DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM SBIR 21.4 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Army Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) Announcement April 1, 2021: ASO issued for pre-release April 14, 2021: Army begins accepting proposals May 20, 2021: Deadline for receipt of proposals no later than 12:00 p.m. ET IMPORTANT Deadline for Receipt : Proposals must be completely submitted no later than 12:00 p.m. ET, May 20, 2021. Proposals submitted after 12:00 p.m. will not be evaluated. The final proposal submission includes successful completion of all firm level forms, all required volumes, and electronic corporate official certification. Classified proposals will not be accepted under the DoD SBIR Program. This BAA and the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) sites are designed to reduce the time and cost required to prepare a formal proposal. The DSIP is the official portal for DoD SBIR/STTR proposal submission. Proposers are required to submit proposals via DSIP; proposals submitted by any other means will be disregarded. Proposers submitting through this site for the first time will be asked to register. Effective with this announcement, firms are required to register for a login.gov account and link it to their DSIP account. See section 4.14 for more information regarding registration. The Small Business Administration, through its SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, purposely departs from normal Government solicitation formats and requirements and authorizes agencies to simplify the SBIR/STTR award process and minimize the regulatory burden on small business. Therefore, consistent with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, the Department of Defense is soliciting proposals as a Broad Agency Announcement. SBIR/STTR Updates and Notices: To be notified of SBIR/STTR opportunities and to receive e-mail updates on the DoD SBIR and STTR Programs, you are invited to subscribe to our Listserv by emailing
[email protected]. Help Desk: If you have questions about the Defense Department's SBIR or STTR Programs, please call the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk at 1-703-214-1333, or email to
[email protected]. Topic Q&A : The Topic Q&A for this BAA opens on April 1, 2021 and closes to new questions on May 4, 2021 at 12:00 PM ET. Proposers may submit written questions through Topic Q&A at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login or through the SBIR Mailbox at usarmy.pentagon.hqda-asa-alt.mbx.army-applied-sbir-program@mail.mil. In Topic Q&A, the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing. Once the BAA closes to proposal submission, no communication of any kind with the topic author or through Topic Q&A regarding your submitted proposal is allowed. Questions should be limited to specific information related to improving the understanding of a particular topic’s requirements. Proposing firms may not ask for advice or guidance on solution approach and you may not submit additional material to the topic author. If information provided during an exchange with the topic author is deemed necessary for proposal preparation, that information will be made available to all parties through Topic Q&A. Proposing firms are advised to monitor Topic Q&A during the BAA period for questions and answers. Proposing firms should also frequently monitor DSIP for updates and amendments to the topics. This Army Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) is issued under the Army Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for SBIR/STTR 21.4. All proposals in response to the technical area(s) described herein will be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided under 21.4, found here: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/b79ded14dcf54451bcfb11bddf5cd259/view?keywords=%22army%20sbir%22&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=true&page=1. a. Eligibility The eligibility requirements for the SBIR/STTR programs are unique and do not correspond to those of other small business programs. Please refer to Section 3.1, Eligible Applicants, of BAA 21.4 for full eligibility requirements. b. Anticipated Structure/Award Information Please refer to Section 1, Funding Opportunity Description, provided in BAA 21.4 for detailed information regarding SBIR/STTR phase structure and flexibility. For this BAA, Department of the Army will accept Phase I proposals for the cost of up to $259,613 for a 6-month period of performance. Proposers should refer to Section 4, Application and Submission information, of BAA 21.4 for detailed proposal preparation instructions. Proposals that do not comply with the requirements detailed in BAA 21.4 and the research objectives of this ASO are considered non-conforming and therefore are not evaluated nor considered for award. Phase I proposals shall not exceed 5 pages. Phase I commercialization strategy shall not exceed 2 pages. This should be the last section of the Technical Volume and will not count against the 5-page limit. Please refer to Appendix A of BAA 21.4 for detailed instructions on Phase I proposal preparation. c. Evaluation of Proposals Section 5, Evaluation of Proposals, in BAA 21.4 provides detailed information on proposal evaluation and the selection process for this ASO. d. Due Date/Time Full proposal packages (Proposal Cover Sheet, Technical Volume, Price/Cost Volume, and Company Commercialization Report inclusive of supporting documentation) must be submitted via the DoD SBIR/STTR Proposal Submission website per the instructions outlined in BAA 21.4 Section 4.3 Electronic Submission no later than 12:00 p.m. ET, May 20, 2021. Army SBIR 21.4 Topic Index A214-012 Environmental Conditioning of Man-Portable Weapons Systems OBJECTIVE: Develop and design a portable solution capable of evacuating the toxic fumes generated from firing small arms weapons inside of an environmental conditioning