DARPA-BAA-16-51.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement Information Innovation Office (I2O) Office‐wide

DARPA-BAA-16-51

August 29, 2016

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Information Innovation Office 675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

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Table of Contents

I. Funding Opportunity Description

II. Award Information

A. Awards

B. Fundamental Research

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

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

C. Cost Sharing/Matching

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

C. Submission Dates and Times

D. Funding Restrictions

E. 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

C. Reporting

VII. Agency Contacts

VIII. Other Information

A. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

B. Submission Checklist

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PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Information Innovation Office (I2O)

Funding Opportunity Title: I2O Office‐wide BAA

Announcement Type: Initial Announcement

Funding Opportunity Number: DARPA-BAA-16-51

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA): 12.910 Research and Technology Development

Dates o Posting Date: August 29, 2016 o Abstract Due Date: June 30, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET) o Proposal Due Date: August 25, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET) o BAA Closing Date: August 25, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET)

Concise Description of Funding Opportunity: This BAA seeks revolutionary research ideas for topics not being addressed by ongoing I2O programs or other published solicitations. Potential proposers are highly encouraged to review the current I2O programs (http://www.darpa.mil/about-us/offices/i2o) and solicitations (http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities) to avoid proposing efforts that duplicate existing activities or that are responsive to other published I2O solicitations.

Anticipated Individual Awards: Multiple awards are anticipated. See Section II below.

Types of Instruments that May be Awarded: Procurement contract, grant, cooperative agreement or Other Transaction (OT) for Prototypes.

Doing Business: DARPA welcomes engagement from all responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs, including academia (colleges and universities);

businesses (large, small, small disadvantaged, etc.); other organizations (including non-profit); entities (foreign, domestic, and government); FFRDCs; minority institutions; and others.

DARPA welcomes engagement from non-traditional sources in addition to current DARPA performers. For these non-traditional sources, DARPA can use statutory authorities to employ award mechanisms that allow commercial companies to keep using their own internal business processes, and permit the flexibility in negotiating most terms and conditions in any resultant agreement. Other Transactions (OT) for Prototypes, for example, could be used when the main focus of the agreement is to create a prototype that the Government may acquire, even when significant research is necessary to create http://www.darpa.mil/about-us/offices/i2o http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities

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the prototype. DARPA has wide latitude to use this authority, but it has a statutory requirement that the proposer's team needs to either have at least one “non-traditional participant” (an entity that has not had $50M or more in defense contracts with the Government in the last year) or to cost-share one-third of the project’s costs.

DARPA welcomes your interest and participation and is willing and able to work with a potential performer in coming up with a contracting arrangement that benefits everyone.

BAA POC: BAA Coordinator, DARPA/I2O

BAA Email: DARPA-BAA-16-51@darpa.mil

BAA Mailing Address:

DARPA/I2O

ATTN: DARPA-BAA-16-51

675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

I2O Solicitation Website: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities mailto:DARPA-BAA-16-51@darpa.mil http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities

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PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Modern society depends on information and information depends on information systems.

Timely, insightful, reliable, and relevant information drives success. This is not lost on military leaders who well appreciate the critical importance of information for national security. The Information Innovation Office (I2O) develops game-changing information science and technology to ensure information advantage for the U.S. and its allies. To accomplish this, I2O sponsors basic and applied research in three thrust areas:

Cyber. As human activity has moved into cyberspace, cyber threats against our information systems have grown in sophistication and number, and protecting and assuring information is a matter of national security. Progress in the cyber security of best-of-breed systems has been significant over the last few years, giving us hope that we are no longer facing an impossible task.

Looking to the future, I2O challenges itself with the goal: Win at Cyber. The I2O defensive cyber research and development (R&D) portfolio is focused on high-end cyber threats, including advanced persistent threats (cyber espionage and cyber sabotage) and other sophisticated threats to embedded computing systems, cyber-physical systems, enterprise information systems, and national critical infrastructure. I2O develops technologies that create software that is provably secure, applications that enhance cyberspace situational awareness, and systems for planning military operations in the cyber domain. Exploration of offensive methods is undertaken to inform the defensive cyber R&D and to establish viability of developed techniques with transition partners.

Analytics. Exponential increases in computation, storage, and connectivity have combined over the past five years to fundamentally alter science, engineering, commerce, and national security. Going under names such as “big data,” “machine learning,” and “analytics,” empirical modeling and data-driven approaches are providing powerful insight and competitive advantage for astute practitioners from biology to sports to finance.

