ADDS_BAA_--_FINAL_(28-Aug-19).pdf

As of 28 Aug 2019

1-Step Broad Agency Announcement

Overview Information

NAICS Code: The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715 (Research and Technology in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology), and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees.

Federal Agency Name: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), AFRL/RH Airman Systems Directorate

Broad Agency Announcement Title: Algorithm-Derived Decision Support (ADDS)

Broad Agency Announcement Type: This is the Initial Announcement

Broad Agency Announcement Number: FA8650-19-S-6006

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): N/A

Intent to Propose: Offerors that anticipate submitting a proposal are requested to submit an e-mail to Joseph Mizzi at joseph.mizzi@us.af.mil containing the name of the contractor, the Point of Contact (POC), and the contractor’s intent to submit a proposal. This “Intent to Propose” is requested by 6 September 2019, 3:00 p.m.

EST.

Proposal Due Date and Time: 16 October 2019, 3:00PM EST, Wright- Patterson AFB, OH. NOTE: Proposal receipt after the due date and time shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c)(3). It should be noted that this installation observes strict security procedures to enter the facility.

These security procedures are NOT considered an interruption of normal Government processes, and proposals received after the above stated date and time as a result of security delays will be considered “late.” Furthermore, note that if offerors utilize commercial carriers in the delivery of proposals, they may not honor time-of-day delivery guarantees on military installations. Be advised, if the U.S. Postal Service is used, this building only receives U.S. Postal Mail twice a week and delivery by that means may not meet the proposal due date and time. Early proposal submission is encouraged.

Submission: Proposals must be submitted to the Contracting POC: Joseph Mizzi, AFRL/RAKHA, Bldg 45, 2130 8th St., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7541, joseph.mizzi@us.af.mil and Marina Schemmel, AFRL/RAKHA, Bldg 45, 2130 8th St., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7541, marina.schemmel@us.af.mil.

Solicitation Request: Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL/RH Airman Systems Directorate, Wright Patterson Air Force Base is soliciting technical and cost proposals on the research effort described below.

mailto:joseph.mizzi@us.af.mil mailto:marina.schemmel@us.af.mil

Type of Contract/Instrument: The Air Force reserves the right to award the instrument best suited to the nature of research proposed. Accordingly, the Government may award any appropriate contract type under the FAR or an Other Transaction for Prototype. The Air Force may also consider award of an appropriate technology transfer mechanism if applicable. It is anticipated that awards under this BAA will generally be Cost Plus Fixed Fee cost reimbursement contracts which require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate for tracking costs applicable to the contract.

Estimated Program Cost: $36,125,000

Anticipated Number of Awards: The Air Force anticipates awarding 5 awards for this announcement. However, the Air Force reserves the right to award zero, one, or more contracts for all, some or none of the solicited effort based on the offeror’s ability to perform desired work and funding fluctuations.

Brief Program Summary: The Algorithm-Derived Decision Support (ADDS) Program seeks to develop and judiciously apply sensemaking1 approaches to established, classified IC crisis scenarios to demonstrate the potential for machine-generated written intelligence products capable of providing timely and relevant decision advantage.

Communication Between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives:

Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged until submission of proposals. After solicitation release, all questions must be submitted to the Contracting Officer. All pertinent questions will be posted to www.FBO.gov. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

Industry Day: An Industry Day is anticipated to occur on 20 September 2019 in McLean, Virginia. The purpose is to further discuss the intent of the BAA and answer any questions. Questions and answers will be handled verbally during the large group session or individually during limited small group sessions. Questions and answers will be documented and posted to FBO.gov. Limitations: Industry Day will be held at the Secret Level. Foreign nationals are not permitted to attend.

For details regarding the Industry Day time, location and to RSVP, contact Anne Cybenko (anne.cybenko.1@us.af.mil) by 1200 EST on 13 September 2019.

1 For the purposes of this BAA, sensemaking technologies are defined to be computational methods for creating situational awareness and understanding in situations of high complexity or uncertainty to inform decisions.

http://www.fbo.gov/ mailto:anne.cybenko.1@us.af.mil

Program Lead: Dr. David Isaacson, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Address technical questions to the Technical POC: Dr. Anne Cybenko, Bldg 110, 5440 Skeel Ave, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, (937) 257-1264, anne.cybenko.1@us.af.mil. The Contracting Officer listed below must be copied on all technical questions.

