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DEPART-E--F S.~RfT ;: AIR FORCE . 

OFflC.E OF SP.ECIAL PROJECTS (OSAF) 

POBOX 92960~ WORLDWAY POSTAL CeNTER 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90009 

25 June 1974 

MEMO FOR MR PLUMMER 

SUBJECT: SAFSP Source Selection Proceedings 

" '~ow, I am serving as source selection authority 

for th~follow-oncompetition.' Dr McLucas decided on 

this arrangement after some inquiry into ,the precedents'within 

the NRO and the SAFSP particularly. As a follow-up, I have 

prepared a history of SAFSP. source selection proceedings for 

our use in planning future procurements. A copy is attached, 

for your information. 

1 Atch 

-llilllllllli 

lt6k"idfoJ~q .-

DAVID D. BRADBURN 

Brigadier General, USAF 

Director' 

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o.tilJ~ ~1~103-71-

~ lj:J.y 

. SAFSP SOURCE SELlOOTION PROCEEDINGS 

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. GAMBIT (G3) 

\ 

Satellite Control Vehicle and 

Payload Adapter Section 

CONTRACTOR: 

BASIC CONTRACTS:. AF 18(600)-2709 . AF 04(695)-619 

TYPE: CPIF CPIF 

INITIAL VALUES: I 

Genera1 Greer General Martin * 

- SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS:' (SUllllary attached) , 

NOTIFIC~ION OF SUCCESSFUL 

Bromm: LMSC (per letters to MSFC and GE 

from GeneraJ. Greer; dated 5, Jun 64) 

* Selection Board proceedings were compl.eted Under 

General. Greer. ~ever I the initial contract 

was not issued unt:f:l.January 1966, w~n General 

Martin was SAFSP Director. 

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SATELLITE· CONTROL VEHICLE 

GAMBIT «3) SOURCE SELECTION ProCEEDINGS 

22 JAN 64 - Working Group established by the Source Selection Board 

to determine sources to be solicited . 

. 24 JAN 64 - Working Group compiled a list of potential cand;ldates who 

b8dactually demonstrated successful space experience. 

, The Working Group then selected ten (10) of the more 

outstanding firms from this list. 

The ten contractors were rated' as to their technical 

competence in various subs ystem. areas of the G3. Sa'telli te 

. Control Vehicle. The. rs. ting criteria. was based on the 

current capabi~ity and recent experience in making 

comparable hardware. The ten contractors and respective 

scores, in order of rating; were 8S fo1lows: . 

!aMBC 

MAC 

NAA 

GE 

Boeing 

100 

88 

88 

82. 

77', 

GDA 

,Dougl.as 

STL 

Martin' 

HAC 

73 

64 

62 

50 

39 

'l!b.e Working· Group recommended the first four (4) 

contractors listed be solicited. 

1 F.EB 64 - Based on d1scussions between the Board and the Working 

Group, the Board accepted the Working Group I s appraisals . 

. of the ten. (10) contractors and the recommendation thB.t 

on1y four. of the contrac~rs be. cOD,sidered fUrther. 

The Board then established. more specific criteria to be 

utilized in evaluating·the four remaining contractors. 

The new. cri teris. was concerned with the areas of peculiar 

past experience,' engineering staff aDd facilities, , 

integration and interface experience, 'overall ~apability .' 

and. corporate ability. 

The Board then performed an evaJ.uation by all.ocatiDg six 

( 6) points among each' of the four (.4) co~tractors for 

each of the. specified 'criteria items. The resulting 

total points per contractor were as follows: 

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McDonnell (~) 

GE/ASPD . 

LMSC 

NAA 

39 

231-

264 

25 

5 FER 64 - Under Secretary McMillan was briefed .on the foregoing 

proceedings.and to·tbe effect that the Source Selection 

Board had selected ~C and GEl ASID as the sources to 

be solicited. 

13 FEB15 .APR 6~ - RFPs distributed, proposals ~ecei ved and evaluation of 

IaMB? and GE began •. 

