SBIR 00-1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR: Small Business Innovation Research Program Solicitation A searchable version of this document is located at: http://sbir.nasa.gov Opening Date: April 24, 2000 Closing Date: July 14, 2000 2000 NASA Small Business Innovation Research Program Solicitation 1. Program Description 1.1 Introduction The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invites eligible small business concerns (SBCs) to submit Phase-I proposals for its 2000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. NASA seeks innovative concepts addressing the program needs and offering commercial application potential as described in the Solicitation subtopics. This Solicitation contains program background information, outlines eligibility requirements for participants, describes the three SBIR program phases, and provides information for submitting responsive proposals. The 2000 Solicitation period for Phase-I proposals begins April 24, 2000 and ends July 14, 2000. Unsolicited proposals will not be accepted. To be eligible for selection, a proposal must be based on an innovation having high technical or scientific merit that is responsive to a NASA need described by a subtopic in this Solicitation. Proposals involving high risk are encouraged when the anticipated payoff is great. Proposals submitted in response to this Solicitation must include all relevant documentation as required in Section 3. A proposal directed towards system studies, market research, routine engineering development of existing products or proven concepts and modifications of existing products without innovative changes is considered non-responsive. Selection preference will be given to eligible proposals where the innovations are judged to have significant potential for commercial application. Subject to the availability of funds, NASA plans to select about 290 proposals in mid-October 2000 for negotiation of Phase-I fixed-price contracts. NASA anticipates that about 40 percent of these Phase-I projects will be selected for Phase-II. The FY 2000 NASA SBIR Program budget is approximately $92.1M. 1.2 Program Background 1.2.1 Legislative Basis. This Solicitation is issued pursuant to the authority contained in P.L. 97-219, as amended (Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982) (15 U.S.C. 638). SBIR policy is provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through its Policy Directive dated January 26, 1993. The current law authorizes agencies participating in the SBIR Program to expend with small business concerns not less than 2.5 percent of their extramural Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) budgets in FY 2000. 1.2.2 Program Purposes. The purposes of the SBIR program as established by law are: to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector; to strengthen the role of small business concerns in meeting federal research and development needs; to increase the commercial application of these research results; and to encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged persons and women-owned small businesses. 1.3 Program Management The NASA Office of Aero-Space Technology provides overall policy direction for the SBIR program. The Program Management Office is hosted at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The NASA Installations identify R&D needs, evaluate proposals, make recommendations for selections, and manage individual projects. All NASA Strategic Enterprises and Field Installations participate in the Program. NASA installations are: Ames Research Center, www.arc.nasa.gov Dryden Flight Research Center, www.dfrc.nasa.gov Glenn Research Center, www.grc.nasa.gov Goddard Space Flight Center, www.gsfc.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Laboratory, www.jpl.nasa.gov Johnson Space Center, www.jsc.nasa.gov Kennedy Space Center, www.ksc.nasa.gov Langley Research Center, www.larc.nasa.gov Marshall Space Flight Center, www.msfc.nasa.gov NASA Headquarters, www.hq.nasa.gov Stennis Space Center, www.ssc.nasa.gov 1.4 Three Phase SBIR Program The NASA SBIR Program is a three-phase program utilizing the entrepreneurial talents of the SBC for meeting the needs of both NASA and the commercial marketplace. 1.4.1 Phase-I. The purpose of Phase-I is to determine the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of the proposed innovation, and the quality of the SBC's performance with a relatively small NASA investment before consideration of further Federal support in Phase-II. NASA funding for each Phase-I contract is limited to $70,000. Contractors have up to 6 months to submit their final report. Successful completion of Phase-I objectives is a prerequisite to Phase-II consideration. Phase-I must concentrate on establishing the scientific or technical merit and feasibility of the proposed innovation and on providing a basis for continued development in Phase-II. Proposals must conform to the format described in Section 3.2 of this Solicitation. Evaluation and selection criteria are described in Section 4.1. NASA is solely responsible for determining the relative merit of proposals, their selection for award, and judging the value of Phase-I results. 1.4.2 Phase-II. The objective of Phase-II is to continue the R/R&D effort from Phase-I. Only SBCs awarded Phase-I contracts are eligible for Phase-II SBIR funding agreements, and only at the Federal Agency which awarded the Phase-I project. The Government is not obligated to fund any specific SBIR Phase-II proposal. Funding for each Phase-II contract will be limited to $600,000. Contractors have up to 24 months to complete the effort and submit their final report. Phase-II projects are chosen as a result of competitive evaluations based on selection criteria provided in Section 4.2. Phase-II proposals are more comprehensive than those required for Phase-I and are to be prepared in accordance with instructions provided in the Phase-I contract. 1.4.3 Phase-III. NASA may award Phase-III contracts for products or services with non-SBIR funds. Phase-I and Phase-II awards satisfy the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act for subsequent NASA Phase-III contracting. The small business is also expected to use non-Federal capital to pursue private sector applications of the R/R&D effort. 1.5 Eligibility to Participate in the SBIR Program 1.5.1 Small Business Concern. Only firms qualifying as SBCs as defined in Section 2.1 of this Solicitation are eligible to participate in the SBIR program. Socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned SBCs are particularly encouraged to propose. 1.5.2 Place of Performance. For both Phase-I and Phase-II, the R/R&D must be performed in the United States (Section 2.7). 1.5.3 Principal Investigator. The Principal Investigator (PI) is considered key to the success of the effort and must make a substantial commitment to the project. The following requirements are applicable: Functions. The functions of the PI are: planning and directing the SBIR project; leading it technically and making substantial personal contributions during its implementation; serving as the primary contact with NASA on the project; and ensuring that the work proceeds according to contract agreements. Competent management of PI functions is essential to project success. The Phase-I proposal shall describe the nature of the PI's activities and the amount of time that the PI will apply personally on the project. The amount of time the PI proposes to spend on the project must be acceptable to the NASA contracting officer. Qualifications. The qualifications and capabilities of the proposed PI and the basis for PI selection are to be clearly presented in the proposal. NASA has the sole right to accept or reject a substitute PI based on factors such as education, experience, demonstrated ability and competence, and any other evidence related to the specific assignment. Primary Employment. The offeror must certify in the proposal that the primary employment of the PI will be with the SBC at the time of award and during the conduct of the project. Primary employment means that the PI will average a minimum of 20 hours per week with the SBC, and that more than half of the PI's total employed time (including all concurrent employers, consulting, and self- employed time) is spent with the SBC. If the PI does not meet these primary employment requirements, the offeror must explain how these requirements will be met if the proposal is selected for contract negotiations that may lead to an award. Employees of Academic and Non-Profit Organizations. An offeror proposing a PI who is also to be employed concurrently in any capacity by an academic or non- profit organization must include, as part of the proposal, a written release statement. The PI release statement shall approve concurrent primary employment with the SBC as defined above, and agree to less than half-time employment by the organization beginning no later than the time of NASA SBIR contract award and continuing thereafter during contract performance. The organization must specifically release the employee from all duties, responsibilities, and activities required by or implied by employment in that position as much as or more than half-time. Proposals that do not include the required written release statement may be rejected. Co-Principal Investigators. Co-PI's are not acceptable. Misrepresentation or Substitution. Substitution of a PI by the offeror at any time without NASA's advance written approval, or misrepresentation of PI qualifications and eligibility, will result in rejection of the proposal or termination of the contract. 1.6 General Information 1.6.1 Solicitation Distribution. This 2000 SBIR Program Solicitation is available via the NASA SBIR/STTR homepage (http://sbir.nasa.gov). If the SBC has difficulty accessing the Solicitation, contact the Help Desk (Section 1.6.2). SBCs are encouraged to check the SBIR/STTR homepage for program updates. Any updates or corrections to the Solicitation will be posted there. 1.6.2 Means of Contacting NASA SBIR Program 1. NASA SBIR/STTR Homepage: http://sbir.nasa.gov 2. Each of the NASA field centers has its own homepage including strategic planning and SBIR information. Please consult these homepages as noted in Section 1.3 for more details on the technology requirements within the subtopic areas. 3. Help Desk. For inquiries, requests, and help-related questions, contact via: e-mail sbir@reisys.com telephone 301-937-0888 between 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Mon.-Fri., Eastern Time) facsimile 301-937-0204 The requestor must provide the name and telephone number of the person to contact, the organization name and address, and the specific questions or requests. 4. NASA SBIR/STTR Program Manager. Specific information requests that could not be answered by the Help Desk should be mailed to: Paul Mexcur, Program Manager NASA SBIR/STTR Program Management Office Code 710, Building 3, Room 108 Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771-0001 1.6.3 Questions About This Solicitation. To ensure fairness, questions relating to the intent and/or content of research topics in this Solicitation cannot be answered during the Phase-I Solicitation period. Only questions requesting clarification of proposal instructions and administrative matters will be answered. 2. Definitions 2.1 Small Business Concern An SBC is one that, at the time of award of Phase-I and Phase-II funding agreements, meets the following criteria: 1. Is independently owned and operated, is not dominant in the field of operation in which it is proposing, has its principal place of business located in the United States, and is organized for profit; 2. Is at least 51 percent owned, or in the case of a publicly-owned business, at least 51 percent of its voting stock is owned by United States citizens or lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens; and 3. Has, including its affiliates, a number of employees not exceeding 500 and meets the other regulatory requirements found in 13 CFR Part 121. Business concerns, other than investment companies licensed, or state development companies qualifying under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, 15 U.S.C. 661, et seq., are affiliates of one another when, either directly or indirectly, 1) one concern controls or has the power to control the other or 2) a third party controls or has the power to control both. Control can be exercised through common ownership, common management, and contractual relationships. The terms "affiliates" and "number of employees" are defined in greater detail in 13 CFR 121. Small business concerns include sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, joint ventures, associations, or cooperatives. Eligible joint ventures are limited to no more than 49 percent participation by foreign business entities. 2.2 Research or Research and Development (R/R&D) Any activity that is 1) a systematic, intensive study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the subject studied, 2) a systematic study directed specifically toward applying new knowledge to meet a recognized need, or 3) a systematic application of knowledge toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including the design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet specific requirements. 2.3 Subcontract Any agreement, other than one involving an employer-employee relationship, entered into by a Federal Government contractor calling for supplies or services required solely for the performance of the original funding agreement. 2.4 Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Small Business Concern A socially and economically disadvantaged SBC is one that is: 1) at least 51 percent owned by (i) an Indian tribe or a native Hawaiian organization or (ii) one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; and 2) whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. 2.5 Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual A member of any of the following groups: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Subcontinent-Asian Americans, other groups designated from time to time by SBA to be socially disadvantaged, or any other individual found to be socially and economically disadvantaged by SBA pursuant to Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 637(a). 2.6 Women-Owned Small Business A women-owned SBC is one that is at least 51 percent owned by a woman or women who also control and operate it. "Control" in this context means exercising the power to make policy decisions. "Operate" in this context means being actively involved in the day-to-day management. 2.7 United States Means the 50 states, the territories and possessions of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the District of Columbia. 2.8 Commercialization Commercialization is a process of developing markets and producing and delivering products or services for sale (whether by the originating party or by others). As used here, commercialization includes both Government and non- government markets. 3. Proposal Preparation Instructions and Requirements 3.1 Fundamental Considerations Multiple Proposal Submissions. An offeror may submit different proposals in response to any number of subtopics, but every proposal must be based on an unique innovation, must be limited in scope to just one subtopic, and may be submitted only under that subtopic. Submitting substantially equivalent proposals to several subtopics is not permitted and may result in all such proposals being rejected without evaluation. End Deliverables. The deliverable item at the end of a Phase-I contract shall be a professional quality report that justifies, validates, and defends the experimental and theoretical work accomplished. Delivery of a product or service with the Phase-I report may be desirable, but it is not a requirement. Deliverable items for Phase-II contracts shall include products or services in addition to professional quality reports of further developments or applications of the Phase-I results. These deliverables may include prototypes, models, software, or complete products or services. The reported results of Phase-II must address and provide the basis for validating the innovation and the potential for implementation of commercial applications. Note: As part of the Phase-I and Phase-II deliverables, a non-proprietary technical abstract of findings shall be submitted by the offeror via the SBIR/STTR homepage. 