Attachment 1 CWMD OBAA Topic 3 Solicitation (FINAL 03122020).pdf

Attachment 1

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) COUNTERING WEAPONS

OF MASS DESTRUCTION OPEN BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (CWMD

OBAA) TOPIC SOLICITATION NO. 3: 70RWMD20R00000004

1. Topic Solicitation Number: Topic Solicitation No. 3: 70RWMD20R00000004

2. beta.SAM.gov Solicitation Number: 70RWMD20R00000004 for Topic Solicitation 3 and, beta.SAM.gov Solicitation Number: 70RDND19R00000003 for OBAA

3. Topic Solicitation No. 3: 70RWMD20R00000004 Event Dates/Time (Local Eastern

Time)

• Notification to Submit Proposals – March 12, 2020

• Proposal Due Date – May 12, 2020, 3:00 PM Eastern Time

• Notification of Selection/Non-Selection of Proposals– May 26, 2020

• Award date (estimated) – July 26, 2020

There will be no exceptions to the time and date on which responses are due. Proposals received after the designated closing date/time will not be considered. See 5.3.1 of the OBAA Note: This Topic Solicitation will be conducted in accordance with the Single Phased Evaluation Process as described under Section 1.6 of the OBAA. This Topic Solicitation is being issued in accordance with the notice and solicitation requirements set forth in FAR 5 for this FAR 35 Research and Development solicitation. The OBAA Solicitation 70RDND19R00000003 was posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO.gov) on April 17, 2019. Effective November 12, 2019, FBO.gov is retired, and the OBAA Solicitation 70RDND19R00000003 can now be found on https://beta.sam.gov.

This evaluation process will consist of the solicitation, receipt, and evaluation of a proposal, limited to 16 pages, excluding the cover sheet, Volume II, or Volume III (Section 5.3). Once the Proposal review process has been completed, offerors will be notified via email, or in writing, that its proposal has been selected, selected but not funded, or not selected for award.

Offerors not selected for an award may request feedback regarding the peer/scientific review findings of submitted proposals. A written request to the Contracting Officer must be received within 3 calendar days of notification of non-selection.

4. Topic Solicitation Research & Development Focus Areas:

CWMD.04 – Chokepoint Optimization: Technologies to improve the ability to scan conveyances for threats and other anomalous activities at chokepoints (ports-of-entry, rail scanning) through development of new capabilities to optimize chokepoint operations or to improve performance of currently deployed sensors for scanning conveyances at chokepoints.

4.1. Research Opportunity Description

https://beta.sam.gov/

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Title: Autonomous State of Health Assessment of Deployed Systems for Radiological Inspection

Objective: Development and implementation of an algorithmic capability to understand and continuously assess the state of health of deployed systems for radiological inspection, to include Radiation Portal Monitors (RPMs).

Technology Readiness Level at Beginning: TRL 4 Technology Readiness Level at Conclusion: TRL 6

Background

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is committed to using cutting-edge technologies and scientific talent in its mission to make America safer. In December 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office by consolidating the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and a majority of the Office of Health Affairs (OHA). The mission of CWMD is to counter attempts by terrorists or other threat actors to carry out an attack against the United States or its interests using a weapon of mass destruction. The DHS CWMD Research and Development (R&D) appropriation provides resources necessary to identify, explore, and demonstrate new technologies and capabilities that will help enable the DHS and stakeholders to prevent, protect against, respond to, and mitigate nuclear, chemical, radiological, and biological threats and incidents.

Priority needs of DHS’s operational components drive CWMD's R&D investments. CWMD looks for the following types of solutions within the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear mission space:

• Over the horizon, future innovations that will transform the way homeland security operators accomplish their missions.

• Near-term capabilities that will solve current operational challenges and meet the Department's R&D needs.

• New applications of technologies to respond to emerging threats to the homeland.

As the threat of terrorism evolves, DHS intends to assess a wide spectrum of potential technologies that can enhance its capabilities.

The U.S. Government operates a fleet of approximately 1,400 Radiation Portal Monitors (RPMs) deployed by the U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to help interdict transportation of illicit radioactive material. The respective fleet is aging and the ongoing maintenance requires an algorithmic tool to continuously and autonomously assess the state of health of the fleet. This mechanism will allow for the planning and replacement of parts/components of RPM systems well before these parts/components fail, providing continuity of radiological inspections at U.S. ports of entry (PoE) and substantially decreasing the cost of maintenance.

Description

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This Topic Solicitation is looking to develop an algorithmic capability to autonomously assess the state of health of systems deployed by CBP for radiological inspection, to include Radiation Portal Monitors (RPMs) systems to support effective ongoing maintenance of the fleet as a whole, health of the individual units, and the reliability of the individual parts or part types. This is envisioned to be a spiral algorithm development effort that will leverage enhanced data analytic approaches, to include Machine Learning.

The Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operation (OFO) Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII), Data Analysis Center – Threat Evaluation and Reduction, hereinafter referred to as OFO/NII DAC-TER, manages the real-time RPM inspection radiological data and is the CBP repository for all RPM data.

The algorithmic tools developed under this effort will be transitioned to and integrated with CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER systems. Offerors must be able to access this data and coordinate with CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER throughout the life of this effort to develop an effective solution to this Topic Solicitation to best support the Concept of Operations defined by CBP. Therefore, Offerors must be a U.S. based company and be able to obtain CBP permission to receive the data.

CWMD will furnish any needed RPM sensor information for use in this effort through an existing agreement with CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER. Therefore, no additional funding needs to be provided by the Offeror to CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER under a subcontract for the algorithm to be developed. The contractor will be collaborating with CBP OFO/NII DAC- TER and will have access to RPM historical records, sanitized by CBP OFO/NII DAC- TER personnel to limit the level of sensitivity of the information provided to the Offeror to the level of For Official Use Only (FOUO). Offeror may work and participate in tests with real data resting on the Automated Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) Data Integration System (ARDIS) (accessible at CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER facilities) only under CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER team member supervision unless Contractor SMEs are granted CBP Background Investigation (BI) status.

Data ascertained by Offeror from CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER will be relevant to state-of-health monitoring of RPM systems. This will include system and component signals pertaining, but not limited to, detector gross counts, calibration information, sensor voltages, sub-component voltages and status (e.g., photo-multiplier, multi-channel analyzers, input voltage from shore power, occupation sensors, etc.), binary (on/off) system status, and binary component/sub-component status.

Phase Structure

Offerors must follow the below spiral algorithm development phase structure approach.

There will be no exceptions. All work must be conducted in coordination with CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER. Deliverables for each phase will include a kick-off briefing, monthly progress reports, performance review briefings, and end of phase performance reports, all using CWMD provided templates. A comprehensive final report using a CWMD provided

4 | P a g e template will be due no later than the last day of the Period of Performance of the entire project. More specific technical deliverables by phase are identified below.

Phase I, Spiral 1 (Duration = 6 months): Development of an initial working prototype of the software architecture capable of ingesting CBP data to support analysis, to include Graphical User Interface (GUI) design, workflows, diagnostics, and reporting tools.

Deliverables:

• Report on appropriate input/output strategy, GUI design, workflows, diagnostics, and reporting tools to best support Concept of Operations defined by CBP.

• Demonstration of initial working prototype of software architecture developed off-site and exposed to preliminary testing of base functionality by remote users using analogs of CBP data.

Phase I, Spiral 2 (Duration = 6 months): First software architecture package transitioned to CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER with prototype GUI. Providing iterative revisions to improve performance of the algorithmic tool through a sand box environment at CBP OFO/NII DAC-TER. Commencement of alpha testing with direct batch loads of CBP data.

Deliverables:

• Report on iterative revisions and subsequent performance improvements in the sand box environment (11 months after award).

• Test plan and acceptance criteria for the alpha testing phase.

• Alpha testing phase report capturing results and iterations to achieve acceptance criteria (12 months after award).

Phase II, Spiral 3 (Duration = 6 months): Complete set of algorithms, workflows, and GUI transitioned, tested, hardened, and integrated. Commencement of beta testing by analyst users. Development and application of algorithmic tools for predictive maintenance of RPM systems.

Deliverables:

• Documentation of alpha tested software to support an Authority to Test decision.

• Test plan and acceptance criteria for beta testing.

• Documented performance from beta testing.

• Final documentation to support an Authority to Test decision following beta testing.

• Demonstration of algorithmic tools for predictive maintenance of RPM systems.

Phase II, Pilot Deployment, Training, and Transition (Duration = 6 months): Support real-time testing at two ports established by CBP and formal user evaluation. Optimize performance to field conditions by fixing emerging technical difficulties. Support initial phasing for full deployment at CBP.

Deliverables:

• Demonstration of the optimized tool resulting from fixing emerging technical difficulties.

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Phase III, Operational Deployment Optimization (Duration = 6 months): Further spiral development of tool based on operational deployment activities. Support extended implementation of the analytic tool to additional ports.

Deliverables:

• Demonstration of the optimized tool based on operational deployment activities.

1. Deliverables: Minimum deliverables required under this Topic Solicitation are disclosed in Sections 8.8 and 8.9 of the OBAA, to include monthly reports, performance reviews, end of phase performance evaluation & report for each phase, and final performance evaluation & report. Performers should define additional program-specific deliverables as appropriate for the proposed approach. These may include but are not limited to prototypes, algorithms, or software packages, and will be negotiated upon selection. The government requests unlimited government rights and any required tested codes for all software and algorithms developed under this topic.

