDA shall be received no later than 25 June 1998, 1500 hours Eastern Daylight Savings Time, addressed to Air Force Research Laboratory, Directorate of R&D Contracting, Building 7, Area B, 2530 C Street Attn: Genet R Stewart, AFRL/VAK, Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7607, email Genet.Stewart@wl.wpafb.af.mil. 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 and time specified herein shall be treated in accordance with restrictions of FAR 52.215-1 (3); a copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact cited in this announcement. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any PRDA amendments that may be published. This PRDA may be amended to permit subsequent submission of proposal dates. Offerors should request a copy of the indexed guide to Program R&D Announcements and Broad Agency Announcement programs. This guide was specifically designed to assist offerors in understanding the PRDA/BAA proposal process. Copies may be requested from the contract point of contact, AFRL/VAK, Genet Stewart, telephone (937) 255-5937. The guide is also available on the internet, address, www.wrs.afrl.wpafb.af.mil/contract. B-REQUIREMENTS: (1) INTRODUCTION: Under the Fixed Wing Vehicle (FWV) Technology Development Approach (TDA) process, the technical area of Aerodynamics/Structures/Controls Interaction (ASCI) has been identified for government and industry collaboration. Three focus areas have been defined under ASCI : (1) the reduction/elimination of the need for wind tunnel flutter models, (2) the development of a robust methodology for identification of critical flight loads, and (3) integration of aerodynamics, structures, and flight controls in the initial design. This announcement addresses one of the programs in the first focus area and involves the evaluation of existing computational aeroelasticity codes developed by the various government agencies. (2) TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The objective of this program is to evaluate existing aeroelasticity computer codes for aeroelastic loads and flutter analysis capabilities where nonlinear flow is present. Codes will be evaluated for two basic criteria. The first is their potential to be implemented in a production design environment within a two to three year time frame from onset of the evaluation activity. The second is their ability to provide significant and measurable improvement in prediction capability over existing production methods. Areas where prediction accuracy and code performance are to be measured include: static aeroelastic displacement and load distribution for nonlinear flow up to and including flow separation; flutter speed for classical flutter in the transonic regime where nonlinear flow characteristics are present; limit cycle flutter involving moving shocks; limit cycle flutter involving nonlinear aerodynamic effects resulting from large displacements; and control surface buzz. The ability to model realistic and actual air vehicles including external stores and control surface deflections will also be evaluated. A majority of the benchmark problems will require modeling of production vehicles. Candidate codes will be government furnished. The government will also supply documentation, training, and support from the code developers to facilitate the contractor's evaluators. One benchmark problem for each topic listed above will be required. Benchmark models and results will be assembled from both government and contractor databases of existing experimental data. The ability for future implementation of active flight control modules will also be assessed. This effort is divided into three phases. Under the first phase, AFRL anticipates awarding two contracts for which the contractors will be required to jointly develop evaluation criteria to determine relative merit between codes with regards to: Software engineering qualities (robustness, portability, cost to upgrade and maintain); Computational speed; User interface; and Analysis capability and fidelity. Under the second phase the contractors, in conjunction with AFRL and the other participating government organizations shall develop an evaluation process. This process will define: the suite of codes to be evaluated (for the codes selected, the responsible government agency must agree with the selection of their code and provide the; government support required for their code under this contract); a training and support plan for the evaluation teams; the suite of experimental benchmark problems to be modeled by the evaluators for the suite of codes (for the benchmark problems, the responsible government agency or contractor must agree with the selection and provide the necessary support); the distribution of modeling efforts among the contractor teams; and a method for comparing the computational performance. The two contractors shall provide a collective Aeroelastic Code Evaluation Criteria and Process Document. Under the third phase, the contractors shall perform the code evaluations in accordance with Phase I and Phase II criteria and process definition. Results shall be summarized in a final report by each contractor. A report on final recommendations will be prepared collectively by the contractor teams. The initial briefing, mid-term briefing, and final briefing shall be presented at AFRL by the two contractor teams. (3) Deliverable Items: The following deliverable data items shall be proposed: (a) Status Report, DI-MGMT-80368/T, monthly; (b) Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report, DI-FNCL-80331/T, monthly; (c) Presentation Material, DI-ADMN 81373/T, as required; (d) Scientific and Technical Reports, DI-MISC-80711/T, (Draft and Reproducible, Interim and Final).Contractor format is encouraged in all deliverables. A kick-off meeting will be held at AFRL within 60 days after contract start. The contractors will further be required to conduct mid-term and final program reviews at AFRL. The contractors shall make code modifications and computational results available to the government and contractor teams. (4) Security Requirements: The work performed under this contract shall be