3.2 Phase-I Proposal Requirements 3.2.1 General Requirements Page Limitation. A Phase-I SBIR proposal shall not exceed a total of 25 tandard 8 1/2 x 11 inch (21.6 x 27.9 cm) pages. A page is defined as a single side of a piece of paper. All four proposal items required in Section 3.2.2 will be included within this total. Each page shall be numbered consecutively at the bottom. Margins should be 1.0 inch (2.5 cm). Samples, videotapes, slides, or other ancillary items will not be accepted. Offerors are requested not to use the entire 25-page allowance unless necessary. Proposals exceeding the 25 page limitation will be rejected during administrative screening. The program would prefer proposals prepared on both sides of the paper, if possible. Type Size. No type size smaller than 10 point is to be used for text or tables, except as legends on reduced drawings. Proposals prepared with smaller font sizes will be rejected without consideration. Brevity and Organization. The proposal should be focused, concise, and organized in accordance with the Solicitation requirements. Classified Information. NASA does not accept SBIR proposals that contain classified information. 3.2.2 Format Requirements. All required items of information must be covered in the proposal. The space allocated to each part of the technical proposal will depend on the project chosen and the offeror's approach. Each proposal submitted must contain the following in the order presented: 1. Proposal Cover (Form 9A), signed in ink, as page 1. 2. Proposal Summary (Form 9B), as page 2. 3. Technical Proposal (11 Parts), including all graphics, and starting at page 3 with a table of contents. 4. Summary Budget (Form 9C), signed in ink. 3.2.3 Proposal Cover and Proposal Summary Page 1: Proposal Cover (Form 9A). A copy of the Proposal Cover is provided in Section 9. The offeror shall provide complete information for each item and submit the form as required in Section 6. The proposal project title shall be concise and descriptive of the proposed effort. The title should not use acronyms or words like "Development of" or "Study of." The NASA research topic title must not be used as the proposal title. Page 2: Proposal Summary (Form 9B). A copy of the Proposal Summary is provided in Section 9. The offeror shall provide complete information for each item and submit Form 9B as required in Section 6. The technical abstract portion is limited to 200 words and shall summarize the implications of the approach and the anticipated results of both Phase-I and Phase-II. Potential commercial applications of the technology should also be presented. If the technical abstract is judged to be non-responsive to the subtopic, the proposal will be rejected without further evaluation. Note: Forms 9A and 9B, the Proposal Cover and the Proposal Summary, including the Technical Abstract, are public information and may be disclosed. Do not include proprietary information. 3.2.4 Technical Proposal. This part of the submission shall not contain any budget data and must consist of all eleven parts listed below in the given order and numbered. A proposal omitting any part will be considered non-responsive to this Solicitation and may be rejected during administrative screening. Parts that are not applicable must be noted as "Not Applicable." Part 1: Table of Contents. Page 3 of the proposal shall begin with a brief table of contents indicating the page numbers of each of the parts of the proposal. Part 2: Identification and Significance of the Innovation. The first paragraph of Part 2 shall contain 1) a clear and succinct statement of the specific innovation proposed, and why it is an innovation, and 2) a brief explanation of how the innovation is relevant and important to meeting the technology need described in the subtopic. The initial paragraph shall contain no more than 200 words. NASA will reject proposals that lack explanation of the innovation. In subsequent paragraphs, Part 2 may also include appropriate background and elaboration to explain the proposed innovation. Part 3: Technical Objectives. State the specific objectives of the Phase-I R/R&D effort including the technical questions that must be answered to determine the feasibility of the proposed innovation. Part 4: Work Plan. Phase-I R/R&D should address the objectives and questions cited in Part 3. The work plan should indicate what will be done, where it will be done, and how it will be done. The methods planned to achieve each objective or task should be discussed in detail. Schedules, task descriptions and assignments, resource allocations, estimated task hours for each key personnel, and planned accomplishments including project milestones shall be included. Part 5: Related R/R&D. Describe significant current and/or previous R/R&D that is directly related to the proposal including any conducted by the principal investigator or by the offeror. Describe how it relates to the proposed effort and any planned coordination with outside sources. The offeror must persuade reviewers of his or her awareness of key recent R/R&D conducted by others in the specific subject area. At the offeror's option, this section may include concise bibliographic references in support of the proposal if they are confined to activities directly related to the proposed work. Part 6: Key Personnel and Bibliography of Directly Related Work. Identify key personnel involved in Phase-I activities. Key personnel are the principal investigator and other individuals whose expertise and functions are essential to the success of the project. Provide bibliographic information including directly related education and experience. This part shall also establish and confirm the eligibility of the principal investigator (Section 1.5.3), and indicate the extent to which other proposals recently submitted or planned for submission in 2000 and existing projects commit the time of PI concurrently with this proposed activity. Any attempt to circumvent the restriction on PIs working more than half-time for an academic or a non-profit organization by substituting an ineligible PI will result in rejection of the proposal. Part 7: Relationship with Phase-II or Future R/R&D. State the anticipated results of the proposed R/R&D effort if the project is successful (through Phase-I and Phase-II). Discuss the significance of the Phase-I effort in providing a foundation for the Phase-II R/R&D continuation. Part 8: Company Information and Facilities. Provide adequate information to allow the evaluators to assess the ability of the SBC team to carry out the proposed Phase-I and projected Phase-II and Phase-III activities. The offeror should describe the relevant facilities and equipment currently available, and those to be purchased, to support the proposed activities. NASA will not fund the acquisition of equipment, instrumentation, or facilities under SBIR Phase-I contracts as a direct cost (Section 5.17). The capability of the offeror to perform the proposed activities and bring a resulting product or service to market must be indicated. Qualifications of the offeror and its principals in marketing-related products or services or in raising capital should be presented. If an offeror proposes the use of unique or one-of-a-kind Government facilities, a statement, describing the uniqueness of the facility and its availability to the offeror at specified times, signed by the appropriate Government official must be included with the proposal. Proposals lacking this signed statement may be rejected without evaluation. If the proposer does not require the use of Government facilities or equipment, the proposer shall so state in this part of the proposal. Part 9: Subcontracts and Consultants. The SBC may establish business arrangements with other entities or individuals to participate in performance of the proposed R/R&D effort provided such arrangements do not exceed one-third of the research and/or analytical work (amount requested including cost sharing if any, less fee, if any). The offeror must describe all subcontracting or other business arrangements, and identify the relevant organizations and/or individuals with whom arrangements are planned. The proposal must include a signed statement by each participating organization or individual that they will be available at the times required for the purposes and extent of effort described in the proposal. Failure to provide certification(s) may result in rejection of the proposal. The expertise to be provided by entities other than the SBC must be described in detail, as well as the functions, services, number of hours and labor rates, and their extent of the effort. The proposal must include certifications by each participating organization and individual consultant that they will be available at the times required for the purposes and extent of effort described in the proposal. Subcontractors' and consultants' work must be performed in the United States. Part 10: Commercial Applications Potential. The commercial potential of the proposed SBIR project is a significant evaluation factor (Section 4.1.2). Therefore, offerors will discuss in this section the broad commercial applications for their project results and plans to bring the technology to commercial application. Offerors should discuss the following: 1) The specific commercial products or services contemplated and the corresponding target market niche; 2) Expected unique competitive advantage of the commercial products or services; 3) Nature of the corresponding contemplated commercial venture; 4) Importance of the contemplated commercial venture to the offeror's current competitive position and to its strategic planning; and 5) The offeror's capability and plans to bring the necessary physical, personnel, and financial resources to bear, in a timely way, to result in a viable commercial venture in the near term subsequent to Phase-II (if awarded). Part 11: Similar Proposals and Awards. A firm may elect to submit proposals for essentially equivalent work under other federal program solicitations. However, NASA will not fund duplicate proposals for essentially equivalent work under any Government program. The offeror will inform NASA of related proposals and awards and clearly state whether the SBC has submitted currently active proposals for similar work under other Federal Government program solicitations or intends to submit proposals for such work to other agencies during 2000. For all such cases, the following information is required: 1) The name and address of the agencies to which proposals have been or will be submitted, or from which awards have been received; 2) Dates of such proposal submissions or awards; 3) Title, number, and date of solicitations under which proposals have been or will be submitted or awards received; 4) The specific applicable research topic for each such proposal submitted or award received; 5) Titles of research projects; 6) Name and title of the principal investigator/project manager for each proposal that has been or will be submitted, or from which awards have been received. Note: All eleven (11) parts must be included. Parts that are not applicable must be included and marked "Not Applicable." 3.2.5 Proposed Budget Summary Budget (Form 9C). The offeror shall complete the Summary Budget, following the instructions provided with the form (Section 9) and include it and any explanation sheets, if needed, as the last page(s) of the proposal. Information shall be submitted to explain the offeror's plans for use of the requested funds to enable NASA to determine whether the proposed budget is fair and reasonable. Property. NASA will not fund facility acquisition under Phase-I (Section 5.17). Proposed costs for materials may be included. "Materials" means property that may be incorporated or attached to a deliverable end item or that may be consumed or expended in performing the contract. It includes assemblies, components, parts, raw materials, and small tools that may be consumed in normal use. Any purchase of equipment or products under an SBIR contract using NASA funds should be American-made to the extent possible. Travel. Travel during Phase-I is not normally allowed to prove technical merit and feasibility of the proposed innovation. However, where the offeror deems travel to be essential for these purposes, it is necessary to limit it to one person, one trip to the sponsoring NASA installation. Proposed travel must be described as to purpose and benefits in proving feasibility, and is subject to negotiation and approval by the contracting officer. Trips to conferences are not allowed under the Phase-I contract. Profit. A profit or fee may be included in the proposed budget as noted in Section 5.12. Cost Sharing. See Section 5.11. 3.2.6 Addendum Prior SBIR Phase-II Awards. The Small Business Administration requires offerors, who have received more than 15 Phase-II awards from all agencies in the prior 5 fiscal years, to report those awards and their progress toward commercialization. The listing of awards shall be included in a separate "Addendum: Phase-II History" that will not be counted against the Phase-I 25- page proposal limit. The Addendum should be concise. Information for each Phase-II contract shall include: 1. Name of awarding agency 2. Date of award and date of completion 3. Funding agreement number and amount 4. Topic or subtopic name 5. Project title 6. Sources, dates and amounts of federal and/or private sector Phase-III follow-on funding agreements 7. Post-Phase-II commercialization activities, including development, marketing, sales, and projections Prior NASA SBIR Awards. Provide a list of NASA SBIR Phase-I and Phase-II awards received, showing contract numbers, the year of award, Phase-I or Phase-II, the NASA Installations making the award, and project titles. Note: Companies with Prior NASA SBIR Awards NASA has instituted a comprehensive commercialization survey/data gathering process for companies with prior NASA SBIR awards. Information received from SBIR companies completing the survey is kept confidential, and will not be made public except in broad aggregate, with no company specific attribution. Responding to the survey is strictly voluntary. However, the SBIR Source Selection Official does see the information contained within the survey as adding to the program's ability to use past performance in decision making. If you have not completed a survey, or if you would like to update a previously submitted response, please contact Jack Yadvish at NASA Headquarters by email at jyadvish@mail.hq.nasa.gov, or phone at 202-358-1981. 