SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence
- Notice Date
- 2/8/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C, Building 401, Lee Boulevard, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5577
- ZIP Code
- 23604-5577
- Solicitation Number
- W911W6-06-R-0005
- Response Due
- 3/31/2006
- Archive Date
- 5/30/2006
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Section I. The Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) is soliciting technical and cost proposals to conduct Basic Research as described below and in the Supplemental Package available on or about 17 February 2006 at http://www.aatd.eustis.army.mil/Business/Di visions/Contracting/Docs/VLRCOE_Supplemental_Package.doc. Proposals are required to be submitted in accordance with the guidelines set forth in this announcement, as supplemented. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and the aforementioned Supplemental Pa ckage constitute the total solicitation. There will be no formal Request For Proposals (RFPs), other solicitation requests, or other information regarding this requirement. INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this BAA is to solicit proposals for a cooperative agreement from U.S. institutions of higher education (HEI) to conduct basic research focused on barrier issues relevant to progress in vertical lift technology in a concentrated interdiscipl inary center for enduring and future force needs. Since future force combat vehicles will be deployed to remote regions of the world as well as intra-theater utilizing heavy vertical lift vehicles, proposals should focus on research to enable major cost r eductions in heavy vertical lift vehicles and other advanced vertical lift configurations. This Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE) Program is funded by the U.S. Army and managed by the National Rotorcraft Technology Center (NRTC) to supp ort the long-term basic research objectives established by the NRTC and to establish a significant dual-use technology base from which the military aviation community and the rotorcraft industry can draw substantial knowledge and capability. The VLRCOE co nstitutes the next stage of the U.S. Armys continuing support of a Rotorcraft Centers of Excellence Program initiated in 1982. This announcement covers the VLRCOE program for five (5) program years, initiating in the Government Fiscal Year (GFY) 2006 thr ough 2010. The Government plans to award up to two VLRCOE agreements consistent with this announcement and subject to the details in the Supplemental Package. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: To be selected, proposing HEI must offer a range of faculty capabilities and appropriate vertical lift-related course work in a number of disciplines to establish a 'center.' A center may be composed of a lead university and up to 2 partner universities c ollaborating to provide the scope of program necessary to address the widest range of technical fields. In addition, the inclusion of tasks performed by individual investigators from other universities in order to enhance the program content is encouraged . VLRCOE research topics submitted should include five or more of the following fields: (1) Aeromechanics, (2) Material Strength and Fatigue Life, (3) Adverse Weather/All Conditions, (4) Rotor/Flight Control Concepts and Design, (5) Vibration and Noise Cont rol, (6) Prognostics and Diagnostics, (7) Propulsion, and (8) Affordability. Research topics should be focused on basic scientific issues that are of unique importance to vertical lift and that have the potential for making significant contributions towar ds U.S. Army research thrusts and DOD goals and missions. Interdisciplinary research efforts should be emphasized, but should be focused on fundamental physical phenomena and understandings. Technology transfer and the partnering of this research endeavo r with the U.S. rotorcraft industry, U.S. Army, other Government organizations (e.g., FAA, NASA) and other academic institutions are encouraged. The use of graduate fellowships at enhanced stipend levels is also encouraged as a means of attracting the hig hest caliber U.S. students to the program. DELIVERABLES: A VLRCOE shall present an annual program review supported by presentation materials that will document the progress and research accomplished during each program year. At the end of the 5-year program , a final program report is required for the total 5-year program. The final report shall include the VLRCOEs overall accomplishments, research paper publications, degree recipients, patents filed, and technical accomplishments of each task. The VLRCOE shall submit Federal Cash Transaction Reports (SF 272) on a quarterly basis and a final within 90 days after the Agreement expiration date. Section II. Award Information: ANTICIPATED FUNDING LEVEL AND PERFORMANCE PERIOD: The anticipated Government funding for the program is approximately $1,800,000 per year for all awards. It is intended that a center will be a competitive environment in which the annual program review wi ll provide opportunities for evaluating progress on technical tasks and making changes to the program as needed. Although a five-year program with specific tasks will be negotiated for each center prior to award, the Government reserves the right, pursuan t to the terms of the Agreement governing modifications and additional research, to add new tasks or make changes to existing tasks as additional Government funding becomes available and/or funding is redirected from tasks that are not productive. TYPE OF FUNDING INSTRUMENT: The Government anticipates an award of a Technology Investment Agreement that is a Cooperative Agreement under 10 U.S.C 2358, as the Government desires to be substantially involved in the performance of the VLRCOE Program. Offe rors submitting proposals under this announcement are required to cost share. Cost participation may be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. Cost participation will be considered in accordance with the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations, DoD 32 10.6-R paragraph 34.13 (Cooperative Agreement) accessible at the following link: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/32106r_041398/part34.pdf. This announcement will remain open until 4:00 p.m. Eastern time March 31, 2006. Awards under this ann ouncement are anticipated to be made by June 1, 2006. However, unless the offeror specifies a different expiration time, proposals will be considered valid for Government acceptance through September 30, 2006. The Government reserves the right to select f or award any, all, or none of the proposals received. Further, the Government reserves the right to select for award only a portion of an offeror's proposal. Any award, partial or full, is conditioned upon being evaluated as meritorious as a VLRCOE as des cribed in Section V below. Section III. Eligibility Information: Participation is limited to U.S. institutions of higher education. Further, all work or research performed under the cooperative agreement(s) resulting from this announcement must be performed within the United States. Proposals including work or researc h that will be performed outside of the United States, in whole or in part, are not acceptable and will not be given further consideration for award. Section IV. Application and Submission Information: Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the detailed