BAA_AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002_Amendment 03.docx

LSRD – BAA AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002 Amendment 03 Page 12 of 21

AMENDMENT 03 TO THE FULL TEXT

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002

LASER SOURCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

JOINT DIRECTED ENERGY TRANSITION OFFICE (DE-JTO)

ORIGINAL: 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

AMENDMENT 01: 04 JUNE 2018

AMENDMENT 02: 25 APRIL 2019

AMENDMENT 3: 20 MAY 2020

Overview Information

NAICS CODE: The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). NAICS Code changed to 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (Changed October 2017). The small business size standard is 1000 employees.

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: The Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (DE-JTO) 801 University Boulevard SE, Suite 209, Albuquerque, NM 87106 Administrative support, to include contracting, is provided to the DE-JTO by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Laser Sources Research and Development (LSRD)

BAA TYPE: Open BAA

BAA NUMBER: AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002

THIS IS A TWO-STEP, OPEN ANNOUNCEMENT

First Step: WHITE PAPER DUE DATE AND TIME: White Papers may be submitted at any time upon issuance of this BAA through 14 September 2021.

Second Step: PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND TIME: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a full proposal. Proposals received after the provided due date and time shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c)(3).

BRIEF PROGRAM SUMMARY: The objective of this program is to research and develop component technologies for HEL systems by addressing key technical barriers. The goal is to develop high energy laser sources that are lightweight, efficient, affordable, and reliable for Military Service applications. Specific technologies being addressed are based on technical gap analysis of Service HEL roadmaps. Architectures considered are bulk solid state, fiber, gas and semiconductor lasers.

Funding: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY17 - $5M; FY18 - $10M; FY19 - $10M; FY20 - $10M; FY21 - $10M; and FY22 - $4M. DE-JTO anticipates 10-30 contract awards resulting from this announcement. Individual awards will not exceed 60 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $0.5M to $2M per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value.

Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts only. Awards under this BAA will generally be Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF). Cost reimbursement contracts require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate for tracking costs applicable to the contract.

This is an unrestricted acquisition. Small businesses (less than 1000 employees) are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this acquisition. White Papers/Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. No other solicitation will be issued in regard to this requirement. Updates will be issued no less than annually for this Open BAA.

Communication between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged. Parties interested in submitting a white paper may contact the technical POC or other HEL-JTO representative. Open discussion is encouraged to obtain the best technical solutions. Full proposals will be requested by the Contracting Officer only. After receipt of full proposals, all communication will be conducted by Contracting POCs (AFRL/RVKD). For those white papers not selected to provide a full proposal, notification and feedback will be managed by Contracting POCs. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

Address technical questions to: Dr. Diana Loree, DE-JTO, (505) 248-8200, diana.loree@jto.hpc.mil

Address contracting questions to: Promise Reichmuth, AFRL/RDKT, (505) 846-0150, promise.reichmuth.2@us.af.mil (email preferred).

AMENDMENT 03 TO THE FULL TEXT

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002

LASER SOURCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

JOINT DIRECTED ENERGY TRANSITION OFFICE (DE-JTO)

ORIGINAL: 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

AMENDMENT 01: 04 JUNE 2018

AMENDMENT 02: 25 APRIL 2019

AMENDMENT 3: 20 MAY 2020

Full Text Announcement

NAICS CODE: The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). NAICS Code changed to 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (Changed October 2017). The small business size standard is 1000 employees.

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: The Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (DE-JTO) 801 University Boulevard SE, Suite 209, Albuquerque, NM 87106 Administrative support, to include contracting, is provided to the DE-JTO by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Laser Sources Research and Development (LSRD)

BAA TYPE: Open BAA

BAA NUMBER: AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002

1) PROGRAM DESCRIPTION/STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES:

a) BACKGROUND The High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office (HEL-JTO), now Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (DE-JTO), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, develops and executes a DoD-wide, coordinated management and investment strategy to take advantage of opportunities presented by advances in high energy laser (HEL) technologies. The DE-JTO vision is that HELs will be a viable weapons alternative in modern warfare. The DE-JTO mission is to lead DoD’s integrated development of HEL weapon technology. The DE-JTO’s objective is to make HELs lightweight, affordable, supportable, and effective on the modern battlefield. This program promotes projects, research, scientific studies, or other initiatives providing farsighted, high payoff research leading to advances in HEL science and technology.

b) OBJECTIVE The objective of this program is to research and develop component technologies for HEL systems by addressing key technical barriers. The goal is to develop high energy laser sources that are lightweight, efficient, affordable, and reliable for Military Service applications. Specific technologies being addressed are based on technical gap analysis of Service HEL roadmaps. Architectures considered are bulk solid state, fiber, gas and semiconductor lasers.