Address contracting questions to the Contracting POC: Mr. Joseph Mizzi, 2130 8th Street, Bldg 45, Room 2303 Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, (937) 713-9925, joseph.mizzi@us.af.mil

Full Text Announcement

I. Program Description: Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL/RH Airman

Systems Directorate is soliciting technical and cost proposals on the following research effort:

Statement of Objective/Description of Technical Area(s)

1. Background: Current approaches for producing and disseminating written intelligence products continue to limit the speed and scale of relaying actionable information and analysis to the Intelligence Community’s (IC’s) principal customers, U.S. policymakers and warfighters. The latency inherent in traditional IC analytic production—processing disparate and often incomplete or contradictory information streams, drafting, editing, and reviewing—may prove catastrophic to U.S. and allied interests, particularly in a fast-moving crisis. Moreover, practical considerations, such as personnel ceilings, govern the number of topics that the IC can cover at any given time.

To circumvent these bottlenecks, a recent IC effort demonstrated the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to generate in seconds reasonable quality written intelligence products on a number of related topics from a variety of source documents. However, the IC has yet to apply these machine analytic techniques to realistic crisis scenarios.

Analysts within the IC—whose job is to inform and warn policymakers in a timely fashion—would benefit from greater use of AI technologies, once properly designed, vetted, and employed within their discipline. Information retrieval and management consume significant amounts of IC analysts’ time that could be better spent driving the collection of new information and performing in-depth analysis. The persistent growth in available data will only increase the amount of time spent on these information retrieval and management tasks without a mailto:anne.cybenko.1@us.af.mil mailto:joseph.mizzi@us.af.mil significant advancement in automated solutions for written intelligence product generation.

At present, IC analysts have tools that assist them in finding information, yet they must still integrate these myriad information streams largely without technological assistance. Given the IC’s charge to craft timely, insightful, well-written reports, the intelligence production load would particularly benefit from AI techniques that can populate a specified written intelligence product format with relevant content from a variety of sources. Such a capability could ultimately afford IC customers a parallel production avenue capable of sidestepping traditional analysis’ latency and bandwidth issues while still leveraging the IC’s underlying collection structure.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)/Acquisition, Technology, and Facility’s Science and Technology (S&T) division in 2016 launched the Intelligence Ventures in Exploratory Science and Technology (In-VEST) program with the stated goal of catalyzing disruptive research approaches for addressing select IC needs. Specifically, the In-VEST program initially designed a series of prize challenges to explore opportunities identified through the technology roadmapping efforts of a complementary effort within S&T, the Intelligence Science and Technology Partnership (In-STeP) program.

The first In-VEST challenge, the ODNI-Office of the Undersecretary of Defense Intelligence (OUSD(I)) Xpress Challenge, demonstrated the potential for a sensemaking technology-based production capability. The winning submission was able to parse through approximately 15,000 documents in response to specific questions and generate reasonable-quality, IC-representative written intelligence products in a matter of seconds. Xpress prizes were awarded based on a blind review by ODNI’s Analytic Integrity and Standards (AIS)—the IC’s established body for reviewing written analytic products across the IC. ODNI’s Rating Scale for Evaluating Analytic Tradecraft Standards (RSEATS) served as the basis for evaluating solver submissions.

Supported by ODNI’s Augmenting Intelligence using Machines (AIM) initiative,2 the ADDS program will build on the Xpress Challenge by further developing these techniques and applying them to established IC crisis training scenarios.

Specifically, corpora of U.S. Government-provided multi-Intelligence (Geospatial Intelligence, (GEOINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), etc.) will be used to drive evolving crisis scenarios, against which ADDS algorithms will be tasked to create a variety of written intelligence products in specified formats. ADDS performer-generated products will be evaluated based on a combination of timeliness (the time required to generate the written product) and quality (performance against how well the responses address the posed question, and their performance against the publicly available Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 203 standards).

2 https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/AIM-Strategy.pdf

1.A.1 Program Summary The fundamental aim of the ADDS program is to create a sensemaking3 technology-based finished intelligence production capability to support policymakers and warfighters alike, allowing the IC and DoD to:

• Use algorithm-generated written intelligence products to accelerate and improve decision making by reducing the time (weeks/days to minutes/seconds) to deliver intelligence at machine-speed and -scale,

• Advance research that will ultimately lead to the first algorithm-generated all-source intelligence products.

ADDS seeks to accomplish these goals by developing and testing innovative algorithms that can use a collection of classified reporting to craft intelligence products with explicit national security implications. Innovative solutions are sought under this BAA and are anticipated to reach across a diversity of domains, including computational argumentation, hypothesis generation, plan recognition, text summarization, and natural language generation. As a result of substantial commercial investment, these technologies are at various stages of maturity and some already exhibit relevance to various IC mission needs.

For the ADDS program, the desired outcome is to develop a software-based solution for rapidly generating ICD 203-compliant written products (1-2 pages) in response to provided taskings. To aid in the generation of these written intelligence products, a number of U.S. Government-provided resources will be made available to ADDS performers, to include:

• Diverse corpora of representative HUMINT, SIGINT, GEOINT, OSINT, and other intelligence reporting. These intelligence reporting documents will be distributed over the course of the ADDS program to drive crisis scenarios and their related, written product taskings.

• Structured templates for each type of written intelligence product to be generated in the ADDS program.

• A corpus of classified AIS-scored finished intelligence products is anticipated to be made available to ADDS performers to serve as representative products and allow ADDS performers to generate and refine their production models.

This information will be provided to performers at the beginning of the base period for use for the ADDS program. These data are not shareable.

It is anticipated that performer teams will be multidisciplinary, including expertise in fields such as computational argumentation, hypothesis generation, plan recognition, text summarization, and natural language generation.

3 For the purposes of this BAA, sensemaking technologies are defined to be computational methods for creating situational awareness and understanding in situations of high complexity or uncertainty to inform decisions.

The Government will evaluate progress and success of the ADDS program.

1.A.2 Out of Scope Approaches that rely solely on summarization—either extractive or abstractive in nature—are out of scope.

1.B. Program Structure, Goals and Approach The ADDS Program is anticipated to have a duration of 5 years, comprising a base period and two options. The base period will be 12 months in duration, option 1 is anticipated to be 12 months in duration, and option 2 is anticipated to be 36 months in duration. The overall goal of the program is to develop a usable software-based written intelligence production capability with performance suitable for practical applications.

Base Period

• De-risk technical approach

• Develop software solution

• Provide an initial demonstration of capabilities and performance

Option 1

• Further development and improvement to optimize ability to reconcile ambiguous and uncertain information

Option 2

• Deliver a tested, usable product ready to transition for Government use

1.B.1 Research Areas / Program Goals and Approach

The goal is to demonstrate a software-based solution for rapidly generating high-quality written intelligence products. During the Base Period, performers are expected to optimize their approaches for generating ICD 203-compliant responses to provided product taskings and intelligence reporting corpora, and to develop and demonstrate solutions that achieve a target production quality given a target resource budget. If selected for continuation under Option 1, written intelligence production capabilities should be further improved, refined, and optimized such that an advanced solution with performance suitable for practical applications is developed by the completion of the program. Offerors must make a credible argument that solutions could be further optimized to support an IC-relevant use case, such as incorporation into the IC’s Next Generation Trident (NGT) platform.

Information used in building ADDS’ written intelligence products will be taken from content provided by the Government. In generating written intelligence products, Offerors must include the appropriate links to the corresponding reports.

Offerors must articulate a clear and credible strategy for addressing the following major challenges:

1. Manage redundancy and conflict across reporting,

2. Recognize novel information,

3. Monitor events over time using streaming data, and

4. Estimate and relay confidence in judgments and underlying sources.

Offerors must provide a schedule that indicates the amount of time that will be allocated to each cycle of software design, development, and testing, and to indicate what a successful outcome looks like during each cycle.

It is expected that offerors will utilize personnel with expertise in computational argumentation, hypothesis generation, plan recognition, text summarization, and natural language generation in addition to subject matter expertise in intelligence production methodologies and intelligence collection platforms. Approaches that leverage industry resources to accelerate progress will be viewed favorably, but are not a requirement.

2. Within Scope Modifications: Potential offerors are advised that due to the inherent uncertainty of research and development efforts, awards resulting from this announcement may be modified during performance to make within scope changes, to include but not limited to, modifications which increase overall contract ceiling amount.

3. Deliverable Items and Schedule:

ADDS Deliverables/Schedule

Frequency Milestone Description

See CDRL Package

Technical and financial reports

• Monthly technical report due to Government by the 5th business day of the following month.

• Monthly financial report due to Government by the 10th business day of the following month.

Once for Base and Each Option

Program kickoff meeting (2-days) in Washington DC Metropolitan Area (WMA). Corrected slides provided within 15 days following meeting date.

• Present technical approach and planned schedule, including:

o Any changes in approach or schedule from the time of proposal to contract award;

o Development plan;

o System-level technical approach including functional architecture and interfaces;

o System integration, verification, and validation;

o Test plan and evaluation development;

and o Programmatic processes for communication and collaboration among contractors and with the Government Team.

Twice a year AP System Integration Event and Technical Test Readiness Design Review

• Demonstrate an integrated system that exercises all system level interfaces for the purposes of validating those interfaces and demonstrating end-to-end system flow;

• Review technical progress;

• Demonstrate an integrated, test ready AP

System capable of operating in real-time, open loop playback mode;

• Undergo unannounced “stress” tests that will probe for and identify weaknesses and limitations;

• Demonstrate functionality, performance, and correctness of all elements;

• Review status of functional architecture and interfaces; and

• Generate readiness report.

As Required Site visit • ADDS Program Lead, Program Manager, or other government representatives will visit each performance site as required.

Twice a year Field Tests (FTs) • At the contractor’s performer site or another location TBD.

Quarterly Program Reviews • Review technical progress;

• Present results of developmental work and post

FT analyses.

End of Base and Each Option

Final Testing • At the contractor’s performer site or another location TBD.

Meeting and Travel Requirements Performers are expected to assume responsibility for administration of their projects and to comply with contractual requirements for reporting, attendance at program workshops, and availability for site visits. For the purposes of determining costs, plan on estimating travel to the Washington Metro Area as outlined in the above schedule. The trips should include the Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Manager at a minimum.

Workshops and Program Reviews / TEMs The ADDS program intends to hold a number of program-level Kickoff meetings and workshops. Workshops will focus on technical aspects of the program and on facilitating open technical exchanges, interaction, and sharing among the various program performers to facilitate test and evaluation, and receive input from transition partners. ADDS program participants will be expected to present the technical status and progress of their projects to other participants and invited Government observers. Technical program review meetings are status update meetings with performers and the Government team where each performer will present progress to date on the technical and financial aspects of the program.

Site Visits Site visits by the Contracting Officer Technical Representative and the ADDS Program Lead and Program Manager will take place as required during the life of the program. These visits will occur at the performer’s facility. Reports on technical progress, details of successes and issues, contributions to the program goals, and technology demonstrations will be expected at such visits.

Deliverable Items

a. Data Items: Refer to attached DD Forms 1423-1 (Attachment 1).

b. Software: Software, to include algorithm-derived decision making software, will be delivered.

c. Hardware: Not Anticipated

4. Schedule:

a. Overall effort: 12-60 months

i. Base Period: 12 months, Options: 48 months (Option 1: 12 months, Option 2: 36 months)

b. Data Items: Specified on individual CDRLs

c. Software: To Be Determined

d. Hardware: Not Anticipated

5. Other Requirements:

a. This announcement incorporates FAR and supplement provisions and clauses by reference. The full text of provisions and clauses can be found at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/

b. Program security classification: Top Secret. If a DD254 is applicable, offerors must verify their Cognizant Security Office information is current with Defense Security Service (DSS) at www.dss.mil.

c. TEMPEST requirements: Apply.

d. OPSEC: The contractor shall provide OPSEC protection for all sensitive/critical information as defined by AFI 10-701 (Operations Security), the 711 HPW OPSEC Plan, and critical information list. The http://farsite.hill.af.mil/ http://www.dss.mil/ contractor shall participate in the 711 HPW sustained OPSEC awareness training or include OPSEC training as part of their on-going security program. The 711 HPW OPSEC coordinator will evaluate the OPSEC posture of AF contract activities and operations.

e. Export Control: Information involved in this research is subject to Export Control (International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) 22 CFR 120-131, or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) 15 CFR 710-774). A Certified DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, will be required to be submitted with proposal.

f. Export-Controlled Items: As prescribed by DFARS 225.7901-4, DFARS 252.225-7048, “Export-Controlled Item (JUN 2013)” is contained in this solicitation. This clause shall be contained in ALL resulting contracts.

6. Other Information:

a. Government Furnished Property (GFP) is not anticipated to be made available under any resulting contract.

b. Government Furnished Information (GFI)

i. It is anticipated that TS/SCI government-owned and -collected multi-INT reporting will be provided to performers after award.

c. Base Support / Network Access: None

i. Available Base Facilities: None

d. Multiple awards subject to Fair Opportunity are not anticipated

e. Data Rights Desired:

(1) Technical Data: Unlimited Rights

(2) Non-Commercial Computer Software (NCS): Unlimited Rights

(3) NCS Documentation: Unlimited Rights

(4) Commercial Computer Software Rights: Customary License

The Air Force Research Laboratory is engaged in the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace forces. As such, rights in technical data and NCS developed or delivered under this contract are of significant concern to the Government. The Government will therefore evaluate any restrictions on the use of technical data, NCS, and NCS documentation which could result in transition difficulty or less-than full and open competition for subsequent development of this technology.

In exchange for paying for development of the data, the Government expects technical data, NCS, and NCS documentation developed entirely at Government expense to be delivered with Unlimited Rights.

Technical data, NCS, and NCS documentation developed with mixed funding are expected to be delivered with at least Government Purpose Rights. Offerors that propose delivery of technical data, NCS, or NCS documentation subject to Government Purpose Rights should fully explain how a portion of the data was developed at private expense. Specifically, offerors must explain what technical data, NCS, or NCS documentation developed with costs charged to indirect cost pools and/or costs not allocated to a Government contract will be incorporated, how the incorporation will benefit the program, and address whether those portions or processes are segregable.

Offerors that propose delivery of non-commercial technical data with Limited Rights, NCS with Restricted Rights, or NCS documentation with Limited Rights will be considered. Proposals should fully explain what technical data, NCS, or NCS documentation developed with costs charged to indirect cost pools and/or costs not allocated to a Government contract will be incorporated and how the incorporation will benefit the program and whether those portions or processes are segregable.

Offerors shall include the data rights assertions as required by DFARS 252.227-7017, Identification and Assertion of Restrictions on the Government’s Use, Release, or Disclosure of Technical Data or Computer Software. The assertions list is included in Section K and due at time of proposals. Assertions must be completed with specificity. Each assertion must identify the technical data or computer software to be delivered and the associated item, component, or process developed exclusively or partially at private expense to which it pertains. Nonconforming assertions lists will be rejected.

Terms used in this section are defined in the clauses at 252.227-7013, Rights in Technical Data-Noncommercial Items, and 252.227-7014, Rights in Noncommercial Computer Software and Noncommercial Computer Software Documentation.

THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE (COMMERCIAL AND NONCOMMERCIAL):

If any such software, noncommercial or commercial, is not reasonably identifiable at proposal submission, it must still be approved by the contracting officer prior to incorporation. This obligation to obtain pre-approval by the contracting officer, as described above, continues throughout contract administration.

Noncommercial Computer Software:

DFARS 252.227-7014(d) describes requirements for incorporation of third party noncommercial copyrighted computer software and computer software documentation and is incorporated as follows. The Contractor shall not, without the written approval of the Contracting Officer, incorporate any copyrighted computer software or computer software documentation in the software or documentation to be delivered under this contract unless the Contractor is the copyright owner or has obtained for the Government the license rights necessary to perfect a license or licenses in the deliverable software or documentation of the appropriate scope set forth in DFARS 252.227-7014(b), and prior to delivery of such—

(1) Computer software, has provided a statement of the license rights obtained in a form acceptable to the Contracting Officer; or

(2) Computer software documentation, has affixed to the transmittal document a statement of the license rights obtained.

In addition, all noncommercial computer software will receive the appropriate level rights set forth in DFARS 252-7014(b), which could include: unlimited rights, GPR, Restricted Rights, or specifically negotiated license.

Commercial Computer Software:

For commercial computer software, the Government will neither accept nor execute a DD Form 250 for such software deliverables until the Contractor obtains from all third party software suppliers and/or vendors (Licensor) licenses for any commercial computer software to be delivered that are consistent with Federal Statutes, Federal Case Law, and Federal Regulations.

The following terms and conditions, among others, should be observed in commercial computer software licenses between the Licensor and the Government (Licensee), in compliance with Federal law:

1. The license shall not subject the Government to a contingent liability or a liability that is indefinite or indeterminate, including but not limited to: indemnification clauses, unilateral price increases, the right to attorney fees, automatic assessment of charges, or automatic renewal provisions, as these provisions may constitute obligations in advance or in excess of an appropriation and may violate the Anti- Deficiency Act.

2. The license shall be governed by Federal Statutes, Federal Case Law, and Federal Regulations, and shall not be subject to the laws or jurisdiction of any municipality, state, or foreign country. The license shall not bind the Government to litigation in a particular forum or venue or require the Government to participate in arbitration.

3. The license shall not include non-substitution language that would preclude or limit the Government from using another vendor/reseller and/or product to fulfill Government requirements.

4. The Licensor shall not have the authority to unilaterally terminate the license. All remedies available shall be consistent with the Disputes and Termination Clauses in the underlying basic contract.

5. The Licensor shall not have the right to enter the premise or monitor Government networks for the purpose of auditing the use of the license.

6. The Licensor shall not have the authority to control or otherwise influence any litigation between a third party and the Government.

7. The Licensor shall not use the fact that the Government is using the Licensor's products in any notification or advertisement to the public (e.g., no publicity rights permitted).

Additionally, the Contractor may be required to obtain licenses that comply with the following terms and conditions, based on the Government’s needs:

1. The license shall not disclaim all warranties through use of an “as is” provision.

2. The license shall neither restrict the Government from using the product at various sites nor limit use of the product by various Government agencies or third parties performing work on behalf of the Air Force under the ADDS Program. In performance of the ADDS Program, Government personnel as well as Government contractors may use the software.

3. The license shall not limit the Government’s use of the software at other Government and Government contractor sites.

4. The license shall not require automatic updates or give Licensor the authority to unilaterally replace the software.

5. The license shall not restrict the Government from copying or embedding elements of accessible code into other applications (e.g., nesting code, derivative works).

The Contractor may obtain agreement from the Licensor to insert the clause below in its respective software licenses intended to be transferred to the Government:

“In the event that any of the provisions of the [Software License] are determined to be inconsistent with Federal law or do not otherwise satisfy the Government's needs, the parties to the [Software License] hereby agree that such provisions shall be null and void as they pertain to the Government. Specifically, the following sections are hereby deleted from the [Software License] [and/or amended as indicated below]:

[Section X: deleted; Section Y: amended as follows […]”

If the Licensor will not agree to the terms and conditions cited herein and/or as contained in DFARS 227.72, the Contractor shall retain the current license on behalf of and for the benefit of the US Government if permissible under its license and such use will not subject the Government to the terms of the license. If the software in question is required to be delivered to the Government, the Licensor must grant the Government a sublicense that allows the Government to use the software to meet its requirements.

The Contractor shall provide documentation to clearly correlate or map any commercial computer software to be delivered to:

a) Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINS);

b) Contract Deliverables (CDRLS);

c) Paragraphs in the statement of work (SOW); and

d) Portions of any functional block diagrams and/or system architecture diagrams, so that it can be readily determined where certain commercial computer software corresponding to certain software license agreement(s) are physically located on the system to be delivered under the contract.

II. Award Information

1. Anticipated Award Date: May 2020

2. Anticipated funding per contract

a. Base Period: $1,125,000

b. Option 1: $1,500,000

c. Option 2: $26,000,000

3. Anticipated funding for the program

a. Base Period: FY19 - $1,125,000; FY20 - $4,500,000;

b. Option 1: FY21 - $4,500,000;

c. Option 2: FY22 - $6,000,000; FY23 - $8,000,000; FY24 - $12,000,000

This funding profile is an estimate only and not a contractual obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. Potential offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

4. Fundamental Research

a. 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 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 may be met by proposers intending to perform fundamental research. However, based on the nature of the performer and the nature of the work, the Government anticipates that some awards will not be considered fundamental research. For example, proposed research that may present a high likelihood of disclosing performance characteristics of military systems or manufacturing technologies that are unique and critical to defense will not be designated as fundamental research, which will result in restrictions on the resultant research and publication controls.

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 awardee is restricted research, a subawardee may be conducting fundamental research. In those cases, it is the awardee’s responsibility to explain in their proposal why its subawardee’s effort is fundamental research.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Offeror: This is an unrestricted solicitation. Small businesses are encouraged to propose.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching: Cost Sharing is not required.

3. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers: The following guidance is provided for Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) contemplating submitting a proposal, as either a prime or subcontractor. FAR 35.017-1(c)(4) prohibits an FFRDC from competing with any non-FFRDC concern in response to a Federal agency request for proposal for other than the operation of an FFRDC (with exceptions stated in DFARS 235.017-1(c)(4)). There is no regulation prohibiting an FFRDC from responding to a solicitation. However, the FFRDC’s sponsoring agency must first make a determination that the effort being proposed falls within the purpose, mission, general scope of effort, or special competency of the FFRDC, and that determination must be included in the FFRDC’s proposal.

In addition, AFRL must make a determination that the work proposed would not place the FFRDC in direct competition with domestic private industry.

Only after these determinations are made, would a determination be made concerning the FFRDC’s eligibility to receive an award.

4. Government Agencies: If a Government agency is interested in performing work, contact the Program Manager identified in the BAA. If those discussions result in a mutual interest to pursue your agency's participation, the effort will be pursued independent of this announcement.

5. Other:

b. Foreign participation: Foreign participation is not authorized. Foreign

Nationals (FNs) can be employed by the US Prime Contractor or Subcontractor; however, FNs will be limited to Public Domain information unless the Contractor has obtained the proper License or Technical Assistance Agreement that authorizes disclosure of Classified Military Information (CMI) and/or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to foreign entities pursuant to the Department of State’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Public Domain information is defined as information that is releasable to the general public and sometimes referred to as open source material. Examples include but are not limited to newspapers, magazines, and information posted on the Internet. Any proprietary information will require appropriate protection.

c. Foreign disclosure reviews shall be performed before the release of information to the public on all acquisitions requiring disclosure of classified or export-controlled unclassified, including sensitive unclassified information. For additional guidance on how to conduct these reviews see

AFMC MP5327.9002.

c. This acquisition involves data that are subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Services Center (DLSC) and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. Contact the Defense Logistics Services Center, 74 Washington Avenue N., Battle Creek, Michigan 40917-3084 (1-800-352-3572) for further information on the certification process. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your proposal.

http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/far2afmcfars/af_afmc/afmc/igafmc27.htm#P10_89 http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/

d. There are no limits on the number of proposals an offeror may submit.

e. You may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this solicitation are not met on the proposal due date as identified above.

IV. Proposal and Submission Information

1. Overview: Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. The Government intends to review proposals and award some, all, or none of the proposals received without negotiation/discussion;

however, the Government reserves the right to negotiate with those offeror(s) whose proposal is selected for funding.

Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may change proposal requirements or permit extensions to the proposal submission date.

For additional information, a copy of the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Guide for Industry is located at http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf?

2. Content and Form of Proposal Submission: The paragraphs below identify proposal format and content.

a. General Instructions:

i. Offerors should apply the restrictive notice prescribed in FAR 52.215- 1(e) Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition. Offerors should consider proposal instructions contained in the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Guide for Industry, which can be accessed on line at http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf?

This guide is specifically designed to assist the offeror in understanding the BAA proposal process.

ii. Technical/management and cost/business volumes should be submitted in separate volumes and must be valid for 180 days.

iii. Proposals must reference the announcement number FA8650-19-S- 6006.

iv. Offerors must submit 1 original and 1 hard copy of their proposals to the Contracting POC.

v. Offerors must transmit proposals via email to joseph.mizzi@us.af.mail and marina.schemmel@us.af.mil. All electronic versions must match the hard copies. If there is a discrepancy between hard copies and electronic copies, the hard copies will take precedence.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf http://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/afrl/AFRL-broad-agency-announcement-guide.pdf mailto:joseph.mizzi@us.af.mail mailto:marina.schemmel@us.af.mil

a) The cost file(s) spreadsheets must be in Microsoft Excel and include the formulas for calculating cost element bases (i.e., G&A, O/H, etc.)

vi. Offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the Government.

vii. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting or any other contract; however, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost as specified in FAR 31.205-18.

viii. No classified technical proposals or cost volumes are expected.

Offerors are encouraged to keep all elements of the proposal package unclassified. In the rare case where an offeror has a need to submit a classified appendix, please contact the technical POC for delivery instructions.

b. Technical/Management Proposal:

i. Page Limitations: The following describes proposal page limitations:

a) The Technical/Management Proposal shall be limited to thirty (30) pages. Technical/Management proposals and Statements of Work must be provided in Microsoft Word. Signed pages may be submitted in Adobe.

b) Font shall be standard 12-point business font Arial.

c) Character spacing must be “normal,” not condensed in any manner.

d) Pages shall be double-spaced (must use standard double-space function in Microsoft Word), double sided (each side counts as one page), 8.5 by 11 inches, with at least one-inch margins on both sides, top and bottom.

e) All text, including text in tables and charts, must adhere to all font size and line spacing requirements listed herein. Font and line spacing requirements do not have to be followed for illustrations, flowcharts, drawings, and diagrams. These exceptions shall not be used to circumvent formatting requirements and page count limitations by including lengthy narratives in such items.

f) Pages shall be numbered starting with the cover page being Page 1, and the last page being no greater than Page 30. The page limitation covers all information including indices, photographs, foldouts (counted as 1 page for each 8.5 by 11 portion) tables, charts, appendices, attachments, resumes, etc.

g) The proposal page limit does not include the offeror’s proposed Statement of Work (SOW); however, the same formatting rules apply to the SOW, which is limited to three (3) pages.

h) Please Note: The Government will check the proposal and SOW for conformance to the stated requirements. Any pages in excess of the stated page limitation after the format check will not be considered for review purposes.

ii. The Technical/Management proposal(s) shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach.

