Description
National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences (CEROS), 73-4460 Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Suite 111, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740. A--OCEAN TECHNOLOGIES FOR MARITIME MILITARY OPERATIONS. SOL. BAA-CEROS-03-01.POC William A. Friedl, CEROS Project Office, Phone (808) 327-4310. BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA-CEROS-03-01): (Ocean Technology Development, Application and Demonstration in support of Maritime Military Operations including but not limited to Shallow Water Surveillance Technologies, Ocean Environmental Preservation, New Ocean Platform and Ship Concepts, Ocean Instruments and Engineering Tools, and Unique Properties of the Deep Ocean Environment) SOL BAA-CEROS-03-01; DUE: 29 March 2003 [POC William A. Friedl, (808) 327-4310]. The National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences (CEROS) is soliciting proposals for concept development and demonstration of ocean technologies and applied ocean sciences for military maritime purposes. Of particular interest are proposals for development and demonstration of advanced technologies for Shallow Water Surveillance, Ocean Environmental Preservation, New Ocean Platform and Ship Concepts, Ocean Instruments and Engineering Tools, and Unique Properties of the Deep Ocean Environment. Innovative concepts and new approaches are being sought to advance technology, enhance capabilities and infrastructure in Hawaii, and demonstrate beneficial maritime military utility and commercial development potential for the Department of Defense. CEROS anticipates executing the program outlined in this announcement contingent upon funding amount and availability. Subject areas of interest include: (1) Shallow Water Surveillance Technologies, emphasizing innovative approaches to in situ and remote collection, processing and presentation of information from and about the operational environment. (2) Ocean Environmental Preservation, emphasizing innovative system development and demonstrations for ocean environmental sensing, remediation, monitoring and control. (3) New Ocean Platform and Ship Concepts, emphasizing development and demonstration of innovative designs, advanced structures or improved techniques. (4) Ocean Measurement Instrumentation and Ocean Engineering Tools, emphasizing development and demonstration of advanced sensors, innovative undersea systems or facilities, and new techniques for undersea measurement, modeling, prediction and data exploitation. (5) Unique Properties of the Deep Ocean Environment, emphasizing innovative methods and new techniques to identify or exploit unique properties, conditions, materials, products or potential of the deep ocean for enhanced operational capabilities. Particular topics of interest to CEROS for the FY03 program include advanced technologies to enhance littoral operations and undersea warfare (USW), especially in regions with high surface contact density; nontraditional and nonacoustic broad area search and cueing technologies for antisubmarine warfare (ASW); netted sensor applications and network centric, off-bottom, portable undersea tracking systems; wide bandwidth submarine communications at depth and speed; cost-effective sensors to enhance capabilities of submarines at depth to track multiple surface ships; fast ship concepts; nondestructive testing techniques; methods for failure detection and prediction in advanced materials; innovative instruments for high pressure environments; unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) as off board sensors; UUVs and robotic systems for operations in confined space or denied areas; long range, high data rate transmission devices for UUVs; renewable energy sources for UUVs; digital systems to collect and store data from individual elements of sensors on undersea vehicles; small sonar systems for precise navigation, object detection and obstacle avoidance by submerged platforms; wide area information collection, processing and presentation techniques; autonomous data collection and classification systems; advanced underwater data transmission technologies; covert buoy and monitoring systems; improved radiological search and environmental sampling devices for military divers; techniques and tools for dealing with underwater munitions and explosives of concern (MEC); improved methods for connecting underwater fiber optic systems and networks; harbor defense countermeasure devices for special operation forces; operationally relevant ocean modeling, measurement and prediction; in situ energy production for localized military applications; very small, energy dense batteries for military applications; portable underwater habitats for clandestine monitoring and logistics; tools and techniques to address operational issues of marine mammal monitoring and protection; deep-sea facilities; and new ocean range utilization concepts. Contract awards shall be based on proposal merit and funding availability. Proposed work should be structured with a base period of performance of 6 to 12 months. Options to extend the period of performance for up to 12 additional months may be included in proposal plans but funding of such options is not guaranteed. CEROS anticipates that initial contractor selections will be made during March 2003 from submissions received by CEROS in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii by 12 PM Noon, Hawaii Standard Time, 13 November 2002. However, properly formatted proposal abstracts received after initial contractor selections and