DARPA-BAA-16-03.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable

Systems (ICARUS) Microsystems Technology Office

DARPA-BAA-16-03

October 9, 2015

Table of Contents

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description II. Award Information III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants B. Procurement Integrity, Standards of Conduct, Ethical Considerations, and

Organizational Conflicts of Interest C. Cost Sharing/Matching D. Other Eligibility Criteria

1. Collaborative Efforts IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package B. Content and Form of Application Submission

1. Security Information

2. Proprietary Information

3. Proposal Submission Information

4. Full Proposal Format

5. Submission Dates and Times

6. Funding Restrictions

7. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information A. Evaluation Criteria B. Review and Selection Process

VI. Award Administration Information A. Selection Notices B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

1. Meeting and Travel Requirements

2. Human Subjects Research

3. Animal Use

4. Export Control

5. Subcontracting

6. Electronic and Information Technology

7. Employment Eligibility Verification

8. System for Award Management (SAM) and Universal Identifier Requirements

9. Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards

10. Updates of Information Regarding Responsibility Matters

11. Representations by Corporations Regarding an Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction under any Federal Law

12. Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Notices and Certification

13. Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) on Non-DoD Information Systems

14. Safeguarding of Unclassified Controlled Technical Information

15. Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements

C. Reporting D. Electronic Systems

1. Representations and Certifications

2. Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF)

3. i-Edison

VII. Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information

A. Intellectual Property Procurement Contract Proposers

1. Noncommercial Items (Technical Data and Computer Software)

2. Commercial Items (Technical Data and Computer Software)

B. Non-Procurement Contract Proposers – Noncommercial and Commercial Items (Technical Data and Computer Software)

C. All Proposers – Patents D. All Proposers – Intellectual Property Representations E. Other Transactions (OTs):

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Microsystems Technology Office (MTO)

Funding Opportunity Title – Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems (ICARUS)

Announcement Type – Initial Announcement.

Funding Opportunity Number – DARPA-BAA-16-03 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) – Not applicable.

Dates o Posting Date: 9 October 2015 o Proposal Due Date: 23 November 2015 o Estimated period of performance start: April 2016

Concise description of the funding opportunity: DARPA seeks proposals for the design and prototyping of vanishing air delivery vehicles capable of precise, gentle drops of small payloads. These precision vehicles must be guaranteed to rapidly physically disappear following safe payload delivery. Proposed efforts must integrate engineered vanishing materials into advanced aerodynamic designs to produce an autonomously vanishing, field-testable prototype vehicle by the end of the two-year program.

Total amount of money available to be awarded: It is anticipated that no more than $8M will be awarded.

Anticipated individual awards – Multiple awards are anticipated.

Anticipated funding type - 6.2 or 6.3 Types of instruments that may be awarded – Procurement contract or other transaction.

Any cost sharing requirements – None.

Agency contact o Dr. Troy Olsson, Program Manager BAA Coordinator: DARPA-BAA-16-03@darpa.mil

DARPA/MTO

ATTN: DARPA-BAA-16-03

675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

PROPOSERS ARE CAUTIONED THAT EVALUATION RATINGS MAY BE LOWERED

AND/OR PROPOSALS REJECTED IF PROPOSAL PREPARATION (PROPOSAL FORMAT,

CONTENT, ETC.) AND/OR SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT FOLLOWED.

mailto:name@darpa.mil

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency often selects its research efforts through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) process. This BAA is being issued, and any resultant selection will be made, using procedures under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 35.016.

Any negotiations and/or awards will use procedures under FAR 15.4, Contract Pricing, as specified in the BAA. Proposals received as a result of this BAA shall be evaluated in accordance with evaluation criteria specified herein through a scientific review process.

DARPA BAAs are posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website, http://www.fbo.gov/. The following information is for those wishing to respond to the BAA.

Precise air delivery to resupply operators or humanitarian teams on the ground requires disposable, low-cost, systems capable of carrying small payloads. This capability does not currently exist as the state-of-the-art systems are expensive (UAVs) or require pack-out of the system by the recipients (parachute-based systems). To resolve this capability gap for the nation, DARPA seeks innovative research proposals in the area of vanishing, precision air delivery vehicles capable of carrying small (up to ~3 lbs.) payloads. These systems should be capable of release from high altitude and must vanish while safely delivering their payload. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

Introduction:

Supply and re-supply of small military and civilian teams in difficult to access territory currently requires the use of large, parachute-based delivery systems that must be packed-out after receipt of the payload both for operational security and environmental concerns. Small items including additional batteries, communications devices, or medical supplies – especially those requiring cold storage – could be supplied/resupplied using low-cost, disposable aircraft to sniper or Special Forces teams operating in difficult to access areas. These small teams aggressively minimize their loads and carry only the most critical supplies. Often extenuating circumstances warrants emergency supply such as critical combat casualty care in remote locations where medical evacuation is delayed. Even the availability of a small, 10 lbs. ventilator could significantly improve critical care outcomes downrange. The medical supply problem can be especially problematic in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions where the storage requirements of insulin, anti-venom treatments, and blood/plasma products limit their availability in remote locations or infrastructure-poor regions. For operators and even HADR personnel, delivery vehicles that do not require pack-out can simplify their operations and limit the environmental impact of a widespread response. Finally, operators in hostile territories require protection of their team’s location. As such, maintaining operational security forbids leaving behind supply vehicles. Weighed against the load concerns of pack-out this presents a logistical conundrum.

http://www.fbo.gov/

A critical capability gap exists in eliminating the leave-behind of air vehicles used to deliver supplies to personnel on the ground without requiring pack-out. Such pack-out of these systems is cumbersome, time-consuming, and adds significant weight to the individuals’ loads. DARPA is seeking to develop autonomous, precision, air delivery vehicles that both safely deliver their package(s) and physically vanish, i.e. the vehicle’s physical disappearance is part of its mission specification. Such a system would enable efficient resupply to teams in distributed locations, eliminate the need to repack/pack-out delivery parachutes resupplying small operating forces downrange, and create a capability to safely, and without detritus, deliver time-critical humanitarian supplies (e.g. food, perishable medical supplies) to civilian/NGO personnel serving in remote or dangerous areas.

The Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems program (ICARUS) aims to develop a core capability to fill this gap for the DoD and nation through the development of vanishing, precision, air delivery vehicles for small (< 3 lb.) packages. These systems should:

1) Fully vanish within four hours of payload delivery or within 30 minutes of morning civil twilight (assuming a night drop), whichever is earlier.

2) Precisely drop an up to 3 lb. payload within 10 m of the target landing spot programmed prior to air release.

3) Exert < 100 G (1 ms peak, half sine wave) on the payload throughout its delivery.

4) Cover a lateral distance of > 150 km when released from a stationary balloon at 35,000 feet.

5) Span fewer than 3 m in its longest dimension.

No system currently exists that fulfills the complete specifications described above. State-of-the-art precision delivery using Tandem Offset Resupply Delivery Systems (TORDS), Joint Precision Airdrop Systems (JPADS), or civilian quadcopters or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) typically require complex materials and/or controllers to meet the aerodynamic requirements, but simply cannot vanish. Furthermore, precision notwithstanding, no air delivery vehicles have been fielded with a disappearing or transience capability. Recent advances produced in both DARPA’s Vanishing, Programmable Resources (VAPR) program and in the wider materials science literature indicate the potential for triggered, transient structural materials that may be applied to the aeronautics problem posed herein. DARPA defines transience as full and complete physical disappearance (to the naked eye) of a complete system and its constituent materials – independent of the surrounding environment. As such, any remnants must be < 100 µm on the longest dimension. Implementation of the transient materials in the VAPR program has advanced the transience characteristics (e.g., rate, triggering) while simultaneously improving the structural properties (e.g., Young’s modulus) for their application to various types of electronic packaging and substrates. The VAPR program has partially de-risked the main materials tradeoffs between transience rate, stability and modulus. Further innovations in materials engineering, subsequent materials scale-up, and incorporation into a high-precision aerodynamic design will require cohesive, multidisciplinary teams working in a well-integrated fashion to produce a working design and fabricate a field-testable prototype.

DARPA is interested in the fundamental question of whether a large, functional structure can be made transient. This will have impact in many different core areas where a leave behind will have environmental and/or unintended logistical consequence. There is a potential future where systems can be made cheap enough to be disposable limiting the logistics trail, and maximizing range for a given flight system.

Program Objective:

ICARUS seeks to design, prototype, and demonstrate an autonomous, guided, precision, vanishing air delivery vehicle capable of delivering a small package (up to 3 lbs.) to a GPS-programmed location (10 m accuracy). Following a night drop, the air delivery vehicle must completely, physically disappear within 4 hours of payload delivery or within 30 minutes after morning civil twilight, whichever is earlier. To be considered not visible to the naked eye, DARPA nominally quantifies physical disappearance, or transience, as producing remnants not exceeding 100 µm on the longest dimension. Preferably, the orientation of the payload with respect to the ground will be maintained after delivery (i.e. the payload will be delivered right side up). Since transient electronic microsystems are currently under development in the VAPR program, this BAA allows for the proposed vehicles to carry a guidance/control system exempt from the transience requirements provided it is housed in a package no larger than a tennis ball (max. volume 146 cm3) with a maximum ellipsoidal aspect ratio of 3:1. Any components of the vehicle existing outside of the tennis ball package must be transient. Camouflaging schemes, removal or departure of the vehicle, and other approaches that would be described as “technically disappeared” are not of interest to DARPA and are considered non-responsive. Delivery vehicles may land with the payload at the landing zone (LZ) or proceed to a different location after safely dropping the payload. In both cases, the vehicle must be completely transient. Multi-stage implementations (analogous to multi-stage rockets) are within scope, again provided all stages are fully transient regardless of whether initial stages land at a distance from the payload LZ. Simply put, if the proposed delivery system does not fully vanish it will be deemed non-responsive – transience is the highest priority design requirement. Prototypes developed under ICARUS must be field-testable in the specified environmental conditions by program end. As such, while ICARUS will include some limited fundamental research, the program’s overall objective is to demonstrate a field-testable prototype by the end of its second year and is not considered a fundamental research program.

