Commander, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Code 210000D, 1 Administration Circle, China Lake, CA 93555-6100

A -- AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION PREDICTION MODEL SOL N68936-R-0223 POC Peggy Richter, Contract Specialist, (760) 939-4272 The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWPNS), China Lake, and the Office of Naval Research are interested in performance prediction for automatic target recognition (ATR) systems. Particular interest is in development of a nonreal-time ATR performance prediction capability to assist in making a shoot/no-shoot decision, during mission planning, for a terminal homing seeker-based weapon against land targets and in use of performance prediction to design and develop new sensor-ATR systems, develop test scenarios for ATR systems, and analyze expected performance of candidate sensor-ATR combination. Performance prediction approaches are sought specifically for a LASER detecting and ranging system (LADAR) -based ATR system aboard an autonomous weapon system such as a future cruise missile. Prediction approaches must be applicable to stationary mobile targets the size of tanks or larger, and to a wide span of range-to-target, aspect angle, depression angle, articulation of parts of target, occlusion of target, and weather. Research results will include: (1) ATR software system compatible with the SGI IRIX 6.4 operating system, (2) all applicable data sets, (3) test, evaluation, and validation software, (4) test, evaluation, and validation results, (5) hard copy and electronic copies of technical description of system, and (6) hard copy and electronic copies of user manual describing operation and control of the system. This work is considered developmental in nature. It is intended to show technical feasibility of an ATR performance prediction capability. Responses will be a white paper of no longer than ten pages discussing the following: (1) current state of the art in ATR prediction, (2) deficiencies in current state of the art, (3) proposed prediction approach, (4) technical issues to be addressed in approach, (5) specific new technology developments needed for the approach to succeed, (6) proprietary concepts, algorithms, and/or software to be included in the system, (7) methods of evaluation andvalidation of the prediction capability, (8) measured and synthetic data sets to be used to be used in development and evaluation, (9) extension to other seekers, target sets, and mission conditions, (10) an estimate of total cost and (11) an estimate of schedule from award to completion of proposed effort. Offerors are encouraged to make preliminary inquiries on the ATR performance prediction effort before expending the time and effort of preparing a white paper. White papers should be submitted to: Contracts Department 210000D, Attn P. Richter, NAWCWPNS China Lake, 1 Administration Circle, China Lake, CA 93555-6100. Technical point of contact is Mr. Jay Hodge @ (760) 939-8735. The contract specialist point of contact is Peggy Richter @ (760) 939-4272. Once a white paper has been submitted, all discussions must be conducted with the Contract Specialist assigned to this package. Those offerors invited to submit full proposals will receive a supplemental package with proposal instructions along with their invitation to submit full proposals. This BAA will be open for a period of one year from date of publication or until replaced by a successor BAA. Responses will be accepted anytime during this period. A follow-up request from NAWCWPNS for a proposal based on the white paper may be made at any time during the open period of the BAA. Award decisions on proposals will be based on a competitive selection of proposals from a peer/scientific review. Evaluation and selection of proposals for awards will be made on the basis of the potential benefits accruing to the Government when weighted against the cost of the proposal. Additional primary considerations will include an independent Government assessment of the probability of success of the proposed approach and the availability of funding. Evaluation of white papers and proposals will be based on the overall applicability of the idea to the Navy's mission, the suitability of approach presented for the selected system, the technical merits of the proposed approach, and the approach s contribution to the capability of a LADAR-based ATR system. Proposals will be further evaluated on the following criteria with items 2 and 3 being of equal importance: (1) the offeror's capabilities, related experience and facilities or unique combinations of these qualities that are integral factors for achieving the proposed objective(s); (2) the experience of the principal investigator and of the team's key personnel who are critical to achievement of the proposal objective(s); (3) the offeror's record of performance in LADAR-based ATR systems or directly related fields; and (4) the reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and the availability of funds. Proposals not considered to have sufficient scientific merit or relevance to the Navy s needs, or those in areas for which funds are not expected to be available may be rejected without further review. Proposals may be reviewed and acted on as they arrive. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. It is the policy of NAWCWPNS to treat all proposals as privileged information before award and to disclose the contents only for the purpose of evaluation. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a pre-proposal summary and formal proposal which shall be considered by NAWCWPNS. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MI's) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals; however, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation. The government reserves the right to make award of technology investment agreements (TIAs), other transactions, cost sharing agreements, or traditional awards such as grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts as a result of this announcement. _ See Note(s): 26. Posted 08/28/98 (I-SN243361). (0240)

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