8 MAY 64 Source Selection Board evaluation comPlete with award 

. to LMSC recOJllllended based on following: 

Final. scores: 

MAJOR AREAS OF DIFFERENCE: • 

~ 

LMSC 

GE/ASPD 

Simpler and more reliable "roll joint" 

concept va GE gas. roll syStem, 

. sensitive to cbang1ng C.G. of 

photographic payload. 

Lighter in weight, offering potential. 

increase in orbital life from a 5 day 

system to an 8 day system. 

SECRET· 

1,140 points 

348 Points' 

Considerably more complex 

system - higher risk 

developilent . 

GJ. system vas 60 lbsover 

. ma.x:l.mum aJ.J.m.ra,ble and ·310 

lbs over 'target weight in 

RFP~ 

Developnent and ~curri:ng' 

costs ·of GE about 

double those of'.LMSC 

system'. 

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CONTRAd'roR: 

BASIC CONTRACTS: 

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INITIAL VALUES: 

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HEXAGON 

Satellite.Basic Assembly 

. LMBC· 

CPIF-P 

(SpeCialized 

Incentive) 

Dr. F.Lax 

CPIF-P 

SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS: (summary attached) 

NOTIFICATION OF SUCCESSFUL BIDDER: LMSC (per 'lWX trom Dr. Flax 

. .to General Martin, 19 Jul 67) 

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HEXAGON SATELLITE BASIC ASSEMBLY 

SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS 

25 May 66 - Memorandum from Dr Flax appointed Source SelectIon Board (SSB) 

consisting of seven members with Col Buzard designated. as 

chairman. 

26' May 66 - A Source Subcommittee, appointed by the SSB, p~sented an 

evaluation of. the following list of potential contractor~: 

Boeing AirpJ.a.n.e Company 

General Dynamics Corporation 

. North American' Avia.tion~ Inc,. 

HUghes Aircraft Company 

TRW'Systems 

Lockheed .Missiles and Space Compa.ny 

'. Mc Donnell Aircraft Corporation 

General Electric Company 

The Martin Company 

Douglas AiI:'Craft Company 

The Subcomm1~tee had also considered Grumman Aircraft, 

Fairchild-BIller 'Aircraft and Ling-Tempco-Vought but felt 

their present capabilities were not sufficient for inclU$ion 

on the list. 

The ·SSB evaluated the ten contractors on the l.ist based on 

seven general criteria (white) and' five spec'ific criteria 

(black) . The general cei teria considered management and 

fIiiiiiiCial capablli tyfor large programs,; pOssible confl.ict 

Wi th existing programs,; in-house experience with comp1ex 

space vehicle development, test aDd production; c$pability 

in launch and on-orbit control operatiQns; adequacy of 

existing' organization to provide technical and management 

talents and facUities; capabUity for follow-on production' 

with minimum build up. The' specific cri terta was composed 

of experience in on-orbit control, launch operations 

integrating contractor, nnmanned,: recolUlaissance space 

vehicles, interfacing with photographic payloads, and 

existlng.capabili~y.and experience in covert management, 

manufacturing and operations. 

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1 June 66 -

3 June 66 -

8 June 66 '-

• 

On the basis of grading of the contractors util.izing a ' 

point system alid a narrative s1llllDl8.l'y for each contractor, 

the SSB concluded that the follOWing were qualified,to 

receive the'RFP: 

General. El.ectric Company 

Lockheed'Missiles and Space Company 

TRW Systems 

The above 26 May, proceedings were presented to Dr Flax with 

an observation that ~ participation in the competition. 

may not be in the :hest interest of the Government because 

of possible ~onfl.lct of interest. 

" , 

The 88B chairman advised the board that two sources for the 

RFP sol.icitation was insufficient ' and that at least four 

would be required. 

The S8B,e1iminated three contractors from the 26 May 1ist for , the :rolioVing reasons: 

General Dynamics, - Lack of experience with compJ.ex 

space vehicle devel.opment; no known on-orbit control. 

operations C'apabili ty. ' 

The Martin Company' - Lack of experience with compl.ex 

space vehicle devel.opment; limited on ... orbit operations 

capability. 