3.3 Phase-II Proposal Requirements The Phase-I contract will serve as a request for proposal (RFP) for the Phase-II follow-on project. Phase-II proposals are more comprehensive than those required for Phase-I. Submission of a Phase-II proposal is strictly voluntary and NASA assumes no responsibility for any proposal preparation expenses. Proposal Contents. Proposals shall be prepared in the following order. Failure to include any requested information in the proposal may make it non-responsive to the RFP. The proposal shall not contain any budget data and must consist of all 13 parts numbered and in following order. A proposal omitting any part will be considered non-responsive to this Solicitation and may be rejected during administrative screening. Part 1: Proposal Cover. (Form provided by awarding Center) Part 2: Proposal Summary. (Form provided by awarding Center) Part 3: Table of Contents. Part 4: Results of the Phase-I Project. Briefly describe how Phase-I has proven the feasibility of the innovation, provided a rationale for both NASA and commercial applications, and demonstrated the ability of the offeror to conduct R/R&D. Part 5: Technical Objectives, Approach and Work Plan. Define the specific objectives of the Phase-II research and technical approach; and provide a work plan defining specific tasks, performance schedules, milestones, and deliverables. Part 6: Company Information. Describe the capability of the firm to carry out Phase-II and Phase-III activities including its organization, operations, number of employees, R/R&D capabilities, and experience relevant to the work proposed. Part 7: Facilities and Equipment. This section shall provide adequate information to allow the evaluators to assess the ability of the SBC to carry out the proposed Phase-II activities. The offeror should describe the relevant facilities and equipment currently available, and those to be purchased, to support the proposed activities. NASA will not fund the acquisition of equipment, instrumentation, or facilities under SBIR Phase-II contracts as a direct cost (Section 5.17). If an offeror proposes the use of unique or one-of-a-kind Government facilities, a statement, describing the uniqueness of the facility and its availability to the offeror at specified times, signed by the appropriate Government official must be included with the proposal. Proposals lacking this signed statement may be rejected without evaluation. If the proposal does not require the use of Government facilities or equipment, the offeror shall so state in this part of the proposal. Part 8: Key Personnel. Identify the key personnel for the project, confirm their availability for Phase-II, and discuss their qualifications in terms of education, work experience, and accomplishments relevant to the project. Part 9: Subcontracts and Consultants. Describe in detail any subcontract, consultant, or other business arrangements involving participation in performance of the proposed R/R&D effort and provide written evidence of their availability for the project. For Phase-II, a minimum of one-half of the work (contract cost less profit) must be performed by the proposing SBC unless approved in writing by the contracting officer. The proposal must include a commitment from each subcontractor and/or consultant that they will be available at the times required for the purposes and extent of effort described in the proposal. Subcontractors and consultants work must be performed in the United States. Failure to provide subcontractor/consultant commitments may result in rejection of proposal. Part 10: Commercialization and Phase-III Plans. Describe plans for commercialization (Phase-III) in terms of each of the following areas: (1) Product or Service Commercial Feasibility: Provide a description of the (a) contemplated commercial product and/or service, the corresponding commercial venture, and the unique competitive advantage of both; and (b) technical obstacles to commercial applications, as well as plans to address them. (2) Market Feasibility and Competition: Describe: (a) the target market niche including the distinction between U.S. Government and other markets; (b) estimated potential market size in terms of revenues to be realized by the offer from U.S. Government markets and, separately, from other markets; (c) competitive environment in terms of present and likely competing similar and alternative technologies, and corresponding competing domestic and foreign entities; (d) significant developments within the targeted business sector; and (e) offeror's ability, if any, to protect relevant technology with patents or rights to exclusive access. (3) Strategic Relevance to the Offeror: Describe the relevance of the targeted commercial venture to the offeror's: (a) current business segments; (b) relative position with respect to its competitors; and (c) strategic planning for the next 5 years. (4) Key Management, Technical Personnel and Organizational Structure: Describe: (a) the skills and experience of key management and technical personnel relevant to bringing innovative technology to commercial application, (b) current organizational structure, and (c) plans and timeline for obtaining the balance of all necessary key business development expertise and other staffing requirements. (5) Production and Operations: Describe: (a) business development progress to date regarding the contemplated commercial venture; (b) obstacles, plans, and associated milestones regarding all key business development elements; and (c) sources and components of private physical resources committed to date and plans for obtaining the balance of the necessary physical resources. (6) Financial Planning: Describe: (a) the amounts and sources of private financial resources expended and committed to date with respect to the technology development project, and with respect to business development of the targeted commercial venture; (b) significant requirements of potential investors, creditors, and insurers of the venture; (c) proforma statement of cash flow with respect to the targeted commercial venture that includes best estimates of at least the following major components and timing thereof: capital investment, revenues, principal and interest payments, depreciation of relevant assets, other operating expenses; and (d) evidence of the offeror's current financial strength (audited or unaudited financial statements may be appended to address this). Part 11: Capital Commitments Supporting Phase-II and Phase-III. Describe and document capital commitments from non-SBIR sources or from internal funds for pursuit of Phase-II and Phase-III. Offerors for Phase-II contracts are strongly urged to obtain valid non-SBIR funding support commitments for follow-on Phase-III activities and additional support of Phase-II from parties other than the proposing firm. Valid funding support commitments must provide that a specific, substantial amount will be made available to the firm to pursue the stated Phase-II and/or Phase-III objectives. They must indicate the source, date, and conditions or contingencies under which the funds will be made available. Alternatively, self-commitments of the same type and magnitude that are required from outside sources can be considered. If Phase-III will be funded internally, offerors should describe their financial position. Evidence of funding support commitments from outside parties must be provided in writing to the proposing entity and should accompany the Phase-II proposal. Letters of commitment should specify available funding commitments, other resources to be provided, and any contingent conditions. Expressions of technical interest by such parties in the Phase-II research or of potential future financial support are insufficient and will not be accepted as support commitments by NASA. Part 12: Related R/R&D. Describe R/R&D related to the proposed work and affirm that the proposed objectives have not already been achieved and that the same development is not presently being pursued elsewhere under contract to the Government. Part 13: Proposal Pricing. Special instructions for pricing the Phase-II proposal will be presented in the Phase-I contract and may be provided by the contracting officer. 4. Method of Selection and Evaluation Criteria 4.1 Phase-I Proposals Proposals judged to be responsive to the administrative requirements of this Solicitation and having a reasonable potential of meeting a NASA need, as evidenced by the technical abstract included in the Proposal Summary (Form 9B), will be evaluated on a competitive basis. 4.1.1 Evaluation Process. Proposals should provide all information needed for complete evaluation and evaluators are not expected to seek additional information. Evaluations will be performed by NASA scientists and engineers and by qualified experts outside of NASA (including industry, academia, and other Government agencies) as required to determine or verify the merit of a proposal. Offerors should not assume that evaluators are acquainted with the firm, key individuals, or with any experiments or other information. Any pertinent references or publications should be noted in Part 5 of the technical proposal. 4.1.2 Phase-I Evaluation Criteria. NASA will give primary consideration to the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of the proposal and its benefit to NASA. Each proposal will be judged and scored on its own merits using the factors described below: Factor 1. Scientific/Technical Merit and Feasibility The proposed R/R&D effort will be evaluated on whether it offers a clearly innovative and feasible technical approach to the NASA problem area described in the subtopic. Specific objectives, approaches and plans for developing and verifying the innovation must demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem and the current state-of-the-art. The degree of understanding and significance of the risks involved in the proposed innovation must be presented. Factor 2. Experience, Qualifications and Facilities The technical capabilities and experience of the principal investigator or project manager, key personnel, staff, consultants and subcontractors, if any, are evaluated for consistency with the research effort and their degree of commitment and availability. The necessary instrumentation or facilities required must be shown to be adequate and any reliance on external sources, such as Government Furnished Equipment or Facilities, addressed (Section 5.17). Factor 3. Effectiveness of the Proposed Work Plan The work plan will be reviewed for its comprehensiveness, effective use of available resources, cost management and proposed schedule for meeting the Phase-I objectives. The methods planned to achieve each objective or task should be discussed in detail. Factor 4. Commercial Merit and Feasibility The proposal will be evaluated for any potential commercial applications in the private sector or for use by the Federal Government. Scoring of Factors and Weighting: Factors 1, 2 and 3 will be scored numerically with Factor 1 worth 50 percent and Factors 2 and 3 each worth 25 percent. The sum of the scores for Factors 1, 2, and 3 will comprise the Technical Merit score. The score for Commercial Merit will be in the form of an adjectival rating (Excellent, Very Good, Average, Below Average, Poor, Insufficient Data). For Phase 1 proposals, Technical Merit carries more weight than Commercial Merit. 4.1.3 Selection. After a proposal is reviewed based on the stated evaluation criteria, it will be ranked relative to all other proposals. Selection decisions will consider the recommendations from all Centers, Strategic Enterprises, overall NASA priorities, and program balance. The SBIR Source Selection Official has the final authority for choosing the specific proposals for contract negotiation. Firms selected for negotiations that may lead to an award will be notified by e- mail. The list of selections will be announced in a NASA press release and will also be posted on the NASA SBIR/STTR web site (http://sbir.nasa.gov). Selected firms will receive a formal notification letter that identifies the Contracting Officer at the NASA Center responsible for negotiating the Phase-I contract. 4.2 Phase-II Proposals 4.2.1 Evaluation Process. The Phase-II evaluation process is similar to the Phase-I process. Each proposal will be reviewed by NASA scientists and engineers and by qualified experts outside of NASA as needed. In addition, those proposals with high technical merit will be reviewed for commercial merit. NASA uses a peer review panel to evaluate commercial merit. Panel membership will include non-NASA personnel experts in business development and technology commercialization. 4.2.2 Evaluation Factors. The evaluation of Phase-II proposals under this Solicitation will apply the following factors: Factor 1. Scientific/Technical Merit and Feasibility The proposed R/R&D effort will be evaluated on its innovativeness, originality, and technical payoff potential if successful, including the degree to which Phase-I objectives were met, the feasibility of the innovation, and whether the Phase-I results indicate a Phase-II project is appropriate. Factor 2. Future Importance and Value to NASA The eventual value of the product, process, or technology results to the NASA mission will be assessed. Factor 3. Capability of the Small Business Concern NASA will assess the capability of the SBC to conduct Phase-II based on (a) the validity of the project plans for achieving the stated goals; (b) the qualifications and ability of the project team (Principal Investigator/Project Manager, company staff, consultants and subcontractors) relative to the proposed research; and (c) the availability of any required equipment and facilities. Factor 4. Commercial Potential. Consideration will be given to the following: (1) Commercial potential of the technology: This includes an assessment of the offeror's ability to demonstrate: (a) a specific, well-defined commercial product or service based on the technology to be developed; (b) a realistic target market niche of sufficient size; (c) that the targeted commercial product or service has strong potential for uniquely meeting a well- defined need within the target market niche; and (d) a commitment of significant private financial, physical, and technical personnel resources. (2) Demonstrated commercial intent of the offeror: This includes an assessment of: (a) the importance of the targeted commercial venture to the offeror's current business and strategic planning; (b) a targeted commercial venture that does not rely on continued U.S. Government markets; and (c) the adequacy of all resource commitments for Phase-III development of the technology to a state of readiness for commercial application. (3) Capability of the offeror to bring successfully developed technology to commercial application: This includes assessment of the offeror's ability to demonstrate: (a) the offeror's past success in bringing SBIR and other innovative technologies to commercial application; (b) well-thought-out business planning; (c) strong likelihood of the offeror's bringing the remaining necessary private financial, physical, personnel and other resources to bear in a timely way to achieve commercial application of the technology in the not too distant term subsequent to Phase-II; and (d) the strength of the current and continued financial viability of the offeror. In applying these commercial criteria, NASA will assess proposal information in terms of credibility, objectivity, reasonableness of key assumptions, independent corroborating evidence, internal consistency, demonstrated awareness of key risk areas and critical business vulnerabilities, and other indicators of sound business analysis and judgment. 4.2.3 Evaluation and Selection. Factors 1, 2, and 3 will be scored numerically with Factor 1 worth 50 percent and Factors 2 and 3 each worth 25 percent. The sum of the scores for Factors 1, 2, and 3 will comprise the Technical Merit score. Proposals receiving high numerical scores will be evaluated and rated for their commercial potential using the criteria listed in Factor 4 and by applying the same adjectival ratings as set forth for Phase-I proposals. Each NASA Installation managing Phase-I projects will use these factors to evaluate the Phase-II proposals it receives that are responsive to the Phase-II RFP. Final selections will be based on recommendations from all Installations and Strategic Enterprises; assessments of project value to NASA's overall programs and plans; and any other evaluations or assessments (particularly of commercial potential) that may become available to the Source Selection Official. 