FDT_Change_Detection_Technology_Challenge_RFI_Final.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

Foundation Digital Twin (FDT), Technology Challenge – Change Detection

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Program Office: Source Foundation (SF)

1.0 DESCRIPTION & PURPOSE

1.1 The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), in support of SF, is seeking information on how an interested contractor could support NGA’s need to solve a Foundation Digital Twin (FDT) Technology Challenge - Change Detection.

NGA’s Foundation GEOINT Group is moving towards a future that prioritizes the creation of geospatial content with enhanced accuracy, consistency, and responsiveness across all Foundation GEOINT (FG) missions including topographic, geographic, hydrologic, maritime, aeronautical and space domains. To meet evolving operational requirements, NGA must modernize its approach to FG services, production and dissemination by becoming a data-centric organization that offers more integrated FG services through an immersive digital experience. NGA is pursuing the development of the FDT as a unifying concept for FG that will offer users an interoperable, constantly updating global model of Earth and space. FDT will allow users to immerse themselves in a 3D representation of the operational environment and interact with geospatial mission data in the software package of their choice. FDT will support a range of consumer outcomes including mission planning and rehearsal of intended operations, safety of navigation, 3D view of the operational environment, and delivery of community-defined production to specifications. Users will also have the option to “print on demand” products in a more traditional format.

Today’s FG consumer is evolving and NGA’s production and dissemination capabilities must keep pace. US warfighter and other consumers’ decision cycles have condensed and modern warfare has pivoted to instruments of exceptional precision; however, NGA’s FG production processes are not keeping pace by offering a corresponding reduction in timelines nor increased accuracy.

NGA’s Earth modeling capabilities have also lagged behind consumer’s demands. Instead of hardcopy maps and charts, many FG consumers increasingly require digital solutions that enable the user to answer questions in near-real time, in applications they use for operations. The explosion of commercial satellite imaging, commercial geospatial products and services, and advances in artificial intelligence present NGA with an opportunity to close the gap between consumer’s needs and NGA’s capabilities and even exceed consumer expectations by modernizing FG technology and processes.

To meet this challenge, FDT aims to offer a detailed model of the world from multi-mission data sources, including topographic, geographic, hydrologic, maritime, aeronautical and space domains. The future of FG will evolve to support modern missions with increasingly dynamic content, more frequent update periodicity, and advanced management systems to deliver relevant and impactful data precisely where it is needed. FDT will guide the acquisition and maintenance of diverse data sources, while enhancing access and delivery. FDT development will follow a well-planned, adaptive and achievable 10-year plan to full operational capability.

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 2 OF 8

FDT will integrate modular technology solutions that manage and present global FG data holdings, and in so doing will provide the following benefits:

Share Data Across Mission Functions – Enable more consistent and meaningful sharing of resources across organizations. FDT will connect the data and mission relationships across organizations, increasing sharing and reducing redundant collection and storage.

Manage Operations in Real-Time – Build a holistic geospatial picture as represented by FG to enable operations by providing real-time visibility and recommendations based on current events and changes to the physical world.

Conduct Simulations and Experiments – Experiment with scenarios, derive custom content, and explore new data sources using information contained within FDT before making final decisions on military operations.

Improve Trustworthiness – Offer a comprehensive view of FG consistency, accuracy, security, reliability, and availability.

Enable Collaboration – Develop cross-functional teams including engineering, IT, automation engineers, and data scientists, to work together to improve outcomes.

Change Detection Change detection will serve as a crucial component of FDT by providing enhanced situational awareness, informed area-based production decisions, and increased awareness of GEOINT data currency and accuracy. Change detection must become more source-agnostic, automated, tailored to specific missions, and consistent to enable FDT production decisions and FG processes. The objective of FDT change detection is to build a system that continually ingests, organizes, maintains, and informs producers on the differences between the current as-built world and the observed world for any given date and time over any geography. In the parlance of digital twins, change detection is the digital thread between the real world and FG’s digital representation. The cadence of change detection will establish the twinning rate for FDT.

Change detection will play a definitive role in enabling FDT and will ultimately provide mission impact through efficient resource management, improved disaster response, enhanced environmental conservation, strengthened security, ensured infrastructure safety, and maintained data integrity. These benefits make change detection an indispensable tool across all FG disciplines, enabling informed decision-making by GEOINT consumers.

Change Detection Insights NGA requires solutions that do more than simply identify changes between FG data holdings and source information. FDT will employ a change insights approach, where detected changes are compared to existing FG data holdings to prompt machine-derived recommendations for data edits. FDT will prioritize automated change detection paired with enhanced tipping and cueing with the intent of improving content timeliness, availability and quality. Moving beyond the straight-forward detection of change, the enhancing objective for FDT change detection insights is to automate the verification and management of detected changes and thread them through the entirety of FDT processing in order to create a continuous feedback loop between change detection and FG production activities. Where change detection stands as a mostly proven

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 3 OF 8

approach, FDT’s change detection insights can be viewed as the automated future of change detection to ensure FG data reflects world-wide observation to maximum extent possible.

