EPSE_II_TO1_task_PWS_(AM)_v1_Final.docx

Enterprise Product Support Engineering Initiatives

Additive Manufacturing Efforts

IDIQ GSA ITSS IDXXX

1 Sep 17

TASK ORDER: 001

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Product Support Engineering Division (EZP) Department of the Air Force Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), OH

POCs:

Program Manager:

Jesse Holdaway, AFLCMC/EZP Phone: (937) E-mail: jesse.holdaway@us.af.mil

COTR:

Greg Schwabacher Phone: (937) 656-7903 Fax: (937) 255-7791 E-mail: gregory.schwabacher.1@us.af.mil

GSA:

Theresa Vollink Phone: (312) 279-8145 Fax: (312) 886-3827 E-mail: theresa.vollink@gsa.gov

1. BACKGROUND: The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Product Support Engineering Division (AFLCMC/EZP) was established to ensure the USAF tackles product support engineering problems using an enterprise approach crossing multiple platforms and portfolios. AFLCMC/EZP’s primary customer base includes the Program Executive Offices (PEOs), System Program Offices (SPOs) – Chief Engineers, Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC), Major Commands (MAJCOMs), as well as other center offices and headquarters. The USAF realizes that coordinated efforts progress faster and cost less in total and that moving in consistent pathways is critical to making the changes required to bend the cost curve and increase readiness.

As the USAF progresses towards a cost effective engineering mindset, opportunities to implement agile technologies such as additive manufacturing across the USAF enterprise must be considered and evaluated to improve sustainment parts availability, reduce life cycle costs and increase weapon system readiness. The Air Force has implemented an Additive Manufacturing Strategic Implementation Plan (AMSIP) that uses an enterprise approach to design and qualify new components using additive manufacturing technologies that will eventually allow the AF to print on demand across a network of certified printers. In order to address the challenges associated with implementing this new technology, standard processes and procedures, tools, and equipment are required.

2. SCOPE OF WORK: The scope of this Task Order is to develop and validate standard design and qualification procedures for aerospace components, tooling, fixtures using AM technologies for Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) that also follows the tenets of an airworthiness risk assessment. Work under Task Order 001 will cross multiple Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and System Program Offices (SPOs) using an enterprise approach; the Contractor shall:

· Develop and deliver one/multiple standard process order(s) for technicians and/or engineers to design, print, and qualify AM components. The process order(s) should include consideration for tooling, fixtures, and components for various materials, component types, and AM technologies. The process order(s) will be used for vehicles, support equipment, facility, and aerospace parts.

· Develop and deliver an AM Design Rules Guidebook for engineers that includes:

· Process parameter settings for the EOS M290 machine and associated metal powder(s) that provides the design engineer the material properties achieved for these specific settings

· Process parameter settings for each material shall be optimized for aerospace applications and should include post process requirements

· AM design rules required to achieve material properties and required surface finish

· AM Manufacturing rules to achieve required properties for the part to include post processing requirements

· Design, print, and qualify two metal components on an EOS M290 to validate the standard process order and design rules guidebook.

· Develop preliminary training plan and approach for AF AM community to include technicians and engineers on the standard process order and design rules guidebook.

2.1. Objective. The overall objective of this Task Order is to develop and deliver standard processes and procedures to design, print and qualify components using polymer FDM and metal DLMS additive manufacturing technologies. To accomplish this objective, the Contractor will be required to provide program management, plans, schedule, cost, mechanical/material/environmental testing, analysis, and documentation using the Air Force airworthiness risk assessment approach called out in AWB-1015 required to qualify two aerospace metal components.

3. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS: The Contractor shall be required to develop detailed test plans to optimize parameter settings for the machine and powder and provide analytical capability to monitor/analyze critical process parameters. Capture all process results and analysis in detailed final reports. All data generated (including raw data) will be delivered to the Air Force as part of the test reports.

