FY26 Basic and Qualification BAA SP800026BBAA0.pdf

NATIONAL DEFENSE STOCKPILE (NDS) RESEARCH AND QUALIFICATION

Source Selection Information—See FAR 2.101 and 3.104.

Broad Agency Announcement BAA

National Defense Stockpile (NDS) Research and Qualification

DLA STRATEGIC MATERIALS

SP8000-26-B-BAA0

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. BACKGROUND

2. AREAS OF INTEREST

3. CORRESPONDENCE

4. DUE DATES

5. GENERAL WHITE PAPER AND PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

6. WHITE PAPER PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

7. EVALUATION AND DISPOSITION OF WHITE PAPERS

8. SMALL BUSINESS/SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN 8

9. TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS

10. PROPOSAL FORMAT (FOR FULL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS)

11. EVALUATION FACTORS

12. EVALUATION RATINGS

13. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION

EXHIBIT A: SAMPLE FORMAT OF PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

EXHIBIT B: SAMPLE PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

EXHIBIT C: PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCES

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) FOR

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY (DLA)

STRATEGIC MATERIALS NDS RESEARCH AND

QUALIFICATION

POINT OF CONTACT (POC):

Cecilia Arrington, Contract Specialist DCSO-C3

Andrew T. McNamara Building 8725 John J. Kingman Road Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221 DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil

1. BACKGROUND

DLA Strategic Materials is charged with acquiring and retaining stocks of strategic and critical materials, as well as encouraging the conservation and development of domestic sources of such materials, to decrease and preclude a dangerous and costly dependence by the United States upon unreliable foreign sources or a single point of failure for supplies of such materials during a National Emergency.

As part of our efforts to encourage conservation and development of domestic sources of strategic and critical materials, DLA Strategic Materials sponsors materials research and development, pursuant to section 98g of title 50, United States Code (U.S.C.). Additionally, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 98h-6(a)(3), DLA Strategic Materials has the authority to qualify existing domestic facilities and domestically produced strategic and critical materials to meet defense and essential civilian requirements when existing domestic sources of supply are insufficient or vulnerable to a single point of failure.

DLA Strategic Materials’ need for this BAA stems from emerging and rapidly expanding requirements to restore and stabilize domestic strategic and critical materials supply chains that have been compromised by decreased or abandoned domestic mining and refining activities or lack of domestic reserves within the United States. Most of these requirements are in the form of research of materials and alloys and development of solutions including stockpiling, substitution, and/or conservation. Other emergent requirements come from Military Services, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Congressional requests for information on the availability of specific materials. These requirements can address virtually any critical or strategic materials topic and each year generally presents a mixture of new projects and different materials.

Furthermore, the Department of Defense faces a rapidly expanding requirement to stabilize and restore strategic and critical materials supply chains compromised by diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages (DMSMS). In many cases, DMSMS constraints are self-imposed by the defense acquisition process; namely, drop-in replacement, substitute, or qualitatively better strategic and critical materials are available, but DoD cannot accept these materials because DoD has not qualified such materials for use in defense systems. Qualification of substitute strategic and critical materials represents a substantial cost-avoidance to DLA Strategic Materials, reduces mailto:DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil dependence upon unreliable foreign sources and improves the overall health and competitiveness of the defense industrial base.

This BAA is issued under the provisions of Parts 35.016 and 6.102(d)(2) (i) and (ii) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the competitive selection of proposals submitted in response to this announcement. Accordingly, proposals selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and fully compliant with PL 98-369, entitled "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984." “Domestic” for the purposes of this BAA refers to countries that are “qualifying countries” as defined by DFARS 225.872-1.

This BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to make an award or pay proposal preparation prices generated in response to this announcement. The price of proposal preparation for response to a BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resultant contract or any other contract.

No contract award will be made unless funds are available. Prospective Offerors are reminded that only a duly warranted Contracting Officer may obligate the Government to an agreement involving expenditure of Government funds. Only the information provided in this notice is available. No formal solicitation will be issued. The contract type, whether Firm Fixed Price (FFP), Cost Reimbursement, or a hybrid with both cost and FFP CLINs will be determined on a case-by-case basis after receipt of proposals. No award is expected to exceed $10,000,000. The Government may not pay the full-proposed cost, or the Government may pay a percentage of the proposed cost for any future acquisitions under a Broad Agency Announcement (NDS) Research.