,TRW Systems ~ Conf'J.±ct of interest. ' TRW was ,currently 

serving as systems', engineering and technical direction contractor for HEXAGON Sensor Subsystem. TRW bad, been utilized 

to review'the entire RF.P and make extensive recommendations , for changes. 

, The SSB re-evaJ.uated the remaining seven contractors, scoring '. 

them on the basiS of seven criteria'items similar to those , used 26 May., On the bas~s th8.tDouglas' and .Boeing each did 

not receive at least 75~ of the maximum points possible, the 

SSB concluded they should be el:f.m1nated from the list • 

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14 JWle 66 - !tWX from Dr F.l.ax approving the RFP and designating the 

following as the sources to be solicited: 

General Electric Company 

Hughes Aircraft Corporation 

Lockheed Missiles and Space Company 

Me Donnell Aircraft Corporation 

. North American Aviation, Inc. 

16 june 66· - RFPir hEmded to the above five contracto·rs at·8 meeting at 

SAFSP El Segundo facilities. 

22 Aug 66 

26 Sep 66 

- Proposals received from four 'of the sources solicited .. 

Hughes did not respond to the RFP. 

- The SSB briefed Dr Flax on their evaluations and recoDllDendations. The' four bidders scored as follows (7,500 total ~ints possible): 

Mc Donnell 

LMSC' 

G.E. 

NAA 

5,070 points 

5,005 .pOints 

4,853 pOints 

3,959 points 

The followidg.proposed contract costs wer~ considered 

separately b:r the SSB: - . 

LMSC· 

G-~E. 

NAA. 

Me Donnell 

The board recommended LMSC be selected based on the gross 

cost differential and the factors s~rized below: 

MAJOR AREAS. OF DIFFERENCE: 

GE: 

Complex 2 by 2 (side by side) re-entry vehicle aITange-:. 

ment . propos·ed (but less weight than the 4 in-line design). 

Proposed using mature on-the-shelf' hardware at the 

expense of weight penalties. (Greatest weight -rlsk was with 

the G.E. design.) 

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Did not consider the Stellar Index mounting problem or 

electrical ~wer for it. 

Bad a good modular design but conSidered major changes 

for growth such as fuel cells for power and possibly 

bipropellant for altitude control' gas. 

LNSC: 

Design was based largely on proven concepts and 

equipment. 

Proposed, some new equipment based on simpl1c1 ty, 

including: single 'monopropel~nt orb1 t adjust engine with, 

good reliabi11 ty; outside corrugated structure;' new (within 

state-of-the-art) telemetry, tracking' and command equipnent. 

Good RV and. payload. layout. 

LMSC design bad a low weight risk. 

Me Donnell: 

, Straight forward design utilizing proven systems, 'of 

minimum weight. 

Stellar Index camera ' located awa.y from the main payload, resulting in more difficult alignment. 

Proposed USing collima.tio~ equipment on the! pad for -

payload 8J.fgnment, which was not believed fea.sible. 

Proposed growth through conservation of. expendables 

or redesign I of orbit 8.dJust tankage was' promising for 35 

to 40 daylife~ , 

Additional wiring penalty would resul.t from remote 

location of some equipme~t. 

The McDonnell cost proposal was considered exorbitant. 

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NAA: 

Proposed design required considerably more electrical 

power than the other contractors. This led NAA to propose 

a two-axis controlled sun-oriented ~olar array which was 

less' rel.labl.e and causes much higher drag than the other 

contractors' syst~. . 

Clustered 4 RV arrangement, which required very comPlex 

film handJ.lng equipment arid results in large cg shifts as· 

RVs leave. . 

Proposed complex gimballed orbit adjust engines to. 

offset cg shift's due to cl.ustered· RVs. • I 

Proposed complex. interconnection of both out-of-date 

and .new designs for the telemetry, tracking and command 

equipment. 

HAAs design' had low weight risk·. 

Large OA-attitude control fuel tanks provided for 

easy growth achievement. . 

