SOURCES SOUGHT
18 -- MASE Project - Military Applications of Space Environment - SEEM Program - MASE Sources Sought
- Notice Date
- 9/18/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541715
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL/RVKV - Kirtland AFB, 3550 Aberdeen Ave SE, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, 87117, United States
- ZIP Code
- 87117
- Solicitation Number
- FA9453-19-S-0001
- Point of Contact
- Francis M. Eggert, Phone: 5058467603, Alexandria Holman, Phone: 505-846-5011
- E-Mail Address
-
Francis.Eggert@us.af.mil, Alexandria.Holman@us.af.mil
(Francis.Eggert@us.af.mil, Alexandria.Holman@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- MASE Project for the SEEM Program 1. DATE: 18 Sep 18 (In Fed Biz Ops this is listed under "Sources Sought") 2. SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS to FA9453-19-S-0001, Title: Military Applications of the Space Environment (MASE) Project for the Geospace Environment Impacts and Applications Branch's Space Environment Exploitation and Mitigation (SEEM) program to support the collaborative efforts with the Remote Sensing Directorate (SMC/RS) at Space and Missile Systems Center, with an anticipated FY19 as a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), with CALLs. 3. SYNOPSIS: The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) Geospace Technologies Division (RVB) Geospace Environment Impacts and Applications Branch's (RVBX) Space Environment Exploitation and Mitigation (SEEM) program is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to determine the availability of industry and academic sources with the capabilities and capacity to provide research and development for the Military Applications of the Space Environment (MASE) Project. 4. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The applicable North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is: 541715. NOTE!! THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. This request for capability and capacity information does not constitute a request for proposal; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. 5. This notice is for planning purposes only and does not commit the Government to any contractual agreement. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. 6. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) Geospace Technologies Division (RVB) Geospace Environment Impacts and Applications Branch's (RVBX) Space Environment Exploitation and Mitigation (SEEM) program is interested in applied research and development and advanced technology to enhance the development and implementation of space environment models and sensors to meet various Air Force space weather system needs in order to specify, forecast, mitigate, and exploit environmental impacts on Department of Defense (DoD) space and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems. The Geospace Environment Impacts and Applications Branch (AFRL/RVBX) anticipates to issue in FY19 FULL TEXT Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) pursuant to FA9453-19-S-0001, which will outline the general objectives of this Sources Sought. AFRL/RVBX is interested in advancing the state-of-the-art and scientific knowledge in understanding and quantifying the impact of the space environment on operational systems that enable communication, command, and control; and radio frequency (RF) remote sensing capabilities and the capacity to improve upon these operational systems. 7. Responsive offerors will demonstrate depth of knowledge in and breadth of knowledge across the relevant discipline areas, experience in integrating research across those disciplines, and experience in the development of advanced technology from those integrated results, as evidenced by past projects. Information regarding your organization's capabilities, capacity, and experience must be in writing and should include information relevant and specific to the technical areas below. It should address each of the following qualifications: (1) Experience: An outline of previous similar projects, specific experience in performing the items listed below; (2) Personnel: Name, professional qualification and specific experience of scientists and/or technical personnel who may be assigned as project director and other key positions; and (3) Any other specific and relevant information about this particular area of procurement that would improve the government's knowledge of interested organization's' capabilities and capacity, and experience. (4) Please provide an up to date System for Award Management (SAM) per the new certification procedures, DUNS #; CAGE Code; Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) and Joint Certification Program (JCP); Contracting (authorized person who can legally commit the organization) and Technical Points of Contact (both Primary and Alternate) with complete mailing address, phone numbers, e-mails, etc. 8. Interested organizations must demonstrate and document, in any capability and capacity statements submitted, extensive experience with and the ability to perform the below tasks. Organizations should clearly demonstrate the capability to administer and coordinate interrelated tasks in an effective and timely manner. Documentation may include, but not be limited to, contracts both Government and commercial, identification of the organization for whom the work was performed (include government points of contact both technical and contractual), references, (i.e. names, titles, telephone numbers), and any other information serving to document the organization's capability and capacity e.g., awards, commendations, etc. Please provide a complete LIST of Contract Numbers, Purchase Orders, etc., that has both the Contracting and Technical Points of Contact with complete mailing address, phone numbers, e-mails, etc., to contact for the work your organization is currently has Work-In-Progress or completed work that your organization has accomplished over the past three (3) to five (5) years. Please state whether or not your organization is a Large Business or Small Business (SB). If a Small Business please indicate the type SB, i.e. 8(a), SDB; SWOB; etc. 9. Potential Offerors will be expected to show their capabilities and capacity to accomplish Research and Development dealing with this main objective which is to define the impact of the Earth's space environment on Air Force systems and to achieve a capability for specifying, predicting, mitigating, modifying, and exploiting the effects of the space environment that can disrupt or degrade