FA8650-18-S-5002-RFI.pdf

FA8650-18-S-5002

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

1.0 OVERVIEW INFORMATION

1.1 Federal Agency Name: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate

1.2 Program Name: Spatial Registration for Materials State Awareness

1.3 General Information: This is a Request For Information (RFI) as defined in FAR 15.201(e) to obtain information about expertise in the industrial base in development of spatial registration technologies to function across relevant length scales, integrate technologies, NDE probes, and software and demonstrate integrated systems. This RFI is not a request for competitive proposals; therefore, responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Companies that respond will not be paid for the information submitted except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in FAR 31.205-18, “Bid and Proposal Costs.”

Note: There is no guarantee that Spatial Registration for Materials State Awareness will become an AFRL program and responders to this RFI will have no competitive advantage in receiving awards related to this area of research. The information submitted in all responses may be utilized to help the Government further define its requirements, performance measures, inspection and acceptance procedures.

1.4 Estimated Program Funding: The Federal Government (DoD) anticipates a total program value of up to $9.8M.

1.5 Statement of Requirements: AFRL seeks to obtain information from interested participants on their current capabilities to perform research in the technical area of spatial registration for materials state awareness.

Requirements include: Working closely with Air Force researchers to determine Air Force needs in advanced inspection and characterization of materials and structures and defining and executing projects to develop unique and innovative spatial registration/localization technologies/components to be integrated into a prototype system. It is anticipated that efforts will include projects as shown in Attachment 2, Statement of Objectives (SOO).

1.6 Response Guidelines: It is expected that there could be up to two awards. If there are two awards, the ceiling will be shared across both awards.

Limit RFI responses to 10 single sided, double-spaced pages. In addition, please respond to the questionnaire that follows in Attachment 1. The font for text should be Times New Roman 12-point or larger. The Responder may use oversize pages (including “foldouts”) where appropriate to contain graphic presentations. Oversize pages do not count as extra pages within the page limitations. Submitted responses should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat format. Existing commercial documentation and product literature can also be submitted and is not subject to a page limitation. Responses must be unclassified and any Proprietary information provided must be marked accordingly.

To protect such data, each line or paragraph on the pages containing such data must be specifically identified and marked with a legend similar to the following:

“The following contains proprietary information that (name of Responder) requests not be released to persons outside the Government, except for the purposes of review and evaluation.”

Responses shall include:

• Interested participant’s current capabilities that pertain to the requirements listed in this

RFI.

• Completed questionnaire provided in Attachment 1

1.7 Requests for Clarification/ Points of Contact:

A responder may request clarification in writing from the Contracting Office for any requirement that is unclear by sending an e-mail to the Contracting Point of Contact below:

Candus Bullen candus.bullen@us.af.mil

(937) 713-9888

Any requests for clarification must be received no later than seven (7) business days prior to the close of this RFI in order to receive a timely response. Clarifications may be posted on the RFI announcement website to benefit all interested responders. Interested responders are encouraged to periodically check the website during the response period for clarifications.

1.8 Response Due:

Hard copy responses to this RFI shall be submitted to the following address:

AFRL/RQKMC

Attn: Ms. Candus Bullen 2130 Eighth Street, Bldg. 45 Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7541

Date Due: On or before 2:00 pm EST, 22 Jan 2018. Direct all inquiries to the Contracting Point of Contact listed in the Requests for Clarification / Points of Contact paragraph.

Please Note: The Government is not required to provide feedback to RFI responders.

mailto:adrianna.menker@us.af.mil

Attachment 1 ACOM RFI Questionnaire

Company Name:

Company Address:

POC for RFI:

1. Please provide your company’s cage code and web page URL.

2. Describe your business size based on NAICS code 541712 (Small Business Size Standard of 1,000 employees) and identify small business subcategories that are applicable to your business.

a. Small Business

b. Small Disadvantaged Business

c. 8(a)

d. Woman Owned Small Business

e. Veteran Owned Small Business

f. Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

g. HUB Zone Small Business

h. Large Business

i. Non-Profit

3. Define your firm’s procedures and timelines to ensure that personnel hired for this effort possess or can obtain the appropriate clearance levels to work in a Government facility and/or with sensitive documents.

4. Any contract resulting from this inquiry may be awarded as cost-reimbursement type. Does your firm have an adequate accounting system for cost type contracts? If so, please provide the most recent approval date of your accounting system.