Through new analytics, algorithms, and software ecosystems, the modern data-centric paradigm exploits the increasingly dense, detailed measurements produced by networked sensors to optimize products, services, operations, and strategy.

I2O is working to keep the Department of Defense (DoD) at the forefront of data-driven design and decision-making with the goal: Understand the World. I2O explores fundamental mathematical and computational issues such as complexity and scalability and develops applications in high-impact areas such as intelligence, software engineering, and command and control. I2O coordinates its R&D with the national security community to ensure timely transition of tools and techniques.

Symbiosis. The world is moving faster than humans can assimilate, understand, and act.

At present we design machines to handle well-defined, high-volume or high-speed tasks, freeing humans to focus on complexity. I2O envisions a future in which machines are

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more than just tools that execute pre-programmed instructions. Rather, machines will function more as colleagues.

Towards this end, I2O sets a goal: Partner with Machines. The symbiosis portfolio develops technologies to enable machines to understand speech and extract information contained in diverse media, to learn, to reason and apply knowledge gained through experience, and to respond intelligently to new and unforeseen events. Application areas in which machines will prove invaluable as partners include: cyberspace operations, where highly-scripted, distributed cyber attacks have a speed, complexity, and scale that overwhelms human cyber defenders; intelligence analysis, to which machines can bring super-human objectivity; and command and control, where workloads, timelines and stress can exhaust human operators.

I2O may also consider submissions outside these areas if the proposal involves the development of novel software‐based capabilities having promise to provide decisive information advantage for the U.S. and its allies.

I2O seeks unconventional approaches that are outside the mainstream, challenge accepted assumptions, and have the potential to radically change established practice. 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 the art.

I2O collaborates with other DARPA technical offices, in some cases acting as the recipient of significant emerging technologies and, in other cases, serving as a catalyst by identifying relevant new external technology trends. Novel methods are sought to build technical communities and tap into sources of innovation both inside and outside traditional DoD performer communities. However, proposers may not propose work: (1) they have already completed, nor (2) for which they have already received funding or a positive funding decision (whether by DARPA or another Government agency). I2O encourages efforts that are creative and agile both in terms of the technologies proposed and in the structure of the approach (e.g., shorter periods of performance).

For the purposes of this solicitation, only submissions deemed relevant will receive a detailed Scientific Review. Relevance, first and foremost, requires that submissions address one or more of the focus areas described herein. Additional factors considered in determining relevance include: whether the overall goal of the proposed effort, if achieved, would convey technology significantly beyond the state of the art; the timetable for achieving results is appropriate for a mission agency such as DARPA; and the scope of work is commensurate with I2O priorities.

Submission of abstracts in advance of full proposals is strongly encouraged to ascertain I2O interest in the proposed effort. I2O will respond to abstracts with a letter encouraging or discouraging the submission of a full proposal based on a preliminary assessment of the proposed effort’s scientific or technical merit and interest in the technology concept. Abstracts that are not determined to be relevant per the above definition will receive a “No Interest” letter.

See Section IV.B.1 for further information related to abstracts.

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This Broad Agency Announcement (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 (or 32 C.F.R. 22 for grants and cooperative agreements). 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 (FBO) website (https://www.fbo.gov/) and, as applicable, the Grants.gov website (http://www.grants.gov/).

https://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

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II. Award Information

A. Awards

DARPA anticipates funding a limited number of proposals under this solicitation. The level of funding for individual awards made under this solicitation has not been predetermined and will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Awards will be made to proposers whose proposals are determined to be the most advantageous and provide the best value to the Government, all factors considered, including the potential contributions of the proposed work and availability of funding. See Section V for further information.

The Government reserves the right to:

select for negotiation all, some, one, or none of the proposals received in response to this solicitation;

make awards without discussions with proposers;

conduct discussions with proposers if it is later determined to be necessary;

segregate portions of resulting awards into pre-priced options;

accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award;

fund proposals in increments and/or with options for continued work at the end of one or more phases;

request additional documentation once the award instrument has been determined (e.g., representations and certifications); and remove proposers from award consideration should the parties fail to reach agreement on award terms within a reasonable time or the proposer fails to provide requested additional information in a timely manner.