Air Force operational systems. The Air Force Research Lab's research efforts generally fall into three main technology topic areas: (1) Solar, solar wind, and ionospheric effects; (2) thermosphere and satellite drag and the reentry environment; and (3) plasma physics and chemistry. Current activities include forecasting of solar and interplanetary conditions which cause electromagnetic interference and geomagnetic disturbances; understanding, specifying, and ultimately predicting the state of the Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere, including the associated electric fields and field-aligned currents; quantifying environmentally induced effects on space and ground systems; and developing and applying active techniques for space environment mitigation, modification, or exploitation. Detailed knowledge of the space environment impacts have important implications for issues of radio frequency (RF) wave transmission, propagation, and remote sensing; positioning, navigation, and timing; and satellite orbits and reentry. The following anticipated Technical Topic Areas are expected to be included in the FULL TEXT BAA posted in FY19, with only minor changes, as follows: a) Solar, Solar Wind, and Ionospheric Effects The solar energetic emissions that impact Department of Defense (DoD) systems include both quasi- continuous sources, such as the solar wind, as well as sudden violent eruptions such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The objectives for the Solar and Solar Wind Effects research effort are to (1) provide improved solar models, including electromagnetic radiation, energetic particles, and plasma, that impact the space environment and support operational end user products and tools; and (2) develop and improve space- and ground-based solar and heliospheric instrumentation and data products necessary to drive the models research thrusts which include: improved radiation (F10.7, EUV) modeling and forecasts; development of an operational state-of-the-art 3-D Magneto-Hydrodynamic (MHD) coronal/solar wind model and a coronal mass ejection (CME) propagation model; development of solar activity, flare, and CME specification and prediction tools; development of specialized solar instrumentation to observe solar signals from ground and space; analysis of solar ground and space data from imagers and spectroscopic probes; numerical and physics based modeling of solar processes and assimilation of data into the models; and development of models of the near- and far-term solar impacts on space weather including solar specification models and predictive and forecast physics-based models. The fundamental concern underlying RVBX's ionospheric research is the geospace environment's effects on space systems and services, since the state of the ionosphere affects the degree to which an operational system can meet requirements for assured delivery of communications or for robust positioning, navigation, timing, surveillance, or reconnaissance information, or whether the transmissions will be degraded or disrupted. System operators or users must determine whether poor or aberrant system function is due to environment effects or other causes. Meeting this need requires capabilities to: (1) determine and demonstrate the detailed association between environmental conditions and specific impacts on space systems and services; (2) establish the utility of environmental models to specify or forecast specific conditions, or proxies for those conditions, that cause impacts on space systems and services; and (3) quantitatively characterize the occurrences of specific environmental effects on space systems and services. An important aspect of the research focuses on improvements in diagnostic technologies that allow ionospheric properties related to impacts to be detected, measured, and studied. Accordingly, research activities cover a broad range; general areas of effort include: (1) basic and applied research into ionosphere and thermosphere coupling during quiet and disturbed conditions; (2) basic and applied research into the stability of the equatorial, subauroral, auroral, and polar ionosphere during quiet and disturbed conditions; (3) space environment impacts on positioning, navigation, timing, and communication systems and radars; (4) improved high frequency (HF) Geolocation capabilities as well as modeling of HF skywave propagation; (5) the causes of electromagnetic interference on RF systems; and (6) data collection, analysis, and data archiving supporting the technical efforts. In addition to the scientific/technical activities cited above, topics for potential CALLs include: development of a real-time monitoring system for equatorial ionospheric plasma drifts, incorporating data from a variety of sensors; development of a model of global ionospheric scintillation based on ground and satellite measurements; development of a forecast model for equatorial plasma bubbles and irregularities; development of a first-principles model for nowcasting and forecasting global ionospheric electrodynamics; development of ionospheric modeling techniques specifically designed to increase the accuracy and timeliness of bottomside ionosphere profile specification and forecast; development of multi- model ensemble techniques applied to ionospheric specification and forecast; physics based and/or phenomenological modeling of traveling ionospheric disturbances; development of automated techniques for extracting the characteristics of transient ionospheric features, such as traveling ionospheric disturbances, from existing measurement networks; full wave or ray-based modeling of point-to-point RF propagation, especially efforts directed towards enhanced implementation on modern computational systems; development or improvement of ionospheric specification sensors including, but not limited to, low cost and/or low power ionosondes, scintillation receivers, beacons and/or beacon receivers, GPS receivers, and optical systems; development of low cost Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) components to help support a global AMISR network; development of tools for ionospheric phase screen reconstruction using available ionospheric sensor data including, but not limited to, SATCOM receivers, LEO (Low Earth Orbit) beacon receivers, and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers. The latter includes development of a frequency scaling capability based on empirical models and/or phase screen reconstructions. b) Thermosphere and Satellite Drag and the Reentry Environment. The primary