c) SCOPE Work to be performed in the Laser Sources area shall be within the areas set forth under Technical Task Performance Requirements. All work is anticipated for accomplishment under cost plus fixed fee (completion) contracts.

i) TECHNICAL TASK PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

(1) LASER SOURCES As set forth on individual contracts, the contractor shall accomplish projects that address a current or projected HEL capability or enabling technology shortfall that 1) is unique to HEL weapons, and 2) that requires advanced development or maturation of some technology to overcome in the area of Laser Sources. Efforts for this area should address enabling technologies for high power lasers that are fieldable on military platforms for various applications. Research and development to be performed includes all parts of the HEL system including host and gain materials, pump light production, optical components, thermal management, and scaling architectures. Approaches should show scalability to high power. White papers of particular interest for the laser area should address research and development in the following areas (not in a priority order):

(a) LS-1 High Performance Illumination Lasers DE-JTO is interested in advanced tracking illuminator laser (TILL) and Beacon Illuminator Lasers (BILL) technology. Each white paper should address only one of the following sub-topics. If you want to address more than one of the sub-topic areas provide separate white papers for each one. Please refer to the DE JTO Beam Control Technology Assessment (BCTA) Report, rev. 1, dated March 2019 for additional information.

(i) Subtopic One: Eye-safe Variable PRF Track Illuminator Laser (TILL)

Background / Rationale: In precision track mode, the tracker must reduce the HEL beam jitter to ~ 0.25 (/D) to efficiently deliver fluence on the desired aimpoint. Track bandwidths > 500 Hz may be required for correcting strong turbulence and reducing aero-induced tilts for engagement from aircraft platforms. Since passive target signatures are usually not strong enough to support the required bandwidths, most HEL systems employ active tracking with the track illuminator (TILL) laser power selected to provide enough return signal to meet signal-to-noise requirements. A pulsed laser is generally needed for target ranging and background rejection. Moderate-power, repetitively pulsed lasers, with moderate beam quality, short pulses and short coherence lengths are needed to support active tracking.

Objective: This announcement requests white papers for portable pulsed laser demonstrator units in the spectral region between 1.45 and 1.65 um for compatibility with InGaAs and HgCdTe (APD) detectors and having good atmospheric transmission. Precise timing control is required for range gating. Pulse energy can vary with Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF), but the average power requirement must be met. The pulse should not have any high frequency structure (ratio of peak to average power < 2). Variable PRF TILL Threshold (T:) and Objective (O:) requirements for near-term and mid-term Service missions are given in Table 1. Note that short Pulse Length (PL) is desired for background discrimination for 2D tracking and that even shorter PL is desired for 3D tracking/ranging.

Table 1 - Eye-safe Variable PRF Track Illuminator Laser Requirements

O: 250 T: 500; O: >500

(ii) Subtopic Two: High Fixed PRF TILL

Near-term Air Force airborne missions require a TILL with fixed PRF of at least 20 kHz and 25 mJ / pulse.

Objective: This announcement requests white papers for portable pulsed laser Demonstrator units with Fixed PRF that meet near term requirements specified in Table 1 with the following exceptions:

1) Average Power (W): T:500; O:>500

2) Fixed PRF (kHz): T:20; O:>20

3) Pulse Length (ns): T:<1000; O:10-100

(iii) Subtopic Three: Beacon Illuminator Laser (BILL)

Background / Rationale: In the near-term, where engagements will take place in moderate turbulence (Rytov < 0.4), a compensation system consisting of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a Least-Squares reconstructor, with a BILL at a shorter wavelength than the HEL, should provide the best performance. Also, at wavelengths shorter than 1 m, Si:CCD have reasonably good quantum efficiency, which improves as the wavelength decreases. Si:CCD cameras offer large pixel formats, high uniformity and high pixel operability, low read-noise, and on-chip gating for ranging and back-ground suppression. In particular, Si:CCD cameras can support low-noise wavefront sensing.

BILLs that are currently available operate at 1030 nm, which is too close to the spectrally beam-combined (SBC) HELs currently being developed and cannot be separated in an optical path with high power beam splitting optics. The spectral range of SBC HELs can be as broad as 1040-1075 nm. High power spectral beam splitting optics typically require a minimum of 30 nm separation in the HEL and BILL wavelengths. This announcement seeks BILL developments that can accommodate the SBC HEL wavelength restriction, still maintain excellent atmospheric transmission, and work with InGaAs sensors. The BILL wavelength should be within ±5-10% (but not closer than ±2%) of the HEL wavelength to correctly sense the wavelength when branch points are present and for avoiding chromatic anisoplanatism.