4.3 Debriefing of Unsuccessful Offerors After Phase-I and Phase-II selection decisions have been announced, debriefings for unsuccessful proposals will be available to the offeror's corporate official or designee via e-mail. Telephone requests for debriefings will not be accepted. Debriefings are not opportunities to reopen selection decisions. They are intended to acquaint the offeror with perceived strengths and weaknesses of the proposal and perhaps identify constructive future action by the offeror. Debriefings will not disclose the identity of the proposal evaluators nor provide proposal scores, rankings in the competition, or the content of, or comparisons with other proposals. 4.3.1 Phase-I Debriefings. For Phase-I proposals, any request for a debriefing must be made via e-mail to sbir@reisys.com, within 60 days after the selection announcement. Late requests will not be honored. 4.3.2 Phase-II Debriefings. To request debriefings on Phase-II proposals, offerors must request via e-mail to the Procurement Point of Contact at the appropriate NASA Center (not the SBIR/STTR Program Manager) within 60 days after selection announcement. Late requests will not be honored. 5. Considerations 5.1 Awards 5.1.1 Availability of Funds. Both Phase-I and Phase-II awards are subject to availability of funds. NASA has no obligation to make any specific number of Phase-I or Phase-II awards based on this Solicitation, and may elect to make several or no awards in any specific technical topic or subtopic. NASA plans to announce the selection of approximately 290 proposals resulting from this Solicitation, for negotiation of Phase-I contracts with values not exceeding $70,000. Following contract negotiations and awards, Phase-I contractors will have up to 6 months to carry out their programs, prepare their final reports, and submit Phase-II proposals. NASA intends that all Phase-I projects selected will be placed under contract by mid-December 2000. NASA anticipates that approximately 40 percent of the successfully completed Phase-I projects from the SBIR 2000 Solicitation will be selected for Phase-II. Phase-II agreements are fixed-price contracts with performance periods not exceeding 24 months and funding not exceeding $600,000. 5.1.2 Contracting. Fixed-price contracts will be issued for Phase-I. Simplified contract documentation is employed. SBCs selected for negotiation of contract awards can reduce processing time by examining the procurement documents, furnishing the contracting officer with signed representations and certifications, and indicating any contract terms to be negotiated or agreement with the contract terms. NASA will make the Phase-I model contract and other documents available to the public on the NASA SBIR/STTR homepage (http://sbir.nasa.gov) at the time of selection announcement. From the time of proposal selection until the award of a contract, only the Contracting Officer is authorized to commit the Government, and all communications must be through the Contracting Officer. NASA is not responsible for any monies expended by the offeror before award of any contract resulting from this Solicitation. 5.2 Phase-I Reporting An interim progress report is required when the invoice is submitted at project mid-point in accordance with the payment schedule (Section 5.3). This report shall document progress made on the project and activities required for completion to provide NASA the basis for determining whether the payment is warranted. A final report must be submitted to NASA upon completion of the Phase-I R/R&D effort in accordance with contract provisions. It shall elaborate the project objectives, work carried out, results obtained, and assessments of technical merit and feasibility. The final report shall include a single page proposal summary as the first page, in a format provided in the Phase-I contract, identifying the purpose of the R/R&D effort and describing the findings and results, including the degree to which the Phase-I objectives were achieved, and whether the results justify Phase-II continuation. The potential applications of the project results in Phase-III either for NASA or commercial purposes shall also be described. The proposal summary is to be submitted without restriction for NASA publication. 5.3 Payment Schedule for Phase-I Payments can be authorized as follows: one-third at the time of award, one-third at project mid-point after award, and the remainder upon acceptance of the final report by NASA. The first two payments will be made 30 days after receipt of valid invoices. The final payment will be made 30 days after acceptance of the final report and other deliverables as required by the contract. Electronic funds transfer will be employed and offerors will be required to submit account data if selected for contract negotiations. 5.4 Proprietary Information It is NASA's policy to use information (data) included in proposals for evaluation purposes only. Public release of information in any proposal submitted will be subject to existing statutory and regulatory requirements. If information consisting of a trade secret, proprietary commercial or financial information, or private personal information is provided in an SBIR proposal, NASA will treat in confidence the proprietary information provided the following legend appears on the title page of the proposal: "For any purpose other than to evaluate the proposal, this data shall not be disclosed outside the Government and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed in whole or in part, provided that if a funding agreement is awarded to the offeror as a result of or in connection with the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use or disclose the data to the extent provided in the funding agreement. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in the data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained in pages _____ of this proposal." Do not label the entire proposal proprietary. The Proposal Summary (Form 9B) should not contain proprietary information. 5.5 Non-NASA Reviewers In addition to Government personnel, NASA at its discretion and in accordance with 18-15.413-2 of the NASA FAR Supplement, may utilize qualified individuals from outside the Government in the proposal review process. Any decision to obtain an outside evaluation shall take into consideration requirements for the avoidance of organizational or personal conflicts of interest and the competitive relationship, if any, between the prospective contractor or subcontractor(s) and the prospective outside evaluator. Any such evaluation will be under agreement with the evaluator that the information (data) contained in the proposal will be used only for evaluation purposes and will not be further disclosed. 5.6 Release of Proposal Information In submitting a proposal, the offeror agrees to permit the Government to disclose publicly the information contained on the Proposal Cover (Form 9A) and the Proposal Summary (Form 9B). Other proposal information (data) is considered to be the property of the offeror, and NASA will protect it from public disclosure to the extent permitted by law. 5.7 Final Disposition of Proposals The Government retains ownership of proposals accepted for evaluation, and such proposals will not be returned to the offeror. Copies of all evaluated Phase-I proposals will be retained for one year after the Phase-I selections have been made, after which time unsuccessful proposals will be destroyed. Successful proposals will be retained in accordance with contract file regulations. 5.8 Rights in Data Developed Under SBIR Contracts Rights to data used in, or first produced under, any Phase-I or Phase-II contract are specified in the clause at FAR 52.227-20, Rights in Data--SBIR Program. The clause provides for rights consistent with the following: 5.8.1 Non-Proprietary Data. Some data of a general nature are to be furnished to NASA without restriction (i.e., with unlimited rights) and may be published by NASA. These data will normally be limited to the project summaries accompanying any periodic progress reports and the final reports required to be submitted. The requirement will be specifically set forth in any contract resulting from this Solicitation. 5.8.2 Proprietary Data. When data that is required to be delivered under an SBIR contract qualifies as "proprietary," i.e., either data developed at private expense that embody trade secrets or are commercial or financial and confidential or privileged, or computer software developed at private expense that is a trade secret, the contractor, if the contractor desires to continue protection of such proprietary data, shall not deliver such data to the Government, but instead shall deliver form, fit, and function data. 5.8.3 Non-Disclosure Period. The Government, for a period of 4 years from acceptance of all items to be delivered under an SBIR contract, shall use SBIR data, i.e., data first produced by the contractor in performance of the contract, where such data are not generally known, and which data without obligation as to its confidentiality have not been made available to others by the contractor or are not already available to the Government, agrees to use these data for Government purposes. These data shall not be disclosed outside the Government (including disclosure for procurement purposes) during the 4-year period without permission of the contractor, except that such data may be disclosed for use by support contractors under an obligation of confidentiality. After the 4-year period, the Government has a royalty-free license to use, and to authorize others to use on its behalf, these data for Government purposes, but the Government is relieved of all disclosure prohibitions and assumes no liability for unauthorized use by third parties. 5.9 Copyrights Subject to certain licenses granted by the contractor to the Government, the contractor receives copyright to any data first produced by the contractor in the performance of an SBIR contract. 5.10 Patents The contractor may normally elect title to any inventions made in the performance of an SBIR contract. The Government receives a nonexclusive license to practice or have practiced for or on behalf of the Government each such invention throughout the world. To the extent authorized by 35 U.S.C. 205, the Government will not make public any information disclosing such inventions for a reasonable time to allow the contractor to file a patent application. 5.11 Cost Sharing Cost sharing is permitted, but not required for proposals under this Solicitation. Cost sharing, if included, should be shown in the summary budget but not in items labeled "AMOUNT REQUESTED." No profit will be paid on the cost-sharing portion of the contract 5.12 Profit or Fee Both Phase-I and Phase-II SBIR contracts may include a reasonable profit. The reasonableness of proposed profit is determined by the Contracting Officer during contract negotiations. 5.13 Joint Ventures and Limited Partnerships Both joint ventures and limited partnerships are permitted, provided the entity created qualifies as a SBC in accordance with the definition in Section 2.1. A statement of how the workload will be distributed, managed, and charged should be included in the proposal. A copy or comprehensive summary of the joint venture agreement or partnership agreement should be appended to the proposal. This will not count as part of the 25 page limit for the Phase-I proposal. 5.14 Similar Awards and Prior Work If an award is made pursuant to a proposal submitted under this Program Solicitation, the firm will be required to certify that it has not previously been paid nor is currently being paid for essentially equivalent work by any agency of the Federal Government. Failure to acknowledge or report similar or duplicate efforts can lead to the termination of contracts or other actions. 5.15 Contractor Commitments Upon award of a contract, the contractor will be required to make certain legal commitments through acceptance of numerous clauses in the Phase-I contract. The outline that follows illustrates the types of clauses that will be included. This is not a complete list of clauses to be included in Phase-I contracts, nor does it contain specific wording of these clauses. Copies of complete provisions will be made available prior to contract negotiations. 5.15.1 Standards of Work. Work performed under the contract must conform to high professional standards. Analyses, equipment, and components for use by NASA will require special consideration to satisfy the stringent safety and reliability requirements imposed in aerospace applications. 5.15.2 Inspection. Work performed under the contract is subject to Government inspection and evaluation at all reasonable times. 5.15.3 Examination of Records. The Comptroller General (or a duly authorized representative) shall have the right to examine any directly pertinent records of the contractor involving transactions related to the contract. 5.15.4 Default. The Government may terminate the contract if the contractor fails to perform the contracted work. 5.15.5 Termination for Convenience. The contract may be terminated by the Government at any time if it deems termination to be in its best interest, in which case the contractor will be compensated for work performed and for reasonable termination costs. 5.15.6 Disputes. Any dispute concerning the contract that cannot be resolved by mutual agreement shall be decided by the contracting officer with right of appeal. 5.15.7 Contract Work Hours. The contractor may not require a non-exempt employee to work more than 40 hours in a work week unless the employee is paid for overtime. 5.15.8 Equal Opportunity. The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, age, sex, or national origin. 5.15.9 Affirmative Action for Veterans. The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because he or she is a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era. 5.15.10 Affirmative Action for Handicapped. The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because he or she is physically or mentally handicapped. 5.15.11 Officials Not to Benefit. No member of or delegate to Congress shall benefit from the SBIR contract. 5.15.12 Covenant Against Contingent Fees. No person or agency has been employed to solicit or to secure the contract upon an understanding for compensation except bona fide employees or commercial agencies maintained by the contractor for the purpose of securing business. 5.15.13 Gratuities. The contract may be terminated by the Government if any gratuities have been offered to any representative of the Government to secure the contract. 5.15.14 Patent Infringement. The contractor shall report to NASA each notice or claim of patent infringement based on the performance of the contract. 5.15.15 American-Made Equipment and Products. Equipment or products purchased under an SBIR contract must be American-made whenever possible. 5.16 Additional Information 5.16.1 Precedence of Contract Over Solicitation. This Program Solicitation reflects current planning. If there is any inconsistency between the information contained herein and the terms of any resulting SBIR contract, the terms of the contract are controlling. 5.16.2 Evidence of Contractor Responsibility. Before award of an SBIR contract, the Government may request the offeror to submit certain organizational, management, personnel, and financial information to establish responsibility of the offeror. Contractor responsibility includes all resources required for contractor performance, i.e., financial capability, work force, and facilities. 