Additional information on prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, use of base support (if desired), data and facilities and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal. This volume shall include a SOW detailing the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort and suitable for contract incorporation. Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW. Refer to the BAA Guide for Industry referenced above to assist in SOW preparation. In addition to the contractor proposed SOW, a Government generated SOW attachment containing additional contracting requirements will be included in any resulting contracts. The SOW Supplement is included as Attachment 4 of the Model Contract (Attachment 3 of the BAA).

iii. Optional (will not impact proposal evaluation): Offerors are requested

– but not required – to include estimates for the anticipated technical resources (e.g. data interfaces, computer infrastructure) needed to develop their proposed solution at an enterprise scale.

iv. Any questions concerning the technical proposal or SOW preparation shall be referred to the Technical POC. Proposals must NOT include any classified information.

c. Cost/Business Proposal:

i. Separate the proposal into a business section and cost section.

Adequate price competition is anticipated.

a) The business section should contain all business aspects to the proposed contract, such as type of contract, any exceptions to terms and conditions of the announcement including the model contract, any information not technically related, etc. Provide rationale for exceptions.

b) Identify any technical data that will be delivered with less than unlimited rights.

c) Subcontracting Plans: For efforts to exceed $700,000, Subcontracting Plans shall be submitted in the cost/business proposal. Reference FAR 19.704, DFARS 219.704, and AFFARS 5319.704(a)(1) for subcontracting plan requirements. Small business concerns are exempt from this requirement.

d) Limitations on Pass-Through Charges: As prescribed in FAR 15.408(n)(1) & 15.408(n)(2), provisions 52.215-22, “Limitations on Pass Through Charges- Identification of Subcontract Effort (Oct 2009),” apply.

http://www.afrl.af.mil/contract/default.htm http://www.afrl.af.mil/contract/default.htm

e) Completed Certifications and Representations (Section K) are due with the proposal. Offerors may also be required to submit updated or supplemental Certifications and Representations based on the specifics of their proposal. The Certifications and Representations (Section K) is Attachment 4 to this BAA.

f) If an offeror proposes the use of Government Furnished Property (GFP), other than GFP identified in the BAA, the offer must specifically identify each piece of GFP in the Cost/Business Proposal and propose and substantiate a rental cost for evaluation purposes in accordance with FAR 45.202. Include the following information in the proposal:

(i) A list describing all Government property that the offeror or its subcontractors propose to use on a rent-free basis. The list shall identify the accountable contract under which the property is held and the authorization for its use (from the contracting officer having cognizance of the property);

(ii) The dates during which the property will be used and, for any property that will be used concurrently in performing two or more contracts, the amounts of the respective uses in sufficient detail to support prorating the rent;

(iii) The amount of rent that would otherwise be charged in accordance with FAR 52.245-9, Use and Charges; and

(iv) The voluntary consensus standard or industry leading practices and standards to be used in the management of Government property, or existing property management plans, methods, practices, or procedures for accounting for property.

ii Cost Element Breakdown: Clear, concise, and accurate cost proposals reflect the offeror's financial plan for accomplishing the effort contained in the technical proposal. As a part of its cost proposal, the offeror shall submit the information outlined below, together with supporting breakdowns. All direct costs (labor, material, travel, computer, etc.) as well as labor and overhead rates should be provided by contractor fiscal year (CFY). Detailed cost element breakdowns by Government Fiscal Year or calendar year are not required. The supporting schedules may include summary level estimating rationale used to generate the proposed costs. The cost element breakdown(s) should include the following if applicable.

a) Direct Labor: Direct labor should be detailed by number of labor hours by category of labor.

b) Labor and Overhead Rates: Direct labor hours, with their applicable rates, must be broken out and the bases used clearly identified. The source of labor and overhead rates and all pricing factors should be identified. For instance, if a Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA) is in existence, that should be noted, along with the Administrative Contracting Officer’s (ACO's) name and telephone number. If the rates are based on current experience in your organization, provide the historical base used and clearly identify all escalation, by year, applied to derive the proposed rates. If computer usage is determined by a rate, identify the basis used and rationale used to derive the rate.

c) Material/Equipment: List all material/equipment items by type and kind with associated costs and advise if the costs are based on vendor quotes, data and/or engineering estimates; provide copies of vendor quotes and/or catalog pricing data.

d) Subcontractor Costs: Submit all subcontractor proposals and analyses with your cost proposal (See FAR 15.404-3(b)). If the subcontractor will not submit cost and pricing information to the offeror, this information must be submitted directly to the Government for analysis. On all subcontracts and interdivisional transfers, provide the method of selection used to determine the subcontractor and the proposed contract type of each subcontract.

An explanation shall be provided if the offeror proposes a different amount than that quoted by the subcontractor. The offeror’s proposal must:

(i) Identify principal items/services to be subcontracted.

(ii) Identify prospective subcontractors and the basis on which they were selected.