Objective: This announcement requests white papers for a pulsed BILL laser with the following parameters: The BILL wavelength would be within ± 5 – 10% of HEL wavelength for correct sensing when branch points are present and to avoid chromatic anisoplanatism; however, not closer than ±2% of the HEL wavelength for efficient extraction of the BILL from the HEL by a dichroic beam splitter. Variable PRF is desired to support different missions. Precise timing control is required for range gating. Pulse energy can vary with PRF, but the average power requirement must be met. The pulse length should be short for use with gated camera for background rejection, but not less than 40 ns to avoid potential camera response issues. The pulse should not have any high frequency structure (ratio of peak to average power < 2). Single polarization is highly desirable for injecting the BILL into the HEL path and picking off the return signal.

Threshold (T:) and Objective (O:) requirements for the near-term and mid-term are given in Table 2.

Table 2 - Beacon Illuminator Laser Requirements

(b) LS-4 High Performance SBC Optical Grating Technology Background / Rationale:

High power laser developments are pursuing Spectral Beam Combining (SBC) as one of the main approaches in achieving power scaling to the 100’s of kW total power. The critical optical component used in SBC technology, is the multilayer dielectric (MLD) grating used for efficiently combining lasers generated by non-polarization maintaining fibers. This optical element is required to handle the full power load, with minimal thermal distortion over a limited spot size. The power densities and thermal loads on this optical element are potentially the limiting factor in power scaling the SBC technology.

Current SBC grating designs have significant limitations in overall power handling, they require improvements in Laser Damage Threshold, reduced absorption and increased combining efficiency.

Objective:

A mature design of a polarization insensitive SBC grating architecture with a combining efficiency >99% be maintained across the full spectral range of 1030-1075nm, minimal total absorption <10ppm, and a laser damage threshold > 1MW/cm2. The grating design needs to be validated through both physics-based modeling and system level testing, validating the grating performance characteristics under full laser loads. Due to the complexity in adequately testing this component it is highly desirable, but not required, that a partnering agreement with a Government laboratory be established and a test plan presented in the white paper.

(c) LS-5 Spatially and Spectrally Improved High Brightness Diode Performance

Improved performance laser diodes are needed for pumping multi-kW Ytterbium fiber laser systems and illumination lasers based on Erbium. Novel proposals for the development of broad area diode lasers (BA-QW) with improved spatial brightness are sought in order to increase the fiber coupling efficiency into 225 µm fiber core diameter or less, with an NA less than or equal to 0.22.

The first wavelength of interest is the Ytterbium 976 nm ±2 nm pump band. The objective one-dimensional slow-axis brightness is 3.75 W/(mm-mrad) with an electrical to optical efficiency greater than 60% out of the fiber. Here one-dimensional brightness is defined as B = 4Pw-1φ-1 where P is the power, w is the emitter stripe width and φ is the full-width 95% emission angle. Pump diodes operating at elevated base temperatures up to 50 oC are also desirable.

Fiber coupled diode pumps for Erbium-based illuminator lasers are also required. The 1532.3 nm absorption line of Er:YAG is 0.68 nm FWHM at 300K, and it narrows to 0.023 nm FWHM at 77K. Correspondingly, effective pumping requires spectral as well as spatial brightness. The emitter objectives are a lasing wavelength at the 1532.3 absorption peak of Er:YAG with a sub-0.25 nm FWHM spectral linewidth. The power threshold is 1W. A diode pump module objective is to exceed 50W from a 200 µm/0.22NA fiber. Stability, reliability and efficiency should be considered.

(d) LS-6 High-Power Direct-Diode Laser System Technology

Background: Emerging military applications require high power, high brightness laser systems with greatly reduced size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP). High power direct diode laser (HPDDL) systems have the potential to meet this demand since laser diodes typically convert electrical power to optical power with high (>60%) power conversion efficiency (PCE). Most current electrically powered high energy lasers require an additional gain medium, such as Nd:YAG, pumped or Fiber pumped with high power diodes to achieve necessary beam quality. The second laser transition in these systems reduces the overall efficiency and therefore increases the total SWaP necessary to generate the needed laser output power. It is desirable to remove the additional laser gain medium and use the high output diode laser output directly. Current direct diode laser systems mainly rely on the spatial multiplexing of broad-area diode lasers through beam shaping optics or wavelength beam combining of broad-area diode lasers through a diffraction grating. These approaches cannot provide the desired high brightness since at best they can achieve the beam quality of a single high-power broad-area diode laser, which has a M2 value of 10~20. One way to overcome this limitation is to develop a direct diode laser system based on high output power, single-mode diode lasers. The power and efficiency of single mode diode lasers need to be drastically improved to realize the next generation direct diode laser system.

