Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Procurement Operations Branch, MS2500, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817

A -- FOUNDATION INITIATIVE 2010 PROJECT FOR RESEARCH AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT OF A CROSS-DOMAIN TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK SOL 1435-04-00-RP-31085 DUE 092900 POC Betty M. Estey, Contracting Officer, 703-787-1352 E-MAIL: Contracting Officer's email, Betty.Estey@mms.gov. Minerals Management Service is soliciting White Papers for the U.S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) Foundation Initiative 2010 project, entitled "Test and Training ENabling Architecture (TENA) 2nd Middleware Prototype", for research and prototype development of a cross-domain technical framework defined by the Foundation Initiative (FI) 2010 Test Capabilities Requirements Document (TCRD). BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION: The FI 2010 vision is to enable interoperability among ranges, facilities and simulations in a quick and cost-efficient manner, and to foster reuse of range assets and of future range system developments. The conceptual framework for military operations defined in Joint Vision 2010 is of a size, scale, and scope that cannot be physically, technically, or economically recreated within the existing Department of Defense (DoD) Test and Training infrastructure. FI 2010 is an interoperability initiative of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E), funded through the Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP). The FI 2010 TCRD describes a common architecture to enable cost-effective interoperability and instrumentation reuse among the Department's ranges and facilities. This common architecture, called 'TENA', will use the Defense Modeling Simulation Office (DMSO) High Level Architecture (HLA) to support interoperability between the live testing/training range domain and the larger M&S community and will allow range engineers to 1.) define and allocate T&E resources, 2.) facilitate the use of modular solutions, 3.) Provide structure for a library of resources, 4.) Create consistent standards for development, and 5.) Leverage existing DoD architecture work, being built upon the High Level Architecture. These five capabilities make the FI 2010 common architecture beneficial to the ranges and facilities. This product provides the test and training communities with enhanced capabilities by being able to integrate test resources more easily. The ability to assemble a more complex test or exercise in a shorter period, keeping the costs in check, depends on a well-built architecture. TENA components shall include a broad domain object model of the live range and range support world, a common set of services for manipulating objects, as well as other standards, protocols, rules, and supporting software. The first prototype of TENA was developed in FY99 by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), and was tested at six major DoD test sites. This first prototype included an implementation of the most fundamental object services, objects representing typical range assets, and an interface to HLA. The 2nd prototype will add functionalities as described in the Statement of Objectives and will also be tested at multiple sites. Tests conducted at each site will determine if the prototype can successfully meet the requirements described in the Statement of Objectives, including the definition and exchange of range-specific test data among range instrumentation systems (such as, sensors, data processors, displays systems, and HLA-compliant simulations), i.e., the testing will verify that software built using TENA is 1.) Portable, 2.) Reusable, 3.) Interoperable and meets performance requirements. EVALUATION FACTORS: A technical review board will use the following criteria to evaluate the white papers and they are in order of importance: 1.) Offeror's understanding of the technical issues, 2.) Overall technical merit, 3.) feasibility of the approach, 4.) The Offeror's ability to implement the proposed approach as demonstrated by adequate detailed analysis and supported by specific accomplishments, 5.) Background or past experience of the Offeror in developing the proposed technology, and 6.) Technical experience, education and availability of qualified personnel with the requisite expertise and experience to accomplish the proposed work. HOW TO RESPOND: Technical discussion of the effort's objective, approach, and level of effort shall be submitted. Include the nature and extent of the anticipated results and, if known, the manner in which the work will contribute to the accomplishment of the FI 2010 mission and how this would be demonstrated. The type of support, if any, that the Offeror requests of the Government, such as facilities, equipment, demonstration sites, test ranges, software, personnel or materials, shall be identified as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), Government Furnished Information (GFI), Government Furnished Property (GFP), Government Furnished Data (GFD). Offerors shall indicate any Government coordination that may be required for obtaining equipment or facilities necessary to perform any simulations or exercises that would demonstrate the proposed capability. Offerors are encouraged to describe any unique capabilities or benefits of their proposed approach to FI 2010. Interested parties are encouraged to submit a white