2. Number of Selections: CWMD expects to make up to 1 award using its FY 2020 funds.

3. Anticipated Ceiling: Although subject to appropriations and funds availability, it is anticipated that approximately $350,000 of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 funds will be available for a resultant award for this OBAA Topic Solicitation. The Government will reserve the right to incrementally fund any resultant cost-plus fixed fee contracts awarded from this OBAA Topic as provided by the FAR 52.232-22, “Limitation of Funds.”

4. Anticipated Award Type: Award type is anticipated to be in the form of Cost Reimbursement type contract.

5. Anticipated Award Dates: The 4th Quarter of Fiscal Year 2020 is when the government anticipates making a resultant award for this Topic Solicitation. However, the award date may vary based on the quality of the Proposals received and the availability of funds.

6. Proposal Instructions: Offerors must submit their Proposals in accordance with CWMD OBAA, Section 5.3 - Proposal Format and Submission Process. The Statement of Work (SOW) must follow the format in the template provided with this Topic Solicitation.

7. Proposal Evaluation Process: Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with Section 6 of the OBAA.

8. Notification to Offerors of Contractor Support Services for Proposal Evaluation Process

Offerors are advised that non‐federal, contract support personnel from the company listed below will be used to carryout administrative functions for the topic program managers and serve as non-evaluating Source Selection Organization members in the source selection process. These individuals will be authorized access to only those portions of proposal data

6 | P a g e and discussions that are necessary to enable them to perform their respective duties. The firm is expressly prohibited from competing on the subject acquisition and from scoring or rating of proposals or recommending the selection of a source. Administrative duties may include, but are not limited to, making and distributing copies of proposals to members of the Source Selection Organization, scheduling and attending meetings, taking and compiling notes, etc. to Federal Government Technical Evaluation Team Members only.

Gryphon Schafer Government Services, LLC

Agreements@GryphonTechnologies.com

In accomplishing their duties related to the source selection process, the aforementioned firm may require access to proprietary information contained in the Offerors' proposals.

Therefore, pursuant to FAR 9.505‐4, this firm must execute an agreement with each Offeror that states that they will (1) protect the Offerors’ information from unauthorized use or disclosure for as long as it remains proprietary and (2) refrain from using the information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished. Each Offeror must contact the company listed above at the respective email address at least two weeks prior to the proposal submission deadline to effect execution of such an agreement.

CWMD requires that the Offerors use the standard one page company‐to‐company, non‐ disclosure agreement included with this Topic Solicitation. It is imperative that potential Offerors submitting proposals for this OBAA Topic Solicitation submit a copy of their signed agreement to CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov, in addition to providing a copy with the proposal.

The above entity shall be contacted at the email address above at least two weeks prior to the proposal submission deadline to effect execution of such an agreement and shall submit a copy of the fully executed NDA with its proposal. Proposals submitted to this Topic Solicitation will not be considered complete without an inclusion of the dually signed non‐disclosure agreement. Failure to execute such an agreement with the above company will result in the potential Offeror’s proposal submission being found non-compliant. Non-compliant submissions will not be reviewed or evaluated.

9. Questions: Any questions concerning this Topic Solicitation must be submitted via email to CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov no later than March 6, 2020, 3:00 PM EST in the following format:

Question # Reference Contractors’ Question

1 General (if there is no specific document reference)

2 (Example) OBAA Solicitation 70RDND19R00000003, page 15, Section 5.2, first paragraph, second sentence

3 (Example) Topic Solicitation No. 3:

70RWMD20R00000004, page 2, Section 9, first sentence mailto:Agreements@GryphonTechnologies.com mailto:Agreements@GryphonTechnologies.com mailto:CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov mailto:CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov mailto:CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov mailto:CWMDOBAA@hq.dhs.gov

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Please include “Questions for CWMD OBAA/ Topic Solicitation No. 3:

70RWMD20R00000004” in the subject line. All questions and responses will be posted on the website https://beta.sam.gov unless vendors indicate that their questions contain proprietary information for which a public response from the Government would be inappropriate. Questions will only be accepted or answered electronically.