Objectives: Conduct research, theoretical analysis, and scaled demonstrations on improving the output power, beam quality / beam profile, operating temperature and efficiency of high power single mode diode lasers around 1m (800 nm to 1600 nm) with a goal of demonstrating a single mode diode laser bar with >150 W cw (or quasi-cw) output power and targeting >75% PCE. The single mode diode laser must be operate at near diffraction limited beam quality, scalable to >10 kW using Spectral Beam Combining or >100 kW using Coherent Beam Combining with low SWaP of 2 kg/kW. Desired operating temperature is 40 degrees Celsius or higher.

(e) LS-7 High Power Fiber Components (advancing State of the Art)

This technical area addresses the need to improve the performance of components in a multi-kilowatt fiber amplifier. Innovative solutions that advance the reliability, system efficiency, power handling capability and field-ability are solicited. Proposals are to address one or more topics described below. There is no order of preference.

(i) Fiber Combiners: The pump + signal combiner serves to inject pump light from multiple fiber-coupled diode laser modules into a single dual-clad and large-mode area fiber. This topic seeks robust low SWAP all-fiber; (n + 1) x 1 pump and signal combiners (where n = number of pump laser input fibers + one signal input fiber combined into one output double clad fiber) are sought. Fiber optic pump and signal combiners must address high power handling and low insertion-loss operation. Combiners capable of handling greater than 1kW of optical power at a pump wavelength of 975 nanometers of fiber coupled diode power per combiner pump input leg (225micron diameter core, 0.22NA) are sought. Combiners compatible with co- and counter-pumped all-fiber amplifier architectures are needed to advance amplifier power scaling to 5kW and greater are sought. Pump and signal inputs must be compatible with state of the art fiber coupled pump diodes (225 micron diameter core, 0.22NA) and Ytterbium doped double-clad polarization maintaining (PM) and non-PM large-mode-area (LMA) fibers with core to clad ratios of (20 micron, 0.06 NA / 400micron, 0.46 NA) operating a signal wavelength between 1030 and 1080nm.

(ii) Optical Isolators: Higher power handling Polarization Maintaining (PM) and/or non PM fiber coupled optical isolators, with high isolation and low insertion loss are required for further power scaling of beam combinable rare earth doped fiber optic amplifiers to the multi-kW regime are sought. Optical isolators are used protect pre-amplifier stages in a multi-stage optical amplifier architecture from unwanted backward traveling light generated either from reflection or nonlinear scattering processes. In practice, fiber coupled optical isolators are inserted between the pre-amplifier chain and final high power stage and serve as a one way valve for light in an amplifier chain to prevent multi-pass or run-away gain. An integrated mode field adapter for low loss mode-field matching/conversion within the isolator is desired where the isolator is integrated between amplifier stages with different fiber core diameters and NAs. Designs should address light-weight, compact, high power handling, greater than 100W forward throughput power and greater than 50 W of broadband backward power, low insertion-loss operation of less than 0.5 dB and high optical isolation of greater than 40dB. Additionally, designs must be compatible with Large Mode Area (LMA) Ytterbium (Yb) doped double-clad fibers (DCF) operating in the wavelength range between 1030 and1080 nanometers.

(iii) Fiber Tap Couplers: High power fiber optic tap couplers are sought to monitor and control optical amplifier parameters of double clad gain fibers in all-fiber fiber based multi-kW optical amplifier architectures. For non-polarization maintaining gain fibers operated in a linearly polarized output configuration a small amount of amplified output signal needs to be picked-off for control loop feedback to adjust the input polarization state in-order to yield a linearly polarized output state. In the coherent beam combining architecture case, the tap must pick-off a small amount of amplified signal for closed loop control of polarization, phase and path length matching. High power capable fiber optic tap couplers are required for co and counter pumped Ytterbium doped double clad fiber amplifiers operating between 1030 and 1080 nanometers and handle up to 5kW of signal throughput optical power.

(iv) Fiber modeling: Mathematical and physics based modeling and simulation source codes that import “as drawn” fiber refractive index and doping profile geometries to predict high power fiber laser performance limitations are sought. Commercial measurement apparatus are available to provide refractive index and doping profile input parameters. Measurement of refractive index and tolerance of refractive index for typical large mode area rare earth doped fused silica fibers can be commercially measured with tolerances of 1x10-4 plus or minus 5x10-5. Similarly, commercially available approaches can measure distribution of rare earth dopants in an optical fiber with measurement by percent weight in fused silica cores to an accuracy of +/- 0.1 percent. Advanced modeling and simulations should incorporate realistic heating, fiber coiling, and changes to amplifier seeding and pumping techniques to predict fiber performance limitations. Software source codes should demonstrate that physics assumptions incorporate actual measurement parameters including minute changes to refractive index profiles and rare earth doping constituent distributions to guide power scaling to multi-kW amplifier powers. Model source codes that provide government purpose rights with be viewed favorably.

