16--Sources Sought/Request For Information: Flight Data Recorders/Cockpit Voice Recorders for Apache, Blackhawk, and Cargo Aircraft.

NA The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) is seeking sources and request information related to an upcoming acquisition of Flight Data Recorders/Cockpit Voice Recorders (FDR/CVR) for the U.S. Army Apache, Blackhawk, and Chinook Helicopters. The U .S. Army is seeking Commercial Off The Shelf or Non-Developmental FDR/CVR devices which have military applications that meet the intent of the following Technical Description and available within the next 14 months. Estimates for the near term 2003 - 2009 time frame include 30 to 300 units. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: AIRCRAFT Flight Data Recorder/Cockpit Voice Recorder (FDR/CVR). 1. Scope: The FDR/CVR shall record voice audio and signals from data busses of Chinook CH-47F, Blackhawk UH-60M, and Apache AH-64A Helicopters. Thirteen hours (13) of flight data and one-half hour of voice data, per channel, minimum shall be storable in a non-volatile crash survivable memory unit (CSMU). Recorded data shall be extractible. Collected data shall primarily support aircraft accident investigation. 2. Data Recording: A minimum of sixty-four (64) MB of data shall be recordable from dual Mil-Std-1553 busses, ARINC-429 inputs, with growth capability to include IEEE 802.3, 100 Base T Ethernet data recording. The FDR/CVR shall also have growth for acce pting non-bussed source data for recording, e.g. transducers. Multiple independent parameters shall be recordable at different frequency rates. A minimum of four concurrent channels of audio shall be recordable. 3. Data Extraction: Data shall be extractable via a commercially standard port, or transfer media, with speed of downloading less than ten minutes maximum. Data shall be extracted without being corrupted. Data shall be extracted by segments or function al partitions, e.g. safety, maintenance, training, quality assurance, voice. The ability to limit portions of recorded data extraction to authorized personnel is required. An extraction and algorithm capability, e.g. hardware and/or software, shall be pr ovided to enable interrogation and display of recorded data in useful formats. 4. Qualification: The unit shall be qualified to ED-55 and ED-56A standards. A high level of component qualification is necessary, e.g. several mission elements of Mil-Std-461E as modified by ADS 37A. Qualification methods, and supporting data, shall m eet the requirements to obtain an Airworthiness Release; including performance, environmental (i.e. Mil-Std-810F, including gunfire vibration), and electromagnetic compatibility (e.g. level of E3 hardening). 5. Embedded Software Loading: The resident software version of the FDR/CVR shall be capable of updating to new version via commercially standard port while installed, using aircraft power. 6. Supportability: The unit shall be reliable, maintainable, and require no scheduled maintenance. 7. Craftsmanship: Unit shall have a high degree of electrical and airworthiness design, test, and manufacturing integrity: including the application of disciplined processes, procedures, and standards. 8. Built-In-Test: The unit shall have built-in-test and report, or indicate operational status. 9. General: The FDR/CVR shall be lightweight, compact, run on 28VDC per Mil-Std-704A, outer housing and CSMU shall be International Orange, and crashworthy. Recorded CSMU data shall not be corruptible. Unit shall operate while hard mounted in any physi cal orientation. 10. Health and Usage Monitoring (HUMS): While HUMS is not required; a non-proprietary growth capability to HUMS is required, including government purpose rights to reconfigure both on-aircraft parametric recordation software and extraction algorithms to ma tch new configurations of recorded data. The following is a list of specific concerns that you are requested to address as part of your initial response to this SS/RFI: a. For each of the paragraphs of the above Technical Description, please address how your FDR/CVR p roducts meet these parameters, providing specifics of the performance and operational characteristics. b. Can your current product load multiple embedded software programs, i.e. the embedded software for all three aircraft resident on all units? And can it determine and configure relative to the aircraft it is installed on, e.g. via connector pin strapping? Can your product be one Army configuration item for the three aircraft? If so, does the device have an automated marker system to discriminate betw een recorded data in the event the box is removed from one airframe type and installed on a different airframe type? c. Provide information on products that will include Ethernet, IEEE 802.3 100 Base T connectivity. d. Does your device support emerging technologies: including Flight Operations Quality Assurance; recording of other digital, discrete, and analog signals to support maintenance, engine, and training functions? e. Does your device have an underwater locator beacon? f. Does your device do wnload data that is readily readable or does it require some kind of formula applied to be able to understand in layman's terms and engineering units? g. Are there any proprietary aspects of retrieving any recorded data? For instance, in the process of extracting and processing data into useable form, is proprietary equipment or software needed? Likewise, are there any proprietary restrictions to the Government changing download or analysis software as parametric recordation requirements evolve from ver sion to version? Please provide information, not addressed in the Draft Specification, that you feel is of benefit to the U.S. Army user. A demonstration, as part of the face to face briefing is welcome. Each briefing shall be limited to one-hour in duration. Initial responses to this Sources Sought/Request For Information shall include a read ahead version of your brief, provided to Mr. Tim Kirkpatrick on or before 25 February 2003, in either hard copy or electronic medium, with electronic format being preferr ed. If hardcopy, please respond with not more than 15 pages of text and if electronic, not more than 25 PowerPoint slides. The U.S. Army encourages potential offerors to participate in a face to face meeting/briefing to be held at Redstone Arsenal, Alaba ma, to discuss your organization's capabilities on or about the week of March 4, 2003. No additional information is expected to be available during the Sources Sought/Request For Information period. Interested/qualified business sources that can provide the requirements in accordance with the technical description above are invited to submit information to include, a brief descriptive of their company's history, corporate capability with data to subst antiate qualifications, a list of examples demonstrating market competence, rough order magnitude (ROM) cost and availability data, manufacturing and delivery capabilities, and/or other market related information to include potential contractual vehicles a nd appropriate points of contract. Data provided to substantiate qualifications should include information on current products meeting the characteristics stated in this announcement and availability of products to meet this requirement. Please include t he name, telephone number, and email address of a corporate point of contact. Firms responding to this synopsis should state if they are a large, small, or small disadvantaged business. Potential Sources are encouraged to respond via email to: Mr. Tim Kirkpatrick, at contact@example.gov, or via postal service by mailing to: Commander, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Acquisition Center, ATTN: AMSAM-AC-AV-B/T . Kirkpatrick, Building 5678, Redstone Arsenal, AL, 35898, not later than 25 February 2003. This Sources Sought/Request For Information is for planning purposes only, and shall not be construed as a Request For Proposal (RFP) or as an obligation on the part of the U.S. Government to acquire any follow-on acquisitions. The Government will not award a contract on the basis of this Sources Sought/Request For Information or otherwise pay for the information solicited. No entitlement to payment of direct or ind irect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of responses to this Sources Sought/Request For Information and the Government use of this information.