Critical technical challenges facing the ICARUS program cover two major categories:

aerodynamics and materials. Aerodynamic design considerations and the materials engineering capabilities will affect one another and their close interplay will necessitate compromises to overcome trade-offs and achieve final program objectives. Example challenges likely to affect vehicle design include, but are not limited to:

a) Maintaining vehicle rigidity and mass for range and control, while limiting the overall mass of materials that must disappear.

b) Meeting precision requirements without exerting excessive landing forces on the payload.

c) Engineering reliable triggers, fail-sure mechanisms, and transience rates to meet the 100% vanishing requirement.

d) Meeting the flight specifications using guaranteed-to-vanish materials resilient to wide temperature ranges and harsh conditions (e.g., ice formation) and other highly variable environmental conditions during flight. (Stable materials that are engineered to be very unstable, but only when triggered)

e) Scaling up transient materials and exploiting existing, manufacturing-scale fabrication processes (including, but not limited to, state-of-the-art scalable additive or subtractive manufacturing or molding approaches.)

Proposals should detail the technical risks relevant to the proposed technical approach along with the attendant risk mitigation strategies.

The ICARUS program will span two phases and a total of 26 months culminating in a final, Government field-test of fully vanishing, precision air delivery prototypes. Phase I will develop and demonstrate an air delivery vehicle meeting the final program metrics, but realized using non-transient materials proxies that are similar in mechanical and other properties to the proposed transient materials. Performers will also have to demonstrate the ability to fabricate required vehicle components in a manufacturing process using the transient materials in Phase I. Phase II will leverage the Phase I demonstrations to fabricate a final, field testable, vanishing air delivery vehicle meeting the final program goals.

Technical Areas:

ICARUS is divided into two separate technical areas, aerodynamic design and transient materials.

All proposals must be comprehensive and integrated responses to both technical areas.

Technical Area 1: Aerodynamic Design and Control Aerodynamics, control, and actuation design should meet the range and precision requirements set forth in this BAA along with the payload size/shape and release and landing zone conditions.

These requirements are detailed in Table 1. The control and guidance systems may be housed within the non-transient tennis ball package, however some or all of the actuators required for steering the vehicle will likely reside outside of the avionics package and are therefore subject to the transience requirements. While DARPA is agnostic to the type of design, systems requiring a motor are unlikely to be responsive to the transience requirements. Potential strategies may include, but are not limited to, gliders, parafoils, or some combination thereof.

Guidance, control, and navigation strategies designed to achieve program goals should be described clearly and, where possible, supported by preliminary data or numerical modeling.

Practical considerations such as the designed control system’s resilience in widely disparate thermal conditions or the stability of the system’s calibration should be included as well. Proposals must also include quantitative rationale for the vehicle design decisions, including a description of the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics likely to be integrated in the avionics package.

Should the proposing teams possess proprietary components or control packages developed through internal R&D or similar development pipelines that are necessary for the proposed technical approach, these may be included in the proposed implementation. Critically, the proposal should clarify the limitations of state-of-the-art COTS components and must include a plan for technology transfer and other issues affecting Government-use of any non-COTS components.

Finally, system-level considerations such as power (size, weight, and power – SWAP) requirements and resilience in non-specified flight conditions (e.g., chaotic air turbulence at high altitude and wind gusts at the LZ) also require discussion in the proposal.

Regardless of vehicle design, all proposed approaches must justify the selected non-transient material proxies that will support the early feasibility testing of the aerodynamics and control in Phase I, and the relevant fabrication techniques for achieving the proposed final Phase I and Phase II flight vehicles.

Technical Area 2: Transient Materials Performance in this technical area must address three major aspects of the problem.

1) Design and engineering of transient materials and their triggers

2) Scale-up of transient materials to the kg-scale to produce sufficient material for experimentation and final design

3) Fabrication approaches and process design to incorporate the novel transient materials into a reliable, scalable manufacturing process

Proposed efforts must address the critical materials properties required for integration into the transient vehicle – specifically the transience rate, triggering mechanism, material stability and the structural characteristics. Proposal should detail both the structural characteristics (e.g., Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength, shear strength, etc.) required by the specific aeronautical design and the path to achieving these structural characteristic in the proposed transient materials.