(v) High power fiber amplifier output components: Improvements in the power handling and reliability of integrated fiber components at the output end of a multi-kW optical power amplifier are sought. Passive delivery fibers, high order mode/pump strippers and end caps are needed to further power scale robust high power all-fiber amplifier architectures. Delivery fibers that impart minimal impact of deleterious non-linear effect such as Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) are needed. High order mode/pump strippers integrated with the delivery fiber that extract unabsorbed pump light and low order signal cladding light either in the forward or backward direction are needed. Lastly, fiber endcaps integrated with the delivery fiber that allow for beam expansion and collimation with minimal back reflection are sought.

(2) ADVANCED LASER SOURCES CONCEPTS Projects under the Advanced Concepts topics are intended to be higher risk, higher potential payoff, and longer range to pay-off than the other topics of this announcement. The white papers and proposals should address key technical barriers of HEL development that are proving difficult to resolve with more established approaches. The white paper and proposal should present a clear and compelling understanding of the specific challenging HEL technology barrier(s) being addressed and the limitations of conventional HEL approaches that this unorthodox approach will attempt to alleviate. Failure to address these important aspects will result in a white paper or proposal being found non-responsive.

(a) ACL-1 Next Generation Laser Technologies

Research in emerging high power laser concepts, including areas such as material development, micro structures, and hybrid systems that lead to low quantum defect and increased efficiency needs continued investment to further investigate power limits and optimal design. Novel concepts using various gain media including glasses and possibly other materials that lead to improved performance (higher power and/or wavelength) at eye-safer and atmospherically favorable wavelengths are sought. All proposals are highly encouraged to include in-depth theoretical work, or reference previously completed work.

Proposals that focus on current technologies, such as 1 m fiber lasers, should focus on significant leaps in performance over current state of the art including simultaneous achievement of a) modal instability thresholds over 10 kW, b) polarization-maintaining designs, c) narrow linewidth, d) excellent beam quality and e) beam combinable.

Proposals that advance component development that will enable non-1 m sources are also sought. Diode source development for improved thulium, direct Transition Metal (Fe2+) pumping, or gas filled hollow core fiber/amps is desirable. High power fiber laser component development for wavelengths longer than 1 m (in particular for 1.5 m, 2 m, and 4 m regimes) such as isolators, end caps, beam combiners, etc. is of interest. The overarching goal for component development should be to come as close to matching/exceeding similar properties such as SWAP and efficiencies as the more mature components used for 1 m systems.

Ideas are also sought for developing new techniques for increasing on-target brightness by adding the power from many parallel laser sources that offer significant improvements in weight, complexity, and ruggedness over the currently used techniques.

DE-JTO does not currently have new topics for this area. DE-JTO anticipates new topics for this area to be provided in Quarter 2-3 Calendar Year 2021.

ii) TECHNICAL TASK MANAGEMENT The contractor shall identify a Principal Investigator to manage the technical task effort. The Principal Investigator shall be responsible for ensuring proper technical task program planning and control, timely problem identification and resolution and adequate technical and programmatic interaction with the Government Program Manager. The Principal Investigator shall plan, organize and manage resources necessary to accomplish the technical task and shall promote strong management, communications and coordination with any subcontractors and/or associate contractors involved in the technical task. The Principal Investigator shall be responsible for ensuring a timely contractor response to all Government Program Manager information requests.

(1) Cost and Schedule Management The contractor shall maintain a cost and schedule accounting system that allows timely, accurate assessment of the technical task status. The cost and schedule management system shall allow accurate accounting of contractor and, if possible, associate contractor and/or subcontractor progress. The contractor shall account for costs and schedules for all tasks to the Contract Work Breakdown Structure level 3. The effects of projected cost and schedule variances must be reported in a timely manner to the Government Program Manager and Government Technical Representative. The contractor shall provide an accurate determination of the incremental funding required to maintain contract performance to the Government Program Manager and Government Technical Representative.

(2) Program Schedule The program schedule represents the offeror’s commitment to perform the program tasks in an orderly, timely manner. On individual contracts, the contractor shall specify specific days after contract start in the program schedule using a timeline chart showing all major tasks and subtasks, milestones, decision gates, reviews, technical interchange meetings, demonstrations, tests, product deliveries, and overall period of performance. Include an annual status brief in Albuquerque, NM.

iii) MEETINGS

(1) Kick-Off Meeting At the start of each contract, the contractor shall support a kick-off meeting at the contractor’s facility.