Proposals selected for award negotiation may result in a procurement contract, grant, cooperative agreement or Other Transaction, depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, 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 personnel, in consultation with the Government contracting officer, may select other award instruments, as they deem 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.

B. 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

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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 cannot identify whether the work under this BAA may be considered fundamental research and may award both fundamental and non-fundamental.

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

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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.”

mailto:public_release_center@darpa.mil

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III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

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

1. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and Government Entities

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.

2. Foreign Participation 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.

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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., OTs under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2371).

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IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

This document contains all information required to submit a response to this solicitation. No additional forms, kits, or other materials are needed except as referenced herein. No request for proposal (RFP) or additional solicitation regarding this opportunity will be issued, nor is additional information available except as provided at the Federal Business Opportunities website (https://www.fbo.gov), the Grants.gov website (http://www.grants.gov/), or referenced herein.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

1. Abstracts Proposers are highly encouraged to submit an abstract in advance of a proposal to minimize effort and reduce the potential expense of preparing an out of scope proposal. The abstract provides a synopsis of the proposed project, including brief answers to the following questions:

What is the proposed work attempting to accomplish or do?

How is it done today, and what are the limitations?

Who will care and what will the impact be if the work is successful?

How much will it cost, and how long will it take?

DARPA will respond to abstracts with a statement as to whether DARPA is interested in the idea. If DARPA does not recommend the proposer submit a full proposal, DARPA will provide feedback to the proposer regarding the rationale for this decision. Regardless of DARPA’s response to an abstract, proposers may submit a full proposal. DARPA will review all full proposals submitted using the published evaluation criteria and without regard to any comments resulting from the review of an abstract.

Abstract Format: Abstracts shall not exceed a maximum of 10 pages, including the cover sheet and all figures, tables, and charts. The page limit does not include a submission letter (optional).

All pages shall be formatted for printing on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper with 1-inch margins and font size not smaller than 11 point. Font sizes of 8 or 10 point may be used for figures, tables, and charts. Document files must be in .pdf, .odx, .doc, .docx, .xls, or .xlsx formats.

Submissions must be written in English.

Abstracts must include the following components:

Cover Sheet: Provide the administrative and technical points of contact (name, address, phone, email, lead organization). Include the BAA number, title of the proposed project, primary subcontractors, estimated cost, duration of the project, and the label “Abstract.”

Goals and Impact: Describe what is being proposed and what difference it will make

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(qualitatively and quantitatively) if successful. Describe the innovative aspects of the project in the context of existing capabilities and approaches, clearly delineating the relationship of this work to any other projects from the past and present.

Technical Plan: Outline and address all technical challenges inherent in the approach and possible solutions for overcoming potential problems. Provide appropriate specific milestones (quantitative, if possible) at intermediate stages of the project to demonstrate progress.

Capabilities/Management Plan: Provide a brief summary of expertise of the team, including subcontractors and key personnel. Identify a principal investigator for the project and include a description of the team’s organization including roles and responsibilities. Describe the organizational experience in this area, existing intellectual property required to complete the project, and any specialized facilities to be used as part of the project. List Government-furnished property, facilities, or data assumed to be available. Include a brief bibliography with links to relevant papers, or public reports authored by key performers.

Statement of Work, Cost and Schedule: Provide a cost estimate for resources over the proposed timeline of the project, broken down by fiscal year. Include labor, materials, a list of deliverables and delivery schedule. Provide cost estimates for each subcontractor (may be a rough order of magnitude or ROM).

2. Proposals Proposals consist of Volume 1: Technical and Management Proposal (including mandatory Appendix A and optional Appendix B) and Volume 2: Cost Proposal.

Proposers are encouraged to submit concise, but descriptive, proposals. Specific examples of problems, approaches, or goals are preferred to qualitative generalities. The Government will not consider pages in excess of the page count limitation, as described herein. Proposals with fewer than the maximum number of pages will not be penalized. Information incorporated into Volume 2: Cost Proposal which is not related to cost will not be considered.

All pages shall be formatted for printing on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper with 1-inch margins, single-line spacing, and a font size not smaller than 12 point. Font sizes of 8 or 10 point may be used for figures, tables, and charts. Document files must be in .pdf, .odx, .doc, .docx, .xls, or .xlsx formats. Submissions must be written in English.