Each Task Order requirement shall be funded based on the availability of resources. Under this Task Order, multiple activities/parts must be simultaneously managed. To execute this Task Order, both technical and program management activities shall be required, and the Contractor shall apply common technical and program management oversight, tools, and requirements and techniques. In all cases, the Contractor shall perform the appropriate level of effort in accordance with the state of the technical activity (i.e., some deliverables may require in-house AM design, printing, post processing, testing, analysis, demonstration, and validation support while others will require management of sub-tier suppliers whereby planning and requirements matching to ensure sub-contractor contract deliverables are the critical activities required). For this Task Order, the Contractor shall consider, as appropriate, program management requirements, environmental, energy and safety requirements/savings, readiness factors, return on investment, and sustainment/maintenance needs associated with each part. Each effort shall have a program schedule, program objectives, test plan/approach and a final report that includes all raw data, technical and non-technical, technical reports and analysis. In-process program reviews will be required. Data shall include raw data, notebooks, pictures, analysis, test plans, Design of Experiments (DOE) results, modeling, analytical data and test results, computer generated data and programs as well as any data that is used to determine technical and programmatic information and decisions. The Contractor, or their subcontractor shall propose a program manager for the technical activity as well as subject matter experts, as required, to lead technical activities. All team members shall also be identified and approved by EZP. Listed below are some of the major technical activities to be accomplished. Each activity/demonstration part must be considered a separate undertaking and deliverable if funded. Monthly reporting shall be conducted that includes status on technical performance, cost and schedule aspects as well as a detailed invoice for each sub-task. The Contractor shall also develop a parent-level program plan and integrated master schedule that outlines all technical activities, showing any interconnects between efforts as a means to enhance efficiencies and effectiveness.

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3.1. Standard AM Process Order. The Contractor shall propose a plan for development and management of standard AM process order(s). The Contractor shall propose either one or multiple AM process orders that would provide technicians and engineers detailed methodology for designing, printing, and when necessary qualifying various tools, fixtures, and components. The Contractor shall develop and deliver the first draft of a standard, digital AM process order(s) for technicians and engineers to design, print, and qualify tooling, fixtures, and components for various types of materials and AM technologies called out in 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. Process orders should contain all steps and paper work (forms) required for certification of the process, configuration control, repeatability, data analytics for melt pool monitoring, and requirements for equipment certification.

3.1.1. Metal Additive Manufacturing Process Order. The Contractor shall develop and deliver a digital Air Force standard AM process order for technicians and/or engineers to design, print, and qualify metal aerospace components using EOS M290 machines with melt pool monitoring. The AM process order shall be organized in such a manner to include various categories of parts and required considerations for each category. The process order shall provide technicians and engineers with a step-by-step, repeatable approach (including all necessary forms and paper work) covering the entire process from down-selection to production ready. The process order shall cover the entire process required to successfully print qualified aerospace parts on demand including certification of the process/equipment/operators, analytics required for selective melt pool analysis, and documentation required across the process. Process orders shall utilize efficient processes and methodologies to minimize time and materials.

3.1.2. Polymer Additive Manufacturing Process Order. The Contractor shall develop and deliver a digital Air Force standard AM process order for engineers to design, print, and qualify polymer aerospace components using Stratasys Fortus machines. The AM process order shall be organized in such a manner to include various categories of parts, tooling, and fixtures and required considerations for each category including material requirements and associated powders to achieve properties. The process order shall provide technicians and engineers with a step-by-step, repeatable approach covering the entire process from down-selection to production ready. The process order shall cover the entire process required to safely and successfully print parts on demand. Process orders shall utilize efficient processes and methodologies to minimize time and materials.

3.2 AM Design Rules Guidebook. The Contractor shall develop and deliver a digital AM Design Rules Guidebook (Version 1) for technicians and engineers that includes:

3.2.1 Metal Material Properties. The Contractor shall develop and deliver optimized process parameter settings for the EOS M290 for three different metal powders. The Contractor shall recommend three different powders for this effort. The Contractor shall provide the rationale for the recommended powders (and vendor(s)) and the proposed methodology for optimizing parameter settings. The Contractor shall develop and obtain AF approval for a test plan to execute the optimization of parameter settings, execute the test plan and provide all test results, analysis, and recommendations for the optimized parameters that will be utilized for design using each powder. In addition, the Contractor shall develop a set of material properties for the optimized parameter settings and recommend post processing steps to achieve optimized material properties for each of the three powders. The material properties for each powder and associated design rules to achieve the material properties will be provided and delivered to the Air Force in the AM design rules guidebook. The Contractor shall develop a test plan to obtain material properties. The test plan will be approved by the Air Force before printing and testing begins. The Contractor shall propose recommended testing, location for material testing, analysis, and consolidation of test results to develop the material requirements database. In the proposal, the Contractor shall propose key considerations for printing/testing to gather high confidence data. All raw results/data, analysis and recommendation will be provided to the Air Force in interim test reports for each powder. A final digital test report will be delivered to the Air Force consolidating all testing, results, analysis, pictures, modeling results, and recommendations.

3.2.2 Design and manufacturing requirements. The Contractor shall develop and continuously update a list of design and manufacturing considerations (rules) required to achieve successful builds with the material properties in 3.2.1. In addition, the design and manufacturing rules should take into consideration all critical requirements necessary to ensure repeatability is achieved from build-to-build. All required tools, skill sets, and requirements will also be included in the AM design rules guidebook. A database of all design rules and all manufacturing rules will be developed, updated, and maintained by the Contractor through the period of performance. The most current version of the database will be delivered to the Air Force at the end of the contract. All test data, results, pictures, lessons learned, and analysis to achieve repeatability will be delivered to the Air Force in a final report. All manufacturing requirements to include (as a minimum) operator skill sets, equipment, equipment configuration, maintenance, configuration control and storage of powder and configuration of equipment shall be documented and best practices shall be developed to ensure stability of operations and repeatability is achieved. “Crash” reports shall be developed for any builds that do not build as planned and detailed analysis will be performed and documented to determine root cause. All analysis shall be documented in a lessons learned database and best practices shall be developed based on successes and lessons learned. An all-inclusive lessons learned and best practices database shall be delivered to the Air Force. Best practices and lessons learned shall be incorporated into the AM Design Rules Guidebook. Considerations for both design and manufacturing rules shall be included.

3.2.3 Communication. Communicating lessons learned and best practices, “tips and tricks” on AM is a key tenet of the AMSIP and a challenge area. The Contractor shall develop and execute a communication plan to gather and share best practices and lessons learned across the DoD enterprise. The Contractor shall propose a draft approach with their proposal outlining methodologies and their proposed approach to both gather and cross-share information on AM.

3.3 Design, Print, Qualify Two Components. The Contractor shall design, print, and qualify two metal aerospace components using the proposed AM process order to validate the steps in the process order. The effort includes all documentation, analysis and testing required to qualify the two components. The attachment shall include pictures of the two aerospace components (Appendix A). The Contractor shall present a preliminary plan of all steps required to design, then print, then qualify the components. Included in the preliminary plan are all required equipment/tools/manpower, powder, testing, post processing plan, analysis, and any other considerations required to qualify the components including planned schedule for the entire process. Both components are structural but non-critical. The design load requirements of the components are unknown. As part of the design, print, qualify activity; meetings with the equipment specialist, and cognizant engineering authority shall be required; the contractor shall include all recommended meetings in the plan. The Contractor shall be required to document all minutes from the meetings and track all action items. The Contractor shall determine all considerations for print, including recommended material (including rationale), test requirements, and shall develop a test plan to qualify the components. All design, manufacturing, test results, and analysis shall be provided to the AF in a final test report for each component. At the end of the effort, the part should be ready for production including all necessary material required for production printing. The production printing will be done at a different location within the AF.

3.4 Training. The Contractor shall develop a training plan and approach to train AF personnel on the process order and AM Design Rules Guidebook. The Contractor shall propose a preliminary training plan with a proposal that should include objectives of the training, primary audience, recommendation where the training should occur, method of training, number of students trained, and all training materials/deliverables. Once awarded, the Contractor shall finalize the preliminary training plan, develop a schedule, training objective/goals, method of training, and develop the syllabus and training outline and lay out the sections of the training. As part of this Task Order, the Contractor shall provide an electronic/digital preliminary, draft training class deliverable (charts, manual, etc). The final, approved training deliverables and delivery of the training will not occur under this Task Order.