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Attachment B Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Definitions

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Attachment C Pitch Paper Cover Sheet Format

CWMD OBAA Cover Sheet for Pitch Paper

Submission Contains Does Not Contain Proprietary Information

Submission ID: CWMDOBAA-PP-0##-XXX Solicitation Number: 70RDND19R00000003 Topic Solicitation No.:

Proposed Amount: Proposed Duration (in months):

Title:

Executive Summary (less than 2500 characters w/ spaces)

Provide a brief summary of your concept’s anticipated performance relative to the research topic goals and current state-of-the-art solutions, and why, if the research is successful, it could have a strategic impact on the CWMD mission to counter attempts by terrorists or other threat actors to carry out an attack against the United States or its interests using a weapon of mass destruction. Describe what is unique about this proposed technology, how it fits within the topic area, and how it would, if successfully realized, have a significant impact on the CWMD mission objectives to prevent nuclear terrorism through nuclear detection and forensics. Provide a concise description of the scientific, technical, and/or engineering approach you propose to pursue and address in this effort. Describe the key aspects, core concepts or components and/or prototype device proposed and relevant details about how such will function or perform. This summary should contain enough information to fully capture the program concept/intent and should completely describe the overall program in its entirety without relying on other sections of the pitch paper.

Organization Information

Organization Name: Organization Address 1:

Organization Address 2:

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Organization City/Province: Organization State (2 letter designation):

Organization ZIP + Four:

Country:

Program Manager (PM) Information

PM First Name: PM Middle Initial:

PM Last Name:

PM Phone (include area code): PM E-mail:

Principal Investigator (PI) Information

PI First Name: PI Middle Initial:

PI Last Name:

PI Phone (include area code): PI E-mail:

President/Company Officer/Technical Representative (For Business and Financial Matters)

First Name: Middle Initial: Last Name:

Phone (including area code): E-mail:

Subcontractor Information

Subcontractor Name:

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Attachment D Proposal Cover Sheet Format

CWMD OBAA Cover Sheet Proposal

Submission Contains Does Not Contain Proprietary Information

Submission ID: CWMDOBAA-

FP-0##-XXXX

Solicitation Number: 70RDND19R00000003 Topic Solicitation No.:

Proposed Amount: Proposed Duration (in months):

Title:

Executive Summary (less than 2500 characters w/ spaces)

Provide a brief summary of your concept’s anticipated performance relative to the research topic goals and current state-of-the-art solutions, and why, if the research is successful, it could have a strategic impact on the CWMD mission to counter attempts by terrorists or other threat actors to carry out an attack against the United States or its interests using a weapon of mass destruction. Describe what is unique about this proposed technology, how it fits within the topic area, and how it would, if successfully realized, have a significant impact on the CWMD mission objectives to prevent nuclear terrorism through nuclear detection and forensics. Provide a concise description of the scientific, technical, and/or engineering approach you propose to pursue and address in this effort. Describe the key aspects, core concepts or components and/or prototype device proposed and relevant details about how such will function or perform. This summary should contain enough information to fully capture the program concept/intent and should completely describe the overall program in its entirety without relying on other sections of the pitch paper.

Prime Organization Information

Organization Name: Organization Address 1:

Organization Address 2:

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Organization City/Province: Organization State (2 letter designation):

Organization ZIP + Four:

Country:

Principal Investigator (PI) Information

PI First Name: PI Middle Initial:

PI Last Name:

PI Address 1: PI Address 2:

PI City/Province: PI State (2 letter designation):

PI ZIP + Four:

PI Phone (include area code): PI Fax (include area code):

PI E-mail:

Program Manager (PM) Information

PI First Name: PI Middle Initial:

PI Last Name:

PI Address 1: PI Address 2:

PI City/Province: PI State (2 letter designation):

PI ZIP + Four:

PI Phone (include area code): PI Fax (include area code):

PI E-mail:

President/Company Officer/Technical Representative (For Business and Financial Matters)

First Name: Middle Initial: Last Name:

Address 1: Address 2:

City/Province: State (2 letter designation):

ZIP + Four:

Phone (including area code):

Fax (including area code):

E-mail:

Subcontractor Information

Subcontractor Name:

First Name: Middle Initial: Last Name:

Phone (including area code): E-mail:

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Attachment E Quad Chart Format

Description:

Short description of the project to include a (not overly) technical description of the proposed work to be done.

Write-out acronyms.

Current TRL: Expected TRL at End:

Provide a simple, legible, but sufficiently detailed graphic to convey the main concept or idea of the research effort and/or development prototype.

Insert Project Title, Insert Topic Solicitation Number Insert Performer Name, to include Prime + Subcontractors

Strategic Impact:

Identify CWMD need being addressed and provide a non-technical statement indicating the impact on that need if the project were successful.

Include anticipated cost/performance improvements relative to OBAA Topic Solicitation goals and state-of-the-art solutions

Describe envisioned transition activities, to include identification of CWMD end user.

Technical Approach:

At a high level, describe the technical approach to be taken to meet the goals of the OBAA Topic Solicitation.

Describe current status of the proposed effort.

Provide high level quantitative performance goals and milestones.

Identify key technical risks and mitigation strategy.

Schedule & Cost ($K):

Phase Cost

($K) Duration (Months)

Milestones, Go/No Go Criteria, Primary Deliverables

– Identify any key schedule/cost risks and mitigation strategies