11.0+OPRAH+-+FA9451-18-S-0004+Amend+2+-+Modeling++Effects_.pdf

Open Proposal Research Announcement for HPEM – Modeling & Effects

FA9451-18-S-0004

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BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FA9451-18-S-0004

High Power Electromagnetics (HPEM) Modeling & Effects Branch (RDHE)

Amend 02 Updated 12 May 2023

Overview Information

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is intended to fulfill requirements for scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing state-of-the-art technologies and/or increasing knowledge and understanding as a means to identify and develop robust innovative concepts, stimulate technology innovation, and exploit breakthroughs in science. This BAA identifies HPEM Modeling and Effects research/exploratory development areas of interest and provides prospective offerors information on the preparation of white papers along with evaluation criteria.

THIS BAA DOES NOT FOCUS ON SPECIFIC SYSTEMS OR HARDWARE SOLUTIONS.

THIS ANNOUNCMENT IS NOT FOR THE ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING, OR

OTHER TYPES OF SUPPORT SERVICES.

This publication constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) issued under the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2), which provides for the competitive selection of research proposals. Contracts based on responses to this BAA are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369 sec. 2701, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984." Any contracts awarded from this BAA must comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulation (EAR).

NAICS CODE: The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology), and the small business size standard is 1000 employees.

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Air Force Research Laboratory, Phillips Research Site, Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, NM

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Open Proposal Research Announcement for HPEM – Modeling & Effects

BAA TYPE: Open Two-Step Announcement

BAA NUMBER: FA9451-18-S-0004

THIS IS A TWO-STEP, OPEN BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

First Step: WHITE PAPER DUE DATE AND TIME: White Papers may be submitted at any time upon issuance of this BAA through 27 June 2024. No white paper will be accepted after 5 PM Eastern Time on 27 June 2024 as this BAA will close at that time. White papers shall remain valid for selection for one year following submission.

Second Step: PROPOSAL DUE DATE: White papers that are evaluated as having importance to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives, that demonstrate sufficient scientific and technical merit, and for which funds are available, may be invited to submit a full technical and cost proposal.

Proposal Submission instructions as well as the due date and time will be provided directly to the offeror. Proposals are not requested unless specifically notified via Request for Proposal Letter by the

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Contracting Officer.

BRIEF PROGRAM SUMMARY:

Funding: AFRL/RDHE does not currently have a specified amount of funding available for awards under this announcement. However, funding may be provided throughout the open period of this BAA to pursue promising innovative concepts of interest with any and all qualified sources.

AFRL/RDHE anticipates multiple contract awards resulting from this announcement.

Individual awards’ period of performance may vary from 9 months to 60 months, and there is the potential to make awards up to any dollar value within the available ceiling of the announcement.

The overall ceiling for awards made under this announcement is approved at $49M.

Form: Awards as a result of this announcement will generally take the form of a contract, although the government reserves the right to use the type of contractual instrument deemed most appropriate for the proposed work. Awards under this BAA will generally be a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) - Completion contract, but the Government reserves the right to pursue other contract types, including, but not limited to, Firm Fixed Price (FFP). Cost reimbursement contracts require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate for tracking costs applicable to the contract.

This is a full and open acquisition. Small businesses (less than 1000 employees) are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this acquisition. White Papers submitted shall be submitted and evaluated in accordance with this announcement. Updates will be issued no less than annually for this Open BAA.

Communication between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged. Parties interested in submitting a white paper may contact the technical point of contact (POC) listed below. Open discussion is encouraged to obtain the best technical solutions. Proposals will be requested by the Contracting Officer only. After receipt of proposals, all communication will be conducted by Contracting POCs (AFRL/RDKP). For those white papers not selected to provide a full proposal, notification and feedback will be managed by Contracting POCs. 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.

Address technical questions to: Dr. Andrew Greenwood, AFRL/RDHE, (505) 846-6642, andrew.greenwood@us.af.mil

Address contracting questions to: Joshua Garcia, AFRL/RDKP, joshua.garcia.34@us.af.mil or Mariah Salazar, AFRL/RDKP, mariah.salazar@us.af.mil (email preferred).

NOTE: All communications should be UNCLASSIFIED and submitted via email to the all of the POCs listed above. DO NOT EMAIL ANY CLASSIFIED QUESTIONS and request assistance if one is required. The above POCs will contact the entity and arrange for any CLASSIFIED questions to be asked through a secure method of communication.

mailto:andrew.greenwood@us.af.mil mailto:joshua.garcia.34@us.af.mil mailto:mariah.salazar@us.af.mil

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FA9451-18-S-0004

High Power Electromagnetics (HPEM) Modeling & Effects Branch (RDHE)

Full Text Announcement Amend 02 Updated 12 May 2023

NAICS CODE: The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715 for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology), and the small business size standard is 1000 employees.

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Air Force Research Laboratory, Phillips Research Site, Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, NM

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Open Proposal Research Announcement for HPEM – Modeling and Effects

BAA TYPE: Open Two-Step Announcement

BAA NUMBER: FA9451-18-S-0004

1) PROGRAM DESCRIPTION/STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES:

a) BACKGROUND The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Directed Energy Directorate (RD), High-Power Electromagnetics (HPEM) Division (RDH), located at Kirtland AFB, is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for research in HPEM technology and functions as the Air Force Material Command’s center for HPEM technology development, acquisition, transformation, and support. The High Power Electromagnetics Division designs, develops and demonstrates advance HPEM technology capability. The vision is that HPEM will be a viable weapons alternative in modern warfare. The HPEM Division’s mission is to lead DoD’s integrated development of HPEM weapon technology. The objective is to make HPEM technology lightweight, affordable, supportable, and effective on the modern battlefield. This program promotes projects, research, scientific studies, or other initiatives providing farsighted, high payoff research and development leading to advances in HPEM science and technology.

b) OBJECTIVE The objective of this effort is to determine the effectiveness of HPEM technology and to perform numerical simulation to do virtual design and engagement modeling.

Effectiveness investigations include the degree to which frequency, bandwidth, irradiance, pulse duration, pulse repetition, and other pulse-shape characteristics influence specific classes of target systems and components as well as battle damage assessment. The numerical simulation effort develops and uses advanced, supercomputer-enabled numerical simulation and optimization algorithms to virtually design HPEM sources and antennas that are capable of delivering the desired effects. Technologies and efforts considered include, effects on infrastructure targets, effects from front door engagements, predictive effects models, innovative particle-in-cell (PIC) codes, understanding of detailed physics involved in high power tube environments (plasma formation, emission, gas desorption) to allow improved material design and better simulation/experiment fidelity in the multi-GW regime, and engagement and mission level modeling and simulation of HPEM systems.

c) DESCRIPTION OF THE EFFORT The HPEM Modeling & Effects research and development effort consists of the following areas: understanding the connectivity of infrastructure and mobile targets; understanding the phenomenology of front door effects; developing a predictive effects model; developing a theoretical and empirical basis for HPEM effects ranging from the basic circuit level to the system level effects; empirical effects testing on operational targets as a function of frequency, pulsed duration, and power of the incident HPEM pulse; battle damage assessment; rapid modeling of HPEM system sources and components; improving particle-in-cell code (PIC) capabilities; first principles materials modeling; improving models for electron emission, gas desorption to enhance the predictive capability of virtual prototyping; and developing electromagnetic (EM) algorithms to propagate radio frequency (RF) from platform-specific high power RF systems to targets to assess the performance measures of effective HPEM sources. Sound software engineering and development principles must be employed for all developed software and documentation. Robust software testing, validation, and verification are critical to software development efforts. As appropriate, software must scale to large simulation sizes and be portable to massively parallel computer architecture.

1. Research Topics AFRL/RDHE is interested in receiving white papers in the topic areas listed below. During the open period of this BAA, AFRL/RDKP may publish amendments to this BAA which seek white papers for special topics. Therefore, offerors are encouraged to monitor FedBizOpps for amendments to the BAA.

i. High Power Electromagnetic electronic attack battle damage assessment methodologies

ii. High Power Electromagnetic electronic attack battle damage indicators and sensors

iii. Target recuperation time following high power electromagnetic electronic attack

iv. High Power Electromagnetic effects mechanisms

v. High Power Electromagnetic effects diagnostics and sensors

vi. Broadband pulse coupling and response of electronics, systems, and networks

vii. Ultra-short pulse laser modeling

viii. Electromagnetic particle in cell modeling, including geometry conformal models

ix. End to End High Power Electromagnetic System Modeling

x. Incorporation of High Power Electromagnetic Systems into Mission and Campaign level models

xi. Ab Initio and atomistic modeling of High Power Electromagnetic materials

xii. Validation and verification of models

xiii. High Power Electromagnetic source and system design by simulation

xiv. Improved electron emission modeling

xv. Persistent HPM Effects in Unexplored Parameter Regimes (see attachment at 7) a) 6 for tailored instructions)

d) TECHNICAL TASK MANAGEMENT The contractor shall identify a Principal Investigator to manage the technical task effort. The Principal Investigator shall be responsible for ensuring proper technical task program planning and control, timely problem identification and resolution and adequate technical and programmatic interaction with the Government Program Manager.

