Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (3GIRS) Sensor Systems Research and Development

Added: Nov 20, 2008 2:03 pm Modified: Mar 04, 2009 2:33 pmTrack Changes

a) The Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Strategic Planning Directorate (XR) plans to award a sole source contract to the Utah State University Research Foundation Space Dynamics Laboratory (USURF/SDL), a non-profit University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), for the research and development of Infrared (IR) payloads, test and evaluation, software development, and data processing, from 10 April 2009 to 10 April 2014 (five years). The estimated approximate value is $48 million.

b) The intent is to award a contract to maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational institution, USURF/SDL. USURF/SDL's core competencies include (but are not limited to) sensor systems research and development (including calibration and testing), data exploitation (including algorithm development), sensor modeling and simulation and prototyping of space systems (including microsat sensor systems and components).

c) As a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), USURF/SDL shall initially assist SMC/XR (and STRATCOM, AFSPC, and similar agencies) by testing and calibrating the Commercially Hosted Infra-Red Payload (CHIRP) sensor and continuing its support of the Algorithm Development Laboratory at SMC which supports the 3GIRS program. It is also contemplated that USURF/SDL could support the cubesat program, either by testing or developing prototypes, and also other programs in SMC and XR due to the omnibus nature of the contract.

d) This contract is necessary to meet the following requirements:
• Continue developing and advancing the Technology Readiness Level of full-earth Wide Field-of-View (WFOV) IR systems, related components, and supporting architecture through test and evaluation, software development, and data processing;
• Allow us to have this expertise under one SMC contract vehicle.

e) Functions to be performed by USU/SDL include:
• Designing and developing; fabricating, assembling, handling, and integrating; and analyzing, testing, and evaluating sensor systems and components (including cubesats), as well as, designing, manufacturing, testing, and modeling cryogenic systems and thermal design;
• Electronics assembly, including: cable and harness assembly, box and electronics assembly, integration, and inspection;
• Investigating vibration isolation and jitter control methods;
• Calibrating, characterizing, testing, and evaluating sensors, including environmental testing (a facility using thermal-vac, vibration, and EMI/EMC tests) and sensor calibration (specifically the ability to perform relative spectral responsivitiy using Fourier transform spectrometry and cryogenic IR sensor calibration equipment);
• Data compression/decompression, data visualization, data exploitation, data fusion, data processing, handling, and analysis; and
• Modeling and simulation of optics, structures, thermal characteristics, controls systems, pointing, contamination, orbit propagation, image processing and scene generation.

f) Potential Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) are mitigated in the following manner:
(1) Preventing unfair competitive advantage - To prevent SDL from gaining an unfair competitive advantage, XR will include in the OCI clause a provision that SDL may not compete at either the prime or the subcontractor level against industry in response to competitive RFPs for development and production involving engineering expertise specifically developed or maintained through this sole source UARC contract (issued under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(3)(B)). This makes USU/SDL a neutral member of the government team and thereby eliminates this OCI issue.
(2) Preventing the existence of conflicting roles that might bias a contractor's judgment - Because the knowledge SDL will gain from testing and evaluating sensors from various contractors will not be used by SDL to develop and build competitive options for an objective system, any bias or perception of bias in SDL's test and evaluation of the various sensors will be minimal to nonexistent.