**Program Announcement**

**High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office**

**HIGH ENERGY LASER EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE**

**SOLICITATION CONTENTS**

1\. Requirement Description

2\. General Information

3\. Program Schedule and Budget

4\. Responses and Feedback

5\. Focus Area

6\. Proposal Preparation Instructions

> 7\. Evaluation Criteria
>
> 8\. Award

**[1. REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION]{.underline}**

A. The High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office (JTO) in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, is interested in receiving proposals from offerors for the
development and operation of an Educational Initiative program. This
Program Announcement is issued under the authority of 10 USC 2358, which
provides for the competitive selection of Grants and Cooperative
Agreements. The Government anticipates that this Program Announcement
will result in award of one grant. DoD's policy is to maximize use of
competition in the award of grants. The program goals are to develop,
implement, and operate a High Energy Laser (HEL) educational initiative
program to establish opportunities to foster interest and education of
HEL related technologies to the future workforce at all educational
levels but, in particular, at the undergraduate and graduate college
level and for the professional and technical development in HEL
technology for the existing workforce.

B. Communications, pursuant to this Program Announcement, shall be
forwarded to Ms. Barbara Steinbock, Grants Officer, at AFRL/RDKB,
Commercial 505-846-2246, <Barbara.steinbock@kirtland.af.mil>.

Technical questions should be communicated to Mr. Don Seeley of the
HEL-JTO Program Office, commercial 505-248-8205,
<don.seeley@jto.hpc.mil>.

**[2. GENERAL INFORMATION]{.underline}**

A. Potential responders are notified that effective 1 Jan 1998, in order
to be eligible to receive any DoD award, contractors must be registered
in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Database, unless a
contractor meets any of the exceptions of DFARS 204.7302. On-line
registration instructions can be accessed from the CCR home page
<http://www.ccr.gov/>

B. Disclosure Limitations. An "Administrative Access to Proprietary
Information" consent provision is applicable to this announcement with
anticipation of incorporation of the provision by reference into any
resulting grant. This provision is included as Attachment C to this
announcement. The consent form as well as the Non-FAR certifications
must be signed and submitted with the proposal. All proposal packages
should clearly indicate any limitations on the disclosure of proprietary
information. Offerors are hereby notified that the Government intends to
utilize the contractors Schafer Corporation, CC&G and Contract
Allocation Services (CAS) for administrative purposes on the award of
and final grant. All contractor personnel will sign a Nondisclosure
Agreement and will not use the grant information for any purpose other
than administration.

C. Non-FAR Certifications. All proposals for assistance require
certifications of compliance with national policy mandates. Statutes and
Government-wide regulations require some certifications to be submitted
at the time of proposal. These certifications are set forth at Appendix
A to 32 CFR Part 25 regarding debarment, suspension, and other matters;
Appendix C to 32 CFR 25 regarding drug-free workplace; and Appendix A to
32 CFR 28 regarding lobbying. The certifications are provided in
Attachment 2.

**[3. PROGRAM SCHEDULE AND BUDGET]{.underline}**

The government anticipates awarding one Grant based upon submission of a
proposal package, which will consist of a technical proposal, statement
of work and a budget proposal. To be considered for evaluation, proposal
packages must be submitted no later than 11 March 2009. HEL-JTO
anticipates award of a grant by the middle of May 2009. The period of
performance that will result from this solicitation will be five (5)
years. To avoid delays in evaluation, all proposal packages must be
prepared in accordance with the instructions included in this Program
Announcement. All proposals submitted under this Announcement shall be
valid for at least 90 days from the proposal date.

The HEL-JTO budget for this Grant is \$700K/year for a total value of
\$3.5M. Any concept exceeding the \$700K/year limit will be excluded.
This is an estimate only and not a promise for funding, as all funding
is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability.

**[4. RESPONSES AND FEEDBACK]{.underline}**

Letters notifying offerors of the HEL-JTO decision to accept or reject
their proposal package will be sent to the offerors after the evaluation
has been completed. Offerors are cautioned that only a Grants Officer
may obligate the Government to any agreement involving expenditure of
government funds.

**[5. EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE]{.underline}**

**[5.1. Objective]{.underline}**

There is a concern in the HEL community that fewer students are entering
the scientific and engineering fields that will lead to professionals
supporting on-going HEL activities. The objective of this grant is to
build and expand awareness and interest of the HEL technical, scientific
and engineering fields among the current and future workforce that will
be required to continue and to grow current and future HEL technology,
science prototype systems, programs, and test and evaluation
capabilities for military HEL systems.

**[5.2. Requirements]{.underline}**

The HEL-JTO is seeking effective and innovative ideas coupled with
proven approaches that can fulfill the objective stated above. Proposals
that address only these requirements will be minimally acceptable.
Proposals that offer additional, effective approaches have the potential
to be considered exceeding minimally acceptable criterion.

5.2.1. Foster and expand graduate and undergraduate student interest in
HEL sciences, technology and engineering. The intent is to provide a
source of applicants into the HEL field for recruitment by government
and industry. [Proposers must be independent of the educational
initiatives. Proposed work cannot be self-serving for the awardee of the
grant.]{.underline}

5.2.2. Provide educational opportunities for existing workforce entering
the HEL field. The intent is to provide opportunities for new recruits
with limited or no background in HEL technologies to have an opportunity
to gain professional education in the HEL field.