5. Would your firm be interested in submitting a proposal for this effort as a prime contractor? If your firm is a small business, demonstrate your firm’s capability to perform at least 50% of the labor required for this effort. Describe in detail how your company intends to obtain the capability to meet any remaining requirements with subcontractors or teaming arrangements. Limit your responses to one single-spaced page.

6. Finally, does your firm have any other comments or suggestions that you would like to share with us?

11/28/2017

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Statement of Objectives

Basic Program

Spatial Registration for Materials State Awareness

1. Background: Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate’s

Structural Materials Division, Materials State Awareness Branch (AFRL/RXCA) is interested in developing and demonstrating novel ways to locate and track Non-destructive Inspection (NDI) probe position and orientation relative to aircraft structure coordinates, whether internal or external to the aircraft, for enhanced capability of NDI instruments to record the placement and movement of the sensor during the inspection to ensure the inspection is accomplished as intended in accordance with the procedure defined by the Air Force Technical Order that provides the instructions for each inspection. The correlation of probe location with aircraft location and the establishment of measurement precision and accuracy will enhance NDI inspections and assure Technical Order compliance. Spatial Registration of NDI data may also accelerate inspections and help minimize aircraft disassembly in depot or field maintenance environments.

Potential technologies that may apply to this goal include, but are not limited to: positioning and registration technologies from key industrial sectors such as nuclear, medical, oil & gas, aerospace, and automotive, or other novel methods from robotics, metrology, manufacturing, computer vision, and virtual/mixed/augmented reality.

2. Statement of Objective/Needs: The contractor shall determine the most appropriate spatial/positional registration technologies for aircraft nondestructive inspection applications, and develop integrated technology capabilities at breadboard and prototype levels with necessary validation/verification and demonstration at each stage of advancement. The ultimate goal of this effort is to demonstrate a system that can track NDI sensor probe location in line-of-sight as well as obstructed (e.g. personnel stands, equipment, etc.) exterior and confined interior sections of aircraft, such as bays, interior of wings, and other limited access areas. System enhancements could include providing guidance to the operator for proper placement/orientation of the probe and to ensure full inspection area coverage is accomplished per the technical order. The system should record and report probe spatial registration data time-stamped with a signal from the NDI instrument time function in a report format meeting or exceeding current tech order needs or depot maintenance inspection practices.

The goals for this effort are broken down into the following threshold (minimum desired result), objectives, and goals. These must be traded off against size, weight, complexity, cost of the integrated system as well as timeliness of operation and data collection.

A. Location: NDI probe location plotted against existing aircraft three dimensional (spatial) data, computer-aided design (CAD) drawings, point cloud data, video or photographic data to identify the position of the NDI probe within a threshold of 5 mm, an objective of 0.5 mm, and a goal of 0.05 mm and time-stamped with a signal from the NDI instrument time function.

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B. Orientation: Angular alignment of the NDI probe to the vector prescribed for the local aircraft structure, with a threshold of 1 degree from desired angular position, an objective of 0.1 degree, and a goal of 0.01degree and time-stamped with a signal from the NDI instrument time function.

C. Operator Assist: Real-time feedback and guidance to inspectors on NDI probe position, angle, and coverage (“paint box”) to facilitate efficient, effective inspections and Technical Order compliance.

Research and Development (R&D) shall be provided in the following four task areas:

a) Spatial Registration Development

b) Integration and Breadboard Demonstration

c) Integrated Prototype Demonstration in a Laboratory Environment

d) Prototype Capability Demonstration in Relevant and Operational Environments

a. Spatial Registration Development (TRL 3-4): The contractor shall develop technologies and design components to allow integration and demonstration of a Spatial Registration System for Materials State Awareness for use in an aircraft maintenance depot and field environment. Components should operate on exterior (open or active maintenance area), or large interior cavities, as well as in a small constrained interior space (>1m x >1m x >5 cm, with an access openings as small as 7.62 cm in diameter).

The contractor shall demonstrate the potential of achieving an integrated system to match NDI data with 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) probe location data (orientation and position) to produce a 3D spatial map of time-resolved NDI data. The impact of line-of-sight obstruction (internal and external) shall be addressed to define effect on full area coverage. The contractor shall show the potential of utilizing the components in the confined space. The contractor shall deliver an initial design/plan for integration.

b. Integration and Breadboard Demonstration (TRL 4-5): The contractor shall develop and acquire subcomponents and integrate into breadboard assembly(ies) to allow demonstration against Spatial Registration goals for Materials State Awareness. Ideal form is a single system, but multiple devices may be prototyped to achieve goals for open and small constrained interior spaces defined in Task a. The contractor shall demonstrate the integrated system in laboratory on relevant geometry structure, determine accuracy metrics, and demonstrate tracking of NDI probe 6 DOF in near real time (>120 Hz). It is desired at this stage, but not required, that the NDI instrument and sensor be integrated into the breadboard to demonstrate the time matching of sensor data with orientation data.

