Emergent IV BAA Amendment 24.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICAITON NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicble)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICIATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a)By completing items 8 and 15, and returning copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPIRATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER

NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc. ) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION ( Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

1 8

24 05/14/2024

SP4701

DLA Contracting Services Office - Philadelphia 700 Robbins Ave.

Philadelphia, PA 19111 Attn: R&D CONTRACTING TEAM

SAME AS BLOCK 6

BAA0001-22

06/13/2022

See Continuation Pages.

Emergent IV BAA0001-22, dated June 14, 2022, is hereby Amended as follows:

1. The purpose of this modification is to answer questions relating to Hackathon.

1. Can DLA please provide more detail on the “SITREP” on the workflow and decisions the SITREP use case will support? What are the input data and analyses DLA is prioritizing?

DLA SITREP is derived from data inputs from MSCs and J-codes, to provide status on the given engagement that include people, processes, and locations. The SITREP provides the directors situational awareness to gain insights on impacts and outcomes on DLA priorities; therefore, the vendor is to provide their methodologies and approach from their data scraping efforts on DLA’s missions sets. The vendor should be able to demonstrate their abilities to generate a SITREP that showcases their domain knowledge of DLA.

2. DLA describes that the solution should enhance “Government insights” -within the SITREP use case, can DLA please provide example of desired insights that would be improved with implementation?

Based on DLA’s strategic plan and priorities, the generated SITREP example provided by the vendor should demonstrate their abilities to organize data sources that will show a clear depiction of key DLA parameters. These parameters should address impacts and outcomes on DLA’s supply chain mission set as well as informing the director how to best prioritize people, processes, and locations to engage at a strategic and tactically levels.

3. When scraping public vendor websites for OS data, should the vendor make assumption-based determination(s) of tactical and strategic priorities for DLA Areas of Interest listed in Attachment B BAA, as well as current DLA Strategic Plan?

Yes, the vendor should utilize all public facing data sources for DLA data to include but not limited to DLA Strategic Plan, DoD critical learning technology, National Defense Strategy, and other government public site. The aforementioned resources and others will allow the vendors to generate a SITREP that addresses DLA’s internal priorities and overall alignment to DLA strategies.

Are there specific Area of Interest problems we should focus for SITREP content creation?

DLA is the nation’s combat logistics support agency leader; therefore, areas of interest pertaining to the government as a whole are our primary interest. Suggested areas of interest: see Emergent IV BAA Amendment 15, section 2.0 Objective:

“The Logistics R&D Emergent IV Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) area of interest H, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) application subtopics related to Gen AI are included as listed below:

1. Content Generation: The capability to generate text, image, content, code, video, or audio based on some given parameters or examples.

2. Data Manipulation: The capability to enhance or modify existing content or data (grammar, proofreading, tone change, style of image), data augmentation, anomaly detection, or model training.

3. Content Assistance: The capability of leveraging conversational agents, interactive design, or retrieval of documentation.”

4. What guidance and policy can DLA provide for protecting intellectual property for implementation of commercial software to solve SITREP Use Case and any other Generative AI projects within DLA’s enterprise architecture?

DLA is currently leveraging DoD’s policy on AI, ML, and Gen AI to support implementation of their solutions. The policy is an ongoing effort due to the nature of the changing technology of these immerging capabilities. DLA will abide to security marking classifications to ensure proper data security is in compliance with DoD’s policy.

5. If the solution leverages existing commercial technology and does not require additional research and development, how should the vendor provide a compliant response to requirement 1a?

The vendor should provide a list of all of the software, and its dependencies, that is intended to be used for their solution. Software requirements should include all versions, FEDRAMP certifications, and other implementations within DoD environment.

6. Can DLA please clarify its definition for “software distribution” in requirement 6a, that details “the rights attached to the solution must not depend on the program being part of a particular software distribution.” Are commercially available software components considering a “particular software distribution?”

In the context of licensing and software distribution independence, “software distribution” refers to the process of making software available to users, for example through digital means such as downloads from a website or distribution through an app store.

When the Government says that the rights attached to the program must not depend on the program being part of a particular software distribution, the terms of use and licensing agreements should apply regardless of how the software is distributed. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program’s license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.

Additionally, it’s important to note that the software distribution of the vendor solution must not have other software dependencies. This means that the vendor solution should not rely on other specific software components or dependencies in order to function properly. This ensures that users have the flexibility to use the software independently and without being tied to other software products or services.

7. Can DLA please specify what services and products will be available within Google Labs to enable the hosting of the solution?

DLA is in the process of standing up the Google Labs infrastructure. Google services and products are to be determine.

8. Requirement 8d describes “the solution must be capable of automating synthesis of supply networks from informal documents and data, identifying key manufacturing steps, detect when those steps can be repurposed, and automate discovery of patches in the supply network.” Can DLA please clarify how this aligns with the SITREP use case and how this concept could be illustrated within the scope of the specified use case"?

This requirement does not holistically align with the SITREP; however, the Government expects for the vendor to utilize key attributes of this requirement for the development of the SITREP. Additionally, this requirement relates to the availability of the vendor to prepare their solution with this capability to use for future Use Cases with DLA, post award.

9. Requirement 8e describes “the solution must be capable of performing manufacturing steps and analyze large supplier data in DOD systems using large language models to parse and learn ontology and process flow for manufacturing of multiple systems.” Can DLA please clarify how this aligns with the SITREP use case and how this concept could be illustrated within the scope of the specified use case"?

As stated in the previous response, this requirement relates to the availability of the vendor to prepare their solution with this capability to use for future Use Cases with DLA, post award.