Advancement beyond the state-of-the-art in transient structural materials is expected in order to adequately respond to the full needs of this BAA. Transience mechanisms producing visible residues, damage to the local environment or handlers (e.g. strong acids), requiring energetic materials (e.g. nitrocellulose, metal oxides), or perceptible visual or acoustic signatures (e.g. fire, explosions) are not of interest to DARPA and are non-responsive to this BAA.

Achieving appropriate transience rates without degrading the structural properties may pose a significant technical challenge when engineering existing transient materials, for example sublimating polymers. Tailoring the intrinsic properties of the materials (e.g. thermodynamic instability of the monomer) vs. extrinsic engineering (e.g. packaging and homogeneous incorporation of transience-inducing agents) represent two examples of acceptable, and not mutually exclusive, paths to accelerating transience. Note: These examples are included solely to illustrate the concept. DARPA is agnostic to the technical approach provided it meets the program metrics.

DARPA strongly prefers mechanisms comprised of at least one triggered mode combined with a secondary “fail-sure” mode dependent on a reliable environmental condition (e.g. sunlight or impact). In all cases, DARPA requires autonomous transience. Solutions where the vanishing is triggered remotely via a radio frequency, optical, or other communications channel are considered non-responsive. Proposers must demonstrate the proposed approach can guarantee complete transience.

Initial proof-of-concept designs of the structural materials are expected to occur at very small scales (i.e. < 1 gram), but the aggressive program schedule requires that these materials rapidly meet the scale-up needs for fabrication and prototyping of the full-scale vehicle design. The manufacturing considerations are two-fold: 1) transient materials scale-up and production at the kilogram-scale and 2) vehicle fabrication and manufacturing approaches capable of supporting the transient materials. As such, proposed program plans should address both of these manufacturing issues in parallel with the core transient materials optimization. Careful selection of the proxy materials for the Phase I aerodynamic feasibility demonstrations may address and mitigate some of the manufacturing technical challenges and risks. Proposers may also provide early short-loop experiments to demonstrate feasibility of the intended manufacturing techniques.

Proposals should detail the full operational scenario from the moment of vehicle delivery through the transience process at the landing zone (or beyond, if applicable). The operational scenarios should also include detail regarding shelf life, storage, and handling considerations. Proposals should also include a discussion on whether and how the proposed vehicle may be deployed from various other air platforms, not just stationary, high-altitude balloons. Of particular interest are releasing from aircraft traveling at high speeds and high altitude. Proposers should include the performance limits of the proposed vehicles such as anticipated maximum drop airspeed, maximum altitude, minimum operating temperature, maximum payload, and any modifications that might be required to drop the vehicle at airspeeds exceeding the anticipated maximum drop airspeed.

Program Plan and Technical Milestones:

Efforts in the ICARUS program will span two phases (Phase I: 14 months, Phase II: 12 months) culminating in a final, Government field-test of fully transient, precision air delivery prototypes.

All proposals must include comprehensive budget responses to both Phases. Phase II should be proposed as an Option.

Phase I will develop and demonstrate an air delivery vehicle meeting the final program metrics, but realized using non-transient materials. The non-transient materials used for the Phase I air delivery vehicle must be similar in mechanical and other properties to serve as a reasonable substitute for the proposed transient material solution. Special care should be taken to justify the choice of the non-transient Phase I materials. Phase I also includes a transient, critical component(s) demonstration to establish that the transient materials can be used in a legitimate manufacturing process. The component(s) demonstrated must be selected to provide a compelling demonstration of the manufacturability of the transient material(s) required for the final transient vehicle. Proposers requiring integration of disparate transient materials in the final design should plan to demonstrate a range of components for comprehensiveness.

Phase II will combine the Phase I components to form a final, field testable, vanishing air delivery vehicle meeting the final program goals. This technology development plan is notionally mapped below in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - ICARUS Notional Technology Development Plan

Intermediate and end-of-phase milestones must demonstrate forward progress towards both the aerodynamics solution and the materials solution. Proposed program timelines must clearly demarcate the process for integrating the transient materials developed in Phase I into the final vehicle design. Incorporation of transient materials into the final design may occur earlier than the delineated program plan visualized in Figure 2. Proposed efforts must detail their responsiveness to the DARPA-defined test conditions for both the Phase I and Phase II final demonstrations, and also include a narrative discussing the range of conditions the described approach addresses beyond the DARPA-defined test plan. The trigger/fail-sure design must be rationalized in all proposed use scenarios.

