The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), Technology Evaluation Team (TET), in support of the Joint Product Director-Advanced Detection Systems (JPD-ADS), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, will be sponsoring a Technology Readiness Ev aluation (TRE 08-2) in FY 2008. The objective of this TRE is to independently evaluate advanced biological detector (trigger) and collector technologies for potential transition to the Joint Biological Tactical Detector System (JBTDS). The Joint Biologic al Defense Program is seeking detectors and collectors as well as combined detector/collector technologies that are lightweight, man-portable, battery operable, automated, and whose technologies are suitable for field application. Vendors both domestic a nd international are requested to respond to this opportunity as detailed in Parts I, II and III that follow. This announcement consists of three (3) parts: Part I - Background and Description, Part II - Technical Criteria and Testing, and Part III Submission of Information. PART I- Background and Description. Technology Readiness Evaluation (TRE) 08-2 is scheduled to start in June/July 2008 for approximately six (6) to eight (8) weeks. Plans are to conduct the TRE at a location to be determined (TBD). The Government will perform all aerosol detector and collector testing with invited vendor systems that meet the nominal performance criteria detailed in Part II. The invited vendors will have to operate their systems with limited perso nnel (one (1) or two (2) per system) and have a second system available at the test site for back up. Minimal training of Government personnel may be required for system start up, operations, and operator maintenance. Depending on the number of Fed Biz Op ps responses received the ECBC TET may invite vendors to participate in testing. The ECBC TET will review the White Paper responses as described below in Part III. Vendors will be required to present a briefing to the TET as described below in Part III. Vendors will be subsequently sent a Participation Package that will include more detailed technical information about the TRE test criteria, schedule and any logistics (to include decontamination of equipment). Vendors will be asked to respond to the Participation Package within thirty (30) days after notification is received. PART II Technical Criteria and Testing. The U.S. Army is seeking mature hardware that will attain an assigned Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or higher. . Each sy stem, described as a detector, aerosol sample collector, packaging, (not in hard sided shipping container), and 15 days of consumables (except batteries) shall weigh less than 37 lbs (T=O). Vendors should base their interest to participate on potential op erational and logistical cost as well as the following nominal performance criteria for the detector, collector or combined collector/detector: 1. Detector: a. Ability to distinguish air samples as biological threat versus non-biological threat in t he presence of interferents. b. Ability to detect the following: Bacteria (spore and vegetative), Virus, Toxoid, and one simulant within five (5) minutes. c. Size of the detector system is equal to or less than one (1) cubic foot in operational con figuration (not in hard sided shipping container). d. Continuous detector operations for greater than four (4) hours. e. Power Source: Standard Rechargeable and Non-Rechargeable Military Batteries and external 110-240 VAC. f. Communication port available. g. Hardening and ease of usage for field deployment operations. 2. Collector: a. Ability to automatically collect the following: Bacteria (spore and vegetative), Virus, Toxoid, and one simulant in the presence of Interferents with in five (5) minutes. b. Ability to collect aerosol samples from one (1) to ten (10) microns in size for confirmatory identification analysis. c. Size of t he collector system is equal to or less than one (1) cubic foot in operational configuration (not in hard sided shipping container). d. Continuous collector operations for greater than four (4) hours. e. Power Source: Standard Rechargeable and Non-R echargeable Military Batteries and external 110-240 VAC. f. Hardening and ease of usage for field deployment operations. 3. Detector/Collector a. Ability to automatically distinguish air samples as biological threat versus non-biological threa t in the presence of interferents and automatically trigger the collector to collect the following: Bacteria (spore and vegetative), Virus,Toxoid, and one simulant in the presence of Interferents within five (5) minutes. b. Ability to collect aerosol sa mples from one (1) to ten (10) microns in size for confirmatory identification analysis. c. Size of the detector/collector is equal to or less than two (2) cubic foot and the weight of the detector/collector is less than 37 lbs in tactical carry configu ration (not in hard sided shipping container) with packaging and consumables (except batteries). d. Continuous detector/collector operations for greater than four (4) hours. e. Power Source: Standard Rechargeable and Non-Rechargeable Military Batter ies and external 110-240 VAC. f. Communication port available. g. Hardening and ease of usage for field deployment operations. PART III - Submission of Information. Vendors desiring to respond to this request should provide the following information: 1. White Paper: Limit the number of pages to ten (10) total (Times New Roman, Font 12, one inch margins) excluding cover and photos included separately. Describe detector and collector technologies used, current state of technology an d capabilities to meet criteria stated in Part II, paragraphs 1, 2, and /or 3 describe testing completed, limits of detection and collection, power sources used and adaptable to, cubic dimensions (inches), any current commercial applications, describe ste p by step start up operation and operator level of knowledge required, state names and quantities of recurring supplies needed, provide a cost of system as presently configured and photographs of complete system and components. Five (5) paper copies of th e white paper and one (1) electronic copy; plus one (1) paper copy and an electronic copy of photos are required. 2. Briefing Presentation: The format for the technical presentation is Microsoft Power Point limited to 15 viewgraphs to describe each vendor system and its operations. The ECBC TET will coordinate the schedule and location of vendor presentations. An electronic copy of the presentation is required on Monday, two (2) days prior to the scheduled date. 3. Questionnaire: Vendors will h ave to respond to questions that request a more detailed response of information about their system. Copies of the Questionnaire will be made available to vendor by March 7, 2008. Electronic reply of the questionnaire will be required. To be responsive to this announcement, vendors must supply their information as requested in writing to U.S. Army Research, Development,, and Engineering Command (RDECOM), 5183 Blackhawk Road, ATTN: AMSRD-ECB-RT-DE (Daniel M. Nowak), Building E3326, Aberdeen Proving Grou nd, MD 21010, as follows: 1. White Paper Tuesday,, 4 March 2008 2. Questionnaire Monday, 17 March 2008 3. Briefing Presentation Wednesday, 19 March 2008. Concurrently an electronic copy of each document will be placed in this Dro p Box.: Access to the ECBC Drop Box is as follows and good from any Browser https://dropbox.apgea.army.mil/cgi-bin/dropbox.pl The recipient email address for the Drop Box is
contact@example.gov. ONLY PDF FORMAT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR INFORMATION SUBMITTED. Your files will have a special prefix designation of TRE 08-2, followed by your company name, and then the name of the file. For example: TRE 08-2_ONI-Art_white paper.pdf. DO NOT use blank spaces in the file name and the file name is not character sensitive. Electronic submissions will be accepted, but not in place of the written submissions. Vendors are requested to provide the name of Con tact Person for their company, telephone number, FAX number, email and complete address with each submission of data. The U.S. Army is under no obligation to select any participating technologies. TRE 08-2 will offer participants an opportunity to obta in unique performance data about their system as a result of this evaluation. Each participating vendor will receive a report about the performance of their system resulting from the TRE.
