Commanding Officer, NAVFACCO, Bldg 41 Code 80, NAVFACENGCOMDET-SLC, 4111 San Pedro Street, Port Hueneme, CA 93043-4410

A -- TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO AUTONOMOUS CARGO MANIFESTING SOL N47408-00-R-2103 DUE 121599 POC Ms. Naomi Melendez, ph: 805-982-5095, fax: 805-982-3015 Broad Agency Announcement Topic Autonomous Cargo Manifesting. Abstracts due 15 December 1999, proposals due 14 January 2000. POC Naomi Melendez, (805) 982-5095. This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement under FAR 6.102(d)(2) to solicit proposals for basic and applied research for innovative technological solutions for Autonomous Cargo Manifesting. The effort is being considered 100% set-aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities or Minority Institutions as defined by the DFARS clause at 252.226-7000. Interested HBCUs/Mis should provide this contracting office, not later than 15 days after this notice, evidence of their capability to perform and a statement of their eligibility as an HBCU or MI. All interested parties may submit abstracts by closing.The Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) under Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsorship is investigating current and emerging technologies in the area of asset visibility. The focus of this announcement is to solicit solutions to the problem of automatically manifesting contents of pallets and ISO shipping containers within marshalling yards, warehouses, depots and ship cargo holds. The objective is to reduce human input error. The ideal scenario is containers and pallets would have electronic manifests populated directly by the packages themselves. Current procedures rely on the accuracy of databases, manual data entry, and supply packing. Data input should only occur once, as labeling is done at the small package level prior to entry into the pallet/container. The manifest would be automatically populated and updated by the assets without human intervention. Proposed solutions to this problem should demonstrate an understanding of the operational environment and address issues which include but are not limited to the following: 1. Provide accurate inventories and manifests for individual loaded pallets and containers. 2. Limit data collection to: (a) individual pallets and/or (b) metal ISO shipping containers with wood floors. 3. Data collection should operate with fully loaded and stacked containers and up to 500-1000 items within a container. 4. Provide a way to store manifest with pallet/container and remotely retrieve manifests while stationary and in motion. 5. Specify data transmission rates and data upload-download times. 6. Specify technical and architectural approach, capabilities and limitations. Any system limitations or challenges and their possible solutions should be outlined in the proposal. NFESC is seeking a hardware/software solution that will be demonstrated 8 to 10 months from contract award date. The demonstra-tion should be conducted with: 1. a pallet nearby other pallets, and/or 2. an array of containers, including vertically stacked. A minimum of 10 assets in a pallet/container, with 15 more nearby in other pallets/ containers, should be identified, located and manifested. The array of containers may be limited to 3 wide by 2 high. The demonstration may require operation with a loaded container. NFESC will test for accuracy of inventory of pallet/container looking for missing items and mis-reads of adjacent items, pallets and containers. The asset locations within pallets and containers may be changed by NFESC to provide a means of validating the accuracy of the manifests. The manifest data must be transmitted to an inventory database. In order to minimize impact on both the government and developers, NFESC will only accept 3 to 5 page abstracts as part of the first evaluation phase. These abstracts should demonstrate developers understanding of the problem, a proposed solution with anticipated limitations, government furnished equipment/information requirements, a preliminary cost breakdown, and a schedule. Developers will be notified if their abstracts have been chosen for further consideration. Once selected, full proposals will be requested. Proposals should include the following sections as a minimum: 1) a hardware/software specifications of each component, 2) a detailed plan describing the proposed setup for the demonstra-tion and 3) a detailed cost breakdown section. Proposal evaluation will be based on a competitive selection of proposals from peer/scientific review considering technical merit, importance to agency programs, availability of funds, cost realism and reasonableness. All options and assumptions shall be clearly identified and defined. Evaluations will be conducted using the following evaluation criteria: 1. The relevance of the proposal to the stated technology areas of interest. 2. The anticipated operational utility of the proposed capability. 3. Projected affordability of transitioning the technology to the Fleet, to include compliance with the Navy/Marine Corps software and hardware standards; 4. Past performance, experience and qualification of the principal project personnel and/or Institution/Corporation submitting the proposal, 5. Realism of proposed cost and availability of funding. The effective period of this BAA is through 15 September 2000. There will be two cut off dates for submission of abstracts and proposals: For the first cut off, abstracts are due by 15 December 1999, 1600 hrs (PST), with proposals due by 14 January 2000. For the second cut off, abstracts are due by 1600 hrs (PST) 15 August 2000, with proposals due by 15 September 2000, 1600 hrs (PST). Proposals that do not address identified technology areas will not be reviewed. All related correspondence should reference this BAA number. Submittals to this BAA shall be made in printed form on paper. Electronic copies of submittals are encouraged and should be submitted in addition to the printed copies. The electronic copy should be formatted in either Microsoft Word 97 or a text file. Proposals shall be submitted in original form and three (3) copies to the following address: COMMANDER, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION BATTALION CENTER, ATTN: Code 80, 4111 San Pedro Street, Building 41 CODE 80, PORT HUENEME CA 93043-4410. Technical questions may be addressed to the following NFESC technical points of contact: Mr. Steve Gunderson, (805) 982-1262 or e-mail at gundersonsj@nfesc.navy.mil; Mr. Robert Paguio, (805) 982-1149 or email at paguiorf@nfesc.navy.mil; Mr. Daniel McCambridge, (805) 982-1296 or email at mccambridgedj@nfesc.navy.mil. Selected proposals may be funded under contract. However, there is no commitment by the Navy to make any awards, make a specific number of awards or be responsible for any money expended by the offeror before award of a contract. A contract may be awarded with a funding range of $100,000-$130,000. After successful completion of a Phase I contract, a Phase II award, subject to the availability of funds, may be considered. Posted 11/16/99 (W-SN401262). (0320)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0002 19991118\A-0002.SOL)