Figure 2 – ICARUS Program Plan and Schedule Delineated by Milestone

DARPA-defined intermediate milestones are designed to demonstrate the performers are de-risking critical technical challenges associated with integration of a final field-testable system.

Proposers must define additional intermediate milestones minimally every six (6) months throughout the effort to track progress.

Field Test, Specifications, and Metrics

Figure 3 - Diagram of launch and landing zone

For this exercise, assume that wind direction at drop will not be a headwind, i.e. the drop will occur upwind of the landing zone (Figure 3). The following table defines the launch conditions, landing conditions, payload characteristics, avionic package specifications, and performance metrics for the Government-executed field tests (Table 1).

Table 1 Launch conditions Landing Zone Conditions Average Temperature (°C): -54 Average Temperature (°C): 16 Temperature Range (°C): -58 to -46 Temperature Range (°C): -4 to 36 Average Wind Speed (mph): 55 Average Wind Speed (mph): 17 Wind Speed Range (mph): 13 to 123 Average Wind Gust (mph): 24

Average Humidity (%): 28 Average Humidity (%): 42 Humidity Range (%): 2 to 64 Humidity Range (%): 5 to 97 Average Dewpoint (°C): -66 Latitude: 40°N Dewpoint Range (°C): -76 to -59 Morning Civil Twilight/Sunrise: 05:39/06:10

Altitude: 35,000 ft MSL Airspeed: 0 mph Clearing Dimensions: 100 ft x 150 ft Offset: > 150 km lateral Max. surrounding tree height: 60 ft

Payload Characteristics *Note: Proposed systems must support all four payload types and form factors.

Form Factor

(COTS)

Water-filled, 1.5L bottle (Nalgene™ Silo 1.5L)

Battery

(BA-5590)

Shock Sensor (Shock101, MadgeTech)#

Field blood transfusion kit (Chinook TMM-FBT-

SOF)

Dimensions (per unit)

H: 11.25”, Diameter: 3.63”

W: 2.45” H: 4.4” D: 5”

W: 3.5” H: 4.4” D: 1.0”

W: 14" H: 9" D: 2" unfolded

W: 7" H: 9" D: 4" folded

Weight/unit 3 lbs. 1 kg 12 oz.+ 14.64 oz. + # Used to measure shock experienced by the payload.

+ Weight may be added to carry smaller payloads provided the extra weight also vanishes.

Avionics Package (exempt from transience requirements) GPS , IMU, and wind speed sensors allowed Package: < 146 cm3 volume (tennis ball-sized) Aspect ratio: max. 3:1 (ellipsoid)

Metrics Transience completion: The earlier of either landing + 4 hrs. or morning civil twilight + 30 min.

Remnants: < 100 um on the longest dimension Range: > 150 km Precision: < 10 m from GPS-defined target Force tolerance: 100 G max. (1 ms peak, half sine wave) Maximum vehicle dimension: 3 m

Metrics defined in Table I represent the baseline expectations of the proposed vehicle. Proposers may define their own metrics provided they outperform those outlined above.

Milestones, Deliverables, End-of-Phase DARPA Challenges:

Phase I: 1-14 Months after contract (MAC)

a) Preliminary Design Review (PDR) (Proposer defined – no later than (NLT) 6 Months After Contract (MAC) Milestone: Design review demonstrating that the proposed design will meet intended aerodynamic and precision performance requirements. All system requirements and specifications must be completed. Include design verification and detailed plan for advancing to final prototype fabrication. Identify technical risks and detail mitigation strategies to complete Phase I.

Deliverable: Briefing to DARPA PM to include

1. Aerodynamic design – aircraft body geometry, weight, glide ratio, material(s) structural requirements (modulus, tensile strength, etc.), operating environment

2. Controller design – components, COTS parts, size, weight, and power (SWAP)

3. Actuator design – components, geometry, materials and materials structural requirements

4. Fabrication plan – outline and detailed path

5. Supporting theoretical calculations or simulations demonstrating that the PDR design is likely to meet the program requirements.

b) Transient materials design and demonstration (Proposer defined – NLT 9 MAC) Milestone: Demonstration of the transient materials required for implementing the PDR design. Synthesize gram-scale quantities of the transient materials drop-ins to replace the non-transient proxy materials. These transient materials must meet all transience requirements scaled to the volumes relevant to the vehicle design. i.e., rates of transience must fulfill the final transience time requirements for the full-scale prototype. Transient materials must also meet the structural and stability properties required by the final vanishing delivery vehicle. Each transient material proposed for the final vanishing air delivery vehicle must be demonstrated for this milestone.