Proposals not meeting the format prescribed herein may not be reviewed.

a. Volume 1: Technical and Management Proposal The maximum page count for Volume 1 is 25 pages, including all figures, tables and charts but not including the cover sheet, table of contents or appendices. A submission letter is optional and is not included in the page count. Appendix A does not count against the page limit and is mandatory.

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Appendix B does not count against the page limit and is optional. Additional information not explicitly called for here must not be submitted with the proposal, but may be included in the bibliography in Appendix B. Such materials will be considered for the reviewers’ convenience only and not evaluated as part of the proposal.

Volume 1 must include the following components:

i. Cover Sheet: Include the following information.

Label: “Proposal: Volume 1” BAA number (DARPA-BAA-16-51) Proposal title Lead organization (prime contractor) name Type of organization, selected from the following categories: Large Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Other Small Business, HBCU, MI, Other Educational, or Other Nonprofit

Technical point of contact (POC) including name, mailing address, telephone, and email

Administrative POC including name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address

Award instrument requested: procurement contract (specify type), grant, cooperative agreement or OT.1

Total amount of the proposed effort.

Place(s) and period(s) of performance Other team member (subcontractors and consultants) information (for each, include Technical POC name, organization, type of organization, mailing address, telephone number, and email address)

Proposal validity period (minimum 120 days) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number2 Taxpayer identification number3 Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code4 Proposer’s reference number (if any)

ii. Table of Contents

iii. Executive Summary:

Provide a synopsis of the proposed project, including answers to the following questions:

What is the proposed work attempting to accomplish or do?

1 Information on award instruments can be found at http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management.

2 The DUNS number is used as the Government's contractor identification code for all procurement-related activities. Go to http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/index.jsp to request a DUNS number (may take at least one business day). See Section VI.B.8 for further information.

3 See http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html for information on requesting a TIN. Note, requests may take from 1 business day to 1 month depending on the method (online, fax, mail).

4 A CAGE Code identifies companies doing or wishing to do business with the Federal Government. See Section VI.B.8 for further information.

http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/index.jsp http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html

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How is it done today, and what are the limitations?

Who or what will be affected and what will be the impact if the work is successful?

How much will it cost, and how long will it take?

The executive summary should include a description of the key technical challenges, a concise review of the technologies proposed to overcome these challenges and achieve the project’s goal, and a clear statement of the novelty and uniqueness of the proposed work.

iv. Innovative Claims and Deliverables: Describe the innovative aspects of the project in the context of existing capabilities and approaches, clearly delineating the uniqueness and benefits of this project in the context of the state of the art, alternative approaches, and other projects from the past and present. Describe how the proposed project is revolutionary and how it significantly rises above the current state of the art.

Describe the deliverables associated with the proposed project and any plans to commercialize the technology, transition it to a customer, or further the work. Discuss the mitigation of any issues related to sustainment of the technology over its entire lifecycle, assuming the technology transition plan is successful.

v. Technical Plan: Outline and address technical challenges inherent in the approach and possible solutions for overcoming potential problems. Demonstrate a deep understanding of the technical challenges and present a credible (even if risky) plan to achieve the project’s goal. Discuss mitigation of technical risk. Provide appropriate measurable milestones (quantitative if possible) at intermediate stages of the project to demonstrate progress, and a plan for achieving the milestones.

vi. Management Plan: Provide a summary of expertise of the proposed team, including any subcontractors/consultants and key personnel who will be executing the work.

Resumes count against the proposal page limit so proposers may wish to include them in Appendix B below. Identify a principal investigator (PI) for the project. Provide a clear description of the team’s organization including an organization chart that includes, as applicable, the relationship of team members; unique capabilities of team members; task responsibilities of team members; teaming strategy among the team members; and key personnel with the amount of effort to be expended by each person during the project.

Provide a detailed plan for coordination including explicit guidelines for interaction among collaborators/subcontractors of the proposed project. Include risk management approaches. Describe any formal teaming agreements that are required to execute this project. List Government-furnished materials or data assumed to be available.

vii. Personnel, Qualifications, and Commitments: List key personnel (no more than one page per person), showing a concise summary of their qualifications, discussion of previous accomplishments, and work in this or closely related research areas. Indicate the level of effort in terms of hours to be expended by each person during each contract year and other (current and proposed) major sources of support for them and/or

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commitments of their efforts. DARPA expects all key personnel associated with a proposal to make a substantial time commitment to the proposed activity and the proposal will be evaluated accordingly. It is DARPA’s intention to put key personnel conditions into the awards, so proposers should not propose personnel that are not anticipated to execute the award.