5.17 Property In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 45, it is NASA's policy not to provide facilities (capital equipment, tooling, test and computer facilities, etc.) for the performance of work under contract. An SBC will furnish its own facilities to perform the proposed work as an indirect cost to the contract. Special tooling required for a project may be allowed as a direct cost. When an SBC cannot furnish its own facilities to perform required tasks, an SBC may propose to acquire the use of commercially available facilities. Rental or lease costs may be considered as direct costs as part of the total funding for the project. If unique requirements force an offeror to acquire facilities under a NASA contract, they will be purchased as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) and titled to the Government. An offeror may propose the use of unique or one-of-a-kind NASA facilities if essential for the research. Offerors requiring a NASA facility must clearly document and certify that there is no commercially available facility to perform the R&D. It may be difficult, however, to ensure availability, and non- availability may lead to non-selection. Should an offeror propose the use of unique or one-of-a-kind NASA facilities essential for the R/R&D, an agreement with the responsible installation is required and costs fortheir use will be determined by the installation. These costs may be chargeable in accordance with the Government property clause of the contract. Total contract costs must not exceed the Phase-I and Phase-II funding limits given in this Solicitation (Section 5.1). 6. Submission of Proposals 6.1 The Submission Process 6.1.1 Submission Requirements. NASA utilizes an electronic process for management of the SBIR program. This management approach requires that a proposing firm have Internet access via the World Wide Web, and an e-mail address. 6.1.2 What Needs to Be Submitted. A proposal submission is comprised of two parts: 1. Internet Submission. The entire proposal including Forms 9A, 9B and 9C must be submitted via the Internet. (http://sbir.nasa.gov) 2. Postal Submission. Postal submission includes an original signed proposal with all forms plus three copies. Firms not able to obtain Internet access must request an exemption by calling 301-286-5661 or 301-937-0888 by Friday, June 30, 2000. Note: Other forms of submissions such as facsimile or e-mail attachment are not acceptable. 6.2 Internet Submission 6.2.1 Electronic Technical Proposal Preparation. The term "Technical Proposal" refers to the part of the submission as described in Section 3.2.4. Word Processor. NASA converts all technical proposal files to PDF format for evaluation purposes. Therefore, NASA requests that technical proposals be submitted in PDF format, and encourages companies to do so. Other acceptable formats for PC are AmiPro, ClarisWorks for Windows, MS Works, Text, MS Word, WordPerfect, Postscript, and Adobe Acrobat. For Macintosh, the acceptable formats are ClarisWorks, MS Works, MacWrite Pro, Text, MS Word, WordPerfect, Postscript, and Adobe Acrobat. Unix and TeX users please note that due to PDF difficulties with non-standard fonts, please output technical proposal files in DVI format. Graphics. The offeror is encouraged for reasons of space conservation and simplicity, but not required, to embed graphics within the word processed document. For graphics submitted as separate files, the acceptable file formats (and their respective extensions) are: Bit-Mapped (.bmp), Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), JPEG (.jpg), PC Paintbrush (.pcx), WordPerfect Graphic (.wpg), and Tagged-Image Format (.tif). Limitations. While only the paper copy will be screened for administrative compliance, the various files comprising the electronic version are required to exactly reflect the paper version. Virus Check. The offeror is responsible for performing a virus check on each submitted technical proposal. As a standard part of entering the proposal into the processing system, NASA will scan each submitted electronic technical proposal for viruses. The detection, by NASA, of a virus on any submitted electronic technical proposal, may cause rejection of the proposal. 6.2.2 Electronic Handbook. An Electronic Handbook for submitting proposals via the internet is hosted on the NASA SBIR/STTR Homepage (http://sbir.nasa.gov). The handbook will electronically guide the firms through the various steps required for submitting an SBIR proposal and issue secure-user identification and passwords for each submission. Communication between NASA and the firm will be via a combination of electronic handbooks and e-mail. Note: After the offeror has submitted Forms 9A, 9B, and 9C via the Internet, the offeror should use the handbook to print the three forms locally. These forms must be signed as appropriate and included in the postal submission. 6.3 Postal Submission Postal Submissions are comprised of: 1. One original signed paper copy of the proposal, including paper copies of all original forms (as stated in Section 3.2.2) 2. Three additional paper copies of the entire proposal. Each proposal copy is to be stapled separately. 6.3.1 Physical Packaging Requirements for Paper Copies of Proposal. Do not use bindings or special covers. Staple the pages of each copy of the proposal in the upper left-hand corner only. Secure packaging is mandatory. NASA cannot process proposals damaged in transit. All items for any proposal must be sent in the same envelope. If more than one proposal is being submitted, each proposal must be in its own envelope, but all proposals may be sent in the same package. Do not send duplicate packages of any proposal as "insurance" that at least one will be received. A checklist is included in this Solicitation to assist the offeror in submitting a complete proposal. The checklist should not be submitted with the proposal. 6.3.2 Where to Send Proposals. All proposals that are mailed through the U.S. Postal Service first class, registered, or certified mail; proposals sent by express mail or commercial delivery services; or hand-carried proposals must be delivered to the following address between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EDT: NASA SBIR/STTR Program Support Office REI Systems, Inc 4041 Powder Mill Road Suite 311 Calverton, MD 20705-3106 The telephone number 301-937-0888 may be used when required for reference by delivery services: 6.3.3 Deadline for Proposal Receipt. All proposal submissions (both internet and postal) must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 14, 2000 at the NASA SBIR/STTR Program Support Office. Any proposal received after that date and time shall be considered late and handled accordingly. Note: The server/electronic handbook will not be available for internet submissions after 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 14, 2000. 6.4 Acknowledgment of Proposal Receipt NASA will acknowledge receipt of proposals to the SBC Official's e-mail address as provided on the proposal cover sheet. If a proposal acknowledgment is not received within 15 days following the closing date of this Solicitation, the offeror should call NASA SBIR/STTR Program Support Office at 301-937-0888. Information about proposal status will not be available until final selections are announced. 6.5 Withdrawal of Proposals Proposals may be withdrawn by written notice, signed by the designated SBC Official. Withdrawal notice must include proposal number and title. 7. Scientific and Technical Information Sources 7.1 NASA SBIR/STTR Homepage Detailed information on NASA's SBIR Program is available at: http://sbir.nasa.gov. 7.2 NASA Commercial Technology Network The NASA Commercial Technology Network (NCTN) contains a significant amount of on-line information about the NASA Commercial Technology Program. The address for the NCTN homepage is: http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/ 7.3 NASA Technology Utilization Services The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC), sponsored by NASA in cooperation with other Federal agencies, serves as a national resource for technology transfer and commercialization. NTTC has a primary role to get Government research into the hands of U.S. businesses. Its gateway services make it easy to access databases and to contact experts in your area of research and development. For further information, call 800-678-6882. NASA's network of Regional Technology Transfer Centers (RTTCs) provides business planning and development services. However, NASA does not accept responsibility for any services these centers may offer in the preparation of proposals. RTTCs can be contacted directly as listed below to determine what services are available and to discuss fees charged. Alternatively, to contact any RTTC call 800-472-6785. Northeast: Center for Technology Commercialization Massachusetts Technology Park 1400 Computer Drive Westboro, MA 01581-5054 Phone: 508-870-0042 URL: http://www.ctc.org Mid-Atlantic: Mid-Atlantic Technology Applications Center University of Pittsburgh 3400 Forbes Avenue, 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Phone: 412-383-2500 URL: http://www.mtac.pitt.edu/WWW/ Southeast: Southern Technology Applications Center University of Florida, College of Engineering 1900 SW 34th Street, Suite 206 Gainesville, FL 32608-1260 Phone: 352-294-7822 URL: http://www.state.fl.us/stac Mid-West: Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center Battelle Memorial Institute 25000 Great Northern Corporate Center, Suite 450 Cleveland, OH 44070-5310 Phone: 440-734-0094 URL: http://www.battelle.org/glitec Mid-Continent: Mid-Continent Technology Transfer Center Texas Engineering Extension Service Technology & Economic Development Division College Station, TX 77843-8000 Phone: 409-845-2913 URL: http://www.mcttc.com/ Far-West: Far-West Technology Transfer Center University of Southern California 3716 South Hope Street, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90007-4344 Phone: 800-642-2872 URL: http://www.usc.edu/dept/engineering/TTC/NASA 7.4 United States Small Business Administration The Policy Directives for the SBIR Program, which also state the SBA policy for this Solicitation, may be obtained from the following source. SBA information can also be obtained at: http://www.sba.gov/. Office of Innovation, Research and Technology U.S. Small Business Administration 409 Third Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20416 Phone: 202-205-7701 7.5 National Technical Information Service The National Technical Information Service, an agency of the Department of Commerce, is the Federal Government's central clearinghouse for publicly funded scientific and technical information. For information about their various services and fees, call or write: National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 Phone: 800-553-6847 URL: http://www.ntis.gov 8. Research Topics Introduction The SBIR Program Solicitation is aligned with the established NASA management structure of the Strategic Enterprises (http://www.nasa.gov). The Enterprises identify, at the most fundamental level, what NASA does and for whom. Each Strategic Enterprise is analogous to a strategic business unit employed by private-sector companies to focus on and respond to their customers' needs. Each Strategic Enterprise has a unique set of goals, objectives, and strategies. Research topics and subtopics in this Solicitation are organized by the four NASA Strategic Enterprises: Aero-Space Technology Human Exploration and Development of Space Earth Science Space Science In addition, synergy among the non-Aero-Space Technology Enterprises is captured in a separate section in the Solicitation called: Cross Enterprise 8.1 AERO-SPACE TECHNOLOGY NASA's Aero-Space Technology Enterprise pioneers the identification, development, verification, transfer, application, and commercialization of high- payoff aeronautics technologies. It seeks to promote economic growth and security and to enhance U.S. competitiveness through safe, superior, and environmentally compatible U.S. civil and military aircraft and through a safe, efficient national aviation system. In addition, the Enterprise recognizes that the space transportation industry can benefit significantly from the transfer of aviation technologies and flight operations to launch vehicles, the goal being reducing the cost of access to space. The Enterprise will work closely with its aeronautics customers, including U.S. industry, the Department of Defense, and the Federal Aviation Administration, to ensure that its technology products and services add value, are timely, and have been developed to the level where the customer can confidently make decisions regarding the application of those technologies. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/aero 01 AVIATION SAFETY 01.01 Aircraft Icing Systems 01.02 Propulsion Airframe Failure Data Accident Mitigation 01.03 Flight Deck Situation Awareness and Crew Systems Technologies 01.04 Automated On-Line Health Management and Data Analysis 01.05 Non-Destructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring of Materials and Structures 02 ENVIRONMENTAL COMPATIBILITY 02.01 Airframe Systems Noise Prediction and Reduction 02.02 Propulsion System Emissions and Noise Prediction and Reduction 03 SPACE ACCESS AND TRANSPORTATION 03.01 Advanced Launch Vehicle Systems 03.02 Revolutionary Space Propulsion Technologies 03.03 Lightweight Engine Components 03.04 Hypersonic Vehicle Design and Systems Technology 03.05 Reusable Launch Vehicle Airframe Technologies 03.06 Launch Vehicle Manufacturing Technologies 03.07 Space Propulsion Systems Test Operations 04 SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 04.01 Small Aircraft Transportation System Technologies 04.02 Small Aircraft Transportation System Propulsion Technologies 05 AERO-SPACE VEHICLE DESIGN TOOLS 05.01 Modeling and Control of Complex Flows Over Aerospace Vehicles and Propulsion Systems 05.02 Modeling and Simulation of Aerospace Vehicles in a Flight Test Environment 06 ADVANCED CONCEPTS AND EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT RESEARCH 06.01 Revolutionary Aerospace Vehicle Systems Concepts 06.02 Revolutionary Technologies and Components for Turbine Based Combined Cycles 06.03 Flight Sensors, Sensor Arrays, and Airborne Instruments for Flight Research 07 AVIATION SYSTEM THROUGH-PUT 07.01 Advanced Concepts in Air and Space Traffic Management 07.02 Rotorcraft/STOVL Aerodynamics and Dynamics 01 Aviation Safety NASA is responsible for conducting the research that, upon implementation, will contribute to a five-fold reduction in aviation accidents by 2007, and a ten- fold reduction in aviation accidents by 2017. Accomplishment of these goals require technical advances in the following areas: 1) Increased level of safety for all aircraft flying in an atmospheric icing environment; 2) Prevention and/or mitigation of hazardous conditions during or after an aviation accident; 3) Enhanced flight deck situational awareness for the National Airspace System operators; 4) Automated on-line health management and data analysis; 5) Innovative and commercially viable techniques for non-destructive evaluation and health monitoring of materials and structures. 