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• .§!!!: 

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HEXAGON 

Me Donnell Aircraft Corporation 

. CPIF-p CPIF-p 

Dr Flax 

(SUJDIIB.'ry' attached) 

IOTD'ICATION OF SUCCESS:ruL. BIDDER: Me Donnell (Per TWX tram· Dr Flax 

to Gen Martin, 20 May 68) 

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HEXAGON HE-ENTRY VEHICLE 

SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS 

6 JULy 66 - Memorandum from Dr' Flax appointed Source Selection Advlsory 

Council (SSAC') of seven.members . with Col J. W. Cunningham 

designated as chairman. 

14 JULy 66 - Briefing to ·Dr Flax by Col. Cunningham, on proposed RFP and 

recommended sources tc? be so11c1 ted. A list of 15 

eligible bidders was proposed based on a general criteria 

consisting of evaluation of management, financial and 

production· capabili ty, re1ating :experience, conflict with 

in-house effort and adequacY'of existing organizations. 

Utilizi~ more specific qualification cr~ teria with 

weighted factors, the list of 15 contractors were scored . 

. and the 6 contractors With the' highest total scores were 

. recommended.forcons.ideration. The scorings were 

accompanied by ~rative sUmmaries. 

15 JULy 66 - TWX from Dr Flax approving distribution of RFPs to 

follOWing fi~: . 

The General Electric Company 

Lockheed Missiles and Space Company 

AVCOoCorporation 

Me Donnell Aircraft Co~ration 

19 JULy 66 - RFPs ~istributed to the above four contractors.at a meet~ 

ing at SAFSP El Segundo facilities. 

29. JULy 66 - TWX from Dr F1.a.x' approving Source Selection EvaJ..uation 

Board (SSEB) m~bership. . 

20 SEP 66 - Proposals received from three of the tour sources 

solicited •. LMSC declined to propose to avoid diluting 

the effort on the HEXAGON Sa.tellite Basic Assembl.y proposal. 

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20 OCT 66 - Letter from SSAC to Director, NRO fo~, results of 

'the evaluations and recODDllendations. The bidders were 

scored as follOws for ~, medium and large RYs 

(1,000 total points possible): 

. E: M ~ 

Me Donnell 632 632 632 

GE 532 532 , 534-

'AVCO 456 463' 454 

Proposed costs were a.s stated below. Costs, for GE a.n.d 

Xc Donnell were revised by the SSAC 'to . compensate for 

technical ~ficiencies, cost omissions and excess' 

proposed requirements. . 

GE 

McDonnell 

Avdo 

Proposed Revised by SSAC 

The SSAC recommended GE be a.warded the contract. AlthOugh 

GE had major technical weaknesses 'in their proposed 

Propul.siOn,· Heat Shiel.d and Spin-despin subsyStems,. the, 

SSAC felt they could be corrected either by direction or 

by rel.axing the' dispersion and shelf life requirements. , 

Afte~ costs were adjusted for these corrections, the SSAC 

noted tb.a.t GE' s costs were, still l~ be10w Me Donnell's. 

13' DEC 66 - Letter from Col Buzard to Director, NR> in response to 

direction, from Director, HRO, .re-evaluated GE' and Me Donnell 

based on suppl.ementaJ. information supplied by each comp8.ny. 

Based on there~evaluat1on, Col·, Buzard,recoaamdedthe 

aw&rd. go to Me Donnell. This recOJIIIB8nc1ation was based on 

the major areas of, difference' s1lIIIDB.rized ' be~ow: 

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MAJOR AREAS OF DIFFERENCE: 

GE: 

The proposed unsupported (free-foam) heat shield 

design was considered marginal, for the predicted high 

heating rates and shear forces. The phenolic nylonphenolic glass heat shield originally pr<;>posed by GE 

was ~cceptabl.e due to limited shel.f l.ite. Therefore, 

it was doubtful. that GE would sol.ve this probl.em 

without considerabl.e cost and schedule risk. 

The ignitor on the proposed retro-rocket would 

hav~ to be factory-installed since it would not be 

accessabl.e after instalJ.ation in the RV. This Was 

unacceptabl.e for safety reasons. 