It is also desired, but not required, that feedback to the operator is included in the breadboard to allow the operator to optimize angular or spatial position or velocity of the probe to optimize data collection. The contractor shall demonstrate breadboard equipment and system functionality as well as the system versatility to various inspection scenarios. The contractor shall deliver a prototype design/plan for demonstration as well as provide access to the breadboard equipment for Air Force evaluation.

c. Integrated Prototype Demonstration (TRL 5-6): The contractor shall integrate a prototype system to demonstrate Spatial Registration for Materials State Awareness. The

-3-ideal form is a single system, but multiple devices may be needed to achieve goals in both the open and small constrained interior spaces defined in Task a. The contractor shall demonstrate the integrated system in laboratory on representative aircraft structures, determine accuracy metrics, and demonstrate tracking of NDI probe orientation and position at data rates exceeding 120 Hz. The contractor shall integrate at least one (1) NDI instrument and sensor into the prototype to demonstrate the time-stamping of 6-DOF probe location and orientation data with NDI data. It is also desired, but not required that multiple types of NDI sensors and form factors be included in the prototype demonstration. The contractor shall demonstrate the ability of the prototype to report current 6DOF data for each NDI sensor data point in both open and constrained interior space on several representative aircraft structures. The contractor shall determine the accuracy of both angular and spatial position and velocity measurements from the probe, determine the effect of probe velocity on accuracy of measurement, and demonstrate the use of the prototype to actively correct for the operator’s sub-optimal position or velocity through active feedback. The contractor shall generate a 3D map of time-resolved NDI measurements reported against aircraft coordinate space. The digital NDI measurements shall be saved and reported in at least one non-proprietary data format. The contractor shall determine size and weight of system and recommend if changes/ adjustments are necessary for routine use. The contractor shall deliver a design and plan for small-scale production and deliver an integrated prototype for Air Force evaluation.

d. Prototype Capability Demonstration in Relevant and Operation Environments (TRL 6+): The contractor shall produce a minimum of three (3) prototype Spatial Registration for Materials State Awareness systems with ability to integrate multiple different NDI probes along with written operating procedures. The contractor shall evaluate the systems on actual aircraft systems (subject to Air Force approval) in a depot maintenance environment. The Contractor shall collect data and compare time and accuracy of inspections to inspections performed by current inspection tech orders. The contractor shall deliver a final design, a minimum of three (3) prototype systems with instructions for Air Force evaluation. The contractor shall provide training for Air Force evaluators in the use of the system.

2. Deliverable Items:

a. Data Items: The Contractor shall deliver in accordance with the DD Form 1423, Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs) as attached to the model contract. Specific CDRLs will be identified for each task order. A final report will be required for each task order, but not for the basic ID/IQ contract.

b. Software: To be specified on individual task orders as applicable.

c. Hardware: To be specified on individual task orders as applicable.

d. Other: To be specified on individual task orders as applicable.

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3. Schedule:

a. Overall effort: 80 months; 60 months ordering period. Individual task orders will indicate the actual period of performance for those orders.

b. Data Items: As specified on individual CDRLs specified on individual task orders.

c. Software: As specified on individual task orders as applicable.

d. Hardware: As specified on individual task orders as applicable.

e. Other: To be specified on individual task orders as applicable.

4. Security Requirements:

a. All contractors shall participate in all activities associated with the disciplines of the organization’s Industrial Security, Information Security, Personnel Security, Operations Security (OPSEC), and Antiterrorism, following appropriate measures in each program as required for this particular contract. These are required in an effort to reduce program vulnerability from successful adversary collection, exploitation of critical information, and violations of export control requirements. The prime contractor will ensure that all subcontractors, if applicable, conform to these requirements as required by the prime contractor. Guidance can be provided by AFRL/RX Security as needed.

b. Program Protection Plan (PPP) – Any potential critical program information (CPI) generated as part of this effort will be reviewed to determine the need for a PPP.

a. Small Business