A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) REGARDING INDUSTRY VENDORS FOR A UNIVERSAL DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM (UDAS)

Notice Date

March 16, 2001

Contracting Office

TRW, 4243 E. Piedras Dr., Suite 100, San Antonio, TX 78228

ZIP Code

78228

Response Due

April 16, 2001

Point of Contact

David R. Rael; (210)731-4207; david.rael@trw.com

E-Mail Address

Click here to contact the UDAS website administrator (roger.hooker@trw.com)

Description

DESC: The UDAS referred to in this RFI is a microprocessor controlled airborne universal data acquisition device (UDAD) with electronic circuitry to sample, condition, digitize, and store analog sensor and digital data bus derived information with a crash survivable memory unit. A summary can be found on the UDAS website after obtaining access from the website administrator as described below. The data associated with this program is considered to be export restricted. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit overall architectural approaches and budgetary estimates for the intended development of an Advanced Development Model (ADM) that will satisfy the technical requirements for a Universal Data Acquisition System (UDAS). A subcontract for the prototype UDAS is anticipated in summer of 2001. Firms interested in obtaining additional information about this synopsis and/or specification must first register via email to roger.hooker@trw.com. A username and password, together with the URL for the website will be returned to the requestor. Program Background: The development of an ADM for a UDAS is part of an Information Management System Replacement Study conducted by TRW Inc. under subcontract to Giordano Automation Corp. (GAC), who is under contract to the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). The objective of the study is to improve the Government's knowledge of industry's capabilities and to promote competition in the creation of a UDAS specification. Information submitted will be used in this study. The results of the study will assist AFRL to refine an acquisition strategy and performance specification for later solicitation for a UDAS system. AFRL intends to include nongovernment advisors from TRW and GAC in support of developing this acquisition strategy. Neither of these contractors will compete for this development project. By submitting your information, offerors understand that these nongovernment advisors will have access. All data received in response to this RFI marked or designated as Competition Sensitive or Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Prospective offerors are invited to submit comments on the specification or recommend alternate approaches that will satisfy the Government's overall goals of procuring an open architecture, cross platform UDAS that will reduce life cycle cost and improve data collection and weapon system management and safety. Offerors who intend to respond with statements of capability are requested to contact the POC by the response date. Interested firms are requested to submit any comments and suggestions on the preliminary documents and their capability statements to the address cited above. AFRL will utilize the information for technical and acquisition planning. It is recognized that cost/price information which is provided by the contractor is a preliminary estimate for planning purposes and the contractor will not be bound to these estimates. TRW invites comments related to acquisition practices. If there is a GSA or other contract vehicle already available to the Government for the technology being proposed, please include this information in the response. Please direct any questions via e-mail to the POC. Interested firms should provide points of contact, reference names, addresses, and phone numbers with their responses. All information in response to this RFI should be addressed to the POC above. Interested parties should submit information via electronic transmission to the POC, or via two (2) complete sets of hard copy materials to the above address. All data submitted will be for official Government use only and will not be returned to the provider. This RFI announcement is for informational and planning purposes only. Any actions taken by an industry participant, or any resources expended by an industry participant as a result of the RFI, are solely at the risk and expense of the participant. The government shall not be liable for these actions or expenses. The government requires the UDAS to be a non-proprietary, open architecture system to the maximum extent possible. Therefore, the design shall be based upon open industry standards (e.g., processor, backplane (bus), card format, I/O interfaces (RS-422, USB, etc,), fixed and removable memory). In addition, the UDAS architecture should accommodate all of the types of I/O signals required by the Aircraft Information Program mandatory data collection requirements (described in USAF Aircraft Information Program (AIP) Policy Directive AFPD 63-14, 22 Dec. 2000), thus allowing future functional/performance improvements that can be easily implemented through supplemental and/or replacement modules. Compatibility to existing aircraft form factors and minimum logistics support impacts are also a major goal. The UDAS program will address obsolescence issues and provide opportunities for standardization by initially focusing on the F-16 aircraft (block no. TBD), with future applicability anticipated for the entire USAF aircraft inventory. It is expected that the UDAS will incorporate Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) items to the maximum extent possible and state-of-the-art data collection and information management hardware and software technologies to achieve the goal of reducing cost of ownership to the government. Specifically, the UDAS will consist of common hardware and software modules that can be tailored with minimal non-recurring engineering costs to meet multiple weapon systems needs (cross platform); requirements for the UDAS modules will be defined in a Performance Specification; and the UDAS modules will be incorporated into existing systems on a common form, fit, function insertion basis. The UDAS software will be designed to allow easy reconfiguration to new platform requirements and will provide for data processing and I/O processing. The UDAS software will execute existing OFP interfaces on target aircraft and it will process AIP data as mandated by the AIP AFPD, AFI and associated handbook. Furthermore, I/O software will direct data outputs from the OFP to other systems such as download devices and crash survivable memory. Specific information on the following topics is requested. Partial responses will be accepted. 1. What experience do you have with crash survivable data recorders and/or memory technology? 2. If you currently have one or more data recorder/memory product(s), list all applications and flight certification statuses. Describe/define the installation envelope for each application. 3. Do you have any cross-platform applications and if yes, provide associated details describing the common and unique aspects of the program. 4. What risks do you foresee in the UDAS development program and what risk mitigation strategies would you use to ensure success of the UDAS program? 5. Describe your concept for UDAS HW/SW multi-platform configuration control and management 6. What removable media technologies have been successfully integrated into your data recorder(s)? What removable media technology would you propose for UDAS to satisfy "open architecture" concept? 7. What data description strategies would you use to preserve and enhance the efficiency of the existing download process? 8. What ROM costs could be expected to develop a single ADM item through to limited flight-testing? Please provide separate ROM data for data acquisition system hardware, data acquisition system software, and crash survivable memory module. 9. What ROM life-cycle costs (comprising purchase, maintenance/warranty/sustainment and retirement/disposal) would be expected for the production UDAS, based on 1430 F-16 aircraft and introduction into the fleet at a rate of (TBD)/year and an expected life of (TBD) years? 10. How would you implement the UDAS requirements, including: key technologies that can be applied to the UDAS, the design architecture/strategy to accomplish the Open Architecture, reconfigurable and common platform requirement and lessons learned in past data recorder development that can be applied to UDAS. 11. Would you be interested in separately bidding any of the following elements of the system: data acquisition system hardware, data acquisition system software, crash survivable memory module? 12. What challenges relative to cost, schedule and performance may be anticipated with the possible strategy of integrating hardware and software UDAS modules available from separate hardware/software vendors? 13. What do you see as the top five cost drivers for the overall development, production and logistics support of the UDAS?

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010320/ASOL015.HTM (W-075 SN50G4O0)