Include a table of key individual time commitments as follows:

Key Individual

Project Status (Current, Pending, Proposed)

2016 2017 2018

Proposed DARPA Project Proposed xx hours xx hours xx hours

Project Name 1 Current n/a n/a n/aIndividual Name 1

Project Name 2 Pending xx hours n/a n/a

Individual Name 2

Proposed DARPA Project Proposed n/a xx hours xx hours

viii. Capabilities: Describe organizational experience in relevant subject area(s), existing intellectual property, or specialized facilities. Discuss any work in closely related research areas and previous accomplishments.

ix. Statement of Work (SOW): The SOW must provide a detailed task breakdown, citing specific tasks and their connection to the interim milestones and metrics, as applicable. Each year of the project should be separately defined. The SOW must not include proprietary information. For each defined task/subtask, provide:

A general description of the objective.

A detailed description of the approach to be taken to accomplish each defined task/subtask.

Identification of the primary organization responsible for task execution

(prime contractor, subcontractor(s), consultant(s)), by name.

A measurable milestone, (e.g., a deliverable, demonstration, or other event/activity that marks task completion).

A definition of all deliverables (e.g., data, reports, software) to be provided to the Government in support of the proposed tasks/subtasks.

Identify any tasks/subtasks (by the prime or subcontractor) that will be accomplished at a university and believed to be fundamental research.

x. Schedule and Milestones: Provide a detailed schedule showing tasks (task name, duration, work breakdown structure element as applicable, performing organization), milestones, and the interrelationships among tasks. The task structure must be consistent with that in the SOW. Measurable milestones should be clearly articulated and defined in time relative to the start of the project.

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xi. Level of Effort Summary by Task: Provide a one-page table summarizing estimated level of effort per task (in hours) broken out by senior, mid-level and junior personnel, in the format shown below in Figure 2. Also include dollar-denominated estimates of travel, materials and equipment. For this table, consider materials to include the cost of any data sets or software licenses proposed. For convenience, an Excel template is available for download along with the BAA.

Duration Intensity (months) (hrs/mo) Sr Mid Jr Total SubC Conslt Total

1.1.0 <Phase 1 Task 1 name> 7 135 240 680 24 944 - 200 1,144

1.1.1 <Subtask 1.1.1 name> 4 90 80 280 - 360 - 200 560

1.1.2 <Subtask 1.1.2 name> 3 195 160 400 24 584 - - 584

1.2.0 <Phase 1 Task 2 name> 6 385 108 400 1,800 2,308 1,400 - 3,708

1.2.1 <Subtask 1.2.1 name> 3 656 48 320 1,600 1,968 600 - 2,568

1.2.2 <Subtask 1.2.2 name> 3 113 60 80 200 340 800 - 1,140

Phase 1 Total Hours 348 1,080 1,824 3,252 1,400 200 4,652 Phase 1 Costs First column is prime, second is Travel 44,000$ 12,000$ 2,000$ 58,000$ total subcontractor, third is total consultant, fourth is total Materials & Equipment 8,000$ -$ -$ 8,000$

2.1.0 <Phase 2 Task 1 name> 8 100 176 560 64 800 100 100 1,000

2.1.1 <Subtask 2.1.1 name> 7 51 96 240 24 360 100 100 560

2.1.2 <Subtask 2.1.2 name> 4 110 80 320 40 440 - - 440

2.2.0 <Phase 2 Task 2 name> 6 417 180 520 1,800 2,500 1,240 - 3,740

2.2.1 <Subtask 2.2.1 name> 4 435 140 400 1,200 1,740 400 - 2,140

2.2.2 <Subtask 2.2.2 name> 4 190 40 120 600 760 840 - 1,600

Phase 2 Total Hours 356 1,080 1,864 3,300 1,340 100 4,640 Phase 2 Costs First column is prime, second is Travel 47,000$ 12,000$ 2,000$ 61,000$ total subcontractor, third is total consultant, fourth is total Materials & Equipment 4,000$ -$ -$ 4,000$ Project Total Hours 704 2,160 3,688 6,552 2,740 300 9,292

Total Project Costs First column is prime, second is Travel 91,000$ 24,000$ 4,000$ 119,000$ total subcontractor, third is total consultant, fourth is total Materials & Equipment 12,000$ -$ -$ 12,000$

SOW Task Labor Hours

Figure 1: Example level-of-effort summary table. Numbers illustrate roll-ups and subtotals. The “SubC” column captures all subcontractor hours and the “Conslt” column captures all consultant hours.

xii. Appendix A: This section is mandatory and must include all of the following components. If a particular subsection is not applicable, state “NONE”.