1.2 The purposes of this Request for Information (RFI) are to identify vendors capable of satisfying NGA’s requirements and assess potential solutions to this FDT Technology Challenge.

1.3 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, NGA is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

2.0 BACKGROUND

NGA has a mission-critical need for Change Detection.

2.1 Change Detection Requirements

2.1.1 FDT shall perform global change detection against current FG holdings, remote sensed imagery, and other various sources (e.g. vector-to-vector, image-to-vector, map-to-vector, image-to-image, and/or image-to-surface model).

Data Tier

2.1.2 FDT shall provide change detections across FDT data connections.

2.1.3 FDT shall archive observed changes until review by NGA’s Foundation GEOINT workforce or production partners.

2.1.3.1 FDT archival to be developed in accordance with the NGA Data Strategy (Appendix A), a tiered data storage schema based on access frequency.

2.1.3.2 FDT shall archive statistical information related to observed changes

2.1.3.3 FDT shall abide by the NGA Software Way (Appendix B) for statistical archival guidance, or other best practices and standards, as applicable.

2.1.4 FDT shall archive change detection logs

2.1.4.1 FDT shall archive confidence assessments and rationale for changes detected.

2.1.4.2 FDT shall archive change detection action taken by data steward and or special user

Application Tier

2.1.5 FDT shall alert Foundation GEOINT workforce that foundation-relevant change has been detected.

2.1.5.1 FDT shall identify and suggest action/modifications for Foundation GEOINT workforce based on detected change.

2.1.6 FDT shall be able to generate a change log of resulting changes and recommended actions

2.1.6.1 FDT shall capture data steward and special user activity on change detection actions

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 4 OF 8

2.1.7 FDT shall detect and characterize the change based on NGA defined business rules to identify highest priority changes for user defined or pre-defined area

2.1.7.1 FDT shall detect impact of change for an area

2.1.7.2 FDT shall detect number of objects that change for an area

2.1.7.3 FDT shall generate statistical analysis data related to observed change.

2.1.8 FDT shall detect change at time intervals consistent with or at greater frequency than SF production cycles

2.1.9 FDT shall provide confidence assessments and rationale for the changes detected.

2.1.10 FDT change detection shall cross-reference with NGA Foundation GEOINT data holdings to provide change recommendations not already in existing data holdings

Presentation Tier

2.1.11 FDT shall display statistical information related to observed change.

2.1.12 FDT shall be able to display and compare feature changes from each NGA Foundation GEOINT discipline over time.

2.1.13 FDT shall be able to display features related to change and associated change log

2.1.14 FDT shall provide geospatial visuals of change detections, including associated list of changes.

2.2 Planned Acquisition: A future competition is planned, resulting in one or more contracts awarded for prototyping solutions.

2.2.1 Period of Performance: TBD

2.2.2 Location(s): Vendor Facility and potentially NGA Washington, St. Louis, and/or Arnold.

2.3 Constraints and Limitations: The vendor will be required to install a change detection tool on multiple NGA systems and networks at classification levels including Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret in order to identify which NGA data and products should be updated with the changes detected.

2.4 Security Requirements: Vendor personnel accessing NGA’s systems, networks, and building space must possess the appropriate security clearances required in performance of the resulting contract.

3.0 REQUESTED INFORMATION

Responses must only contain UNCLASSIFIED information and be marked “UNCLASSIFIED” on all pages in both the header and footer. No classified information may be included in your response.

Neither proprietary or classified concepts, nor classified information should be included in the submittal. Input on the information contained in the responses may be solicited and reviewed by NGA non-Government consultants or experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure agreements.

3.1 Administrative (Response has no page restriction.)

Information to include the following as a minimum:

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 5 OF 8

3.1.1 Responses shall include company name, mailing address, phone number, company website, and e-mail of designated point(s) of contact.

3.1.2 Business Type

Based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541512, Computer Systems Design Services, applicable to this acquisition, the responder is to provide answers to the following questions:

To be considered for a Small Business set-aside, at least 50 % of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the responder.( FAR 52.219-14, Limitation of Subcontracting)

RESPONSE

Are you a Small Business? (FAR 19.102), If so, which type: ☐ YES ☐ NO

Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.304) ☐ YES ☐ NO

Service Disabled small business? (FAR 19.14) ☐ YES ☐ NO

8(a) Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.8) ☐ YES ☐ NO

HUBZone small business? (FAR 19.13) ☐ YES ☐ NO

Woman-Owned Small Business? (FAR 19.15) ☐ YES ☐ NO

Involved in a mentor and/or protégé program? (DFARS 219.71) ☐ YES ☐ NO

3.1.3 Recommendation for alternative NAICS Code? Provide rationale for any NAICS Code applicable to the planned acquisition other than the NAICS code identified above.