01.01 Aircraft Icing Systems Lead Center: GRC Participating Center(s): none A major goal of the NASA Aircraft Icing Project is to increase the level of safety for all aircraft flying in the atmospheric icing environment. To maximize the level of safety, aircraft must be capable of handling all possible icing conditions by either avoiding or tolerating the conditions. Proposals are invited that lead to innovative new approaches or significant improvements in existing technologies for inflight icing condition avoidance (icing weather information systems) or tolerance (aircraft icing protection systems and design tools). Creative teaming arrangements are encouraged to help meet proposal objectives. Of particular interest are technologies that are compatible with emerging aircraft designs (i.e., sensitive electronic systems, digital flight decks, and advanced wing designs). Onboard systems must be aerodynamically non- intrusive and practical. They must consider weight, power, size, and cost for successful integration into aircraft. To receive consideration for funding, all proposals submitted under this subtopic must demonstrate significant advantages over existing technologies. The areas of greatest interest are: - Practical, inflight and/or ground-based, real-time remote sensing of the supercooled water droplet and temperature environment. Technology must be capable of quantifying the environment to allow for the prediction of the severity of airframe icing, and to identify potential avoidance and escape routes, and must have practical range and cloud penetration capability. - Low cost and practical systems that allow the transfer of remotely sensed (ground-based and/or airborne) icing environment information into the existing aviation information infrastructure. The system will provide the end user (cockpit crews, air traffic controllers, and dispatchers) access to accurate and timely descriptions of the remotely sensed icing environment. These systems must operate such that the existing information infrastructure is not adversely impacted by their presence, absence, or failure. Solutions providing coverage to all aircraft within range of the remote sensing system are desired over those that can only protect aircraft with specific equipage. - In situ icing environment measurement systems that can provide practical, low cost validation data for emerging icing weather information systems and atmospheric modeling. Measured information must include location, altitude, cloud liquid water content, temperature, and ideally cloud particle sizing and phase information. Possible solutions include multiple aircraft sampling and radiosonde based systems. - Low power and low cost anti-icing systems, including technologies that protect composite structures. A system must be capable of operating under all potential environmental conditions and should be capable of operating automatically or with minimal cockpit crew interaction. - Practical analysis tools for the integrated design and optimization of hot gas ice protection systems. The tool must model the entire heat path from source to protected surface, including the conduction path through the surface and the water loading on the external surface. 01.02 Propulsion Airframe Failure Data Accident Mitigation Lead Center: GRC Participating Center(s): LaRC NASA is concerned with the prevention of hazardous and accident conditions and the mitigation of their effects when they do occur. One emphasis is on fire. The prevention, detection, and suppression of fires are critical goals of accident mitigation. Aircraft fires represent a small number of actual accidents, but the number of fatalities due to in-flight, post-crash and on- ground fires is large. Recent advances have made significant progress for cabin fire safety (e.g., fire-blocking layers in seat cushions); however, new areas of aircraft fire research have been identified (e.g., fuel tank flammability reduction). A second emphasis is on crashworthiness. For all transport aircraft accidents, 45 percent of those which involve serious injuries or fatalities are survivable. Besides impact alone, survivability is often a function of the combined effects of subsequent fire and smoke. Technology is needed to further protect passengers from the effects of the crash or mitigate the after effects to allow the escape of passengers. A third emphasis is on the problems that may result from mal functions of aging equipment in the service of commercial transport aircraft, general aviation, and commercial rotorcraft. Because of the needs of increased competition and growth in passenger and cargo traffic, the service lives of dependable aircraft models are being extended. Current inspection and overhaul programs focus almost exclusively on structural integrity and the effects of structural corrosion and fatigue. However, much less attention is given to the potential effects of age on non-structural components, which include electrical wiring; connectors, wiring harnesses, and cables; fuel, hydraulic and pneumatic lines; and electro- mechanical systems such as pumps, sensors, and actuators. Deterioration of aircraft components, particularly wiring and electrical equipment, is also linked to breakdowns and unanticipated ignition sources that can cause fires in aircraft flight. A final emphasis for this Solicitation is on propulsion system health management in order to prevent or accommodate safety-significant malfunctions. Past advances in this area have helped improve the reliability and safety of aircraft propulsion systems. However, propulsion system component failures are still a contributing factor in numerous aircraft accidents and incidents. Advances in instrumentation, health monitoring algorithms, and fault accommodating logic are sought which help to further reduce the occurrence of and/or mitigate the effects of safety-significant propulsion system malfunctions. With these emphases in mind, products and technologies are sought to enhance human survivability in the event of an accident, to assure continued airworthiness of the aging aircraft, and to monitor system health. Considerations should be made for affordability and retrofitability to the commercial transport, general aviation, and rotorcraft fleets. These include the following areas: - Technology for fire prevention, detection, and suppression of potential in-flight fires in fuel tanks, insulation, cargo compartments, and other inaccessible locations. - Technology to provide fuel tank flammability reduction and on-board oxygen generation. - Technology to minimize fire hazards in crashes and to prevent or delay fires. For example: fuel-system modifications to eliminate spills, and on- demand suppression while not presenting a weight or performance penalty. - Design and injury criteria and dynamic analyses to enhance crash safety. - Systems approach to crashworthy designs, which may include validated occupant/seat/structural interaction analyses. - Energy-absorbing seat and structural concepts and materials. - Technology for occupant protection in a crash, including advanced restraints and supplemental restraints. - Concepts to extend the useful safe life of airframe structures and non- structural systems. - Advanced non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques that can be field demonstrated for aging engines. - NDE-based material and structural modeling that can be integrated in life models for remaining life assessment of airframe and engine components. - Concepts to prevent catastrophic failures of engine components, or to ensure fragment containment. - Health management technologies such as advanced instrumentation, health monitoring algorithms, and fault accommodating logic, to predict, diagnose, and prevent safety significant propulsion system malfunctions. - Low cost methods for failure prediction and testing of the above aircraft failure-prevention and mitigation technologies. - Methods for integration of the above aircraft failure-prevention and mitigation technologies into existing or new aircraft. 01.03 Flight Deck Situation Awareness and Crew Systems Technologies Lead Center: LaRC Participating Center(s): none Information technology has and will continue to provide operational opportunities toward increasing the safe and efficient use of the Airspace System. Significant challenges associated with this evolving technology include maintaining or enhancing the situation awareness of system operators, developing user-centered technologies that facilitate human perception and interpretation and that counteract human information processing limitations and biases, and allowing for geographically and temporally distributed operators to work collaboratively. NASA seeks highly innovative crew systems technologies that will maintain or enhance situation awareness and aid operator decision-making for improved aerospace safety and efficiency. These technologies and methods may take the form of tools, models, techniques, procedures, substantiated guidelines, prototypes, and devices. In addition, we seek tools and methods for measuring and analyzing human and group performance in complex, dynamic systems. Innovative and economically attractive approaches are sought to advance the current state of the art in the following areas: - Systems monitoring with sensitive informing, advisements, alerts, and aids for Airspace System operators that enhance situation awareness and improve aviation safety. - Crew-centered systems design methods and technologies. - Innovative crew-system interface technologies. - Human-error reduction in aircraft operations and systems monitoring. - Error tolerant flight deck systems including advanced displays, crew- system interfaces, and monitoring technologies. - Human and group performance analysis methods and tools. - Human performance measurement technologies for use in operational environments. - Collaborative and distributive decision making among Airspace System operators. - Integrated flight deck information systems and procedures. - Decision support technologies and methods to assist Airspace System operators that enhance situation awareness and improve aviation safety. - Artificial Intelligence technologies and concepts that monitor crew and aircraft performance to ensure appropriate levels of engagement, crew workload and situation awareness. - Human-centered information technologies that enhance situation awareness and performance of less experienced Airspace System operators especially at critical times. - Development of human-centered information technology for intuitive guidance queues in advanced concepts - Guidelines and measurement techniques that allow for successful assessment of the application of human-centered design principles to flight deck display concepts 01.04 Automated On-Line Health Management and Data Analysis Lead Center: DFRC Participating Center(s): none Online health monitoring is a critical technology for improving transportation safety in the 21st century. Safe, affordable, and more efficient operation of aerospace vehicles requires advances in online health monitoring of vehicle subsystems and information monitoring from many sources over local/wide area networks. On-line health monitoring is a general concept involving signal- processing algorithms designed to support decisions related to safety, maintenance, or operating procedures. The concept of on-line emphasizes algorithms that minimize the time between data acquisition and decision-making. This subtopic seeks solutions for on-line aircraft subsystem health monitoring. Solutions should exploit multiple computers communicating over standard networks where applicable. Solutions can be designed to monitor a specific subsystem or a number of systems simultaneously. Resulting commercial products might be implemented in a distributed decision-making environment such as a virtual flight research center, a disciplinary-specific collaborative laboratory, an onboard diagnostics system, or a maintenance and inspection network of potentially global proportion. Proposers should discuss who the users of resulting products would be, e.g., research/test/development; manufacturing; maintenance depots; flight crew; airports; flight operations or mission control; air traffic management; or airlines. Proposers are encouraged to discuss data acquisition, processing, and presentation components in their proposal. Examples of desired solutions targeted by this subtopic include: - Real-time autonomous sensor validity monitors. - Flight control system or flight path diagnostics for predicting loss of control. - Automated testing and diagnostics of mission-critical avionics. - Structural fatigue, life cycle, static, or dynamic load monitors. - Automated nondestructive evaluation for faulty structural components. - Electrical system monitoring and fire prevention. - Applications that exploit wireless communication technology to reduce costs. - Model-reference or model-updating schemes based on measured data that operate autonomously. - Proactive maintenance schedules for rocket or turbine engines, including engine life-cycle monitors. - Predicting or detecting any equipment malfunction. - Middleware or software toolkits to lower the cost of developing online health-monitoring applications. - Innovative solutions for harvesting, managing, archival, and retrieval of aerospace vehicle health data. 01.05 Non-Destructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring of Materials and Structures Lead Center: LaRC Participating Center(s): none Innovative and commercially viable concepts are being solicited for the development of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and health-monitoring sensors, instrumentation, and computational models for signal processing and data interpretation to establish quantitative characterization and event determination. Evaluation sciences include ultrasonics, laser ultrasonics, optics and fiber optics, shearography, video optics and metrology, thermography, electromagnetics, acoustic emission, X-ray and X-ray detectors, related management of digital NDE data, and biomimetic sensing approaches for structural health monitoring. - Technologies may be applied to characterizing material properties; assessing effects of defects in materials and structures; evaluating of mass-loss in materials; in situ monitoring and control of materials processing; detecting cracks, porosity, foreign material, inclusions, corrosion, disbonds; detecting cracks under bolts; and real time and in situ monitoring, reporting, and damage detection for structural durability and life prediction, and characterization of load environment on a variety of structural materials and geometries including thermal protection systems and bonded configurations. - Uses include identification of loads exceeding design, monitoring loads for fatigue and preventing overloads, suppression of acoustic loads, and early detection of damage. Applications are seen for thermal protection systems, adhesives, sealants, bearings, coatings, glasses, complex composite and hybrid structural systems, alloys, laminates, low density and high temperature materials, monolithics, material blends, and weldments. - The anticipated structural applications to be considered for NDE and health monitoring development include a variety of high stress and hostile aero-thermo- chemical service environments projected for aerospace systems. There is additional specific interest in non-contacting, remote, rapid, and less geometry sensitive technologies that reduce acquisition costs or improve system sensitivity, stability, and operational costs. 02 Environmental Compatibility NASA has very aggressive goals for providing technologies which will ensure the noise and emissions environmental compatibility of future commercial aircraft. In particular, the noise goals are to reduce the perceived noise levels of future aircraft by a factor of two (10 EPNdB) within ten years, and a factor of four (20 EPNdB) within 20 years. The emissions goals are to reduce aircraft emissions by a factor of three within ten years and a factor of five within 20 years. These goals are necessary to meet increasingly stringent local, national, and international noise and emission regulations while enhancing operating safety and productivity and increasing aviation system throughput. Accomplishment of these goals will require revolutionary airframe and propulsion technologies be developed and handed off to the aerospace community in a timely fashion. Particular areas of interest are: Noise prediction and reduction technologies for propulsion source noise, nacelle aeroacoustics, airframe noise, and noise minimal flight procedures for future subsonic and supersonic commercial aircraft. Aircraft interior noise reduction technologies to improve passenger and crew comfort. Emissions reduction technologies for ultra low NOx emissions combustor concepts which also reduce the aerosol and particulates emissions. Innovative airframe and propulsion concepts. 