The Contractor shall complete all aspects & components laid out within the scope. The Contractor shall accomplish tasks in accordance with AWB-1015, as required. The Contractor shall provide adequate support towards all efforts, as required to complete the tasks. All raw and summarized data, test results, drawings, pictures, modeling, analytics, process orders, methodologies and coding shall be unrestricted and submitted electronically with final test reports, provided to the AF in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint presentation formats. All final reports shall be presented to the Air Force through in-person briefings summarizing all results and recommendations as well as final documented reports. Any deviations to the PWS scope shall be approved by the government PM and contracting officer. All papers, briefings, results, tours, videos provided and developed by the Contractor shall be approved by the Air Force and must be approved for public release.

4. DELIVERABLES:

Data Item Title

Description

Due Date

5. MEETING ATTENDANCE/TRAVEL: Travel to commercial vendor sites, test facilities and military installations is expected. The Contractor shall abide by all Air Force safety and conduct policies when conducting travel. The Contractor shall coordinate with AFLCMC to ensure the proper Government documentation is in place, such as CAC cards and/or clearances pending the type of efforts and programs the Contractor is asked to support. Throughout the period of performance, the Contractor shall coordinate all efforts directly with AFLCMC/EZP personnel and the contracting officer; this includes any travel requests, equipment purchases and the level of effort per month that shall be allocated to this support. The Contractor shall report all findings, recommendations, and efforts thru travel reports to EZP personnel, as appropriate. All travel requires a trip report outlining discussions and results from the trip. The Contractor shall participate in regular progress meetings and travel to events deemed necessary to provide support efforts described above. It is anticipated that travel to USAF sites including, but is not limited to:

· Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

· Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

· Hill Air Force Base, Utah

· Robins Air Force Base, Georgia

· Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma

5.1. Kick-Off Meeting. Within 15 days of award, the Contractor shall coordinate an Overall Task Order kickoff meeting, at which time all parties involved in the Task Order execution shall be represented and roles/responsibilities clearly outlined. During the kickoff meeting, the Contractor shall be prepared to discuss the Task Order at the parent level as well as details for each technical activity. In addition, individual technical activity area kick-off meetings shall occur for every funded area. The intent of the technical activity area kick-off meeting is to review the sub-task schedule, objectives of each technical activity area, and review roles and responsibilities of the players.

5.2. Meetings. The Contractor shall plan to participate in monthly and quarterly progress meetings, detailing the progress, issues, needs, and/or unforeseen items that occur. The Contractor shall be responsible for coordinating and scheduling all meetings; however, the government PM shall maintain approval authority for date, time, and location of all meetings. The Contractor shall prepare an agenda, briefing materials, brief project status and technical data, and coordinate in advance of any meeting for government PM approval. The government PM has authority to attend or not attend any scheduled meetings. The Contractor shall capture and track all action items, decisions, and minutes from all meetings and telecoms. A detailed review of each technical activity area shall be required.

6. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT: No government furnished equipment will be provided. The proposal shall include a preliminary list of equipment required by the Offeror to complete the effort under this task. The preliminary list should include any equipment (AM equipment and post-processing equipment), software, tools, powder, gas and/or testing apparatus over $25,000. A rationale for the equipment, tools, powder, gas and/or testing apparatus is required.

7. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: The Contractor shall provide a location or locations to operate an AFLCMC AM & Cold Spray Innovation Center(s) near Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. All work will be accomplished at the AFLCMC Innovation Center(s). Future AFLCMC AM & Cold Spray Innovation Centers may be established at other locations. None of this work will be accomplished on an AF installation. The size of the Innovation Center(s) should accommodate potential future task orders as well.

8. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: None

9. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 12 Months.

10. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: None

APPENDIX A

Aerospace Component Pictures

1. Air Intake: ~ 7” X 9” X 10” Max Volume Dimensions – Cast Aluminum

2. Splice Support: ~ 3” X 3” X 9” Max Volume Dimensions – Forged Aluminum image2.tmp image1.tmp