(1). Team Member Identification: Provide a list of all team members including the prime, subcontractor(s), and consultant(s), as applicable. Identify specifically whether any are a non-US organization or individual, FFRDC and/or Government entity. Use the following format for this list:

Non-US?

Individual

Name

Role (Prime, Subcontractor or Consultant)

Organization Org Ind.

FFRDC

or

Govt?

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(2). Government or FFRDC Team Member Proof of Eligibility to Propose: If none of the team member organizations (prime or subcontractor) are a Government entity or FFRDC, state “NONE”.

If any of the team member organizations are a Government entity or FFRDC, provide documentation (per Section III.A.1) citing the specific authority that establishes the applicable team member’s eligibility to propose to Government solicitations to include: 1) statutory authority; 2) contractual authority; 3) supporting regulatory guidance; and 4) evidence of agency approval for applicable team member participation.

(3). Government or FFRDC Team Member Statement of Unique Capability: If none of the team member organizations (prime or subcontractor) are a Government entity or FFRDC, state “NONE”.

If any of the team member organizations are a Government entity or FFRDC, provide a statement (per Section III.A.1) that demonstrates the work to be performed by the Government entity or FFRDC team member is not otherwise available from the private sector.

(4). Organizational Conflict of Interest Affirmations and Disclosure: If none of the proposed team members is currently providing SETA or similar support as described in Section III.B, state “NONE”.

If any of the proposed team members (individual or organization) is currently performing SETA or similar support, furnish the following information:

Prime Contract Number

DARPA

Technical Office supported

A description of the action the proposer has taken or proposes to take to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate the conflict

(5). Intellectual Property (IP): If no IP restrictions are intended, state “NONE”.

The Government will assume unlimited rights to all IP not explicitly identified as having less than unlimited rights in the proposal.

For all technical data or computer software that will be furnished to the Government with other than unlimited rights, provide (per Section VI.B.1) a list describing all proprietary claims to results, prototypes, deliverables or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results, prototypes and/or deliverables. Provide documentation proving ownership or possession of appropriate licensing rights to all patented inventions (or inventions for which a patent application has been filed) to be used for the proposed project. Use the following format for these lists:

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NONCOMMERCIAL

Technical Data and/or Computer Software To be Furnished With Restrictions

Summary of Intended Use in the Conduct of the Research

Basis for Assertion

Asserted Rights

Category

Name of Person Asserting Restrictions

(List) (Narrative) (List) (List) (List) (List) (Narrative) (List) (List) (List)

COMMERCIAL

Technical Data and/or Computer Software To be Furnished With Restrictions

Summary of Intended Use in the Conduct of the Research

Basis for Assertion

Asserted Rights

Category

Name of Person Asserting Restrictions

(List) (Narrative) (List) (List) (List) (List) (Narrative) (List) (List) (List)

(6). Human Subjects Research (HSR): If HSR is not a factor in the proposal, state

“NONE”.

If the proposed work will involve human subjects, provide evidence of or a plan for review by an institutional review board (IRB). For further information on this subject, see Section VI.B.2.

(7). Animal Use: If animal use is not a factor in the proposal, state “NONE”.

If the proposed research will involve animal use, provide a brief description of the plan for Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) review and approval. For further information on this subject, see Section VI.B.3.

(8). Representations Regarding Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction under Any Federal Law: Per Section VI.B.10, complete the following statements.

(1) The proposer is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability,

(2) The proposer is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

(9). Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Notices and Certification: Per Section VI.B.11, any proposer who submits a proposal which, if accepted, will result in a CAS-compliant contract, must include a Disclosure Statement as required by 48 CFR 9903.202. The disclosure forms may be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/procurement_casb.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/procurement_casb

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If this section is not applicable, state “NONE”.

xiii. Appendix B: Include a brief bibliography to relevant papers, and public reports. Do not include technical papers. This section is optional, and the materials will not be evaluated as part of the proposal review.

b. Volume 2 - Cost Proposal This volume is mandatory and must include all the listed components. No page limit is specified for this volume.