02.01 Airframe Systems Noise Prediction and Reduction Lead Center: LaRC Participating Center(s): none Innovative concepts, techniques, and methods are necessary for the design and development of efficient, environmentally acceptable airplanes, rotorcraft and advanced aerospace vehicles. Improvements in noise prediction and control are needed for jet, propeller, rotor, fan, turbomachinery, and airframe noise sources to reduce the impact on community residents, aircraft passengers and crew, and launch vehicle payloads. Innovations in the following specific areas are solicited: - Fundamental and applied computational fluid-dynamics techniques for aeroacoustic analysis, particularly for use early in the design process. - Concepts for active and passive control of fan, turbomachinery, and jet noise in engine nacelles. - Reduction concepts and prediction methods for rotorcraft and advanced propeller aerodynamic noise. - Reduction concepts and prediction methods for jet noise of subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic aircraft. - Simulation and prediction of aeroacoustic noise sources including airframe noise and propulsion-airframe integration. - Computational and analytical structural acoustics techniques for aircraft and advanced aerospace vehicle interior noise prediction, particularly for use early in the airframe design process. - Concepts for active and passive interior noise control for aircraft and advanced aerospace vehicle structures. - Prediction and control of high-frequency aeroacoustic loads on advanced aerospace structures and the resulting dynamic response. 02.02 Propulsion System Emissions and Noise Prediction and Reduction Lead Center: GRC Participating Center(s): none Emissions: Current environmental concerns with subsonic and supersonic aircraft center around global warming and the impact on the earth's climate and, if not addressed, may threaten future market growth. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are the major emittants of concern coming from commercial aircraft engines. CO2 is a greenhouse gas which may impact the warming of the earth's climate. NOx emissions can destroy ozone in the upper atmosphere which protects humans from harmful uv radiation from the sun and NOx can produce ozone in the lower atmosphere. Around airports, it appears as smog and causes breathing and health problems. Current state-of-the-art engines and combustors in most subsonic aircraft are fuel efficient and meet the 1996 ICAO nitrogen oxide (NOx) limits. The Kyoto Agreement is applying pressure for additional CO2 reductions, and Europe and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are applying pressure for additional NOx reductions at takeoff and possibly cruise conditions. Stringent CO2 and NOx limits could result in emissions' fees or limited access to some countries. Also, recent observations of aircraft exhaust contrails (from both subsonic and supersonic flights) have resulted in growing concern over aerosol, particulate, and sulfur levels in the fuel. In particular, aerosols and particulates from aircraft are suspected of producing high altitude clouds which could adversely affect the earth's climatology. NASA has set some very aggressive goals for reducing emissions of future aircraft by a factor of three within 10 years and by a factor of five within 20 years. Advanced concepts research for reducing CO2 and NOx, and analytical and experimental research in characterization (intrusive and non-intrusive) and control (through component design, controls, and/or fuel additives) of gaseous, liquid and particulates of aircraft exhaust emissions is sought. Specific aircraft operating conditions of interest include the landing-takeoff cycle as well as the in-flight portion of the mission. Areas of particular interest are: - New concepts for reducing carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen (NO, NO2, NOx), unburned hydrocarbons; carbon monoxide, particulate, and aerosols emittants (novel propulsion concepts, injector designs to improve fuel mixing, catalysts, additives, etc.); 1. New fuels for commercial aircraft which minimize carbon dioxide emissions; 2. Innovative active control concepts for emission minimization with an integrated systems focus including emission modeling for control, sensing and actuation requirements, control logic development, and experimental validation are of interest; and 3. New instrumentation techniques are needed for the measurement of engine emissions such as NOx, SOx, HOx, atomic oxygen and hydrocarbons in combustion facilities and engines. Size, size distributions, reactivity, and constituents of aerosols and particulates are needed, as are temperature, pressure, density, and velocity measurements. Optical techniques that provide 2 D and 3 D data; time history measurements; and thin film, fiber optic, and MEMS-based sensors are of interest. Noise: NASA intends to provide enabling technologies to reduce the perceived noise levels of future aircraft by a factor of two (10 EPNdB) from 1997 technology aircraft by 2007, and a factor of four (20 EPNdB) by 2022. These goals are necessary to meet increasingly stringent local, national and international community noise regulations while enhancing operating safety and productivity and increasing aviation system throughput. Engine noise reduction technologies are required in the areas of propulsion source noise, nacelle aeroacoustics, and engine/airframe integration. These aggressive aircraft noise reduction goals will require revolutionary advances in propulsion technologies. Some of the key technologies needed to achieve these goals are revolutionary propulsion systems for reduced noise without significant increases in cost and emissions. Noise reduction concepts need to be identified that provide economical alternatives to conventional propulsion systems. NASA is soliciting proposals in one or more of the following areas for Propulsion System Noise Reduction: - Innovative acoustic source identification techniques for turbomachinery noise. The technique shall be described and demonstrated on a relevant source. A simple source may be used where the solution is known to demonstrate the technique. A clear explanation on how the technique can be applied to turbofan engines should be included. The technique should be capable of identifying sources contributing to dominant engine components, such as fan and jet noise. Fan Noise: The technique shall be capable of separating fan sources such as fan- alone versus fan/stator interaction for both tones and broadband noise. Sufficient resolution is needed to determine the location of the dominant sources on the aerodynamic surfaces. Jet Noise: The technique shall be capable of locating both internal and external mixing noise for dual-flow nozzles found in modern turbofans. - Innovative turbofan source reduction techniques. Methods shall emphasize noise reduction methods for fan, jet and core components without compromising performance for turbofan engines. A resulting engine system that incorporates one or more of the proposed methods should be capable of reducing perceived noise levels anywhere from 10 to 20 EPNdB relative to FAR 36, Stage 3 certification levels. - Revolutionary propulsion concepts for lower noise (proposed as alternatives to turbofan engines). Feasibility studies shall be done that demonstrate the potential for 20 EPNdB engine noise reduction relative to FAR 36, Stage 3 certification levels for commercial aircraft concepts. Enabling technologies shall be identified for future research. 03 Space Access and Transportation Goals include reducing the payload cost to Low Earth Orbit by an order of magnitude, from $10 K to $1 K per pound, within 10 years and from $1 K to $100's per pound by 2020. Of paramount importance is the increase in safety and reliability of our space transportation systems and our goal is to increase flight safety by two orders of magnitude within 10 years and by four orders of magnitude in 20 years. The following are some specific areas that will provide significant advancements. Technologies for hardware concepts, subsystems, and design and analysis tools to support development of advanced launch vehicles while lowering operations cost. Technologies for improvements in vehicle structural margins, propulsion system power densities and/or specific impulse over current earth-to-orbit and space propulsion systems. Methodologies that emphasize justification for selection of matrix material constituents, fibers, interface coatings, fabric architecture, etc. Advanced hypersonic technologies that could impact the design and optimization of future hypersonic vehicles. Airframe technologies in materials and structural concepts, validated, safe structural analysis and design technologies, and improved manufacture of large- scale, advanced structures. Thermal-structural designs for primary structures such as propellant tanks, intertanks, wings, and thrust structures; discrete load carrying systems; along with thermal management/environmental protection that are integrated in these systems. Technologies for materials, processes, and manufacturing that will provide safe, reliable, lightweight, and less expensive launch vehicle and spacecraft components. Concepts for propulsion test operations which support the reduction of overall propulsion test operations costs (recurring costs) and/or increase reliability and performance of propulsion ground test facilities and operations methodologies. 03.01 Advanced Launch Vehicle Systems Lead Center: MSFC Participating Center(s): none Advanced launch vehicle systems will require high mass fraction, reliable system performance, and extended reusability in order to achieve cost goals. This subtopic emphasizes innovative hardware concepts, subsystems, and design and analysis tools to support development of advanced launch vehicles while lowering operations cost. Methodology, design and analysis tools, and hardware developed under this subtopic should address technical issues related to propellant tanks, thermal control subsystems, thermal protection systems, structures, guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C), supporting discipline analysis, and launch vehicle systems integration issues. Specific areas of interest for advanced technologies and innovations include the following: - Low cost designs, concepts, and manufacturing processes for tanks and vehicle structures; and innovative approaches and techniques to reduce small payload launcher costs. - Control and health management of vehicle structural systems by using sensors and effectors that have little influence on the structural system parameters with the exception of the structural damping parameters. Continuous estimation of center of mass and inertial properties. Real-time tuning of control algorithms to reflect known changes in vehicle response or sensor performance, and accurate, continuous estimation of fuel remaining on board. - Advanced concepts and techniques for thermal control of vehicle subsystems and payload thermal accommodation. - Thermal protection system concepts, instrumentation analysis tools, and testing techniques for reusable vehicles, cryo-tanks, and vehicle base heat shield regions. - Innovative system level models that support the design, analysis, and integration of vehicle subsystems and propulsions systems into the vehicle (such as the ability to assess operability of the systems and to model the impacts of design changes on vehicle cost, operations, vehicle aerodynamics, and controllability). - Integrated CAD, solid-model, structural, dynamic, thermal, and fluid-flow analysis methods for multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization of launch vehicles, and vehicle subsystems; and improved vehicle analysis tools in the areas of stress, thermal, structural, and fluid dynamics. - Automated propellant management systems; and technologies and innovative engineering capabilities to produce propulsion storage, feed, pressurization, fill and drain, vent, and support/restraint systems that are robust, lighter, or require less volume. - Optimal fault detection and redundancy management strategies; onboard autonomous mission planning/abort mode determination; execution software and advanced navigation hardware/software architectures; and adaptive GN&C utilizing data from sensors such as GPS. - Advance guidance concepts that will reduce operational costs and increase reliability by autonomously reshaping trajectories in the presence of abort/ failure situations to satisfy vehicle and control constraints and to achieve a safe abort. - Advance control concepts that will reduce operational costs and increase reliability by adapting to changing missions/payloads/vehicle models/failures and abort scenarios without requiring ground effort for retuning and analysis. - Analysis and testing techniques for prediction and measurement of damage and stress including life prediction, progressive internal damage and dynamic response in structures containing ceramic-matrix, metal-matrix composites, or other composite materials; and nondestructive evaluation of structural integrity of vehicle materials and subsystems. Methods for efficient characterization of frequency response functions of large structures, and analysis and testing techniques for passive and active vibration isolation devices for launch vehicles and payloads. - Advanced technologies for integrated structural systems such as integrated thermal and structural cryogenic tanks, efficient and effective repair techniques, technologies for modal, acoustic and static testing of large-scale aerospace structural systems, experimental-empirical methods for composite material thermal characterization and response prediction. 03.02 Revolutionary Space Propulsion Technologies Lead Center: MSFC Participating Center(s): none This subtopic focuses on innovative, advanced propulsion technologies, devices and systems that could lead to dramatic reductions in launch costs, rapid and affordable in-space transportation, and ambitious exploration of the solar system and beyond. Technologies that offer significant improvements in vehicle structural margins, propulsion system power densities and/or specific impulse over current earth-to-orbit and space propulsion systems are sought. Concepts that can be applied to high-payoff commercial applications are of particular interest. Proposals should include analyses addressing feasibility and mission suitability, and plans for demonstrating concept feasibility via test/experiment. Areas of interest include: - Advanced airbreathing/rocket combined cycle engines. Technologies may include high-performance concepts based on non-chemical energy sources, deeply cooled turbojets, and liquid air cycle engines. - Advanced propellants and high-energy density materials. Technologies may include advanced high-energy-density propellants, propellant combinations recovered in situ from extraterrestrial resources, and advanced cryogenic propellant storage/transfer techniques. - Beamed energy propulsion. Technologies may include laser propelled vehicle systems and components, microwave energy transmission and energy conversion, and application of Magneto Hydro-Dynamic (MHD) interactions for thrust generation, drag reduction and power generation. - High-power electric propulsion systems. Technologies may include high-power density energy sources, advanced energy conversion techniques, and pulsed inductive and electromagnetic plasma thrusters. - Fission propulsion. Technologies may include solid-core nuclear thermal rocket fuels, components and systems, gas-core thermal rockets, external pulsed plasma propulsion, nuclear-based MHD cycles for high power density energy production. - Fusion propulsion. Technologies may include pulsed and steady-state fusion propulsion concepts and systems, efficient, lightweight laser and particle-based drivers, lightweight thermal radiators, and hybrid fission/fusion concepts. - Solar thermal propulsion. Technologies may include solar concentrators, lightweight concentrator support structures, engine/thrusters for solar energy conversion, and controls and pointing systems. - Sails. Technologies may include solar, magnetic, laser, microwave and plasma sail systems, lightweight, high-strength, high-temperature materials, and high-power, space-based lasers. - Electrodynamic and momentum transfer tethers. Technologies may include materials or coatings for improved performance and lifetime, designs and analysis for tether behavior and dynamics, and testing and characterization techniques. - Antimatter propulsion. Technologies may include highly-efficient techniques for antimatter production, long-duration antimatter storage and transportation, and methods for utilizing antimatter as a propulsion energy source. - "Breakthrough" propulsion. Application of newly discovered scientific phenomena to propellantless space transportation, travel near theoretical velocity limits, and energy production far beyond the capabilities of known nuclear sources. 