The l.ocation of GE's.flashing light would not 

provide satisfactory lighting of the heatshiel.d l.ower . 

'hemisphere • 

The weight vs. performance trade-off resulted in 

a weight increase of over 300 pounds for the four-bucket 

configuration. 

Me Donnell: 

The structuraJ. analyses provided with the proposal 

was weak. However, this was no~ cons idered serious 

since it was correctable by eft.ective engineering and 

technic8J.. direction., . . 

The design would not meet the dispersion requirements for apprOximately 1.5~of· the orbital envel.ope. 

This woul.d reqUire the recovery forces to be spread out 

for the higher predicted dispersions. 

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TYPE: 

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SSA: 

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HEXAGON 

Stellar and Terrain Index Cameras 

Letter Contract CPIF-P 

Dr Flax 

SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS: (sl.1lllll8.i7 _attached). 

~IFICATION OF SUCCESSFUL BIDDER: iWX from Dr F.l.ax to General 

*rtin, . 20 May 68 . 

* .For deSign, devel.opnent, fabrication and test of six (p) 

SI cameras and associated AGE. 

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HEXAGON STELLAR AND TERRAIN INDEX SUBSYSTEM 

SOURCE SELECTION PROCEEDINGS 

3 Aug 66 - Source Selection Adv1eory Council (SSAC) appointed ,by letter 

from Dr Flax. Col C. ~zek appointed chairman. 

16 Sep 66 - " Members and technical advisors of the Source Selection 

Evaluation Board (SSEB) established. 

12 Aug 66 A list of 27 potential contractdrs for the solicitatiqn 

considered by the SSEB. Tbe SSEB established a list of 

General. Selection, Crt teria and applied :i. t to the potential. 

source list to eliminate companies, not, qualified •. This 

resulted in 10 companies being eliminated due to lack of , experience with electro-mechanicaL-optical systems for space 

vehicles .. ' In addition, MIT was eliminated because of lack 

of demonstrated capability to'conduct a multi-million dollar 

production program .and fRW was eliminated due to conflict of 

interest. 

Specific Selection Criteria"was then developed along with 

weight factors and a scoring system. These were 'a.ppJ.ied 

to the remaining list of 15 contractors and resulted in a 

score spread fram 978 to 1,920. A score of 1,500 was 

utilized 'as a cut-off, which resulted in 6 ftrms on the'~p 

of the list being recammended,for's~licitation as follows: 

lTEK Corporation 

Eastman Kodak. Company' . 

Fairchild Space and Defense Systems 

Lockheed Missil~s and Space Company ~neral Electric Company 

Perkin-Elmer Corporation 

16 Aug 66 - Based on recommendations in briefing to Dr FLax by 'the SSAC 

chairman, a 'lWX was se~t from Dr Flax directing that RFPs 

be sent tothe1 following: ' 

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ITEK Corporation 

Fairchild Camera. am. Instrument Corp. (FSoo) 

Perkin-Elmer Corporation 

23 Aug 66 - RFPs handed to the above three contractors at a meeting, a.t 

SAFSP:' ' 

wi thd.reWtrom the competi t1.on on ,12 Oct 66.) 

1 Mar. 67 Report and Recommend8.tions of the SSAC. 

Final weighted scores: 

,ITElt 1,000 

Fairchild 

" Proposed ,costs for. ini t1al contract: 

Fairchild 

Proposed costs for~ 24 un! t follow~n:' 

Fairchild 

I'EEK 

MAIN AREAS OF DIFFERENCE: 

IftJC: 

12 inch focal ~eD8th lens for the terrain camera 

allowed tolerance ot larger errors in manufacturing and 

performance than the 7 .. 5 inch l~ns proposed by P8.irchUd. , , 

The ITJIC 12 'inch terrain le,ns was already in 

initial production. , 

Overall engineering of ~he stellar caaera. 

considered to be superior to Fairchi1d's. 

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A management organization was· proPosed that was 

almost. ,comPletely responsive to the RFP. 

I~ indicated a greater appreciation for the 

"factory-to-pad" concept. 