(2) Technical Interchange Meetings The contractor shall hold technical interchange meetings as required but no less than annually.

(3) Status Brief/Proposed Continuation of Effort The contractor shall present a status brief/proposed continuation of effort near the end of the initial contract award period to be held in Albuquerque, NM.

(4) DE-JTO Annual Review The contractor shall present the results of their effort at the DE-JTO Annual Review to be held in Albuquerque, NM.

d) EXIT CRITERIA AND DELIVERABLES

i) PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE 15-60 months. Efforts may initially be awarded as 12 months of technical performance with an additional 3 months to prepare a final report. If the government elects to continue the effort, the technical period of performance will be extended through a negotiated modification to the contract.

ii) DOCUMENTATION The contractor shall provide all documentation necessary for efficient program planning and control. The contractor shall provide data in accordance with the DD Form 1423 attachment to the contract. (See Atch 1 for draft DD Form 1423)

iii) ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA Government acceptance criteria for each deliverable, product or tangible end result shall be specified on individual contracts.

2) AWARD INFORMATION:

a) BAA TYPE: This is a two-step, open broad agency announcement. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation.

As STEP ONE - The Government is only requesting WHITE PAPERS at this time. DO NOT SUBMIT A FULL PROPOSAL. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a full proposal, see Section 5 of this announcement for further details regarding the proposal.

b) FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY17 - $5M; FY18 - $10M; FY19 - $10M; FY20 - $10M; FY21 - $10M; and FY22 - $4M. Individual awards will not exceed 60 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $0.5M to $2M per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value.

The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice. DE-JTO anticipates 10-30 contract awards resulting from this announcement.

c) FORM: Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts only. Full proposals may be awarded without discussions unless the contracting officer deems discussions necessary.

d) COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

e) ALLOWABLE CHARGES: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18.

f) GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: An offeror must have a government-approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).

g) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION: All offerors and their subcontractors (including any and all educational institutions) are required to accept Disclosure of Information requirements per DFARS 252.204-7000. No exceptions will be made.

h) NON-GOVERNMENT ACCESS TO WHITE PAPER/PROPOSAL INFORMATION: Only government personnel will evaluate submissions. However, both administrative and technical-advisory contractors will have access to submitted information. The service contracts include all appropriate Organizational Conflict of Interest clauses to prevent impaired objectivity, partial advice, or unfair advantage. Any objection to non-government administrative or advisory access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection. A list of the current service providers may be obtained from the Contracting Officer.

i) This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/ and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 1-800-352-3572. Do not submit a DD2345 with proposal. Certification will be verified by the contracting office through DLIS. DFARS 252.225-7048 Export-Controlled Items (JUN 2013) will be included in all contracts involving export-controlled items.

j) DATA RIGHTS: DoD policy, per DFARS 227.7103-1, is to acquire only the technical data, and the rights in that data, necessary to satisfy government needs. The Government anticipates receiving, as a minimum, Government Purpose Rights to technical data developed under contracts awarded based on proposals received in response to this announcement. Data rights offered other than Unlimited Rights, as defined in DFARS 227.7103-5, should be identified in DFARS clause 252.227-7017, Identification and Assertion of Use, Release, or Disclosure Restrictions, and addressed in the full proposal.

3) ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

a) All qualified offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply.

b) Foreign participation: Foreign Disclosure Review will be accomplished on each full proposal selected for funding; foreign participation may or may not be allowed.

c) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the Contracting Officer before deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign contractors should be aware that restrictions might apply which could preclude their participation in this acquisition.

d) There are no limits on the number of white papers an offeror may submit.

e) You may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this solicitation are not met on the white paper (and later proposal).

4) STEP ONE INFORMATION—WHITE PAPER SUBMISSION: Separate white papers are required for each separate project the offeror is pursuing. Each white paper must stand on its own merit. The DE-JTO will use only information provided in a white paper in the evaluation process potentially leading to a full proposal request.

a) SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award. However, white papers may be submitted and will be considered throughout the open period of this announcement.