The cost proposal should include a working spreadsheet file (.xls or equivalent format) that provides formula traceability among all components of the cost proposal. The spreadsheet file should be included as a separate component of the full proposal package. Costs must be traceable between the prime and subcontractors/consultants, as well as between the cost proposal and the SOW.

Pre-award costs will not be reimbursed unless a pre-award cost agreement is negotiated prior to award.

i. Cover Sheet: Include the same information as the cover sheet for Volume 1, but with the label “Proposal: Volume 2.”

ii. Cost Summary Tables: Provide a single-page summary table broken down by fiscal year listing cost totals for labor, materials, other direct charges (ODCs), indirect costs (overhead, fringe, general and administrative (G&A)), and any proposed fee for the project. Include costs for each task in each fiscal year of the project by prime and major subcontractors, total cost and proposed cost share, if applicable. Provide a second table containing the same information broken down by project phase.

iii. Cost Details: For each task, provide the following cost details by month. Include supporting documentation describing the method used to estimate costs. Identify any cost sharing.

(1) Direct Labor: Provide labor categories, rates and hours. Justify rates by providing examples of equivalent rates for equivalent talent, past commercial or Government rates or approved rates from a Government audit agency such as the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), etc.

(2) Indirect Costs: Identify all indirect cost rates (such as fringe benefits, labor overhead, material overhead, G&A or F&A, etc.) and the basis for each.

(3) Materials: Provide an itemized list of all proposed materials, equipment, and supplies for each year including quantities, unit prices, proposed vendors (if known), and the basis of estimate (e.g., quotes, prior purchases, catalog price

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lists, etc.). For proposed equipment/information technology (as defined in FAR 2.101) purchases equal to or greater than $50,000, include a letter justifying the purchase. Include any requests for Government-furnished equipment or information with cost estimates (if applicable) and delivery dates.

(4) Travel: Provide a breakout of travel costs including the purpose and number of trips, origin and destination(s), duration, and travelers per trip.

(5) Subcontractor/Consultant Costs: Provide above info for each proposed subcontractor/consultant. Subcontractor cost proposals must include interdivisional work transfer agreements or similar arrangements. If the proposer has conducted a cost or price analysis to determine reasonableness, submit a copy of this along with the subcontractor proposal.

The proposer is responsible for the compilation and submission of all subcontractor/consultant cost proposals. At a minimum, the submitted cost volume must contain a copy of each subcontractor or consultant non-proprietary cost proposal (i.e. cost proposals that do not contain proprietary pricing information such as rates, factors, etc.) Proprietary subcontractor/consultant cost proposals may be included as part of Volume 2. Proposal submissions will not be considered complete unless the Government has received all subcontractor/consultant cost proposals.

If proprietary subcontractor/consultant cost proposals are not included as part of Volume 2, they may be emailed separately to DARPA-BAA-16-51@darpa.mil.

Email messages must include “Subcontractor Cost Proposal” in the subject line and identify the principal investigator, prime proposer organization and proposal title in the body of the message. Any proprietary subcontractor or consultant proposal documentation which is not uploaded to BAAT as part of the proposer’s submission or provided by separate email shall be made immediately available to the Government, upon request, under separate cover (i.e., mail, electronic/email, etc.), either by the proposer or by the subcontractor/consultant organization.

Please note that a ROM or similar budgetary estimate is not considered a fully qualified subcontract cost proposal submission. Inclusion of a ROM or similar budgetary estimate, or failure to provide a subcontract proposal, will result in the full proposal being deemed non-compliant.

(6) ODCs: Provide an itemized breakout and explanation of all other anticipated direct costs.

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iv. Proposals Requesting a Procurement Contract: Provide the following information where applicable.

(1) Proposals for $750,000 or more: Provide “certified cost or pricing data” (as defined in FAR 2.101) or a request for exception in accordance with FAR 15.403.

(2) Proposals for $700,000 or more: Pursuant to Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. § 637(d)), it is Government policy to enable small business and small disadvantaged business concerns to be considered fairly as subcontractors to organizations performing work as prime contractors or subcontractors under Government contracts, and to ensure that prime contractors and subcontractors carry out this policy. In accordance with FAR 19.702(a)(1) and 19.702(b), prepare a subcontractor plan, if applicable. The plan format is outlined in FAR 19.