While a single award of approximately $10,000,000.00 is possible, multiple awards for much smaller amounts are more likely. No award is expected to have a period of performance greater than three years, with a not to exceed value of $10,000,000.00 per contract.

Research that is defined as identification or evaluation of opportunities should be considered “Phase I” efforts and will be funded only to the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT). Phase I projects shall last no more than 12 months.

Work developing capabilities or methodologies that are at a higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) will be considered “Phase II” efforts and can be funded for up to $10,000,000.00. If properly justified, proposals can request “Direct-to-Phase II” funding levels. Phase II projects shall last no more than 24 months.

The Government may not pay the full proposed cost, or the Government may pay a percentage of the proposed cost for any future acquisitions under a Broad Agency Announcement

2. AREAS OF INTEREST

The requirements that are the subject of this BAA are the following functions as they apply to the materials listed on Exhibit A:

(1) Refining, Processing, and Beneficiation:

The research of, assessment of, evaluation of, development of, demonstration of, or establishment of:

(a) Processes to enhance the quality of materials, improve efficiency of production processes, refine or benefit from material, or mitigate recurring problems.

(b) II impacts of and solutions to external “bottlenecks” in raw material supply chains addressing materials that have been delayed, duration of the shortages, effect on production lead times, prices and impact on delivery of finished products.

(c) impacts of and solutions to internal “bottlenecks” in materials refining processes related to converting feedstock into sellable product considering issues such as incorrect or inferior feedstock, equipment failures, lack of skilled work forces, etc.

(2) Recycling, Conservation and Substitution Options:

Identification of, evaluation of, developing methods for, and establishing domestic capabilities to:

(a) Material substitutes in active use by domestic and trade-friendly international processors and manufacturers; include limitations and common issues associated with use of the substitute material.

(b) Research to develop or qualify materials as acceptable substitutes including use of existing and emerging products.

(c) Recycling opportunities, including industrial infrastructure and logistical perceived limitations.

(d) Recycle and recover neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) or Samarium Cobalt (SmCo) magnets or recovery of rare earths or its alloys. The specifications should include the total rare earth metals (TREM) present in the recycled magnets. As well as identification of energy magnetic density of the recycled magnets.

(3) Qualification of Materials:

(a) Qualification of Research to Department of Defense Programs of Record. Projects will require letters of support from known DOD Programs of Record indicating intent to utilize the qualified material upon successful completion of the work.

3. CORRESPONDENCE

All correspondence and questions on this BAA, including requests for information on how to submit a white paper or proposal as well as submission of the white paper and the proposal, should be directed to the DLA Strategic Materials Contracting Office by electronic mail (email) to DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil. Please reference BAA number SP8000-26-B-BAA0 in all correspondence and communications.

4. DUE DATES

This BAA remains open from January 30, 2026 to January 30, 2029. White papers may be submitted from the date of opening through May 1, 2028, and will be reviewed and evaluated as received.

White papers submitted after May 1, 2028 will not be considered and will not be reviewed.

Following review of a white paper, the Government may request the submitter to provide a full proposal. All evaluations of white papers or proposals will cease on August 1, 2028. Any accepted white papers and /or proposals that are not awarded by the BAA end date of September 15, 2028 must be resubmitted by the contractor under the newly issued BAA for evaluation and potential award. Each proposal request will include a specific proposal due date.

5. GENERAL WHITE PAPER AND PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

DLA Strategic Materials requests interested parties to submit an initial synopsis, commonly referred to as a "white paper." DLA Strategic Materials is seeking unclassified, white papers that do not contain proprietary information. Offerors are requested to submit white papers prior to the submission of a complete, more detailed proposal. The purpose of white papers is to minimize the labor and price associated with the production of detailed proposals that have very little chance of being selected for funding. White papers may be based on fundamental research; concept formulation; assessment of processes, products and associated requirements;

development, analysis and evaluation of concepts; development of associated industrial capabilities, support techniques and processes; development of associated mining or refining techniques and processes. An interested party must submit a white paper in order to be eligible for further consideration. After review of white papers DLA Strategic Materials may request certain parties to submit a full technical and price proposal; such a request does not guarantee contract award.

Proposals submitted without the prior submission of a white paper will not be considered. All proposals submitted in response to this BAA will be considered based upon the evaluation criteria in this BAA. The Government reserves the right to make one, more than one, or no contract awards from this BAA, subject to availability of funds.

