FA8650-19-S-5009_-_BAA__Attach_1_-_Basic__SOO_-_26_Feb_19.pdf

FA8650-19-S-5009

Attachment 1

-1-

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

for

Research in Nondestructive Evaluation Methods for Materials State Awareness

1.0 SCOPE:

The scope of this program is to further the capabilities of the United States Air Force to perform enhanced and improved Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) of aerospace structures and components, which is a critical technology for the manufacture, lifing, and sustainment of USAF assets. The contractor shall perform basic, applied, and advanced research and development in support of the Materials & Manufacturing Directorate Materials State Awareness Branch (AFRL/RXCA), to promote discovery and provide increased accuracy, precision, reliability, and optimization of the material state of aerospace materials, such as those, but not limited to, materials manufactured from polymer matrix composites, ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites, metallic alloys, and hybrid systems.

Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) methods of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: electromagnetic methods across a wide range of frequencies including eddy current and terahertz technology, ultrasonic testing including phased array and laser-based methods, x-ray methods including computed tomography and radiography, thermal-based methods, whole-field resonance-based methods, microscopy-based methods such as optical, acoustic, ion and electron microscopy and imaging, analytical methods derived from these aforementioned technology such as chemical, crystallographic, and defect mapping, and combinations thereof.

2.0 OBJECTIVES:

The research and development activities in support of AFRL/RXCA include, but are not limited to, the following: conduct basic, applied, and advanced research to invent, develop, and mature laboratory-based demonstrations or prototypes, conduct studies to assess the potential applicability to adapting existing sensing technologies and data analysis methods to new applications, and develop new NDE technologies to address unmet needs. The research shall also include evolutionary improvement of existing or established NDE techniques, integration of robotics and spatial registration with NDE methods, model-based sensing, inversion, machine learning, analytics that are applied to NDE methods, integrating experimental testing with modeling, computer simulation of NDE methods, and probability analysis to enhance the understanding and efficiency of the application of NDE methods for a broad range of aerospace materials, processes, and structures.

Other activities include fabrication of representative NDE test samples that contain appropriate features-of-interest, maintaining and modifying on-site laboratory equipment and software associated with NDE research, and the acquisition of new Special Test Equipment (STE) or software to realize new NDE capabilities.

3.0 PROGRAM MANGEMENT/REVIEWS:

The contractor shall exercise program, administrative, and financial management functions at the task order level, including establishing activities and milestones; tracking

FA8650-19-S-5009

Attachment 1

-2-performance, costs, and schedule; overseeing quality performance; planning; forecasting, and reporting funding and funding changes; and preparing appropriate documentation.

Program reviews will be an informal, ongoing activity due to the nature of the on-site research work. More-specific review will occur during the weekly Research Group (RG) meeting held between the Government and contractor personnel. The contractor shall actively participate in both the informal meetings and the formal RG meetings.

4.0 DELIVERABLES:

• Data Items: The contractor shall deliver data in accordance with DD Form 1423-1, Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs) (see BAA Attachment 3),. Specific CDRLs will be identified for each task order.

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

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

• Test Samples and Residual Material: To be specified on individual task orders as applicable.

5.0 OPERATIONS SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:

All contractors shall participate in all activities associated with the disciplines of the organization’s OPSEC program following appropriate measures required for this particular contract. This is required in an effort to reduce program vulnerability from successful adversary collection of possible sensitive unclassified and/or proprietary 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.

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, or to be included as part of an existing PPP.