Deliverable: 10 g of demonstrated transient materials samples (any form factor) for independent verification and validation (IV&V) by DoD partner

c) Full-scale, non-transient, low-altitude tested prototype (11 MAC) Milestone: Non-transient prototype meets range (min. 11.5 km) and precision targeting (max. 10 m to target) metrics by low altitude test (minimal conditions: 2000 ft. drop altitude, 0 mph drop airspeed).

Deliverable(s): 1) Three (3) prototype air delivery vehicles comprised of a limited set of non-transient materials meeting all the precision requirements and field ready for high-altitude testing. 2) Documentation of shock data logged throughout the delivery using an appropriate COTS shock logging device, e.g., a device carried as one of the four required test payloads for the prototyped system.

d) Phase I Challenge: DARPA high altitude delivery (12-14 MAC) Milestone: Support Government field-test of full-scale, non-transient, prototypes.

1. The Government will perform the final Phase I high altitude field test

2. Conditions: Drop altitude: 35,000 ft., MSL Drop airspeed: 0 mph

3. Metrics: 10 m precision, 150 km lateral range, 100 G max. throughout delivery

e) Transient Component Demonstration (13 MAC) Milestone: Critical vehicle component prototypes meet transience rate requirements, mechanical properties, and demonstrate the anticipated manufacturing process(es) required for the Phase II transient air delivery vehicle fabrication. Performers should justify their choice of critical component(s) selected for transient demonstration based on the design established in the PDR. Performers will need to demonstrate a single component made from each transient material proposed in the PDR design.

Deliverable(s): A proposer-defined number of components prototyped using transient materials. Report detailing the fabrication process, aerodynamic characteristics, and transience performance of the fabricated transient components.

f) Critical Design Review (CDR) (13 MAC) Milestone: Show that the design can proceed towards full-scale fabrication of vehicles implemented with transient materials. Integration of transient materials, non-transient avionics package, and vehicle fabrication must be detailed to show feasibility of the process and design must meet the complete performance requirements for the Phase II final field test.

Deliverable(s): Briefing to DARPA PM to include

1. Details of non-transient prototype low and high altitude performance

2. Detailed analysis of Phase II transient prototype design’s predicted performance justified by measured performance of the Phase 1 non-transient prototypes and scaling based on any differences in materials properties between the transient and non-transient materials.

3. Detailed manufacturing plan for the transient airborne delivery vehicles

4. Storage and shelf-life requirements

5. Operating procedures for user handling at and before deployment

Phase II: 14 – 26 MAC

a) Transient materials demonstration (Proposer-defined – NLT 20 MAC) Milestone: Demonstrate ability to synthesize kg-scale quantities of the transient materials needed for the final vanishing airborne delivery vehicle. These transient materials must meet all transience and structural requirements scaled to the volumes relevant to the vehicle design, i.e. rates of transience must meet the final transience time requirements.

Deliverable: 10 g of samples derived from a kg production batch (any form factor) for IV&V by DoD partner

b) Full-scale, transient, low-altitude tested prototype (24 MAC) Milestone: Transient prototype meets range (min. 11.5 km), precision targeting (max. 10m to target), and maximum acceleration/deceleration metrics by low altitude test (minimal conditions: 2000 ft. drop altitude, 0 mph drop airspeed).

Deliverable(s): 1) Three (3) prototype air delivery vehicles comprised of transient materials meeting all the precision requirements and field ready for high-altitude testing.

2) Documentation and supporting materials demonstrating low altitude-tested, fully transient, prototype air delivery vehicles. Shock data logged throughout the delivery must be documented using an appropriate COTS shock logging device, e.g., a device carried as one of the four required test payloads for the prototyped system.

c) Phase II Challenge: DARPA high altitude delivery (24-26 MAC) Milestone: Support Government field-test of full-scale, transient, prototypes.

a. The Government will perform final Phase II high altitude field test

b. Conditions: Drop altitude: 35,000 ft. MSL, Drop airspeed: 0 mph

c. Metrics: 10 m precision, 150 km lateral range, 100 G (1 ms, half sine) max.

throughout delivery

Given the aggressive 26 month timeline, the need for multiple, manufactured prototypes delivered at the end of each phase and the challenging field test conditions, teams must be led by organizations/PI capable of integrating and managing the multiple required technologies. A demonstrated track record of systems design and integration along with small-scale fabrication processes will be well received.

II. Award Information

Multiple awards are anticipated. The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.

The Government reserves the right to select for negotiation all, some, one, or none of the proposals received in response to this solicitation, and to make awards without discussions with proposers.

The Government also reserves the right to conduct discussions if it is later determined to be necessary. If warranted, portions of resulting awards may be segregated into pre-priced options.

Additionally, DARPA reserves the right to accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award. In the event that DARPA desires to award only portions of a proposal, negotiations may be opened with that proposer. The Government reserves the right to fund proposals in phases with options for continued work at the end of one or more of the phases.