instructions and formats in the Supplemental Package available at http://www.aatd.eustis.army.mil/Business/Divisions/Contracting/Docs/VLRCOE_Supplemental_Package.doc GENERAL: Offerors must submit a proposal for a 5-year research program based on the topics cited above. The proposal shall include the following three sections: Management Section, Budget Section and Technical Section. The Management and Budget Sections are limi ted to 20 pages. The Technical Section is limited to 70 pages. See the Supplemental Package regarding other details on the page limitations. No pre-proposal conference is to be held. Proposals must be submitted in original and three (3) hard copies, and one electronic copy on compact disk. Proposals should be marked with the above solicitation number and addressed to the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C (Bethany McClave), Building 401, Lee Bouleva rd, Fort Eustis, VA 23604-5577. Offerors desiring an explanation or interpretation of this announcement must request it in writing. Oral explanations or instructions given before the award of any agreement will not be binding. Any information given to a prospective offeror concerning this announcement which is necessary in submitting offers or the lack of which would be prejudicial to any other prospective offeror(s) will be published as an amendment to this announcement. Proposals will not be accepted v ia FAX or electronic mail. Only materials within page limitations will be evaluated. Proposals must be received by the time and date stated above. For purposes of this announcement, late proposals will be treated in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. A copy of any cited reference/clause is available via link http://farsite.hill.af.mil/. Late proposals will not be reviewed or returned. Section V. Application Review Information. EVALUATION CRITERIA/BASIS FOR AWARD: The selection of one or more sources (i.e., centers or VLRCOEs) for award will be based on an evaluation of proposals in accordance with the criteria set forth below and in the Supplemental Package. The proposals will first be evaluated as an integrated, balanced center and then the 5-year program technical tasks will be subjected to a scientific peer review by a team of knowledgeable scientists/engineers. The tasks will be evaluated on their own merit without regard to other proposals submitted under thi s announcement. These evaluations will result in narrative ratings, which will be used to develop an order of merit listing for proposals and technical programs submitted under this announcement. Proposed cost will be evaluated as appropriate, for realism and reasonableness, concurrently with the scientific peer review. Note that it is possible for a proposal to be excluded from the competition if it is deemed to lack the established merits to be a VLRCOE based upon the following criteria (some of which ar e mandatory or go-no-go criteria, at program, not task, level). These criteria are equally weighted as part of the overall assessment of the viability of the offeror to become a VLRCOE: (1) Participation of Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) or Minority Institutions (MI) (mandatory); (2) Cost sharing and university support (mandatory); (3) Critical mass of technical expertise within the center; (4) Subcontracts with partner universities to achieve adequate program balance; (5) Participation by individual investigators from other universities to strengthen the merit of the offerors program; (6) Vertical lift technology courses offered to graduate students within the center; (7) Adequacy of the plans for implementing and administering a Vertical Lift Fellowship program for attracting outstanding U.S. graduate students into the VLRCOE program; (8) Balance of technical tasks; (9) Experimental facilities and equipment; and (10) Strategies for technology transfer to industry and Government. The evaluation criteria applicable to the technical tasks in the proposals will be applied to determine which of the proposed tasks will be funded in any VLRCOE agreement(s). The technical tasks will be evaluated using the following criteria: (1) Scientific merits and technical approaches of the proposed research task; (2) Uniqueness/relevance of the proposed task to the competitive position of the U.S. rotorcraft industry and advancement of U.S. military vertical lift technologies; (3) Qualifications and past contributions of the principal investigators and other key research personnel in the proposed research area; (4) Technology transfer plan including partnering with the industry, military and federal aviation communities, and (5) Reasonableness and consistency of proposed budget for accomplishing the proposed research. The first three equally weighted technical task criteria are of greater importance than the last two, which are of equal importance. Any proposed cost share will be evaluated for its benefit in reducing program risk, achieving program objectives, and furthering the state-of-the-art. Proposed cost to the Government is a review criterion. T he amount of cost sharing percentage could result in greater evaluation credit. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS: All work performed under resulting agreement(s) will be unclassified and will not require access to classified material. The preponderance of research performed is anticipated to be basic or fundamental research exempt from export c ontrols. However, it is possible that one or more project tasks may require access to and/or generate technical data the export of which may be restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U. S. C., Sec. 2751 et. Seq.) or Executive Order 12470. P rior to award, the successful offeror may be required to provide an 'Export-Controlled DoD Data Agreement' certification number issued in accordance with DoD Directive 5230.25 if any proposed task is determined to be subject to export controls. This certif ication may be requested from the Defense Logistics Services Center, ATTN: DLSC-FBA Federal Ctr., Battle Creek, MI 49017-3084, Telephone 1-800-352-3572. Participation in this program is limited, regardless of tier, to U. S. entities. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY: No Government Furnished Property is anticipated under any agreement resulting from this announcement. If Government Furnished Property is necessary, it shall be detailed in the proposal. Section VI. Award Administration Information: This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any response preparation cost. The previously referred to Supplemental Package provides detailed instructions cri tical to proper preparation and submission of a proposal. Section VII. Agency Contacts. Offerors desiring an explanation or interpretation of this announcement must request it in writing at the above address (Datafax (757) 878-0008) to the attention of Bethany McClave (Contract Specialist) and/or Lauren Sebring (Grants Officer) at bmcclave@aatd.eustis.army.mil and/or lsebring@aatd.eustis.army.mil. Ms. McClave and Mrs. Sebring can be reached by telephone at (757) 878-3315 and (757) 878-4828, respectively.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Aviation Applied Technology Directorate ATTN: AMSRD-AMR-AA-C, Building 401, Lee Boulevard Fort Eustis VA
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 23604-5577
- Record
- SN00983326-W 20060210/060208212530 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |