Encl-1_Research.Opportunity.Guidance_ FINAL.docx

W900KK-22-R-00XX

ENCLOSURE 1: W900KK-22-R-0012

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY GUIDANCE

GENERAL INFORMATION

Cycle Types During its lifespan, this BAA will issue In-Cycle and Out-of-Cycle Opportunity Notices via updates to this enclosure with a designation of one of the two processes below:

In-cycle Process. The in-cycle process requires an offeror to adhere to two specific deadlines. The first deadline is for the white paper submission. The second deadline, identified in the request for proposal (RFP) or request for solution (RFS), is for the proposal submission. White papers are not accepted after the initial deadline.

Out-of-cycle Process. A topic release within an out-of-cycle condition allows offerors to submit white papers per their discretion during the time the topics are active, and with no replacing announcement modification yet issued to cancel it. However, prior to submitting an out-of-cycle white paper, the offeror must contact the respective Test Technology Area’s (TTAs) Executing Agent (EA). to initially assess the technical concept, funding availability, and potential level of interest in the technology. This is performed through the submission of an abstract as discussed in para B below. Abstracts are not treated as a submission for source selection sensitive evaluation. It is considered as a pre-‘Step One’ effort to assist an offeror’s understanding of Government interest and likelihood of funding availability prior to preparing a white paper for evaluation.

Offeror Initial Out-of-Cycle Communications Requirements To mitigate unproductive offeror efforts associated with preparing a white paper that may not support a topic’s needs, particularly for the “Other Test Technologies” topic as discussed in paragraph I.D below, an offeror shall initially communicate with the TTA EA via the Contracting Officer per below guidance.

All content regarding this communication should be UNCLASSIFIED. Submissions should be sent via UNCLASSIFIED email usarmy.orlando.peo-stri.list.trmc-te-st-baa@army.mil. The subject line of the email should read “(appropriate TTA Abbreviation) BAA#XXXXXXX - Out-of-Cycle Submission Interest”.

Offerors must submit an abstract using the template per Attachment 13 – Abstract Template. Please keep in mind the Government will first focus on the value of the T&E benefit in relation to other current priority needs and the related likelihood for receiving requisite funding. Abstract submissions shall NOT include controlled unclassified information (CUI). Submission of company proprietary information is also discouraged. The Government will provide a response on the level of interest. Outcomes from an offeror’s submission of an Out-of-Cycle abstract may include:

· a response to seek clarifications in support of either confirming eligibility status for meeting a T&E need and TRL maturation levels and/or improving submission to improve responsiveness to T&E needs,

· a response indicating a recommendation for white paper submission for consideration or rationale why a white paper submission is not preferred at that time, or

· a response, typically anticipated in unusual circumstances where a TRMC urgent need must be addressed quickly, where a request is made for a proposal submission directly vs. a white paper.

Regardless of any Government feedback provided after reviewing the abstract, offerors may submit a white paper after receiving a response and receive further feedback. Offerors are advised to notify the contracting officer on intent to submit a white paper after receiving a Government response.

Topic Listings For each TTA, each topic is organized and numbered within a functional domain as defined within that TTA and as described in the Annex-TTA Descriptions document. These topics are based upon either validated, critical technology shortfalls that satisfy DoD T&E infrastructure investment roadmaps, or for TRMC-identified short-notice, critical needs. The TRMC recognizes that possibilities exist where potential offers may have solutions for T&E technology development needs that are not identified among the listed topics in each Annex and may provide significant benefit for DoD T&E functions.

Because of this the TRMC T&E/S&T BAA may also advertise using a ‘universal’ domain name and topic name (the same for both, also with a domain and topic number of “0”) labeled as “Other Test Technologies” where:

· This category applies for every participating TTA, when used.

· This WILL NOT be listed in each TTA’s topic or domain listings.

· During preparation of offer submissions, the “Other Test Technologies” category serves as a domain for the purpose of completing White Paper and Proposal Data Sheet entries.

Consideration of “Other Test Technologies” Topic This category encourages offeror consideration to address technology research opportunities (which may include studies) in areas that are not identified among currently active/ listed topics, but may be beneficial and critical to the future of the technologies that address DoD test needs for rapid transition into the T&E infrastructure. This may identify potentially revolutionary weapon and sensor systems needing T&E capabilities that are currently “unknown unknowns” to the Government. See requirements for abstract submission in paragraph I.B.

Designation Used For Enclosure 1 Opportunity Notices and Their Changes Each issuance of new potential award opportunities is performed via an Opportunity Notice, which is a BAA amendment associated with Enclosure 1 and will be consecutively labeled announcements by suffix identifier (Encl-1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.) to indicate a separately issued set of opportunities. This supports the nature of multiple TTAs participating in the Broad Agency Announcement with a need for each TTA to be supported with customized requests for white papers.

Each Enclosure Opportunity Notice will be independent of any other Notices. Should an Opportunity Notice require a change or update via a modification, a separate suffix identifier is NOT used. If a modification to an Enclosure 1 Opportunity Notice is required, then a revision number will be used as follows:

Examples: Enclosure 1.1 (an Opportunity Notice) needs to have a correction to a topic and an update to submission deadline as its first variant. This would be indicated as “Enclosure 1.1_rev.1”. A second variant to an Out-of-Cycle release without a specified closing date is issued to close further submission opportunities. This would be indicated as “Enclosure 2.1_rev.2-CLOSED”.

The ‘CLOSED’ annotation only applies if no closing date was previously specified in an Opportunity Notice.

This structure allows for a variety of requests for abstracts, white papers, or proposals, including but not limited to the examples below:

· If urgent needs are required by one or several TTAs, an announcement can be issued with specific topics (either with or without deadlines) while other TTAs are under an existing separate announcement and deadlines.

· Some TTAs concurrently may seek offers for topics under one cycle type and others under a separate cycle type.

The SAM.gov solicitation notice for this BAA will maintain an index of all issued Opportunity Notices and their latest status.

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