The SSAC stated that the higher cost proposed by 

lTEK would be acceptable, in view of the greater technical 

expectation of success of the lTEK proposal, but should be 

subjected to a rigorous price negotiation in attempt to 

decrease cost without compromise of technical expectations .. 

FAIRCHILD: 

Proposed a very high performance terrain lens 

which would 'be an advanc~ in the state-of-·the-art but would 

present a greater risk to develop and produce than IT,EK's 

lens. 

Proposed muchh1gher acuity stellar lenses to 

enable recording of 'much greater number of stars per exposure. 

(But ITEl{'sconsidered adequate.) 

Proposal did not provide sufficient analyses to 

support their proposed advanced designs. ' 

Prop'osed a weak organizational.. structure. Stated 

company policy to be followed on failure and problem report-· 

ing would be to report only solutions to problems, without 

making the AF System Program Office aware· of J]robl.ems as they 

occur. The SSAC considered this could cause unnecessary 

schedule delays an~ cost overruns. 

SSAC RECOMMENDATIONS:, 

1 ~ That negotiations be conducted with ITIK for devel.opment and production of' the SI subsystem. 

2. b,t the developnents be' conducted on their proposed 

'.; Ikogon C lens and thei~ solid. state electronic attitude device. 

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CPIF 

~: Gen Martin .I Gen King 

SOURCE SELECTION' PROCEEDIHGS: (sumiaary a.ttached) 

NO'rIFICATION 'OF SUCCESSFUL BIDDER: TRW (pe~ memorandum from 

Gen 1:11':18 to Chairman BSAD I 

dated 8 Sep 69)' - . 

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HEXAGON SOP.lWARB 

SOURCE SELECTION POOCEEDIlfGS 

26 MAR 69 ,- rrwx from Qen Martin to Dr McLucas outl.1nins plan to 

compete software effort, establishing SSAC and SSEB 

memberships and plan tor establishing evaluation 

criteria' and point weighting system. 

5 MAY 69 Memo from Gen' King" SSA stating 19 potential. ,bidders 

were screened and' 3 contractors were determined to 

satisfy the SSAC's guidance and criteria. The three 

were LMSC, TRW and GE •. Based on a conversation 

between Gen King and Qen .Martin" SSA on 3 May 69, 

Gen Kiilg's 5 May 69 ,memo directed RFPs be sent to 

these three contractors. ' 

8 MAY 69 RF.l?s distributed to LMSC,' TRW and GE ata briefing 

at SAFSP. 

31. JllL 69' - Proposal.s , received from the three contractors. 

'. 

20 Aua 69 SSEB 'evaJ.uation complete and report of findings. subm1 tted to the SSAC. 

. 25 AUG 69 - The SSAC briefed Gen King on i is evaluation and 

recommendations. The three bidders were scored as 

follows: 

TRW '512.0 

LMSC 452.8 

GE ' 425.4 

The total costs proposed were as follOws: 

The SSAC recOlllD.ended TRW be ,selected based on the 

factors'summarized below: 

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MAJOR .AREAS OF DIFFERENCE: 

GE: 

The SSAC lacked confidence in the "Super Cell" 

concept (method to rapidJ.y access the target deck 

information on disc storage)". 

Improper data base sizing. 

Inefficient camera operations. 

Inadequate mission performance reporting. 

Use of Program 110 software restrictive to HEXAGON 

software. ' 

LMSC: 

TRW: 

Gross unfamiJ-iari ty with System II executive 

operation and its impact on design. 

High risk that the 1108 co~ter techniques, were 

transferrable to. the 3800 computer techn1 ques • 

Conflict resolution apPlication unsatis~actory. 

Inefficient algorithms for sensor application. 

No high :r1sk areas in design. 

Milestone 2 close to" meeting intent" of RFP. 

Highest probablli ty of meeting schedUle. " 

Costs could be reduced to acceptable level. 

Program appeared capable of operating wi thin one' 

3800 computer. " 

Few changes from 10C to FOG 0" 

Overal.1 response was complete and app,eared', feasible. 

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