unclassified. C-ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (1) Anticipated Period of Performance: The total length of the technical effort is estimated to be 28 months, but the contractor may propose an alternate schedule. The contractor shall also provide for an additional four months for processing and completion of the final report. The proposed program schedule could be different from what is anticipated by the government (2) Expected Award Date: Fourth Quarter FY98. (3) Government Estimate: The government anticipates a funding breakout for each contract by fiscal year as follows: FY98 -- $100K, FY99—$200K, and FY00 -- $200K. The total program amount for both awards is estimated at $ 1000K. The Government 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) Based on the strong potential for commercial applications, the Air Force will consider the full range of Cost Contract types, to include Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF), Cost Reimbursement (CR) (no fee), Cost Sharing (CS), along with grants and other forms of assistance instruments such as cooperative agreements and other transactions. Offers are encouraged to propose a contract type which is considered to be most appropriate for the technology proposed to be developed. If a cooperative agreement is awarded, no CDRL requirements will apply but provisions to make the same type of data available to the government and industry on a similar schedule should be proposed. Any grants awarded will be Cost (no fee). (5) Government Furnished Property: Governmentcomputer codes and experimental data that are mutually agreed upon will be made available for this contractual program. (6) Base Support: No base support is anticipated. (7) Size Status: For the purpose of this acquisition, the size standard is 500 employees (SIC 8731). (8) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the Air Force contract point of contact upon deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign contractors should be aware that restrictions may apply which could preclude their participation in this acquisition. D-PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: (1) General Instructions: Offerors should apply the restrictive notice prescribed in the provision at FAR 52.215-1(e), 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 Indexed guide to PRDA and BAA Programs 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 PRDA number. Proposals shall be submitted in an original and four copies. 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: The accompanying cost proposal/price breakdown shall be supplied on an SF 1448, together with supporting schedules, and shall contain a person-hour breakdown per task. Copies of the above-referenced forms may be obtained from the contracting office cited. The costs should be broken down by task to facilitate partial award of a separate task if appropriate. (3) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information on prior work in this area and r sum s of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal and will not be included in the page limit provided these attachments are so marked as noted hereby. The technical proposal shall include a Statement of Work (SOW) detailing the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort and suitable for contract incorporation. Offerors shall refer to the PRDA and BAA 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. (4) Page Limitations: The technical proposal shall be limited to 50 pages (12 pitch or larger type), double spaced, single-sided, 8.5 by 11 inches. The page limitation includes all information, i.e. SOWs, indices, photographs, foldouts, appendices, and any other attachments, etc.except as specifically exempted above. Pages in excess of these limitations will not be considered by the Government. Cost proposals have no limitations; however, offerors are requested to keep cost proposals to 75 pages as a goal. (5) Preparation Cost: This announcement does not commit the Government to pay for any response preparation cost. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this PRDA 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. E-BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on an evaluation of an offeror's response (both technical and cost aspects) to determine the overall merit of the proposal in response to this 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) the offeror's understandingof the scope of the technical effort; (b) the soundness of the offeror's technical approach; and (c) availability of qualified technical personnel and past experience relevant to this effort. Cost and/or price, which includes consideration of proposed budgets and funding profiles, is a substantial factor, but ranked as the second order of priority. No other evaluation criteria will be used. The Air Force reserves the right to select for award of a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement any, all, part or none of the proposals received. Award of a grant to universities or nonprofit institutions or a cooperative agreement, in lieu of a contract, will be considered and will be subject to the mutual agreement of the parties; F-POINTS OF CONTACT: (1) Technical Point of Contact: Project Engineer, Larry Huttsell. AFRL/VASV, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7542, (937) 255-7384, email address huttselj@wl.wpafb.af.mil. (2) Contracting Point of Contact: Questions related to the contract /cost issues should be directed to the Contract point of contact listed in part A. (3) 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 Program Office or the Contracting Officer, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements and recommendations to the appropriate government personnel. When requested, the Ombudsman shall 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 are invited to contact LtCol James Bixler, Det 1 AFRL/PK, telephone (937) 255-4813 (e-mail, bixlerjp@wl.wpafb.af.mil). All routine communication concerning this acquisition should be directed to the Contract point of contact listed in part A. (0127)

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