Awards under this BAA will be made to proposers on the basis of the evaluation criteria listed below (see section labeled “Application Review Information,” Sec. V.), and program balance to provide overall value to the Government. The Government reserves the right to request any additional, necessary documentation once it makes the award instrument determination. Such additional information may include but is not limited to Representations and Certifications. The Government reserves the right to remove proposers from award consideration should the parties fail to reach agreement on award terms, conditions and cost/price within a reasonable time or the proposer fails to timely provide requested additional information. Proposals identified for negotiation may result in a procurement contract or other transaction, depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, whether or not the research is classified as Fundamental Research, and other factors.

In all cases, the Government contracting officer shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with selectees. Proposers are advised that regardless of the instrument type proposed, DARPA may select other award instruments, as it deems appropriate. DARPA will apply publication or other restrictions, as necessary, if it determines that the research resulting from the proposed effort will present a high likelihood of disclosing performance characteristics of military systems or manufacturing technologies that are unique and critical to defense. Any award resulting from such a determination will include a requirement for DARPA permission before publishing any information or results on the program. For more information on publication restrictions, see the section below on Fundamental Research.

Fundamental Research

It is DoD policy that the publication of products of fundamental research will remain unrestricted to the maximum extent possible. National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189 established the national policy for controlling the flow of scientific, technical, and engineering information produced in federally funded fundamental research at colleges, universities, and laboratories. The Directive defines fundamental research as follows:

'Fundamental research' means basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary research and from industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons.

As of the date of publication of this BAA, the Government expects that program goals as described herein either cannot be met by proposers intending to perform fundamental research or the proposed research is anticipated to present a high likelihood of disclosing performance characteristics of military systems or manufacturing technologies that are unique and critical to defense. Therefore, the Government anticipates restrictions on the resultant research that will require the contractor to seek DARPA permission before publishing any information or results relative to the program.

Proposers should indicate in their proposal whether they believe the scope of the research included in their proposal is fundamental or not. While proposers should clearly explain the intended results of their research, the Government shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with selectees. Appropriate clauses will be included in resultant awards for non-fundamental research to prescribe publication requirements and other restrictions, as appropriate.

For certain research projects, it may be possible that although the research being performed by the prime contractor is restricted research, a subawardee may be conducting fundamental research. In those cases, it is the prime contractor’s responsibility to explain in its proposal why its subawardee’s effort is fundamental research.

The following statement or similar provision will be incorporated into any resultant non-fundamental research procurement contract or other transaction:

There shall be no dissemination or publication, except within and between the contractor and any subawardees, of information developed under this contract or contained in the reports to be furnished pursuant to this contract without prior written approval of DARPA’s Public Release Center (DARPA/PRC). All technical reports will be given proper review by appropriate authority to determine which Distribution Statement is to be applied prior to the initial distribution of these reports by the contractor. With regard to subawardee proposals for Fundamental Research, papers resulting from unclassified fundamental research are exempt from prepublication controls and this review requirement, pursuant to DoD Instruction 5230.27 dated October 6, 1987.

When submitting material for written approval for open publication, the contractor/awardee must submit a request for public release to the DARPA/PRC and include the following information: (1) Document Information: document title, document author, short plain-language description of technology discussed in the material (approx.

30 words), number of pages (or minutes of video) and document type (e.g., briefing, report, abstract, article, or paper); (2) Event Information: event type (conference, principal investigator meeting, article or paper), event date, desired date for DARPA's approval; (3) DARPA Sponsor: DARPA Program Manager, DARPA office, and contract number; and (4) Contractor/Awardee's Information: POC name, email and phone. Allow four weeks for processing; due dates under four weeks require a justification. Unusual electronic file formats may require additional processing time. Requests may be sent either via email to public_release_center@darpa.mil or by mail at 675 North Randolph Street, Arlington VA 22203-2114, telephone (571) 218-4235. Refer to the following for link for information about DARPA’s public release process: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management/public-release.”

III. Eligibility Information

All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA.

mailto:public_release_center@darpa.mil

A. Eligible Applicants Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and Government entities (e.g., Government/National laboratories, military educational institutions, etc.) are subject to applicable direct competition limitations and cannot propose to this BAA in any capacity unless they meet the following conditions: (1) FFRDCs must clearly demonstrate that the proposed work is not otherwise available from the private sector; and (2) FFRDCs must provide a letter on official letterhead from their sponsoring organization citing the specific authority establishing their eligibility to propose to Government solicitations and compete with industry, and their compliance with the associated FFRDC sponsor agreement’s terms and conditions. This information is required for FFRDCs proposing to be prime contractors or subawardees.

