D--Intent to Sole Source to Noetics Inc.

GovWorks on behalf of the Center for Army Analysis (CAA) intends on awarding a sole source contract to Noetics Inc of McLean Virginia. CAA is acquiring services in the form of continued development and maintenance of the Global Deployment Analysis System (GDAS). The Global Deployment Analysis System (GDAS) is a complex software system designed to analyze and simulate complex DOD transportation scenarios for the Center for Army Analysis (CAA). DOD transportation requirements are large-scale, multi-modal, time-constrained, with limited availability of lift assets, limited facility capabilities, difficult cargo matching constraints such as ammunition, strong dependence between coordinated movements, and numerous special handling needs. To schedule and simulate a realistic transportation solution, GDAS must evaluate complex tradeoffs in port selection, air/sea/rail/truck mode selection, cargo configuration such as containerization, assignment of individual vehicle manifests, vehicle routing with refueling, scheduling of vehicles on multiple trips, and scheduling of facility throughput capabilities. Each one of these decisions involves advanced research-level heuristic optimization algorithms which GDAS has integrated into its overall solution approach to analyze large-scale DOD transportation. Noetics developed and has provided direct support to CAA for GDAS for the last fifteen years under CAA guidance to explicitly model specialized but essential factors in DOD transportation. This evolution has made GDAS a unique and valuable analytic tool for CAA studies, but has increased the complexity of all its major software components. GDAS components include a database system, scheduling and simulation model, reporting and query tools, interactive map display capabilities, and data import/export interfaces to external systems, along with many hundreds of pages of documentation. Noetics generates some of the code by a unique process called auto-coding using code generator tools that are not part of the GDAS system itself. Noetics, Inc. has been the developer working with CAA to implement the GDAS software package from its inception. Noetics is directly familiar with all aspects of the database, model code, interfaces to external systems, and the scenario data itself, and Noetics has provided ongoing training for CAA personnel and immediate onsite assistance for CAA analytic requirements. Because of the limited budget of the proposed task order, the complexity and extended scope of the existing GDAS software, the short delivery time needed for implementing specific new features, and the requirement for immediate expertise in the GDAS algorithms and code, GovWorks intends to award a sole source task order to Noetics for continued maintenance and extension of the GDAS software. The use of Noetics in a sole source contract is a logical follow on and in accordance with FAR 6.302-1. Intended award date is October 11, 2004 and the total project length is estimated at 12 months. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Any questions regarding this effort should be directed to Mr. Alan Rumney, Contracting Specialist by email at contact@example.gov or by phone at +1 (555) 000-0000.