5.2.3. Provide an opportunity for publication of technical papers
relating to HEL technology, system integration and test and evaluation
activities. The intent is to provide a [ ]{.underline} forum that HEL
specific technical advances can be promulgated within the HEL community
and provided to a larger audience.

5.2.4. Provide for conferences and workshops that allow the HEL
community an opportunity to share issues, ideas and concepts to further
the development of HEL educational initiatives.

**[6.0 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS]{.underline}**

**[6.1 General Instructions]{.underline}**

a\. Offerors must submit the proposal as a hard copy and on CD ROM in
Microsoft word or pdf format or online at Grants.gov APPLY. The budget
proposal shall be submitted as IBM PC compatible, Microsoft Excel
(Version 2003 or Excel compatible version) files, [to include cell
formulas]{.underline}. Proposals must include a completed SF 424 to be
considered. The proposals must be posted online or arrive by NLT 11
March 2009, 12:00PM Mountain Standard Time (MST) to Det 8 AFRL/RDKL,
Attention: Mrs. Stephanie M. Beauchamp, 2251 Maxwell Blvd. SE, Bldg 499,
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-2773 to be considered.

b\. Offerors are advised that only grants officers are legally
authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the government.

c\. The cost of preparing proposal packages (technical proposal, SOW,
and budget proposal) in response to this Program Announcement is not
considered an allowable direct charge to the resulting grant.

d\. Proposal packages shall include a Technical Proposal (not more than
ten pages, excluding the title page and attachments, a Statement of Work
(SOW), and Budget Proposal. Technical proposals will be evaluated
against the evaluation criteria as they relate to the objectives stated
herein. Technical Proposals shall be no smaller than 12 font, Times New
Roman.

Title page will be formatted as follows:

a\. Title for Technical Proposal

1\) Date Offer is Submitted

> 2\) Company Name

3\) Contracting POC

a\. Name

b\. Address

c\. Phone/Fax

d\. E-Mail

e\. Signature

4\) Program Manager

a\. Name

b\. Address

> c\. Phone/Fax
>
> d\. E-Mail
>
> e\. Signature

5\) Total Budget

**[6.2 Technical Proposals]{.underline}**

Technical proposals are intended to provide a specific approach to
accomplishing the requirements in the offeror's proposed Statement of
Work. The technical proposal is limited to ten (10 pages), not including
cover sheet. There is no specific format for technical proposals. Each
technical proposal must provide an approach to meet the objectives of
the SOW and qualifications and experience of the offeror.

**[6.3 Statement of Work]{.underline}**

1\. Proposal Packages shall include an offeror developed Statement of
Work (SOW) detailing the tasks to be accomplished under this proposed
effort, and suitable for incorporation into the resultant grant.

\(a\) The SOW shall not include any proprietary information.

\(b\) SOWs must identify all reviews of the efforts, including
when/where (identify by milestone, event, or task) they will be
conducted.

\(c\) Any questions concerning the SOW preparation shall be referred to
the Grants Officer.

**[6.4 Budget and Schedule]{.underline}**

1\. The budget proposal will not be restricted by page count and shall
identify productive labor hours and skill mix associated with the
effort. The offeror shall submit a major budget element schedule
summarized by contractor fiscal year and rolled up to total budget. The
proposed budget schedule shall display the proposed rates for direct
labor, fringe benefits, indirect cost rates and/or factors, overhead,
material handling, and any other direct costs (ODCs), G&A, cost of money
(COM), New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax (NMGRT) if applicable, budgets from
each lower tier offeror/Interorganizational Transfers, and/or
consultants, and any other applicable burden or budget element, by
fiscal year. The offeror shall also propose all estimated equipment,
material, and travel, to support the effort and a breakout of the
proposed budget for those items. No Profit/Fee will be paid on this
grant. Proposals must stand-alone and be complete. This section should
also include a program execution schedule; be sure to include the
objectives and/or goals, major milestones, throughout the period of
performance in this section. Budget detail should clearly identify
costs, which are internal to the offeror and those that are used in
pursuit of the objectives such as scholarships, educational products,
course preparation, etc. The Tables furnished as Attachments 1 and 2
shall be completed for the entire performance period

**[7.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA]{.underline}**

Evaluation Criteria: Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished using
the criteria below. No further evaluation criteria will be used in
assessing the proposals. Organization and clarity of information are
critical to all of the evaluation criteria. The evaluation criteria are
listed in order of precedence.

\(a\) The overall innovativeness, merit and soundness of approach
proposed toward the requirements stated herein.

\(b\) The offeror's capabilities including qualifications, experience,
competence and availability of personnel.

\(c\) Overall value and realism of the proposed effort.

**[8.0 AWARD]{.underline}**

Each proposal will be evaluated independently. The government will
follow the evaluation procedure described previously. No other
evaluation factors will be used. The technical and budget proposals will
be evaluated at the same time. The HEL-JTO reserves the right to select
for award all, any part, or none of the proposals received. Only the
Grants Officer will make awards and/or conduct negotiations with the
selected offeror.

Program initiation is dependent upon award of the Grant. Award will be
made via government grants procedures to the offeror whose proposal
package conforms to this Program Announcement and whose proposal is
considered most advantageous to the government.