10. Can DLA please provide an example of a “subgraph isomorphism computation” and specify how this relates to the scope of the SITREP use case?

As stated in the previous response, this requirement relates to the availability of the vendor to prepare their solution with this capability to use for future Use Cases with DLA, post award.

11. Requirement 9c specifies that the “vendor must be able to support and maintain models associated with deployed Gen AI use cases.” Can DLA please clarify whether this includes LLM foundation models? Is it appropriate for a solution to leverage LLM models approved for the relevant impact level within an existing cloud provider (e.g., Azure, GCP, or AWS)?

Yes, DLA anticipates that vendors will leverage existing cloud providers.

Additional, please know that DLA currently does not have any LLM; therefore, the Government welcomes pre-existing LLM to support our AI, ML, Gen AI journey as long as it meets our DoD and DLA security guidelines and policies.

12. Requirement 10b describes that the “solution must use the Government Furnished Data.” Can DLA please confirm that using Government Furnished Data is not a requirement for the demonstration?

If the vendor is requested to attend the demonstration; yes, that is correct Government Furnished Data will not be required for the demonstration.

13. Requirement 12bii specifies that the solution must run on a desktop computer.

Is a web-based application a compliant approach to this requirement?

Yes, a web-based application is compliant with this requirement; however, it has to be a web-based application that adhere to FEDRAMP Certification and allows government furnished equipment to access it.

14. Requirement 14a specifies that DLA can require the participant to provide the source code to its software. Can DLA please specify if this is a requirement for commercial products that would be licensed to DLA as part of the overarching solution?

Your overall solution should include all source code. DLA will maintain a proprietary integrity throughout the Hackathon process and post award.

15. Since non CUI data is being used/provided for the demonstration, can the demonstration proceed without using or requiring NIST 800-171 equipment and staff?

Yes, the vendor is not required to employ NIST requirements, However, it would behoove the vendor to utilize these standards to demonstrate compliance for future DLA developer efforts.

16. Is the vendor scraping data or are we post-scraping and analyzing?

The vendor is required to demonstrate their vendor scraping abilities and their overall methodology and approach to discovery and analyzing Thierry data sources.

17. What are the other use cases? Are there other use cases or is every vendor responding to the same use case?

The vendor will be notified of their advancement to contract award whereby the other use cases will be revealed for development.

18. What are the public websites you want us to look at? How many public websites are anticipated?

The vendor should utilize their own resource's and ingenuity to explore public facing websites that may contain DLA and DoD information sources. Ex-DLA.mil, OSD.mil, OPM.gov

19. When referring to a “vendor produced SITREP,” would this mean the situational report is publicly available information? Are we compiling other vendor produced SITREPs or creating our own?

There may information publicly available but the requirement is for the vendor to demonstrate how they compile their data sources in an organized fashion to display DLA data pertinent to our supply chain mission sets.

Please use the example provided as a structural source to organize your report.

20. Is the “Area of Interest” the Use Case 1: Vendor Scraping of Public Websites and what we should be writing our Technical Plan to?

The vendor shall utilize the best areas that meet the requirements of the use case example-SITREP. The Government interested in the vendors perspective from a technical and functional solution provider.

21. Even though the proposal is separated into these sections, D.3-D.6 are all also contained/repeated in the requested E. Technical Proposal Contents, (b) Technical Plan. In response to D.3-D.6, can the offeror refer to section E.

Technical Proposal Contents, (b) Technical Plan?

Overall Scientific and Technical Merit (Feasibility), Viability, Desirability, and Past Performance are the four non-price Technical Factors that will compile the Technical Proposal Evaluation. D.3 – D.6 describes what the Government is requiring that vendors include within their Technical Proposal. The requirements in D.3-D.6 must be included within the Technical Proposal Contents.

22. The SF-30 forms (Block E) issued with each amendment do not indicate whether the Offeror should sign and return them with their proposal. Will the Government please state if the Offeror is required to sign all amendment SF- 30s and return them with their proposal?

The offeror is not required to sign all Amendment SF-30s and not required to return them with their proposal.

23. Amendment 22 Question J states that “the contract award document will include FAR, DFARS, and supplemental terms that are not included in the BAA that a performer must comply with.” Can the Government please provide a complete list of the contractual terms which will be included in the potential award?

The complete list will be provided at time of award within the Contract Award document.

24. Can the Government clarify how the policies and rules included in Amendment 22 Question K apply to offeror’s IT, deliverables, or both?

The deliverables in Amendment 22 are applicable to both requirements which enable the government to clearly validate the offerors understanding of the applicability of DoD and DLA policies and processes.

25. Will the Government please confirm the following items are exempt from the 20-page limit for the Technical Volume:

- Offeror’s proposal Transmittal Letter (maximum of 2 pages)

The Offeror’s proposal Transmittal Letter is not included in the 20 page maximum.

- Proposal Cover Page (BAA: D.1 Cover Page, p.10)

The Proposal Cover Sheet is Part 1 of the 6 parts that compile the Technical Proposal; the Proposal Cover Sheet is included in the 20 page maximum.

- Table of Contents and List of Exhibits

Per page 10 of the Emergent IV BAA, “No more than twenty (20) single-sided pages including, body, appendices, and attachments;” Table of Contents and List of Exhibits is included within the 20 page maximum.

2. Hackathon was posted under the Emergent IV BAA0001-22. All email correspondence and documents should correctly reference Emergent IV BAA0001-22 only. Emergent III is no longer an active BAA.

3. All other Terms and Conditions remain unchanged.