USAFA Flight Simulators

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE The US Air Force Academy (USAFA), 10th Contracting Squadron, intends to solicit within only one source, Merlin Products Limited, a business located in Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 8NS, United Kingdom, under the authority of Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFFARS) 5313.501 (41 U.S.C. 1901). The requirement is for flight simulators meeting the salient characteristics listed below. The NAICS code for this requirement is 333318. The size standard as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration is 1000. The anticipated award price of the contract is $1.77M and the Government has deemed Merlin Products Limited to be a responsible contractor with respect to performance. A SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE POSTED. Based on previous market research conducted, to include site visits to other universities and a Sources Sought notice posted on 16 October 2018 (notice# FA700019R0006), it was found that Merlin Products Limited was the only supplier of high-fidelity, full-motion, academic simulators. Therefore, the Government intends to proceed with this sole source action. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement. Interested concerns must show clear and convincing evidence that competition of this requirement would be advantageous to the Government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Responses and questions shall be submitted to ryan.mavis.2@us.af.mil. The Government bears no legal liability for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. Description of supplies: MP525 (Quantity: 2) with the following salient characteristics: Flight compartment: The system shall be designed with a two-seat, side-by-side, cockpit configuration with room for additional research equipment. The flight compartment shall be fully enclosed and easily accessible through doors on each side. Any mobile steps used to access the flight compartment shall be interlocked with the motion safety system. The visual scene shall be maximized inside the flight compartment to include at least three large screens (55 or larger). The system shall incorporate individual cockpit instrument touch displays with selectable pages for controlling the various systems of the aircraft and simulator. The cockpit shall have a sidestick mounted on the outboard side of the right seat and a center stick mounted in the left seat position. The control sticks shall incorporate digital force feedback with adjustable friction, dead bands, hard/soft stops, and damping functions. The dual rudder pedals shall be linked together and have adjustable friction, dead bands, hard/soft stops, and damping functions. Each seat shall have a four-point harness installed, and shall slide back and forward for ease of access, locking into position for flight. Speakers for simulated aircraft sounds shall be mounted in the flight compartment. CCTV cameras shall be installed in the flight compartment and the video feed displayed at the control station to monitor the pilots. The system shall have cockpit heads down instruments displays consisting of ASI, ALT, AI, DI, ROC, Turn and Slip, and engine instrumentation (fuel flow, tachometer, fuel totalizer). The exterior of the flight compartment shall display graphics of the department logo and USAF roundel. Motion system: The flight compartment shall be mounted on a full six-axis motion system to simulate the feel of the aircraft in flight. The motion system shall respond to the accelerations provided by the flight software, which result from the pilot inputs, aircraft environment, and flight dynamics of the aircraft at the given flight condition. The motion available shall consist of pitch, roll, yaw, heave, surge, and sway. The motion shall provide simultaneous excursions of at least +/- 20 degrees in all axes and accelerations of at least +/- 5 m/s^2 in surge, sway, and heave. The system shall have full safety interlocks including software and hardware limit cushions. A monitor, mouse and keyboard dedicated to the motion computer shall be provided at the operator station for the purposes of maintenance and diagnostics. The motion computer will auto boot at simulator power up. Emergency stop switches shall be available at the operator station. The motion system shall conform to all applicable federal, state, and local safety regulations. Flight Software: All software needed for the flight simulator operation shall be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software. The flight software shall support a fully nonlinear, transonic, real time, 6DOF simulation. The simulator software shall contain a built in GUI Editor for entry of geometry and airfoil data, with a standalone application that can be provided to students. The software shall support the entry and simulation of the following vehicle types: fixed wing (any configuration including swing wing, canard, bi-plane, multi-plane, box wing, and blended wing), fixed wing V/STOL , rotary wing, quad rotors, aerostats, low Earth orbit and rocket designs, or hybrid air vehicles The software shall come pre-loaded with example models of each vehicle type. The software shall support the following propulsion models: turbo jet, turbofan, turboprop, piston prop, or rocket motors. The software shall support the following vehicle customizations: multiple payloads for dynamic deployment in flight, aeroelastic compliance, P factor, lifting surfaces (any configuration), trailing edge controls surfaces (flaps, elevators, ailerons, flaperons, elevons), upper surface control devices (spoilers, speedbrakes, airbrakes), leading edge devices, and nose/tail wheel steering. The software shall support tuning of the aircraft stability derivatives or parameters for demonstration purposes to the students. The software shall support realtime integration of MATLAB/Simulink, with a full set of motion variables which can be modified using MATLAB or Simulink to effect control of the vehicle. The software shall provide a full environmental model based on the ISA standard atmosphere which extends from the surface of the Earth to the space vacuum. The software shall support custom controls mapping between the cockpit control inceptors and the aircraft control surfaces. The software shall provide a four-axis limited authority autopilot with customizable gains which provides user-selectable functions of stability augmentation, pitch and roll attitude control, automatic turn coordination, heading hold, altitude hold, attitude hold, and navigation modes. The software shall provide animated, photorealistic cockpit instruments to include airspeed indicator, altimeter, attitude indicator, heading indicator, rate of climb, turn and slip indicator, horizontal situation indicator, and radio stack. All instruments shall be touch-operated. The software shall provide multi-function panels for selectable display and control of aircraft systems, autopilots, payloads, or