Any responsible source capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a whit e paper, which shall be considered by DLA Strategic Materials. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit white papers and join others in submitting white papers; however, no portion of this BAA shall be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or several areas of research in this science. Foreign-owned firms’ participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Affected firms should immediately contact the contracting focal point for information if they contemplate responding.

mailto:DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil.

PROSPECTIVE AWARDEE(S) SHALL BE REGISTERED IN THE SYSTEM FOR AWARD

MANAGEMENT (SAM) AT TIME OF WHITE PAPER AND PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL,

PRIOR TO AWARD, DURING CONTRACT PERFORMANCE, AND THROUGH FINAL

PAYMENT OF ANY AWARD RESULTING FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IN

ACCORDANCE WITH FAR PART 4.1102. INFORMATION ON SAM REGISTRATION IS

AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://WWW.SAM.GOV/.

6. WHITE PAPER PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

(1) Offerors should submit white papers via email directly to the following email address

C3DCSO- C3Contracting@dla.mil

Point of Contact: DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil, Cecilia.Arrington@dla.mil

(a) White papers must be in the following format but do not require any special forms:

• Single PDF formatted file as an email attachment

• Page Size: 8 ½ x 11 Inches

• Margins – 1 Inch

• Spacing– Single

• Font– Times New Roman, 12 point

• Area of Interest and Number

(2) The white paper shall not exceed five (5) pages plus one (1) cover page and one (1) single page addendum as discussed below. The white paper shall include the following:

• Title,

• BAA number,

• Offeror Contact Information (primary investigator’s name, phone number, email address, and company address),

• Areas of Interest,

• Technical Description of the Effort,

• Identification of Risks,

• Project Duration,

• Preliminary Schedule, and

• Not-to-Exceed Price.

A brief abstract with information explicitly pertinent to the proposed work must be provided in the white paper. No Government furnished information, equipment, property or data will be provided.

(3) As an addendum to the white paper, include biographical sketches (one page) of the key personnel who will perform the research, highlighting their qualifications and experience.

(4) The price portion of the white paper shall contain a “not-to-exceed” price amount of the proposed project to be completed.

https://www.beta.sam.gov/ mailto:DCSO-%20C3Contracting@dla.mil mailto:DCSO-C3Contracting@dla.mil, mailto:Matthew.Fox@dla.mil

7. EVALUATION AND DISPOSITION OF WHITE PAPERS

(1) Evaluation Process: Offerors are advised that invitations for complete proposals may be made on the initial white paper submission and the availability of funding. As stated above, the white paper will be evaluated for the areas of interest, technical description of the effort, identification of risks, project duration, preliminary schedule, and not-to-exceed price.

White papers evaluated to have significant merit may be invited to submit a complete detailed proposal.

(2) Disposition Process: After completion of evaluation, the Offeror will be notified in writing of the results (via email). The Government may select white papers that are most promising for further consideration. Debriefings for white paper evaluations will not be provided.

(3) No debrief after review of White Papers will be provided as no award can result from a White Paper.

8. SMALL BUSINESS/SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING

PLAN

Large Business concerns may be required to submit a Small Business/Small Disadvantaged Business Subcontracting Plan if their white paper is selected for further consideration. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541715 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology). The size standard for Small Business is fewer than 1,000 employees.

Proposed contract awards exceeding $750,000,00 large businesses and non-profits (including educational institutions) shall provide a Subcontracting Plan (hereafter known as ‘the Plan) that contains all elements required by FAR 19.704, FAR 52.219-9 and as supplemented by DFARS 252-219-7003. The Plan must be submitted as an attachment and will not be included in the page count. If a company has a Master or Individual Subcontracting Plan, as described in FAR 19.701 or a Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan, as described in DFARS 219.702, a copy of the Plan shall also be submitted as an attachment.

9. TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS

The Government reserves the right to request full technical and price proposals from any, all, part of, or none of the Offerors submitting white papers. Any such request for full technical and priced proposals does not guarantee award. Decisions to select and fund certain proposals will be based on funds availability and the merits of the proposals. Additionally, to be eligible for a potential award of a contract, all prospective Offerors must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with performance schedules, prior record of past performance, integrity, organizational structure, experience, operational controls, technical skills, facilities and equipment in accordance with FAR Part 9. Every effort will be made to protect the confidentiality of the proposal and any evaluations. The Offeror must mark the proposal with a protective legend in accordance with FAR 52.215-1(e), Instructions to Offerors

– Competitive Acquisition (Nov 2021). NOTE: DLA Strategic Materials intends to award a Fixed Price contract as a result of any proposal selected for award.