The Principal Investigator shall plan, organize and manage resources necessary to accomplish the technical task and shall promote strong management, communications and coordination with any subcontractors and/or associate contractors involved in the technical task. The Principal Investigator shall be responsible for ensuring a timely contractor response to all Government Program Manager information requests.

e) COST AND SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT The contractor shall maintain a cost and schedule accounting system that allows timely, accurate assessment of the technical task status. The cost and schedule management system shall allow accurate accounting of contractor and, if possible, associate contractor and/or subcontractor progress. The contractor shall account for costs and schedules for all tasks to the Contract Work Breakdown Structure level 3. The effects of projected cost and schedule variances must be reported in a timely manner to the Government Program Manager and Government Technical Representative. The contractor shall provide an accurate determination of the incremental funding required to maintain contract performance to the Government Program Manager and Government Technical Representative.

1. Program Schedule The program schedule represents the offeror’s commitment to perform the program tasks in an orderly, timely manner. On individual contracts, the contractor shall specify specific days after contract start in the program schedule using a timeline chart showing all major tasks and subtasks, milestones, decision gates, reviews, technical interchange meetings, demonstrations, tests, product deliveries, and overall period of performance.

f) MEETINGS

1. Kick-Off Meeting At the start of each contract, the contractor shall support a kick-off meeting at either the contractor’s facility or an AFRL facility, to be determined prior to contract award.

2. Technical Interchange Meetings The contractor shall hold technical interchange meetings as required but no less than annually.

g) EXIT CRITERIA AND DELIVERABLES

1. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE To be determined based on each individual contract. Expect the contract period of performance to be between 9 and 60 months.

2. DOCUMENTATION The contractor shall provide all documentation necessary for efficient program planning and control. The contractor shall provide data in accordance with the DD Form 1423 attachment to the contract (See Atch 1).

3. DELIVERABLES All contracts will result in the minimum of a Final Scientific and Technical Report. Contract deliverables may include software or hardware deliverables depending on technical contents of the specific contract.

4. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA Government acceptance criteria for each deliverable, product or tangible end result shall be specified on individual contracts.

2) AWARD INFORMATION:

a) BAA TYPE: This is a two-step, open broad agency announcement.

STEP ONE - The Government is requesting WHITE PAPERS via this announcement.

DO NOT SUBMIT A FULL PROPOSAL. White papers that are evaluated as having importance to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives, that demonstrate sufficient scientific and technical merit, and for which funds are available, may be invited to submit a full technical and cost proposal.

b) FUNDING: AFRL/RDHE does not currently have a specified amount of funding available for

Open BAA awards. However, funding may be provided throughout the open period of this BAA to pursue promising innovative concepts of interest with any and all qualified sources.

AFRL/RDHE anticipates multiple contract awards resulting from this announcement. Individual awards’ period of performance may vary from 9 months to 60 months, and there is the potential to make awards up to any dollar value within the available ceiling of the Announcement. The overall ceiling for awards made under this announcement is approved at $49M.

The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the white papers received, subject to the availability of funds, for submission of a full proposal. For those offerors who are selected to submit a proposal, the Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposal received. All potential offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

c) FORM: Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will generally be in the form of contract, but the Government reserves the right to utilize other contractual options. Full proposals may be awarded without discussions unless the contracting officer deems discussions necessary. Inclusion of options in any contract is at the discretion of the Government. Options may be considered on a case-by-case basis when a definitive, pre-priced option is proposed and in the best interest of the government. The Government is not obligated to exercise any options.

d) COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

e) ALLOWABLE CHARGES: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18.

f) GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: If a cost-reimbursement type contract is proposed, an offeror must have a government-approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). An approved accounting system is not required for a firm-fixed price contract.

g) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION: All offerors and their subcontractors (including any and all educational institutions) are required to accept Disclosure of Information requirements per DFARS 252.204-7000. No exceptions will be made.