other vehicle controls such as aerostats. The software shall use a global datapool to allow additional computers to read and write on the datapool, for example with a MATLAB or Simulink application. The software shall allow the operator to record any combination of motion variables or parameters and save them to a file. The software shall support multiple simulators being linked together to fly in the same visual scene, with the aircraft appearance being controlled or provided through a customer-designed CAD model. The software shall allow additional vehicles (non-simulators) to be modeled and simulated together to fly in the same visual scene, with the aircraft appearance being controlled or provided through a customer-designed CAD model. The software shall be fully compatible with the annual - IT FLIES competition, enabling USAFA students to participate in the competition. The software shall allow the simulator operator to load pre-defined mission tasks for evaluation by the pilot, such as air-to-air tracking, air-to-ground tracking, or formation flying against a pre-programmed target vehicle. The software shall allow variation of the wind profile in flight including at least three levels of turbulence. The simulation shall run at a rate of 250Hz or higher, with visual graphics running at 60Hz or higher. Control Station: A control station shall be provided which allows the operator to control the simulator including power up, motion operations, and pilot monitoring. The control station shall include the necessary desks. The control station shall repeat any of the in-cockpit visual displays or instrument displays. The control station shall display the CCTV video feeds from inside the flight compartment. The control operator shall be able to communicate with each simulator separately or both simulators at the same time. A flight control unit shall be provided which allows the operator to take control of the simulated aircraft from the control station. The control station shall incorporate a minimum of five displays to maximize the information shown to the operator. The control stations shall allow for real-time simulated flight data collection and representation (strip charts, values, etc.) and export. The system shall have separate desktop simulation control stations (including desks) which are networked into the main simulation scene to provide autonomous air vehicles operating in the simulation scene along with the primary, piloted simulation aircraft. The desktop stations shall be capable of communication with the primary simulators and control station. Visuals: The visual graphics system shall support a continuous worldwide scene. The terrain shall support testing of terrain-following of piloted and non-piloted aircraft. The visual scenes shall incorporate 3D detailed visual models of the United States Air Force Academy (KAFF), Colorado Springs Regional Airport (KCOS), and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW). The airport models shall have the correct approach, taxiway, and apron lighting and the runways shall have the correct length, orientation, and elevation. The system shall provide 3-dimensional clouds and be subject to time of day and date visibility effects in the day and night, including sun/moon constellations. The visual scene shall incorporate a selectable heads-up display which shall be capable of acting as a primary flight reference, to include a flight path marker. The visual environmental effects shall be controllable from the operator station. Simulator Systems: Up to two rack-mount cabinets shall be provided and contain the electrical power subsystems and the custom simulation drive computers. To the maximum extent possible, the simulator systems shall be line replaceable units for ease of maintenance and upgrading. The simulator systems shall incorporate high-end processors and components to maximize the longevity of the system. The simulator systems shall incorporate components which are easily replaceable in the case of a failure or upgrade. The simulator shall have hardware fail safe systems built in for the protection of personnel operating, using, and maintaining the system. All systems shall operate without the need for hearing protection of the bystanders around the simulator. Documentation, Maintenance, and Support: An annual support package shall be made available which includes phone/email support, board replacements, fixing of software bugs, and one annual visit to perform maintenance checks and install updates. A maintenance manual shall be provided with system maintenance guidance and remove/replace procedures. User guides, maintenance manuals, and vendor documentation for any software or subsystems shall be provided. The simulator and associated systems shall be delivered with a 12 month warranty. Delivery: The system and system components shall be delivered with dimensions that are capable of fitting through an 86 inch high x 70 inch wide door, including all necessary packing material. The vendor shall install the delivered simulators, ensure their safe and proper operation, and offer them for final acceptance testing. The vendor shall provide a minimum 2-day training course and training materials to approximately ten DFAN faculty, technicians, and researchers. AFFARS 5352.201-9101 OMBUDSMAN (JUN 2016) (a) An ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The existence of the ombudsman does not affect the authority of the program manager, contracting officer, or source selection official. Further, the ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals, the source selection process, or the adjudication of protests or formal contract disputes. The ombudsman may refer the interested party to another official who can resolve the concern. (b) Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. Consulting an ombudsman does not alter or postpone the timelines for any other processes (e.g., agency level bid protests, GAO bid protests, requests for debriefings, employee-employer actions, contests of OMB Circular A-76 competition performance decisions). (c) If resolution cannot be made by the contracting officer, the interested party may contact the ombudsman, James Anderson 8110 Industrial Drive, STE 103 USAFA, CO 80840 Telephone number 719-333-2074 FAX 719-333-9018 Email: james.anderson.72@us.af.mil Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the Center/MAJCOM/DRU/SMC ombudsman level, may be brought by the interested party for further consideration to the Air Force ombudsman, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) (Contracting), SAF/AQC, 1060 Air Force Pentagon, Washington DC 20330-1060, phone number (571) 256-2395, facsimile number (571) 256-2431. (d) The ombudsman has no authority to render a decision that binds the agency. (e) Do not contact the ombudsman to request copies of the solicitation, verify offer due date, or clarify technical requirements. Such inquiries shall be directed to the Contracting Officer. (End of clause)