10. PROPOSAL FORMAT (FULL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS)

PROPOSALS THAT DO NOT COMPLY WITH EACH AND EVERY FORMATTING

AND PAGE LENGTH REQUIREMENT OUTLINED BELOW WILL BE REJECTED,

WILL NOT BE EVALUATED, AND WILL BE RATED AS UNACCEPTABLE.

Technical proposals are limited to twenty (20) single-sided pages. There is no page limit for the price proposal. Submission of proposals shall be in the following format and provide the content requested within the "Areas of Interest" section of this BAA. Offerors' proposals MUST be submitted in accordance with the instructions listed below.

Offerors shall submit one (1) electronic version (via e-mail) of the proposal in the following format: (1) PDF format; (2) 8.5" x 11" paper; (3) headers on each page to identify page content;

and (4) type font shall be 12-point Times New Roman with 1 inch margins around the page. Any project Gantt charts may be submitted on larger (e.g., legal paper), as required to be readable.

If less than 20 pages is required there is no penalty for submitting shorter proposals, as long as the Offeror covers all the required material. Proposals longer than 20 pages will be rejected, will not be evaluated, and will be rated as unacceptable.

The proposal should be clear and concise and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims in the proposal. Offerors shall propose recognizing that the Government has no prior knowledge of Offeror’s facilities and experience and will base its evaluation exclusively on the merits and content of the information presented in the proposal. The only exception is that the Government reserves the right to evaluate relevant past performance not included in the technical proposal.

The proposal must be submitted in two volumes: Technical (Volume I) and Price (Volume II).

The volumes shall be separate and complete so that evaluation of each may be accomplished independently. The volumes shall be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be evaluated without cross-referencing. A separate technical and price proposal is required for any separate option proposed by Offerors.

• Two separate volumes consisting of:

• Volume I: Technical Proposal

• Volume II – Price Proposal

• Volume I, Technical Proposal (20-page limit)

• Shall consist of the Proposed Project and address the Evaluation

Factors as contained within this BAA.

• Volume II, Price Proposal (no page limit)

• Shall contain price and pricing information in support of Volume I technical project.

• The price proposal shall include all of the price information cited in Volume II Section 5 related to the Project Task.

VOLUME I – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Technical proposals are limited to twenty (20) single-sided pages. No pricing information other than the summary of project price required in Section I of the Technical Proposal shall be contained within the technical proposal. Technical proposals shall contain the following sections:

Table of Contents: The table of contents shall specify, by page number, the location of information requested in these instructions. The Table of Contents does not count toward the 20-page limit.

(1) Section I – Cover Page: The Cover Page shall provide the following information: (1) BAA number; (2) Area of Interest; (3) Proposal Title; (4) Target Implementation; (5) Point of Contact, including name, telephone number, e-mail address, and mailing address (no post office box); (6) Cage Code; (7) Contractor's business type selected among the following categories:

Large Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Other Small Business, HBCU, MI, Other Educational, or Other Nonprofit; and (8) Summary of the Prices. The information contained in Section I shall be limited to one page. The Cover Page counts towards the 20-page limit and shall be labeled as Page One.

(2) Section II – Executive Summary: An Executive Summary of the Offeror's proposed project is required. This summary shall be used to gain an understanding of the overall proposal contents. It should identify and highlight significant features, summarize innovative claims and unique contribution(s) of the proposal, and include the salient points of the proposed project, including target system applications and the expected outcome improvement associated with the project. The information contained in Section II shall be limited to one page. The Executive Summary page(s) count towards the 20-page limit and shall be labeled as Page Two.

(3) Section III – Performance Work Statement (PWS): The Offeror is required to submit a proposed PWS that accurately describes the work to be performed, is enforceable, and void of inconsistencies. If, in the Government’s opinion, the Offeror’s PWS does not reflect these requirements, the Government will prepare a PWS using information available in the Offeror’s proposal; this process may delay the award. The PWS must be a separate and distinct part of the proposal. The proposed PWS must contain a summary description of the technical methodology as well as the task description, but not in so much detail as to make the PWS inflexible. The PWS page(s) counts towards the 20-page limit. The PWS should include the following sections: 1.0 Objective, 2.0 Scope, 3.0 Background and 4.0 Task/Technical Requirements. See exhibit A for sample formatting of PWS and exhibit B for a sample PWS.