h) NON-GOVERNMENT ACCESS TO WHITE PAPER/PROPOSAL INFORMATION: Only government personnel will evaluate submissions. However, both administrative and technical-advisory contractors will have access to submitted information. Local PRS support service contracts, SMART and BATMAn, include all appropriate Organizational Conflict of Interest clauses to prevent impaired objectivity, partial advice, or unfair advantage. Any objection to non-government administrative or advisory access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection. A list of the current service providers may be obtained from the Contracting Officer.

i) This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at https://public.logisticsinformationservice.dla.mil/PublicHome/jcp/default.aspx and https://public.logisticsinformationservice.dla.mil/PublicHome/jcp/default.aspx have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at https://public.logisticsinformationservice.dla.mil/PublicHome/jcp/default.aspx or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 1-877-352-2255. Do not submit a DD Form 2345 with proposal. Certification will be verified by the contracting office through DLIS. DFARS 252.225-7048 Export-Controlled Items (JUN 2013) will be included in all contracts involving export-controlled items.

j) DATA RIGHTS: DoD policy, per DFARS 227.7103-1, is to acquire only the technical data, and the rights in that data, necessary to satisfy government needs. The Government anticipates receiving, as a minimum, Government Purpose Rights to technical data developed under contracts awarded based on proposals received in response to this announcement. Data rights offered other than Unlimited Rights, as defined in DFARS 227.7103-5, should be identified in DFARS clause 252.227-7017, Identification and Assertion of Use, Release, or Disclosure Restrictions, and addressed in the full proposal.

k) Certified cost and pricing data will be required per FAR 15.403 on all contracts awarded above the current certified cost and pricing data threshold, unless an exception or waiver applies.

3) ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

a) All qualified offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may submit white papers.

b) Foreign participation: Foreign Disclosure Review will be accomplished on each full proposal selected for award; foreign participation may not be allowed.

c) Notice to Foreign-Owned Firms: Such firms are asked to immediately notify the Contracting

Officer before deciding to respond to this announcement. Foreign contractors should be aware that restrictions might apply which could preclude their participation in this acquisition.

d) There are no limits on the number of white papers an offeror may submit.

e) You may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this announcement are not met on the white paper.

4) STEP ONE INFORMATION—WHITE PAPER SUBMISSION: Separate white papers are required for each separate project the offeror is pursuing. Each white paper must stand on its own merit. AFRL/RDHE will use only information provided in a white paper in the evaluation process potentially leading to a full proposal request. All white papers submitted under this BAA should be UNCLASSIFIED. In the rare situation that a white paper must be CLASSIFIED contact the Technical POC listed in Section 6.

a) SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: White papers may be submitted and will be considered at any time throughout the open period of this announcement.

White papers will be accepted until 5 PM Eastern Time on 27 June 2024 as this BAA will close at that time.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by AFRL/RDKP as to their selection status. Offerors can contact the contracting POC identified in section 6 for status of their white paper no earlier than 45 calendar days after submission.

b) Extraneous information (information not explicitly requested in this announcement) is not desired by the government and shall not be submitted. The government will only read and evaluate each section up to the stated page limitation. Pages over the page limitation will not be https://public.logisticsinformationservice.dla.mil/PublicHome/jcp/default.aspx evaluated.

c) Page Format:

1. Paper Size – 8.5 inch x 11 inch

2. Margins – one-inch on each side

3. Font – Arial 11+ point font or equivalent, to include tables, diagrams, and charts. Any other information (e.g. captions, restrictive markings) shall not be smaller than Arial 8 point font or equivalent.

d) Restrictive Marking: If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 52.215-1(e).

e) Instructions for White Paper Composition

1. Part 1. COVER PAGE. Template provided as Atch 2.

2. Part 2. TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT. (Limit: Three pages) Technical/management shall present, briefly and concisely, the important goals, aspects and core issues of the proposal in technical context. The technical area shall include:

i. Abstract

ii. The technical topic from 1(c)(i) above to be addressed, statement of objectives and proposed approach to meet the objectives.

iii. Description of the research and effort to be accomplished. Identify specific tasks.

iv. An assessment of technical risk.

v. Description of how proposed work advances the state of the art.

vi. Management – describe how the research shall be organized, subcontractors or organizations that will be doing portions of the technical effort and how the efforts are related to each other along with any other management or administrative information that should be provided for evaluation of the effort.