15 October 2016 15 April 2017 15 October 2017 15 April 2018 07 June 2019 by 12:00 (noon) Mountain Time

Future recommended dates will be added as they approach; however, white papers will be accepted until 5 PM Eastern Time on 14 September 2021. This BAA will close on 14 September 2021.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the DE-JTO. Offerors can contact the technical POC identified in section 6 for status of their white paper no earlier than 45 days after submission.

b) Extraneous information (information not explicitly requested in this announcement) is not desired by the government and shall not be submitted. The government will only read and evaluate each section up to the stated page limitation. Pages over the page limitation will not be evaluated.

c) Page Format:

i) Paper Size – 8.5 inch x 11 inch

ii) Margins – one-inch on each side

iii) Font – Arial 11+ point font or equivalent, to include tables, diagrams, and charts. Any other information (e.g. captions, restrictive markings) shall not be smaller than Arial 8 point font or equivalent.

d) Restrictive Marking: If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 52.215-1(e).

e) HANDLING AND MAILING INSTRUCTIONS: Electronic submission is preferred. Submit white papers through the AMRDEC SAFE site at: https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe To use this site, users will:

- Log in (either with or without CAC)

- Upload file and enter description of file as instructed in paragraph f below

- Enter HEL-JTO@jto.hpc.mil as recipient (this is not a group email account)

- Request notification of download

- Recipient receives an email from AMRDEC SAFE providing a link and a temporary password Offerors are responsible to confirm receipt with the DE-JTO at the above email address or (505) 248-8200 no sooner than 5 days after submission. DE-JTO is not responsible for undelivered documents.

All mailed CD responses to this announcement must be addressed to DE-JTO, 801 University Blvd SE, Suite 209, Albuquerque, NM 87106, and reference BAA-AFRL-RVKD-0002. If submitting by overnight express mailing (FedEx, DHL overnight, etc.), point of contact is Diana Loree, 505-248-8200. NOTE: Do not submit by any means such that delivery will be made before 8:00 a.m. MDT. Do not submit by multiple methods. White papers sent to any other address are ineligible for award.

f) Prepare all documents electronically in Microsoft Word format. Submit a single Microsoft Word document containing all parts identified in paragraph g below on a single CD or electronically for each white paper submitted. Multiple submissions on a single CD or electronic submission will be considered non-responsive. Format so that the Government can read both electronic and printed versions. Label each single CD or include in Description of File as follows:

i) BAA-AFRL-RVKD-2016-0002

ii) Offeror’s (company) name

iii) Technical task area (as listed in 1(c)(i) above)

iv) Project title (to correspond exactly to the project title used on the cover pages of each white paper/proposal component)

v) Contact information

g) Instructions for White Paper Composition

i) Part 1. COVER PAGE. Template provided as Atch 2.

ii) Part 2. TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT. (Limit: Three pages) Technical/management shall present, briefly and concisely, the important goals, aspects and core issues of the proposal in technical context. The technical area shall include:

(1) Abstract

(2) The technical task from 1(c)(i) above to be addressed, statement of objectives and proposed approach to meet the objectives

(3) Description of the research and effort to be accomplished. Identify specific tasks.

(4) An assessment of technical risk

(5) Description of how proposed work advances the state of the art

(6) Management – describe how the research shall be organized, subcontractors or organizations that will be doing portions of the technical effort and how the efforts are related to each other along with any other management or administrative information that should be provided for evaluation of the effort.

iii) Part 3. CAPABILITIES. (Limit: One page) This section shall describe the overall capabilities of the company to include current and past work in similar HEL technology and a brief description of the facility capabilities that will be used to execute the proposed effort. Identify government property, equipment or facilities that may be required.

iv) Part 4. SCHEDULE. (Limit: One page) The schedule shall identify and describe major milestones for the entire effort not to exceed 57 months. Start and end dates for specific tasks identified in the technical/management section should be shown. The schedule shall be broken into roughly 12-month “phases” with each phase representing a logical break-point in the effort. After the initial phase, the technical period of performance may be extended to continue the effort into subsequent phases through a negotiated modification to the contract. The schedule should include an additional 3 months after the end of technical performance to provide for preparation, submission, review by the DE-JTO, and acceptance of the final technical report. The start date should notionally be 12 months from white paper submittal with an initial technical period of performance not to exceed 12 months.

v) Part 5. COST. (Limit: One page) Rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost section should provide top-level details on major cost items such as labor, special equipment that will need to be purchased, materials and any subcontracts or other organizations’ costs (to include government furnished facilities, equipment or personnel) for the proposed effort. If the effort exceeds 12 months, provide a ROM on the same page for each phase as described in Part 4 above. The ROM cost section shall not exceed one page. Cost shall NOT include capital equipment/improvements or general purpose computers or software.