(4) Section IV – Detailed Proposal Information:

Offerors shall submit a comprehensive and complete technical proposal that demonstrates its ability to perform the area of interest. The technical proposal is expected to contain written and visual material. It must be succinct, well written and presented in a clear straightforward manner. Proposals that merely restate or rephrase the white paper may be considered technically unacceptable and may not be considered further. The technical proposal shall specifically address the six evaluation areas: (1) scientific and technical merits; (2) potential relevance and contributions to the area of interest; (3) new and creative solutions, technical data and computer software; (4) qualifications, capabilities, related experience, facilities, or techniques; and (5) past performance.

(5) Section V – Deliverables and Schedule

Offerors shall submit a list of deliverables that will be provided to the Government and a schedule for project performance and submittal of deliverables. Note that payment will be commensurate with receipt and approval of deliverable(s).

(6) Section VI – Past Performance References

Offerors shall submit a list of up to three (3) past performance references (may include performance still in progress) that will be provided to the Government. The past performance submission should have a minimum of one (1) year performance history and be no more than three (3) years old from the date of proposal submission. See Exhibit C for sample information.

(7) Section VII – Resumes

Offerors shall include resumes of key personnel. Resumes do not count towards the 20-page limit.

VOLUME II – PRICE PROPOSAL

Price proposals have no page limitation. Offerors shall submit at a minimum the information listed below relating to price.

Table of Contents: The table of contents shall specify, by page number, the location of information requested in these instructions.

(1) Section 1 – Proposal Type and Value: The following information must be provided:

type of proposal, brief work effort description, performance period, and total value.

(2) Section 2 – Work Breakdown: The prices proposal shall include a work breakdown structure and price data in sufficient detail to support evaluation of reasonableness (e.g., direct labor by categories, indirect labor, indirect prices, travel, subcontract, services, materials, equipment, etc.).

(3) Section 3 – Project Task: The price proposal shall include at a minimum all of the price information listed below.

(a) Direct Labor: Individual labor categories or assigned persons with associated labor hours and unburdened direct labor rates.

(b) Indirect Prices: Fringe Benefit, Overhead, G&A, Cost of Money, etc. (base amount and rate).

(c) Travel: Number of trips, destinations, durations, purpose of each trip, number of personnel traveling for each, and labor category of each traveler, etc.

(d) Material: Equipment, facilities, etc.

(e) Profit dollars and percentage rate.

(4) Section 4 – Other Direct Prices: All other prices associated with the project should be itemized.

(5) Section 5 – Payment Plan Schedule: Provide a proposed monthly invoice payment plan in accordance with the items listed in Section V – Deliverables and Schedule, in the Technical Proposal.

11. EVALUATION FACTORS

Proposals received as a result of the BAA will be evaluated in accordance with evaluation criteria specified herein through a peer or scientific review process. Written evaluation reports on individual proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted in accordance with a common work statement and each proposal stands on its own merit. These criteria are listed in descending order of importance, and the non-price factors, when taken together, are significantly more important than price.

Factor 1: Technical Acceptability

Subfactor 1: Overall Scientific and Technical Merits of the Proposed Effort: The proposal will be evaluated for the degree to which the scientific and technical merits of the proposed effort improve Strategic Materials’ supply chain sustainment. For scientific merits, the proposal will be evaluated on the clarity, correctness, and logicality of concept(s). For technical merits, the proposal will evaluate the maturity and availability of the proposed technology. As well as the possibility of success of the proposal objectives and their impact on the material supply chain. If the proposal does not meet the scientific and technical merits, the proposal will be determined to be unacceptable.