3. Part 3. CAPABILITIES. (Limit: 1/2 page) This section shall describe the overall capabilities of the company to include current and past work in similar HPEM applications technology and a brief description of the facility capabilities that will be used to execute the proposed effort. Identify government property, equipment or facilities that may be required.

4. Part 4. SCHEDULE. (Limit: 1/2 page) The schedule shall identify and describe major milestones for the entire effort not to exceed 57 months. Start and end dates for specific tasks identified in the technical/management section should be shown. The schedule should include an additional 3 months after the end of technical performance to provide for preparation, submission, review by AFRL/RDHE, and acceptance of the final technical report. The start date should notionally be 6 months from white paper submittal.

5. Part 5. COST. (Limit: One page) Rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost section should provide top-level details on major cost items such as labor, special equipment that will need to be purchased, materials and any subcontracts or other organizations’ costs (to include government furnished facilities, equipment or personnel) for the proposed effort. The ROM cost section shall not exceed one page. Cost shall NOT include capital equipment/improvements or general purpose computers or software.

6. Part 6. RESUMES. (One page per resume) A brief resume on the principal investigator and any other key personnel who will be performing a major effort on the proposed research should also be included.

a) HANDLING AND MAILING INSTRUCTIONS: Electronic submission of white papers is preferred. Submit white papers through the DOD SAFE site at: https://safe.apps.mil/ Users will:

- Email a request drop-off to the Contracting POC’s identified in section 6 below

- Upload file and enter description of file as instructed in subparagraph a.1.i.-v.below

- Recipient will receive an email from DoD SAFE that sender has sent the package. Email will provide a link and a temporary password

b) Offerors are required to confirm receipt with AFRL/RDHE at AFRL.RDH.OPRAH@us.af.mil or (505) 846-6642 no sooner than 5 days after submission. AFRL/RDHE is not responsible for undelivered documents.

As an alternative to the preferred electronic submission method, responses may be submitted via mail. All mailed CD responses to this announcement must be addressed to AFRL/RDHE, 3550 Aberdeen Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM 87117, and reference FA9451- 18-S-0004. NOTE: Do not submit by any means such that delivery will be made before 8:00 a.m. MDT. Do not submit by multiple methods. White papers sent to any other address will not be selected for a request for proposal.

1. Prepare all documents electronically in Microsoft Word format. Submit a single Microsoft

Word document containing all parts identified in paragraph e) above on a single CD or electronically for each white paper submitted. Multiple submissions on a single CD or electronic submission will be considered non-responsive. Format so that the Government can read both electronic and printed versions. Label each single CD or include in electronic description of file as follows:

i. BAA FA9451-18-S-0004

ii. Offeror’s (company) name

iii. Technical topic area (as listed in 1(c)(1) above)

iv. Project title (to correspond exactly to the project title used on the cover pages of each white paper component)

v. Contact information

c) WHITE PAPER REVIEW AND SELECTION INFORMATION:

1. The evaluation team will independently evaluate each white paper submitted and provide written recommendation for selection or non-selection based on a peer or scientific review process in accordance with FAR 35.016(d) and (e). Individual white paper evaluations will be completed without regard to other white papers submitted under this BAA.

2. White Papers will be evaluated through a peer or scientific review process using the following criteria, stated in descending order of importance. The criteria stated below will be used to determine whether full proposals will be invited based on the white paper submitted:

i. Importance to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives

ii. Scientific and Technical merit

iii. Funds Availability https://safe.apps.mil/ mailto:andrew.greenwood@us.af.mil

3. White papers submitted will be evaluated as they are received. All offerors will be notified and provided the results of the evaluation of their white paper.

4. Organizations whose white papers are evaluated as having importance to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives, that demonstrate sufficient scientific and technical merit, and for which funds are available, may be invited to submit a full technical and cost proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Submitting organizations whose white papers are not selected for submission of a proposal will be notified.

5. To be considered for contract award, a white paper must be submitted and be selected for proposal submission.

6. Feedback may be requested for any non-selected white papers in accordance with instructions in the non-selection letter.

7. White papers are to be valid for a period of one year from the date of submission to allow for the maximum flexibility and fluidity of funds management and to allow the Government maximum freedom to pursue novel but less important research objectives.