Guidance for the proposed maximum amount and length of project dependent on the technical task area is shown below:

(1) LS-1 High Performance Illumination Lasers – $1M per year for 2 years

(2) LS-4 High Performance SBC Optical Grating Technology - $1M per year for 2 years

(3) LS-5 Spatially and Spectrally Bright Diode Performance - $1M per year for 2 years

(4) LS-6 High-Power Direct-Diode Laser System Technology - $1M per year for 2 years

(5) LS-7 High Power Fiber Components (advancing State of the Art) - $1M per year for 2 years

(6) ACL-1 Next Generation Laser Technologies - $500K per year for 2 years

vi) Part 6. RESUMES. (One page per resume) A brief resume on the principal investigator and any other key personnel who will be performing a major effort on the proposed research should also be included.

h) WHITE PAPER REVIEW INFORMATION:

i) Evaluation of white papers will be accomplished through a technical peer review of each paper by technical task area using the criteria below, in descending order of importance. No further evaluation criteria will be used in assessing white papers.

(1) Consistency with DE-JTO vision and mission and its significance to DoD HEL S&T objectives.

(2) Overall scientific and technical merits of the proposed effort

(3) Funds Availability

ii) White papers submitted will be evaluated as they are received. All offerors will be notified of the results of their white paper. Offerors may request white paper status from the technical POC no earlier than 45 days after submission.

iii) Only those offerors whose white papers meet the criteria will be issued a Request for Full Proposal. However, any offeror who submitted a white paper may elect to submit a full proposal; notification of intent to submit a proposal must be received no later than 5 calendar days after receipt of unsuccessful offeror letter by the Contracting points of contact; full proposal instructions will be provided at that time. Such proposals will be evaluated in accordance with same criteria as if they had been requested by the government.

iv) To be considered for award, a white paper must be submitted.

5) STEP TWO INFORMATION—REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL & AWARD:

a) REQUESTS FOR FULL PROPOSAL: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a full proposal. Notification by email will be sent by the contracting POC along with full proposal instructions. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. Proposals received after the provided due date and time shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c)(3).

b) Full proposals (to include an Oral Presentation) shall be prepared in accordance with the instructions set forth in the request for full proposal provided by the contracting POC. Certified cost and pricing data will be required per FAR 15.403 on all contracts awarded at $750K and above.

c) PROPOSAL REVIEW AND EVALUATION PROCEDURES: The Government reserves the right to select for award to responsible offerors any, all, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement, subject to the availability of funds. The technical, cost and business proposals will be evaluated at the same time. Proposals may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this announcement are not met by the proposal due date and time. At a minimum, incomplete proposals may be given lower priority and, although technically acceptable, not awarded due to funding limitations.

d) EVALUATION CRITERIA

i) Evaluation of full proposals will be accomplished through a technical peer review of each proposal by technical task area using the criteria below in descending order of importance. No further evaluation criteria will be used in assessing proposals.

(1) Consistency with DE-JTO vision and mission and its significance to DoD HEL S&T objectives

(2) Overall scientific and technical merits of the proposed effort

(3) Funds Availability

e) REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

i) Proposals will be categorized as follows:

(1) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Proposals are recommended for acceptance if sufficient funding is available, and normally are displaced only by other Highly Recommended proposals.

(2) SELECTABLE: Proposals are recommended for acceptance if sufficient funding is available, but at a lower priority than Highly Recommended proposals. May require additional development. To ensure a diversity of approaches, a Selectable proposal may be prioritized over a Highly Recommended proposal if the Selectable proposal presents a unique approach unlike any of the Highly Recommended proposals.

(3) NOT SELECTABLE: Even if sufficient funding existed, the proposal should not be funded. The proposal is not technically sound or does not meet the agency’s need.

ii) Proposals that are recommended for award as a result of the technical peer review will be evaluated for cost reasonableness and realism.

f) AWARD NOTICES: Offerors will be notified in writing whether their proposal is recommended for award. An award recommendation is not to be construed to mean the award of a contract is assured as availability of funds and successful negotiations are prerequisites to any award. This announcement is not an authorization to commence work or to incur any costs to perform the tasks described above.

g) DEBRIEFINGS: When requested, a debriefing will be provided. The debriefing process will generally follow the time guidelines set out in FAR Part 15, but the debriefing content will vary to be consistent with the procedures set out in FAR 35.016 governing BAAs. All requests for debriefing must be received by the contracting POC, in writing, no later than 3 days after notification of unsuccessful proposal.

6) AGENCY CONTACTS:

Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact specified below:

Dr. Diana Loree Telephone: (505) 248-8200 Email: Diana.Loree@jto.hpc.mil

Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer specified below (email requests are preferred):

Contracting Officer:

Promise Reichmuth Telephone: (505) 846-0150 Email: promise.reichmuth.2@us.af.mil

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Nov 2015) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows:

Primary AFRL Director of Contracting Alternate AFRL Deputy Director of Contracting Phone: The PK front office number 937-904-9700 Email: AFRL.PK.OfficeAccount@us.af.mil.

All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.

7) ATTACHMENTS

a)…