3.1.4 DUNS Number: _________________

3.1.5 Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code: _____________________________

3.1.6 Defense facility security clearance? What type? What level? _____________________

3.1.7 Do you hold a GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract applicable to the NAICS code (s) identified above? If yes, provide contract number(s). _____________________________

3.1.8 Recommended type of pricing for this type of service (e.g. FFP, FPIF CPIF).

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 6 OF 8

3.2 Experience (Response Maximum of 3 Pages)

3.2.1 Commercial

Provide relevant details on the responder providing the same or similar services offered or made to the general public or to non-governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes in the last three years. Relevant details to NGA’s proposed acquisition should include, but not be limited to, information regarding the contract value, size and length of the effort, responder performing as a prime or subcontractor, customary practices (warranty, financing, discounts, contract types, etc.) under which the sales of the service(s) are made, security details, the customary practices regarding customizing, modifying, or tailoring of a service(s) to meet customer needs and associated costs, the kinds of factors that are used to evaluate performance;

the kinds of performance incentives used; the kinds of performance assessment methods commonly used; the common qualifications of the people performing the services; and requirements of law and/or regulations unique to these service(s), that can demonstrate the responder’s abilities and capacity to meet NGA’s requirements.

3.2.2 Government

Provide relevant details on the responder providing the same or similar services offered or made to Government agencies other than NGA in the last three years. Relevant details to NGA’s proposed acquisition should include, but not be limited to contract value, information regarding the contract number, agency, responder performing as a prime or subcontractor, size and length of the effort, type of pricing and/or cost, security details, the kinds of factors used to evaluate performance; the kinds of performance incentives; the kinds of performance assessment methods; the qualifications of the people performing the services; and any unique terms and conditions, that can demonstrate the responder’s abilities and capacity to meet NGA’s requirements.

3.2.3 NGA

Provide relevant details on the responder providing the same or similar services offered or made to NGA in the last three years. Relevant details to NGA’s proposed acquisition should include, but not be limited to contract value, information regarding the contract number, program name, size and length of the effort, responder performing as a prime or subcontractor, type of pricing and/or cost, security details, the kinds of factors used to evaluate performance; the kinds of performance incentives; the kinds of performance assessment methods; the qualifications of the people performing the services; and any unique terms and conditions, that can demonstrate the responder’s abilities and capacity to meet NGA’s requirements.

3.3 Change Detection RFI Questions (Response Maximum of 18 Pages)

3.3.1 Current Change Detection Capabilities: What processes for global change detection do you produce or support today? What sources of information are required for your change detection solution? For a given source (or combination of sources), what is your periodicity of detections? What combinations of data types are used in your process (e.g. vector-to-vector, image-to-vector, PDF-to-vector, and/or image-to-image, image-to-surface model, etc.)? How do

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 7 OF 8

your current processes ensure accurate position, confidence assessment and time is associated with detected change? Can you describe how your change detection solutions fit into geospatial data production tools and systems? How do your capabilities integrate with other commercially available geospatial tools?

3.3.2 Change Detection Notification System: How would you ensure that the changes detected and retained are relevant to geospatial data? What source formats would your system ingest in order to characterize changes? What processes would you employ to provide GEOINT assurance that changes are verified and comprehensive? Describe your process to organize a notification system; how would you ensure critical detections are prioritized for review?

3.3.3 Change Detection Insights: Does your capability describe the nature or type of change detected? Please discuss any plans for automated assessment of change detection recommendations as applied to a multi-mission community. Do you have any capabilities that manage change at the data level that could be used, for example, to determine if an identified change is currently represented in existing content? Please describe how you would compare change against both vector data and map and chart products.

3.4 Recommendations (Response Maximum of 3 Pages)

The responder is invited to provide information and recommendations for fashioning this proposed acquisition. Recommendation areas may include the type of contract, anticipated contract terms & conditions, incentives, variations in delivery schedule, price and/or cost proposal support, and data requirements, contract pricing, and any other areas that the responder believes is relevant for the Government to achieve its stated objectives. The responder may opine regarding what portion of the work could be set-aside for small businesses if all the required work cannot be provided by a small business. Details to support any recommendations for partial small business set-asides should be included.

4.0 RESPONSES

4.1 Responses shall be in Microsoft Word for Office or compatible format and shall not exceed the maximum number of pages as specified in the previous sections of this document. A page is defined as each face of an 8½” x 11” sheet with information contained within a one-inch margin on all sides. Font type shall be Times Roman 12 point.

4.3 Responses are due no later then what is listed on SAM.gov (System for Award Management). Responses shall be limited to and submitted via e-mail only as a message attachment to Victoria.K.Le@nga.mil, and Nicolas.Lubrano@nga.mil with the message subject line “RFI Response – FDT Change Detection”.

4.3 Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

AFD://LOCAL//FAS TEMPLATES_RFI TEMPLATE_V1.0 PAGE 8 OF 8

5.0 MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The Government representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential RFI service provider. Such meetings and discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability, especially any development and certification risks.

6.0 QUESTIONS

Questions and the whitepaper regarding this RFI should be submitted in writing by e-mail to Victoria.K.Le@nga.mil, and Nicolas.Lubrano@nga.mil.

7.0 SUMMARY

This RFI is only intended for the Government to identify sources that can provide the needed services to fulfill the Government’s statement of objectives. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding to the Government. The Government has not made a commitment to procure any of the RFI requirements discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

8.0 APPENDICES

Appendix A: NGA Data Strategy

Appendix B: NGA Software Way