Subfactor 2: Potential Relevance and Contributions to the Area of Interest: The proposal will be evaluated based on the degree to which proposed studies and processes apply to the areas of interest as listed in Section 2 of this BAA and whether it meets short and long term needs of the United States defense and essential civilian industrial base and provide a significant benefit to those industries. If the proposed study fails to fall under the listed areas of interest for a material of concern as determined by DLA Strategic Materials, the proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Subfactor 3: New and Creative Solutions, Technical Data and Computer Software: Will be evaluated based on the degree of creativity of idea(s), foundation in science and technology, feasibility to solutions, and the technical data and computer software of the proposed studies. If the proposed study does not meet the creative aspect, is not a feasible solution, or is a duplicative effort, the proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Subfactor 4: Qualifications, Capabilities, Related Experience, Facilities, or Techniques:

The proposal will be evaluated based on the degree to which the capabilities, related experience, techniques or unique combinations of these that are integral factors for achieving the proposed objective will successfully accomplish the area of interest. Will also be evaluated based on the degree the proposed principal researcher/scientist/engineer, team leader or other key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposed objectives will successfully accomplish the area of interest. The Government will evaluate the proposed labor and skill mix to determine if it represents an effective and efficient mix of skills for successful contract performance. The combination of the capabilities from different types of organizations, such as academia and industry, are encouraged and acceptable. If the offeror has not clearly demonstrated adequate personnel, time, and/or resources to complete the proposed task, the proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Proposal Factor 2: Past Performance: The Government will evaluate the offeror’s submitted past performance, to include questionnaires, on current and past contracts (within three years) based on relevancy and how well the contractor performed on projects of similar scope, dollar value, and complexity. Evaluations of past performance will be conducted in accordance with FAR Part 9 and FAR Part 15.305(a)(2). The Offeror will be assigned an adjectival rating of acceptable or unacceptable based on the degree to which current and previous efforts indicate the probability of the Offeror successfully accomplishing the contract requirements and providing timely delivery. Additionally, the Government may review any other sources of information for evaluating past performance. Other sources may include, but are not limited to, past performance information retrieved through the Contractor’s Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) using all CAGE/DUNS numbers of team members (partnership, joint venture, teaming arrangement, or parent company/subsidiary/affiliate) identified in the offeror’s proposal, the System for Award Management (SAM), inquiries of owner representative(s), and any other known sources not provided by the offeror. While the Government may elect to consider data from other sources, the burden of providing detailed, current, accurate and complete past performance information rests with the Offeror. If the Offeror’s past performance is determined unacceptable, they will be considered ineligible for award. In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. Therefore, the Offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered “acceptable.”

The references provided will be contacted and provided a questionnaire via email to complete and return. Please ensure that the contact information provided is accurate and the reference is aware that they will be contacted. The questionnaire will include the following questions:

A. Contractor Name, B. Contract Number C. Period of Performance D. Total Contract Amount E. Describe service performed F. Point of Contact if Government requires clarification of information provided. Include evaluator’s name, title, and organization.

G. Evaluator’s experience with this contractor (evaluator is the person filling out the questionnaire). Include evaluator’s name, title, and organization.

Proposal Factor 3: Price: Will be evaluated based on the Cost realism and reasonableness of the proposal and availability of funds.

NOTE: Proposals submitted in response to this BAA shall be evaluated through a peer or scientific review process, as they are received. The Contracting Officer has discretion to request proposals after the closing date if the white paper was received prior to the closing date.

Proposals lacking technical merit or relevance to DLA Strategic Materials’ needs, or those proposals that may fall in areas wherein funds are not expected to be available, may be rejected without further action. Proposals stand on their own merit and will not be evaluated against other proposals. The proposal must be determined acceptable in all subfactors to meet the acceptability of Factor 1. If one subfactor is determined unacceptable, the Offeror is determined unacceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability.

12. EVALUATION RATINGS AND BASIS FOR AWARD

The evaluation team will classify the technical proposals into one of the following categories:

Category I: The Offeror is determined acceptable under all subfactors and therefore is acceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability and the Offeror is determined acceptable under Factor 2

– Past Performance. The proposal is well conceived, scientifically and technically sound, pertinent to the program goals and objectives, and offered by a responsible contractor with the competent scientific and technical staff and supporting resources needed to ensure satisfactory program results. The proposals in Category I are recommended for acceptance (subject to availability of funds) and normally are displaced only by other Category I proposals. Regardless of area of interest, a Category I rating requires a material of interest to be the focus of the work, and a letter of interest from a DOD Prime, Subprime, Entity, or other related institution. This certification of intent may be conditional upon the success of the proposal’s work (i.e., whether the technology solution meets performance requirements of the program of record).