while maintaining constant temperature and humidity. DESCRIPTION: Man-portable weapon systems (i.e. small caliber weapons systems) are frequently required to demonstrate their performance under the harshest environments throughout the Test and Evaluation (T&E) process. Specifically, test items are subjected to temperature extremes of -60 to +160°F and humidity ranges of 0 to 100% Relative Humidity (RH) while being operated at maximum capacity. These weapon systems are generally manually operated and are frequently serviced in the conditioned test space by engineers, technicians, and other test personnel. Controlling the environment to be able to conduct tests in such extremes is inherently challenging and is often exacerbated by local climate conditions. For example, maintaining an extremely cold test chamber with low humidity would be difficult in a region with naturally high temperatures and high humidity. Further complicating the environmental control is the fact that weapon systems emit toxic fumes from the burning of the ammunition’s propellant. Without appropriate mitigation, the test space becomes inhospitable to weapon system operators and other test personnel. Consequently, a significant percentage of fresh makeup air is required. To combat these challenges, robust HVACR (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration) systems are required. Aside from the initial and ongoing maintenance/repair costs, these systems are not especially practical or reliable. These HVACR units and chambers are limited in number and generally fixed in their position. This has proven inadequate for current weapons testing demand as it has created scheduling conflicts and delays while also limiting the mobility of testing across ranges. The testing issues are further compounded by the fact that temperature/humidity extremes are difficult to achieve and maintain because of the large volume of fresh makeup air required to maintain safe Carbon Monoxide levels. The focus of this effort is to develop a solution that facilitates mobile testing of man-portable weapon systems in conditioned environments. As such, the following requirements apply: The system shall be fully portable to allow for quick and easy movement between ranges, incorporating modular design features where applicable. For example, a complete chamber system with large HVACR unit may be fully contained and fixed on trailer or may be designed for operators to disassemble within four (4) hours using basic hand tools in the field to load components onto a trailer using a forklift System shall create testing environment with safe operating levels of toxic fumes present in accordance with all relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations for up to four (4) system operators without use of supplied air system or other lifeline while firing one (1) weapon as described below: Temp conditioning of weapon and all ancillary equipment from -60 to +160°F Humidity conditioning of weapon and all ancillary equipment from 0 to 100% RH System shall accommodate additional instrumentation (e.g. thermocouples, pressure sensors, etc.) fitted to the weapon system for data acquisition and allow for easy access to that instrumentation by test personnel. If applicable, instrumentation ports shall be included System shall be designed to accommodate man-portable weapon systems (i.e. small arms systems, 40-mm grenade launchers, etc.) at maximum rates of fire up to an hour in continuous duration, and up to eight hours per day A fully enclosed chamber space (if applicable) shall have interior space of no less than 15 x 15 x 10-ft (L x W x H) A fully enclosed chamber (if applicable) shall accommodate personnel entering/exiting the chamber up to five times per hour A fully enclosed chamber (if applicable) shall provide two firing ports – one for the weapon and one for instrumentation/target acquisition System shall not impede access by operators to service the weapon or instrumentation System may be retrofitted to pre-existing Government furnished equipment (e.g. chamber) PHASE I: Research and evaluate current technology and methods for simulating environmental conditions. Adapt findings to include the introduction of live fire testing of man-portable weapons into the test space. Hazards due to live firing in a confined, conditioned space shall be identified and addressed. Determine if there are existing technologies that can be utilized in the design of a system to accomplish the desired outcome. If such a current technology and/or method does not exist, develop concept that includes novel technology and/or method or improvements upon existing technology and/or method. Potential solutions will be further evaluated and developed in Phase II. PHASE II: Select concepts from Phase I shall be further developed and evaluated to determine the best candidate. Efforts shall be made to demonstrate each candidate system’s performance, reliability, safety and general compliance with the requirements using scientifically backed data including computer models, historical examples/data or other appropriate means. A final candidate shall be selected based on these results. The selected candidate system shall be extensively modeled to ensure feasibility of design and compliance with requirements. If feasible, a scaled or full prototype shall be developed and tested to demonstrate compliance with requirements. PHASE III: A final prototype shall be developed for demonstration to the U.S Government and DoD contractors. While this effort intends to satisfy a specific DoD T&E need, this technology could be adapted to various firing range facilities across both public and private sectors, potentially saving significant start up and lifecycle costs. KEYWORDS: HVAC; Portable HVAC; Conditioned test environments; Thermal management; Heating and ventilation; Toxic fumes; REFERENCES: MIL-STD-810H OSHA - Toxic Fumes Toxic Fume Requirements Propellant Burning Characteristics