MEMS and Nanotechnology ExchangeThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) instituted a new agency-wide policy directive that requires all organizations responding (hereafter referred to as "RESPONDERS") to future Broad Agency Announcements, BAA's, and other Agency solicitations that employ or involve MEMS technology to use the MEMS Exchange services to provide the fabrication portion of the proposed effort. The first DARPA BAA with this directive was recently issued, namely, BAA 06-08.
This page is intended to provide information that will allow RESPONDERS to more effectively and accurately include MEMS Exchange fabrication services into their responses to DARPA.
All interested RESPONDERS should make sure that they do the following BEFORE submitting a proposal to DARPA incorporating MEMS Exchange fabrication services:
1). Contact the MEMS Exchange Director, Dr. Michael A. Huff, either 703-262-5368 or mhuff@mems-exchange.org, to express interest in using MEMS Exchange services as part of their proposed effort. Dr. Huff will assign one of the MEMS Exchange engineering staff to work with the RESPONDERS to determine scope of development work required, facility resources to be employed, and develop accurate pricing of the fabrication work in order to successfully complete the fabrication portion of the effort. It is usually a good idea to have the pricing for an effort represented in the form of MEMS Exchange process run cards. These run cards incorporate all of the fabrication support work required in an effort including: masks, wafers, process development, processing steps, metrology, etc., as well as relevant pricing. A MEMS Exchange engineer can work with the RESPONDER and its representatives to develop run cards for their efforts.
It will be extremely helpful if the RESPONDERS can provide as much information as possible about what is intended including: drawings, specifications, possible fabrication sequences, etc., so as to allow the MEMS Exchange to have sufficient information to provide the support needed. If needed, the MEMS Exchange can execute a mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the RESPONDER's organization before the disclosure of confidential and/or proprietary information. Please treat the MEMS Exchange as a technical collaborator on any proposed effort. The MEMS Exchange not only has a comprehensive and diverse set of fabrication capabilities, but also has one of the best MEMS engineering staffs to be found anywhere. If you need help in preparing your response to DARPA, or for any MEMS-related work, please let us know.
2). Develop an accurate pricing of the fabrication work. This is extremely important since the cost of the fabrication work can be a significant portion of the entire cost of a proposal and errors in the fabrication cost can have an enormous impact on the budget and success of an effort. Because DARPA has directed RESPONDERs to use the MEMS Exchange, the cost of MEMS Exchange fabrication work should not be an issue in the review process of the costing portion of a proposal including MEMS Exchange services. Importantly, if a RESPONDER does not get pricing information from the MEMS Exchange for a proposed effort, the MEMS Exchange cannot assure that the fabrication work can be performed within the RESPONDER's proposed budget.
3). Request a signed letter of support from Dr. Huff from the MEMS Exchange which states that the MEMS Exchange has provided pricing information for the RESPONDER's proposal and that the MEMS Exchange is able and willing to perform the fabrication work of the proposed effort. With a letter of support, the RESPONDER can be assured that the MEMS Exchange will be able to deliver the fabrication scope of work proposed and for the price provided by the MEMS Exchange. Without a letter of support, the MEMS Exchange cannot provide assurances that the pricing is accurate, that the prices will not increase at a future date, or that the fabrication support needed can be provided.
4). Provide a disclosure to the MEMS Exchange as to whether the proposed effort or any facet of the proposed effort will come under either United States International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR). The MEMS Exchange is able to handle ITAR/EAR restricted development work, but needs to know if the effort has such restrictions. This disclosure should be made during the initial contact with the MEMS Exchange.
It is very important to contact the MEMS Exchange as soon as possible when developing a proposed response to a DARPA MEMS-related solicitation. We ask RESPONDERS to please recognize and appreciate that the process of defining a scope of work for fabrication as well as developing accurate pricing can take some significant time and effort. Furthermore, the MEMS Exchange cannot handle all RESPONDER's requests if they come in only days before the proposal is due or are incomplete. Therefore, while the MEMS Exchange will make every reasonable effort to work with the RESPONDER's organization, it is imperative that interested parties not wait until the last minute before making contact with the MEMS Exchange.
If you have any questions about this page or the MEMS Exchange, please contact Dr. Michael A. Huff at 703-262-5368 or mhuff@mems-exchange.org.
Thanks,
Dr. Michael Huff