before 12 PM Noon, Hawaii Standard Time, 29 March 2003 will be considered for award if funding is available. CEROS will use a two-step submission process to formulate a Core Program from projects submitted under this announcement. The first step requires submission of a Proposal Abstract. CEROS will evaluate all abstracts against the evaluation criteria herein without regard to other abstracts submitted. For the second step, CEROS will request full technical and cost proposals from selected offerors for proposed efforts deemed as best qualified for potential negotiation under this BAA. CEROS will specify the format for full proposals in the invitation to submit more detailed project information. No selection for negotiation or subsequent funding will be made under this BAA without full technical and cost proposals. Options to extend the period of performance for up to 12 additional months may be included in submissions to CEROS but incremental or follow-on funding of any such option is not guaranteed. CEROS may choose to fund such optional phases without additional competitive submissions from the offeror, contingent upon anticipated funding availability and results from the initial year?s effort and only upon specific recommendation and approval from DARPA. CEROS may choose to fund all, some or none of the optional phases included in submissions in response to this announcement. The commitment of out-year funding to optional phases will not exceed $1.0M. PROPOSAL PROCESS: To be considered in the initial contract award period, offerors shall submit an unclassified abstract of the proposed effort to CEROS in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, by 12 PM Noon, Hawaii Standard Time, 13 November 2002. The abstract should provide an overview of the project and associated costs. CEROS strongly encourages submission of abstracts electronically by the process described at the website www. ceros.org/baa_abstract.html. Electronic submissions shall be prepared in either PDF or Microsoft Word 2000 for IBM-compatible formats. If electronic submission is not possible, original abstracts may be submitted to CEROS directly. Abstracts submitted by any means other than the specified website or physical delivery to CEROS will be disregarded. Abstracts shall be prepared in the following format: 8.5 x 11 inch plain paper, single or double spaced, in at least ten point type, with margins not less than one inch, and pages numbered. Each abstract that is physically submitted shall be unbound with the pages secured by a single staple in the upper left-hand corner. Abstracts or proposals accepted by CEROS under this BAA will not be returned. CEROS will attempt to respond no later than 15 December 2002, to organizations whose project abstracts are received by CEROS on or before 12 PM Noon, Hawaii Standard Time, 13 November 2002. The abstract shall consist of a cover page and up to four additional pages of project information, including figures and tables. Abstracts exceeding 5 pages will be rejected. The Cover Page shall include the following: title of the proposed effort; intended product or result; name, affiliation, phone number, fax number, and electronic and postal mailing addresses of the Principal Investigator and Administrative Point of Contact; proposed period of performance; funding required to produce the proposed products; names and affiliations of sub-contractors and co-investigators; and special requirements or considerations. The balance of the Abstract shall include the following sections, each clearly labeled: A. Technical Rationale for the proposed effort, stating the technical problem and Department of Defense (DoD) maritime technical need addressed; the relevance of the proposed effort to CEROS program objectives; and the specific technical advances anticipated. B. Technical Objectives of the work, describing the work?s intended result and deliverable products and specifying the technical innovation and improvements involved. C. Technical Approach and Methods to be used to attain the work?s technical objectives, including the planned work schedule, work assignments and significant developmental milestones; special capabilities of the proposed work team; techniques or facilities involved; and risk mitigation efforts planned for the proposed work. D. Expected Results or Products, describing the planned end product(s) and discussing the anticipated military and/or commercial application of results, plans for follow-on development or technical transitions, patents or other intellectual property that may result from the work, and specifying the added value in the proposed project. E. Budget, consisting of an estimate for a firm, fixed price level of effort project, including the principal cost elements, direct material costs, direct labor costs, other direct costs, indirect costs, facilities capital cost of money, and profit or fee. The Abstract may also contain any other information germane to the proposed effort, such as leveraged assets involved, consultant commitments, or technical references. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The following criteria apply to both Abstracts and full proposals requested under this announcement. CEROS will select for award those projects offering the best value and, except for the first criterion (item A), will give equal weight to each of the following criteria. Item A will receive twice the weight of any other criterion in the evaluation. A. Quality. Technical quality of the proposed effort and its potential to advance the technical state-of-the-art and technical competence in maritime military operations; relevance to DoD technical needs and the CEROS mission; and potential importance to intended recipients of the developed technology. B. Approach and Capabilities. Realism of technical objectives and potential for attaining stated objectives using the methods and resources described; qualifications of the principal team members; quality of equipment, materials and facilities proposed; and adequacy of technical risk management and transition plans. C. Anticipated Benefits. Potential for significant value or return to the DoD and the state of Hawaii at reasonable cost and in a timely manner; importance of the anticipated results to the DoD and to the offeror?s business and technical development plans; ultimate residual value for Hawaii; and potential for current or follow-on support from sources other than CEROS. D. Costs and Budget. Cost realism and potential value of results for funding requested; schedule and resource efficiency; leveraged, cost-saving, or value added aspects to the proposed effort. Cost is considered a substantial evaluation criterion but is secondary to technical excellence. Furthermore, each technically qualified project will be scrutinized for operational significance and near-term application or transition potential. OTHER REQUIREMENTS: CEROS plans to make up to $6M available to fund proposals in response to this announcement. Specific funding depends on funding availability and out-year funding has not been defined. Multiple, firm fixed-price level of effort contracts, not exceeding $1M each, are anticipated to be awarded to commercial entities capable of doing business in Hawaii as a result of this BAA. CEROS encourages proposals involving multiple entities (?teaming?) to leverage capabilities, advance technology development in Hawaii, and address priority Department of Defense maritime technology needs. Contract awards will be based on proposal merit and funding availability. CEROS may request that successful offerors deliver one technical presentation in Hawaii as part of the project. This solicitation will remain open for 180 days from the date of this announcement. However, to be considered in the initial award period, a properly formatted abstract must be received by CEROS in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii by 12 PM Noon, Hawaii Standard Time, 13 November 2002. It is CEROS policy to treat all submissions as competitive information and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation. CEROS may use selected contractors as special resources to evaluate abstracts and proposals. These contractors are restricted by contract from disclosing proposal information or using it for purposes other than the technical assessments for CEROS. By submitting an abstract to CEROS, an offeror agrees that the project?s technical and management information may be disclosed to selected contractors and evaluators for the limited purpose stated above or unless otherwise required by law. Any information submitted to CEROS that an offeror intends to exclude from such limited release must be clearly marked proprietary and submitted apart from other proposal material. All abstracts submitted under this BAA must be unclassified. If offerors propose to undertake classified work or require access to classified information, they must be able to certify that they have a proper facility clearance, and key personnel must be certified as holding a Secret clearance. Abstracts must clearly state that the proposed work will be classified. An invitation from CEROS to submit a full proposal does not assure subsequent award. The decision to submit or not submit a full proposal is the responsibility of the offeror submitting the abstract. Successful offerors will be required to execute a State of Hawaii Agreement for Goods or Services Based Upon Competitive Sealed Proposals with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority pursuant to its statutory authority provided under Chapter 227, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The Agreement General Conditions and Special Conditions, which may be viewed at the CEROS website, are subject to negotiation. Pursuant to section 103-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, contract payments shall be contingent upon the receipt of federal funds. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Information about CEROS is available through the CEROS website at www.ceros.org. Information on the goals and objectives for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii and the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority is available at www.nelha.org. Information about technology business and development in Hawaii is available from the state?s High Technology Development Corporation website at www.htdc.org and the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) website at www.state.hi.us/dbedt. Offerors responding to this announcement are wholly responsible for timely submission of abstracts regardless of delivery method used. Contact Point: questions relating to this BAA are to be directed to William A. Friedl, Technical Director, CEROS Project Office, 73-4460 Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Suite 111, and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740, phone (808) 327-4310. All responsive sources may submit a proposal abstract, which shall be considered by CEROS. CEROS reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. The program described in this announcement is contingent upon funding availability.