03.03 Lightweight Engine Components Lead Center: MSFC Participating Center(s): none Next generation space propulsion systems must address the significant challenge of achieving lower life-cycle cost while increasing safety & performance relative to current propulsion systems. Innovative processing methodologies and use of lightweight engine components offer the potential for increases in propulsion safety and for cost reduction. NASA, through this subtopic, is seeking research proposals that: - Justify selection of matrix material constituents, fibers, interface coatings, fabric architecture, etc. - Control processing parameters to ensure successful scale-up and reproducibility. - Verify processes with microscopic analysis (e.g., microprobe, SEM, XRD, BET, etc.) and macroscopic analysis (e.g., tensile strength, interlaminar shear strength, thermal and physical properties, etc.). - Verify specific end-use application by testing for permeability, thermal shock, etc., and - Evaluate components and/or coupon material nondestructively (NDE). Composites are desired composed of fibers selected by end users such as high strength SiC fibers, carbon fibers, and ultrahigh temperature type fibers, omponent health monitoring fibers, and a hybrid tow or architecture composed of the fibers mentioned. Advanced fiber interface coatings yielding optimal composite life and composite performance with respect to cost and time for fabrication are desired which are resistant to hot steam & hydrogen environments (eg. platinum & other refractory metals & metal alloys, silicon tetra or hexaboride, zirconium silicide, boron carbide, multi-layers, etc.) Matrices selected by end users such as silicon, zirconium, and hafnium based matrices. Also matrices or doped matrices composed of, or formed in situ during operation, hafnium silicate & zirconium silicate type matrices are desired. Matrices that resist environmental erosion and reactive gas diffusion are desired. Proposals are sought which address the Advanced Space Transportation Program goals by quantifiably describing the technology advancement payoff beyond the state-of-the-art. For those efforts which fabricate components, plans are sought which describe how the component will handle the projected or potential system requirements (i.e., how blisk handle hoop and interlaminar shear loads, how cooled or gas path parts are manifolded to metal connections, how unique components are joined and function, level to which thrust chambers & ducting are impermeable with time, etc.). Flexible, detailed test matrices correlated to processing variables are also of interest in the proposal and reports. Also, please note any manufacturing scale-up necessary for the target components and list the deliverables. Deliverables that are sought include: - Components, test data, and material analyses as appropriate. - Hoop or flat tensile stress-strain curves, interlaminar shear, and other coupon test data. - Microscopic analysis images. - Edge loaded tensile specimens (maximum of nine). When components are delivered to NASA for potential testing & analyses, possible means to manifold (for cooling and gas ducting) and attachment plans are sought. Specific areas of technology development include, but are not limited to, the following: - Development of lightweight turbomachinery components [e.g., integrally bladed disks (blisks), rotors, stators, housings, seals, etc.] having capability to operate in hot (> 1000 C) hydrogen rich steam and oxygen rich environments. - Development of fabrication techniques capable of producing uniform densities in CMC blisks for thicknesses ranging from 1 to 3 inches, and diameters up to 18 inches. - Innovative technologies providing lower cost, lightweight combustion components (e.g., cooled and uncooled thrust chambers and nozzles, injector faceplates, minimal erosion throats, etc.) for LOX/H2 and LOX/RP environments. - Ultrahigh temperature (greater than 2000 degrees Celsius) propulsion and plasma confinement development for solar thermal absorbers and nuclear thermal applications. - CMC components or components lined with CMCs which can contain pressure. - Continuous nanofiber or microfiber preform such that the fibers are connected to each other in the fashion of a foam and having high nearly isotropic CMC tensile strength properties suitable for propulsion applications. - Fabrication of a simple CMC or ceramic lined turbopump housing. - Fabrication of a simple CMC or ceramic, impermeable, reliable turbopump housing. - Development of CMCs with preforms containing fibers aligned in principal stress trajectories, hybrid (fiber type & size) preforms, process & component operation health monitoring preforms, etc. Characterization of CMC components with unique > 2D preforms. - Development of functionally gradient materials for preceding applications. - Low cost (with metrics), rapid, scalable, repeatable CMC fabrication processes development for preceding applications. - Joining of ceramic composites to CMCs and ceramics for thrust chambers, uncooled & cooled nozzle components, blisks, injectors, housings, & end user specified components accounting for ply direction and surface condition. All monolithic ceramic development must be justified for use on manned or unmanned flight vehicles. A commitment must be obtained from end users that state the risks and results of impact damage to the component which are acceptable for the monolithic ceramic components. 03.04 Hypersonic Vehicle Design and Systems Technology Lead Center: LaRC Participating Center(s): none Innovative system-oriented research is sought to support, develop, and/or enable advanced hypersonic technologies that could impact the design and optimization of future hypersonic vehicles. The focus is on hypersonic airbreathing vehicles with emphasis on hypersonic cruise airplanes and single- or two-stage-to-orbit vehicles. Design/analysis software/algorithms and graphical user interfaces to the software to address hypersonic vehicle design and performance prediction needs can include the following: - Conceptual and preliminary design. - Total multidisciplinary configuration design and optimization. - Three-dimensional methods for external and internal vehicle/propulsion flowpath analyses (includes CFD and closed form methods or a combination thereof). - Vehicle sizing and scaling. - Subsystems design/database including sizing, integration, and networking routines with or without power balance capabilities. - Methods for design/analysis of cooled leading edges including heat load predictions. - Inverse design methods. - Trajectory design, analysis, and optimization. - Aerodynamic/aerothermodynamic performance prediction methods. Advanced hardware and systems with the potential to reduce structural weight fraction and/or increase vehicle performance are sought and can include: - Heat exchangers, reactors, and secondary coolant designs for endothermic fuel systems. - Propulsion cycles applicable from Mach 0 to 25 and accompanying design and integration techniques. - Heat-rejection radiators, compact, high-performance convective heat exchangers, and cooling panel design. - Lightweight, durable coating or insulation systems that can significantly reduce the aerothermal heat load to external/internal surfaces with those improvements. - MHD propulsion/flowpath. - Systems for reduction of drag at hypersonic speeds. - Plasma augmented propulsion. - Systems for reduction of aeroheating at hypersonic speeds. - Innovative flight controls. - Specialized hypersonic fuel systems. 03.05 Reusable Launch Vehicle Airframe Technologies Lead Center: LaRC Participating Center(s): MSFC Next generation space transportation systems must address the significant challenge of significantly reducing the cost of space access while providing orders-of-magnitude improvements in safety. To accomplish these goals, the airframes/spaceframes for future launch vehicles and upper stages must be reusable and incorporate advanced technologies in materials and structural concepts, validated, safe structural analysis and design technologies, and improved manufacture of large-scale, advanced structures; and must utilize advanced control, health monitoring, and maintenance technologies to enable low cost and safe operations. To facilitate the improvement of safety, the uncertainties in airframe loads, responses and failure mechanisms must also be reduced so that design margins that contribute to safety can be quantified with an accuracy much greater than is today possible. The conflicting requirements of low cost and safety must also be balanced with the need for performance sufficient for space transportation vehicles. Airframe systems of primary interest in this subtopic include innovative concepts in reusable cryogenic propellant tanks, and "integrated thermal- structures" (i.e., airframe structures, such as integral cryogenic tanks, intertanks, wings/fins, thrust structures, fairings, control surfaces and leading edges that are hot structures or have the reentry thermal protection system closely integrated with the structure). Proposals for innovative research in design and mechanics, and in materials technologies addressing these airframe systems are solicited. Proposals of specific interest in this subtopic include one or more of the following items: Design and Mechanics - Specialized modeling, analysis, and design tools for integrated structural, thermal, thermal-structural, or acoustic responses, and innovative measurement and test methods for design validation. Application of methodology to circular and multi-lobed, membrane cryogenic tanks, and for conformal, non- membrane tanks is of special interest. - Novel methods for prediction and testing of material and structural durability and damage tolerance with emphasis on cryogen leakage, environmental degradation, combined thermal-mechanical loads, and operation beyond nominal design conditions; and related methods to repair damaged structures. Materials Technologies - Significant advances in critical properties for high-temperature nickel, iron, and titanium alloys, intermetallics, refractory metals, PMC's, MMC's, and CMC's along with their related processing into useful product forms for fabrication into the airframe systems of interest. - Materials technologies focused on advanced, high temperature materials compatible with cryogenic and gaseous hydrogen and oxygen; and for composite tanks, focused on cryogen leakage prevention and/or detection and/or sealing. - Practical processing methods for large-scale manufacture of cryogenic tanks with efficient and reliable joining, and process development for advanced forming such as out-of-autoclave manufacture for composites, and near-net-shape and free-form fabrication for metals. 03.06 Launch Vehicle Manufacturing Technologies Lead Center: MSFC Participating Center(s): none NASA seeks new and innovative technologies for materials, processes, and manufacturing that will provide safe, reliable, lightweight, and less expensive launch vehicle and spacecraft components. Advanced materials and fabrication processes will enable next generation advanced space transportation systems. Projects should focus on technologies leading to decreased cost, and reducing the weight of systems and components while increasing reliability and service life above current capabilities. Only processes that are environmentally friendly and worker-health-oriented, will be considered. Proposals in the following areas of interest are sought: - Innovative materials and manufacturing technologies that utilize advanced polymer matrix composite materials. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: - Large scale manufacturing - Non-autoclave curing; especially automated fabrication techniques using e- beam, and thermoplastics - Technologies for providing damage tolerant and repairable structures - Development of materials and manufacturing processes compatible with Fuels/Oxidizers - Developments in "Intelligent Synthesis Environment" and collaborative engineering tools for manufacturing. Emphasis is placed on: - "The Manufacturing Element" of Life Cycle Product Development including virtual product development and manufacturing simulation - Process control and instrumentation for characterization and verification of material properties (including thermal, optical, electrical, mechanical, and moisture absorption) - Rapid-prototyping technologies leading to improved structural integrity materials for use in end-item component processing. - Innovations in aerogel insulation which effectively address: the strength limitations of most aerogels; the environmental and safety issues associated with aerogel manufacture; efficient processes for application of aerogel to space hardware. - Biomimetic processes with high potential for increased structural properties and decreased weight. - Fabrication and joining of advanced metallic and metal matrix composite (MMC) materials for increased strength and reduced weight. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: - Particulate, fiber or hybrid composites, high or low temperature application, gaseous/liquid oxygen or hydrogen compatibility application - Isotropic property for ultra high strength and lightweight metals, alloys and nanophase materials to achieve more than 120 ksi tensile strength at room temperature, and 60 ksi at elevated temperature above 500 F - Low cost and net shape fabricating methods for metal matrix composites and advanced metallic materials - Innovative technologies for bonding and joining of similar and dissimilar materials to improve joint efficiency, allow joining of a wider range of materials, improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of the joint, and extend the understanding of factors influencing these characteristics. 03.07 Space Propulsion Systems Test Operations Lead Center: SSC Participating Center(s): none Proposals are solicited for innovative concepts in the area of propulsion test operations. Proposals should support the reduction of overall propulsion test operations costs (recurring costs) and/or increase reliability and performance of propulsion ground test facilities and operations methodologies. Specific areas of interest in this subtopic include the following: Facility and Test Article Health Monitoring Technologies - New innovative non-intrusive sensors for measuring flow rate, temperature, pressure, rocket engine plume constituents, effluent gas detection, hydrogen leak detection, and hydrogen fires. - On-line