Category II: Proposal is scientifically or technically sound but is of sufficiently low technology or manufacturing readiness that it cannot be readily integrated into a DoD program of record..

The DoD program of record or the prime contractor or the relevant major subcontractor to such a program certify their intent to integrate the proposed material or technology solution.

The Offeror is determined acceptable under Factor 2 – Past Performance.

Category II proposals are recommended for acceptance but at a lower priority than Category

I proposals.

Category III: Proposal is scientifically or technically sound but is of sufficiently low technology or manufacturing readiness that it cannot be readily integrated into a DoD program of record.

Neither the DoD program of record nor the prime contractor or the relevant major subcontractor to such a program certify their intent to integrate the proposed material or technology solution.

The Offeror is determined acceptable under Factor 2 – Past Performance.

Category III proposals are recommended for acceptance but at a lower priority than Category II proposals.

Category IV: Proposal is not technically sound and does not meet the requirements of a DoD program of record, inclusive of the program contractor or major subcontractors to such programs. The Offeror is determined unacceptable under Factor 2 – Past Performance.

Category IV proposals are not recommended for acceptance.

DLA may evaluate technical proposals and conduct cost realism analysis on cost proposals and make award without discussions. Proposals should contain the offeror’s best terms.

Additionally, DLA reserves the right to conduct discussions and request revisions to if it is determined by DLA to be necessary. Offerors may be removed from the proposal evaluation process if the offeror and the contracting officer fail to negotiate mutually agreeable terms within a reasonable period of time.

NOTE: Acceptable rating for BAA factors does not guarantee an award. Awards may only be made when all factors listed above are met. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals submitted under this BAA. DLA reserves the right not to make an award as a result of this BAA if such award is determined to be contrary to the best interest of DLA.

After proposals have been evaluated, DLA Strategic Materials may hold the proposal for a period of up to 12 months before providing a final decision on acceptance.

13. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION

(1) Responsibility Determination: To be eligible for award of a contract, all prospective

Offerors must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with performance schedules, have a satisfactory performance record, integrity, organizational structure, experience, accounting and operational controls, technical skills, facilities and equipment and be otherwise qualified. For additional information concerning standards of responsibility for prospective contractors, please refer to FAR Subpart 9.1.

(2) System for Award Management (SAM): Successful Offerors not already registered in SAM will be required to register prior to award of any contract. Information on SAM registration is available at https://www.sam.gov/

(3) Representations and Certifications: The Offeror shall complete and submit

Representations and Certifications via SAM at https://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.beta.sam.gov/

Exhibit A: NDS Strategic and Critical Materials List

Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4

Antimony Graphite ZOC and Related Materials

High Purity Aluminum

Bismuth Battery Materials Indium Beryllium

Gallium Magnesium PGMs Cobalt

Germanium Refractory Metals Neon Scandium and Yttrium

REEs and REE Magnet Materials

Energetics Manganese Fluorspar

EXHIBIT B: SAMPLE FORMAT OF PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

The following is offered as the format for the PWS.

(1) 1.0 - Objective: This section is intended to give a brief overview of the specialty area and should describe why it is being pursued, and what you are trying to accomplish.

(2) 2.0 - Scope: This section includes a statement of what the PWS covers. This should include the technology area to be investigated, objectives/goals, and major milestones for the effort.

(3) 3.0 - Background: The offeror shall identify appropriate documents that are applicable to the effort to be performed. This section includes any information, explanations, or constraints that are necessary in order to understand the requirements. It may include relationship to previous, current and future operations. It may also include techniques previously tried and found ineffective.

(4) 4.0 - Technical Requirements:

(a) This section contains the detailed description of tasks which represent the work to be performed which are contractually binding. Thus, this portion of PWS should be developed in an orderly progression and in enough detail to establish the feasibility of accomplishing the overall program goals. The work effort should be segregated into major tasks and identified in separately numbered paragraphs according to the decimal system above. Each numbered major task should delineate, by subtask, the work to be performed. The PWS must contain every task to be accomplished.

(b) The tasks must be definite, realistic, and clearly stated. Use “shall” whenever the work statement expresses a provision that is binding. Use “should” or “may” whenever it is necessary to express a declaration of purpose. Use “will” in cases where no Offeror requirement is involved; e.g., power will be supplied by the Government. Use active voice in describing work to be performed.