8. The Government may request a full cost and technical proposal based on all or some of a proposed white paper.

5) STEP TWO INFORMATION—REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL & AWARD:

a) REQUESTS FOR FULL PROPOSAL: White papers selected based on the evaluation process in section 4.g. may be invited to submit a full proposal. Notification by email will be sent by the contracting POC along with proposal preparation instructions. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

Proposals received after the provided due date and time shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c)(3).

b) Proposals shall be prepared in accordance with the instructions set forth in the request for proposal provided by the contracting POC.

c) PROPOSAL EVALUATION & RECOMMENDATION FOR ACCEPTANCE PROCESS: The Government reserves the right to select for award to responsible offerors some, all, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement, subject to the availability of funds.

The technical, cost, and business proposals will be evaluated at the same time. Proposals may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this announcement and the specific instructions provided in the request for proposal are not met by the proposal due date and time.

1. EVALUATION CRITERIA

i. Proposals will be evaluated through a peer or scientific review process using the following criteria, stated in descending order of importance: No further evaluation criteria will be used in evaluating proposals.

a. Importance to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives

b. Scientific and Technical merit

c. Funds Availability

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

i. After evaluation of a proposal, the proposal will be categorized in one of three categories:

a. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Proposals are recommended for acceptance, if sufficient funding is available, and normally are displaced only by other Highly Recommended Proposals. These proposals are of significant importance to RDH mission goals as well as DoD HPEM objectives. These proposals may have overall scientific and technical merits that exceed the BAA objectives. The proposal is affordable based on available funds.

b. SELECTABLE: Proposals are recommended for acceptance, if sufficient funding is available, but at a lower priority than Highly Recommended Proposals. These proposals may require additional development. To ensure a diversity of approaches, a Selectable proposal may be prioritized over a Highly Recommended proposal if the Selectable Proposal presents a unique approach unlike any in the Highly Recommended category. Selectable proposals are important to RDH mission goals as well as DoD HPEM objectives. Selectable proposals have overall scientific and technical merits that address the BAA objectives. The proposal is affordable based on available funds.

c. NOT SELECTABLE: Even if sufficient funding existed, the Proposal should not be funded. Not selectable proposals have some or all of the following:

• The proposal is not important to RDH mission goals and to DoD HPEM objectives;

• The proposal does not demonstrate overall scientific and technical merits or does not address the BAA objectives; and/or

• The proposal is not affordable based on available funds.

3. When the Government elects to award only part of a Proposal, the selected part may be categorized as Highly Recommended or Selectable although the Proposal as a whole may not merit such a categorization.

4. Proposals that are recommended for award as a result of the peer or scientific review process will be evaluated for cost reasonableness and realism.

d) AWARD NOTICES: Offerors will be notified in writing whether their proposal is recommended for award. An award recommendation is not to be construed to mean the award of a contract is assured as availability of funds and successful negotiations are prerequisites to any award. This announcement is not an authorization to commence work or to incur any costs to perform the tasks described above.

e) DEBRIEFINGS: When requested, a proposal debriefing will be provided. The debriefing process will generally follow the time guidelines set out in FAR Part 15, but the debriefing content will vary to be consistent with the procedures set out in FAR 35.016 governing BAAs.

All requests for debriefing must be received by the contracting POC, in writing, no later than 3 days after notification of unsuccessful proposal.

6) AGENCY CONTACTS:

Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact specified below:

Name: Dr. Andrew Greenwood Telephone: (505) 846-6642 Email: Andrew.greenwood@us.af.mil

Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting office specified below (email requests are preferred):

Name: Mrs. Mariah Salazar Contracting Officer Email: mariah.salazar@us.af.mil

Name: Mr. Joshua Garcia Contract Specialist Email: joshua.garcia.34@us.af.mil

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (JUN 2016) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows:

Director of Contracting AFRL/PK 1864 4th Street Building 15, Room 225 Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130 FAX: (937) 656-7321; Comm: (937) 904-9700 Email: AFRL.PK.OfficeAccount@us.af.mil

All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.

7) ATTACHMENTS

a) Attachments are as follows:

1. Atch 1: Potential DD Form 1423, Contract Data Requirements Lists

2. Atch 2: White Paper Cover Page Template

3. Atch 3: Representations and Certifications and Applicable Provisions

4. Atch 4: Comprehensive Potential DD Form 254, Department of Defense Contract Security

Classification Specification

5. Atch 5: Potential Government Furnished Information

6. Atch 6: High Power Microwave (HPM) EFFECTS mailto:Andrew.greenwood@us.af.mil mailto:mariah.salazar@us.af.mil mailto:joshua.garcia.34@us.af.mil mailto:AFRL.PK.OfficeAccount@us.af.mil