paper of no more than 10 pages (submit an original and a copy) describing your overall technical approach. Submit as an addendum to the white paper information addressing criteria five and criteria six above. White papers should: 1.) Present the Offeror's technical approach, 2.) Identify physical products and data to be delivered to the Government and any equipment, information and support required from the Government, and 3.) Proposed duration of the effort. Offerors should identify residual equipment or capabilities that, after demonstration, will remain property of the Government. The following reference documentation relevant to this announcement is available via the Internet at HTTP://FI2010.jcs.mil/BAA: 1.) FI 2010 Joint Overarching Requirements Document (dated Oct 31 1998), 2.) FI 2010 Test Capabilities Requirements Document (dated Sept 12 1999), 3.) Common Test and Training Range Architecture (CTTRA) Workshop X Materials (dated Feb 22-25 2000), and 4.) Draft Statement of Objectives (dated Aug 21 2000). Additional information may be obtained from Mr. Minh Vuong via electronic mail at minh_vuong@stricom.army.mil. All white papers shall be sent to Gov.Works, Minerals Management Services, and 381 Elden Street, MS 2500, Herndon, Virginia 20170, Attention: Betty Estey. White papers must be received no later than 4:00pm Eastern Standard Time on September 29, 2000. This date and time is what will determine timeliness of your response. All parties that submit White papers will be notified via electronic mail by October 19, 2000 of the status of their submission. However, only those that submit favorable white papers will be expected to submit a technical and cost proposal by November 17 2000. Format of their submissions for these documents will be provided later. It is also possible that the Offeror will be required to give an oral presentation of their proposal. The anticipated contract award date is No Later Than December 18 2000 unless these dates are changed via an amendment to this request. White paper submissions must include point of contact information, including an electronic mail address. In addition to the hardcopy, offerors are encouraged to submit white papers (using Microsoft Word97) electronically to Ms. Estey at Betty.Estey@mms.gov and Mr. Minh Vuong at the above stated electronic mail address. (NOTE: Offerors transmitting proposal submissions electronically are reminded not to transmit classified information or information of a proprietary nature, as they will be doing so in a non-secure environment). Any proprietary data that the Offeror intends to be used only by the Government for evaluation purposes must be identified. The Offeror must also identify any technical data contained in the white paper that is to be treated by the Government as limited rights data. In the absence of such identification, the Government will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the white paper. Records or data bearing a restrictive legend may be included in the white paper. It is the intent of the Government to treat all white papers as privileged information before the award and to disclose their contents only for the purpose of evaluation. The Offerors are cautioned, however, that portions of the white papers may be subject to release under terms of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, as amended. Offerors shall not submit facsimile white papers in response to this BAA. Please note this is not a set-aside but for information purposes this applies: SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS (SDB) REGULATORY CHANGE NOTICE: The Federal Acquisition Regulation authorizes the use of price and evaluation credits in industries where SDB prime contractors and subcontractors have been underutilized. We ask that you inform your SDB subcontractors that they should contact SBA's Office of Certification and Eligibility at 800-558-0884 to obtain an application, or to log on to SBA's website (http://www.sba.gov/sdb). If you are an SDB prime contractor who is not SBA-certified, we also ask that you apply for certification. Effective October 1, 1999, certified SDB prime contractors were eligible for a price credit when bidding on Federal prime contracts. Effective January 1, 1999, prime contractors who subcontract with SBA-certified or self-certified SDBs are eligible for evaluation credits. Please note that prime contractors may continue to rely on self-certification of their SDB subcontractors through June 30, 1999. For solicitations issued on or after July 1, 1999, prime contractors must use SDB-certified SDB subcontractors in order to be eligible for evaluation credits. Questions should be e-mailed to both Betty.Estey@mms.gov and minh_vuong@stricom.army.mil. The Solicitation number should be in the subject line of the E-mail. All questions should include your full name and title, Solicitation number, your organization, complete address, and telephone and fax numbers. Telephone inquiries WILL NOT be accepted. The White Paper shall identify clearly the Offeror's company organization, point of contract, address, telephone and facsimile numbers. If offerors hand deliver their White Papers to MMS, which is a secure facility should use the courtesy phone located by the elevators at the back entrance to the building. Call extension 1354 and request that a procurement official pick up your submittal. Posted 08/28/00 (W-SN490809). (0241)

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