(c) Do not use acronyms or abbreviations without spelling-out acronyms and abbreviations at the first use; place the abbreviation in parenthesis immediately following a spelled-out phrase. This provides the definition for each subsequent reuse. As an option, a glossary may contain definitions of acronyms and abbreviations.

(d) If presentations/meetings are identified in your schedule, include the following paragraph in your PWS:

“Conduct presentations/meetings at times and places specified in the contract schedule.”

SP8000-24-B-BAA1

NATIONAL DEFENSE STOCKPILE (NDS) RESEARCH

EXHIBIT C: SAMPLE PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

1.0 OBJECTIVE:

1.1 The objective of this effort is to investigate: (a) techniques for generating code for High Performance Computers (HPCs); (b) technology that connects transformed variants of programs, crucial to debugging and performance analysis; and (c) exploitation of HPCs by software environments.

2.0 SCOPE:

2.1 The scope of this effort is to develop technology for building integrated computational environments for high performance systems and distributing a set of advanced computational software tools based on this technology that demonstrates the ability to achieve improved performance on current HPC computers.

3.0 BACKGROUND:

3.1 High performance computing and computer communications networks are increasingly important to scientific advancement, economic computation, and national security. The technology is reaching the point of having a transforming effect on our society, industries, national defense, and educational institutions. The goal of the High-Performance Computer and Communication (HPCC) program is to accelerate significantly the commercial availability and utilization of the next generation of high-performance computers and software.

3.1 The key is by aggressively pursuing research in parallel compilers, object parallel computing, and intelligent performance optimization to deliver revolutionary advances in computational software tools. An ideal computational software environment will ultimately depend on a pervasive understanding of the relationship between parallel programming methodology, parallel compiler transformations, parallel object implementation, and system performance characteristics.

4.0 TASKS/TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

4.1 The contractor shall accomplish the following:

4.1.1 Design and implement a Code Generator (CG) for a high performance computer. The CG shall include the design of initial data structures.

4.1.2 Develop an execution analysis infrastructure to debug and study the performance of compiled programs without having to understand the transformations caused upon the program by the compiler, which includes:

4.1.2.1 Implementation of connections between existing front ends and intermediate representation.

4.1.2.2 Implementation of connections from serial profile data to intermediate representation.

4.1.3 Develop technology to utilize the power of HPC on computational tasks to develop a general

HPC design environment, which includes:

4.1.3.1 Tools for serial machines to be automatically scheduled on nodes of an HPC;

4.1.3.2 Interfaces for automatic scheduling of tools that are specifically designed to be executed on HPCs; and

4.1.3.3 Integrating the CG from paragraph 4.1.1.

4.1.4 Identify HPC community members with relevant applications to experiment with the ALPHA version of the CG from paragraph 4.1.1 and the general HPC design environment from paragraph 4.1.3.

4.1.5 Reporting.

4.1.5.1 Continually determine the status of the effort and report progress toward accomplishment of contract requirements. (See CDRL, A001)*

4.1.5.2 Continually determine the status of funding required for contract performance. (See

CDRL, A002)**

4.1.5.3 Document all technical work accomplished and information gained during the performance of this acquisition. This shall include all pertinent observations, nature of problems, positive as well as negative results, and design criteria established, where applicable; also, procedures followed, processes developed, "Lesson Learned", etc. The details of all technical work shall be documented to permit full understanding of the techniques and procedures used in evolving technology or processes developed. Separate design, engineering, or process specifications delivered during this acquisition shall be cross-referenced to permit a full understanding of the total acquisition. (See

CDRL, A003)*

EXHIBIT D: PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCES

Please identify three companies/Government agencies that you have worked with in the prior three years. DLA Strategic Materials will contact these companies/agencies to obtain a reference for your company.

1. PROJECT 1:

a. Work Performed:

b. Name of Company/Agency:

c. Dollar Value:

d. Point of Contact:

e. Telephone Number:

f. E-Mail Address:

2. PROJECT 2:

a. Work Performed:

b. Name of Company/Agency:

c. Dollar Value:

d. Point of Contact:

e. Telephone Number:

f. E-Mail Address:

3. PROJECT 3:

a. Work Performed:

b. Name of Company/Agency:

c. Dollar Value:

d. Point of Contact:

e. Telephone Number:

f. E-Mail Address:

END OF BAA