PANACEA_CALL_01_FINAL_20180320.docx.pdf

FA9451-18-S-0002 CALL 0001: LOWERING BARRIERS

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA)

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATOY / DIRECTED ENERGY DIRECTORATE

PACIFIC-AFRL-NATIONAL AGENCY COMPUTATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR ANALYTICS

(PANACEA)

FA9451-18-S-0002

CALL 0001: LOWERING BARRIERS TO HIGH PRODUCTIVITY COMPUTING;

CREATING A MODERN ECOSYSTEM

NAICS CODE: 541715

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Directed Energy Directorate

(AFRL/RD), Vanguard Center for High Performance Computing (HPC)

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE: Pacific-AFRL-National Agency Computational

Environment for Analytics (PANACEA)

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: WHITE PAPERS CALL ANNOUNCEMENT (CALL) TITLE: LOWERING

BARRIERS TO HIGH PRODUCTIVITY COMPUTING; CREATING A MODERN ECOSYSTEM

CALL ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: 0001

Technical Point of Contact (POC):

Mr. Richard Chong, AFRL/RDSM Phone: (808) 891-7736 Email: richard.chong.1@us.af.mil

Contracting POCs:

Mr. William (Greg) Davis, AFRL/RVKDB Contracting Officer (CO) Phone: (505) 846-2307

Email: william.davis.95@us.af.mil

Ms. Robyn Kedrow, AFRL/RVKDB Contract Specialist Phone: (505) 846-1485 Email: robyn.kedrow@us.af.mil

BRIEF SUMMARY OF NEED: The Air Force Research Laboratory is seeking unclassified research white papers that do not contain proprietary information. It is the offeror’s responsibility to mark the relevant portions of their paper appropriately if they elect to submit propriety information. The focus of this BAA CALL is to solicit technical solutions from industry and academia to lower the barriers to high productivity computing and create a modern ecosystem for High Performance Computing (HPC).

AFRL/RD is interested in broadening the impact of HPC by providing improved, secure access to HPC-backed resources and productivity tools. Specific areas of interest include: expansion of HPC access on classified networks; investigating technology and techniques which enable rapid fielding and use of legacy applications on HPC systems and networks; and evaluating the evolution of automated software transformation tools for cross-platform porting. The Vanguard Center seeks to dramatically increase user productivity through the foundation of a modern ecosystem which evolves HPC to the next generation of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) community, which relies heavily on HPC to perform large scale computations.

mailto:richard.chong.1@us.af.mil mailto:william.davis.95@us.af.mil mailto:robyn.kedrow@us.af.mil

THIS CALL SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS POTENTIAL OFFERORS PROVIDE WHITE PAPERS ON

THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVE:

LOWERING BARRIERS TO HIGH PRODUCTIVITY COMPUTING BY CREATING A MODERN

ECOSYSTEM

The Vanguard Center seeks innovative R&D solutions that address which project objectives below:

1.1 Ensuring simple, secure access to DoD HPC systems. This may include establishing access solutions spanning multiple systems and centers and/or reaching Government cloud solutions.

This may also include facilitating integration of non-HPC and HPC workflows.

1.2 Employing collaboration tools. These tools should support users in building productive, information-sharing communities. Collaboration tools must allow for the control and integrity of data, as well as access.

1.3 Developing integrated user workflow tools. Integrated workflow tools allow for users to seamlessly transition between stages of their work and may allow automation of dynamic Systems-of-Systems workflows that link HPC-backed applications to complete, complex design or simulation tasks in an automated manner. These workflows may also include non-HPC components and both Linux and Windows computing environments.

1.4 Providing persistent storage to support large data sets of multiple users.

1.5 Enabling cross-system portability. The objective is to not only ease porting, but also provide users with greater development and hosting flexibilities.

1.6 Delivering accessible, flexible, and secure above-secret computing. Objectives include overcoming access challenges, increasing flexibility for users to develop and execute software within the environment, and automated, secure, trusted data transfer across networks.

REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION: The Air Force is soliciting white papers for research under Broad

Agency Announcement, FA9451-18-S-0002 PANACEA, specifically for CALL 0001, Lowering Barriers to High Productivity Computing by Ecosystem Modernization.

Two-Step CALL Announcement

First Step: White Papers

1. White papers submitted to this CALL shall conform to the requirements found in FA9451-18-S-

0002, Section IV.

2. Content and Form of Submission for White Papers: BAA FA9451-18-S-0002, Section IV, C. Non-compliant white papers will not be considered.

3. White papers should address any or all of the objectives found in this CALL. Submissions will be evaluated in accordance with BAA FA9451-18-S-0002 Section V.

4. Full proposals may be requested from those white papers receiving the highest evaluations. DO

NOT submit Technical or Cost Volumes unless a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) is made.

WHITE PAPER DUE DATE AND TIME: White papers submitted in response to this CALL are due no later than (NLT) 1700 MST, 13 April 2018. White papers received after the due date and time may or may not be considered. AFRL may opt to hold white papers for up to six (6) months.

Funding Restrictions: The cost of preparing white papers in response to this CALL is not considered an allowable direct charge to a resulting or other contract.

Anticipated Number of Awards: The Government reserves the right to make multiple awards or no award at all pursuant to this CALL.

Anticipated Funding for this CALL:

Current FY18 funds are approximately $1.7M. This funding profile is only an estimate and will not be a contractual obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change at the Government’s discretion and/or by the availability of funds. The estimated funding for this requirement is identified in the chart below.

Please note the estimated funding for the entire program (not per contract or award):

Fiscal Year (FY) FY18 FY19 FY20

Total Estimated Funding $1.7M $1.8M $1.4M

Period of Performance: The period of performance for awards resulting from this CALL will be determined as viable solutions are identified and investigated.

Security Requirements: If a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) is sent in response to a white paper and a security requirements exist, a draft Contract Security Classification Specification, DD Form 254 will be included.

ANTICIPATED DELIVERABLE ITEMS: The following Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs) are representative of data requirements that may be required.

CDRL A001: Computer Program End Item Documentation CDRL A002: Computer Software Product End Item CDRL A003: Physical Inventories Report (CAP/GFP) CDRL A004: Presentation Material CDRL A005: Scientific and Technical Report CDRL A006: Software Development Plan CDRL A007: Software Test Report CDRL A009: Software User Manual CDRL A010: Status Reports CDRL A011: Contract Funds Status Report

WHITE PAPER CONTENT CHECKLIST:

Use this checklist as a guide before submitting a white paper.

1. A submission may be ineligible for award if all requirements of BAA FA9451-18-S-0002 and this solicitation, CALL 0001, are not met.

2. White papers are due to the Contracting POC specified in this CALL with a courtesy copy to

AFRLDET8.RVKDB.OrgMailbox@us.af.mil.

3. White papers submitted after the due date and time specified in this CALL may not be considered.

4. White paper page limits are strictly enforced.

5. White papers must be submitted in the format specified in BAA FA9451-18-S-0002, Section IV, 5, C.

6. A DD 254 may be applicable to this effort. Offerors must verify their Cognizant Security Office information is current with Defense Security Service (DSS) at www.dss.mil.

7. This effort is subject to Export Control. A Certified DD Form 2345 will be required if a proposal is requested. More information is available at the following website:

http://www.dla.mil/HQ/InformationOperations/Offers/Products/LogisticsApplications/JCP.aspx mailto:AFRLDET8.RVKDB.OrgMailbox@us.af.mil http://www.dss.mil/ http://www.dla.mil/HQ/InformationOperations/Offers/Products/LogisticsApplications/JCP.aspx