Government entities must clearly demonstrate that the work is not otherwise available from the private sector and provide written documentation citing the specific statutory authority and contractual authority, if relevant, establishing their ability to propose to Government solicitations. At the present time, DARPA does not consider 15 U.S.C. § 3710a to be sufficient legal authority to show eligibility. While 10 U.S.C.§ 2539b may be the appropriate statutory starting point for some entities, specific supporting regulatory guidance, together with evidence of agency approval, will still be required to fully establish eligibility. DARPA will consider FFRDC and Government entity eligibility submissions on a case-by-case basis; however, the burden to prove eligibility for all team members rests solely with the proposer.

Non-U.S. organizations and/or individuals may participate to the extent that such participants comply with any necessary nondisclosure agreements, security regulations, export control laws, and other governing statutes applicable under the circumstances.

B. Procurement Integrity, Standards of Conduct, Ethical Considerations, and Organizational Conflicts of Interest

Current federal employees are prohibited from participating in particular matters involving conflicting financial, employment, and representational interests (18 U.S.C. §§ 203, 205, and 208). Once the proposals have been received, and prior to the start of proposal evaluations, the Government will assess potential conflicts of interest and will promptly notify the proposer if any appear to exist. The Government assessment does NOT affect, offset, or mitigate the proposer’s responsibility to give full notice and planned mitigation for all potential organizational conflicts, as discussed below.

Without prior approval or a waiver from the DARPA Director, in accordance with FAR 9.503, a contractor cannot simultaneously provide scientific, engineering, technical assistance (SETA) or similar support and also be a technical performer. As part of the proposal submission, all members of the proposed team (prime proposers, proposed subawardees, and consultants) must affirm whether they (their organizations and individual team members) are providing SETA or similar support to any DARPA technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations must state which office(s) the proposer, subawardees, consultant, or individual supports and identify the prime contract number(s). All facts relevant to the existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest (FAR 9.5) must be disclosed. The disclosure must include a description of the action the proposer has taken or proposes to take to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate such conflict. If in the sole opinion of the Government after full consideration of the circumstances, a proposal fails to fully disclose potential conflicts of interest and/or any identified conflict situation cannot be effectively mitigated, the proposal will be rejected without technical evaluation and withdrawn from further consideration for award.

If a prospective proposer believes a conflict of interest exists or may exist (whether organizational or otherwise) or has questions on what constitutes a conflict of interest, the proposer should send his/her contact information and a summary of the potential conflict via email to the BAA email address before time and effort are expended in preparing a proposal and mitigation plan.

C. Cost Sharing/Matching Cost sharing is not required; however, it will be carefully considered where there is an applicable statutory condition relating to the selected funding instrument (e.g., for any Other Transactions under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2371). Cost sharing is encouraged where there is a reasonable probability of a potential commercial application related to the proposed research and development effort.

D. Other Eligibility Criteria

1. Collaborative Efforts Collaborative efforts/teaming are encouraged.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package This solicitation contains all information required to submit a proposal. No additional forms, kits, or other materials are needed. This notice constitutes the total BAA solicitation. No additional information is available, except as provided at FBO.gov, nor will a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) or additional solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for the same will be disregarded.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

DARPA policy is to treat all submissions as source selection information (see FAR 2.101 and 3.104), and to disclose their contents only for the purpose of evaluation. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, during the evaluation process, submissions may be handled by support contractors for administrative purposes and/or to assist with technical evaluation. All DARPA support contractors performing this role are expressly prohibited from performing DARPA-sponsored technical research and are bound by appropriate nondisclosure agreements.

Submissions will not be returned. The original of each submission received will be retained at DARPA and all other non-required copies destroyed. A certification of destruction may be requested, provided the formal request is received at this office within 5 days after notification that a proposal was not selected.

1. Security Information

DARPA anticipates that submissions received under this BAA will be unclassified. However, should a proposer wish to submit classified information, an unclassified email must be sent to the BAA mailbox requesting submission instructions from the Technical Office PSO.

Classified submissions shall be transmitted in accordance with the following guidance.

Additional information on the subjects discussed in this section may be found at http://www.dss.mil/.

If a submission contains Classified National Security Information as defined by Executive Order 13526, the information must be appropriately and conspicuously marked with the proposed classification level and declassification date. Similarly, when the classification of a submission is in question, the submission must be appropriately and conspicuously marked with the proposed classification level and declassification date. Submissions requiring DARPA to make a final classification determination shall be marked as follows:

“CLASSIFICATION DETERMINATION PENDING. Protect as though classified__________________________ (insert the recommended classification level, e.g., Top Secret, Secret or Confidential).”

NOTE: Classified submissions must indicate the classification level of not only the submitted materials, but also the classification level of the anticipated award.

Proposers submitting classified information must have, or be able to obtain prior to contract award, cognizant security agency approved facilities, information systems, and appropriately cleared/eligible personnel to perform at the classification level proposed.