objective of this research area is to develop empirical and physics-based models, sensors, and data products to accurately specify and forecast the neutral atmosphere and satellite drag in order to identify space objects that orbit the Earth, to provide precision orbit determination and prediction, including re-entry predictions, and to assess the likelihood of collisions. Meeting these needs require an accurate climatology of the various orbital regimes, knowledge of present and forecast conditions, and expected impacts on operations. A major source of error for orbital determination and prediction for satellites operating below about 600 km is aerodynamic drag. The two most important influences on satellite drag are thermospheric neutral densities and neutral winds, but at satellite altitudes the density and wind models do not adequately account for dynamic changes in these fields, leading to significant errors in predicted satellite positions. Relevant research activities in this area include: 1) quantifying the energy input into the thermosphere during both quiet and active solar conditions; 2) developing empirical, physics-based, and data assimilative methods for global specification and forecast of the thermosphere/ionosphere system; 3) developing satellite- and ground-based instrumentation for sensing the neutral and ionized upper atmosphere; 4) predictive modeling of space weather conditions and events impacting the thermosphere and ionosphere system; and 4) developing an orbital propagator and orbital drag error estimator. c) Plasma Physics and Chemistry. The plasma physics and chemistry investigations cover a variety of plasma states, from collisional to magnetized, as well as a variety of compositions, including typical atmospheric species as well as exotic neutral and ionized species and their reactions. Work is also done on plasmas of interest to the greater DoD mission, e.g., we are looking into plasma chemistry relating to the fundamentals of catalysis and energetic materials. Research areas of particular interest include theoretical and computational modeling of natural and man-made ionospheric perturbations, including self-consistent development and evolution, chemistry and transport effects, and impacts on and interactions with the background ionospheric plasma and electrodynamics; development of coherent radar systems for ionospheric sensing and measurement in the HF - VHF range, including near-vertical incidence, near- horizontal incidence, and long-range systems, as well as identification and interpretation of various echo types/sources and propagation paths/effects; high-resolution array-based HF imaging of ionospheric structure to include advanced imaging techniques, long baselines, and active or passive operations; development of ionospheric modification technologies and delivery systems to include non-traditional platforms, new materials, and advanced techniques; compact modular low-power HF ionospheric sounding systems including arbitrary waveform capability, automated synchronization to allow oblique reception, automated trace recognition, scaling of vertical-incidence and oblique modes, and advanced portable antennas; and theoretical and numerical modeling of kinetic and plasma processes affecting energy interchange in the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system, including plasmaspheric boundary layer phenomena such as diffuse electron and proton aurora, Sub-Auroral Ion Drifts (SAIDs), Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS), Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arcs, the Sub-Auroral density trough, ion outflows, and artificial ionosphere perturbations. d) Anticipated Deliverable Items. The following items are anticipated to be delivered by each CALL as tailored for the need. Hardware, software, or data will be identified in a particular CALL. The following data deliverables are representative of the types of data that may be required: (a) a Program Plan with updates as needed; (b) Monthly Status/Financial Reports; (c) a Final Report, in both draft and final form; (d) Presentation Materials; and (e) Patent Reports. Data deliverables are subject to negotiations on each individual CALL. An anticipated Schedule: The period of performance will be stated in each CALL solicited per this FULL TEXT BAA. 10. Submission Instructions: Any proprietary information should be marked accordingly. Interested organizations that believe they possess the capability and capacity necessary to successfully undertake the tasks described above are invited to submit their capability statement via email or standard mail (FedEx, UPS, etc., is a ok) by 3 pm MDT (1500 hours) on 22 October 2018. If your organization is a Large Business, and has the potential capability and capacity to perform these contract R&D efforts, then, please provide the following information: 1) Organization name, address, email address, Web site address, telephone number, NAICS codes, and size and type of ownership for the organization as well as any claimed socio-economic status (e.g. 8(a) certified program participant, small disadvantaged, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran owned, HUB Zone or women-owned); and 2) Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. 11. Submit Statement of Capabilities (SOC) to the personnel outlined below. All work performed under the contract will be limited to U.S. citizens only. Please send your e-mail followed by one (1) complete hard copy and disk in the US Mail (standard mail is preferred; FedEX, UPS, etc., and is acceptable instead of the US Mail) to the individuals listed below. Det 8 AFRL/RVKVB, Attn: Mr. Francis M. Eggert, Contracting Officer; or Ms. Alexandria L. Holman, Contract Specialist; 3550 Aberdeen Ave SE, Kirtland AFB, NM 87117; Phone 505-846-7603; Email: francis.eggert@us.af.mil or Alexandria.Holman@us.af.mil Phone: 505-846-5011
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLPLSVD/FA9453-19-S-0001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Det 8 AFRL/RVKVB, Attn: Mr. Francis M. Eggert, Contracting Officer; or Ms. Alexandria L. Holman, Contract Specialist; 3550 Aberdeen Ave SE, Kirtland AFB, NM 87117; Phone 505-846-7603, Email: francis.eggert@us.af.mil or Alexandria.Holman@us.af.mil Phone: 505-846-5011, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, 87117, United States
- Zip Code: 87117
- Zip Code: 87117
- Record
- SN05093659-W 20180920/180918230824-44f82accad8c7984556e655bbd162e59 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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