HR001117S0011-Amendment-01.pdf

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 1 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET)

Broad Agency Announcement OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) Amendment 1 – Swarm Sprints Tactical Technology Office (TTO)

HR001117S0011

October 12, 2017

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Tactical Technology Office 675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

Table of Contents

I. Funding Opportunity Description A. Program Vision B. Program Description

B.1. Core Elements of the OFFSET Swarm System B.2. Defining the Swarm Systems Architecture B.3. OFFSET Swarm Ecosystem B.4. OFFSET Metrics

C. OFFSET Swarm Sprints Structure D. Swarm Sprint Description

D.1. Core Sprint | Swarm Tactics for Vignette 1

II. Award Information A. General Award Information B. Fundamental Research

III. Eligibility Information A. Eligible Applicants B. Organizational Conflicts of Interest C. Cost Sharing/Matching

IV. Application and Submission Information A. Address to Request Application Package B. Content and Form of Application Submission

B.1. Proposals B.2. Proprietary and Security Information B.3. Additional Proposal Information B.4. Submission Information

C. Funding Restrictions D. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information A. Evaluation Criteria

A.1. Overall Scientific and Technical Merit A.2. Potential Contribution and Relevance to the DARPA Mission A.3. Cost and Schedule Realism A.4. Proposer’s Capabilities and/or Related Experience

B. Review of Proposals B.1. Review Process B.2. Handling of Source Selection Information

B.3. Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information (FAPIIS)

VI. Award Administration Information A. Selection Notices and Notifications

A.1. Proposals B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

B.1. Meeting and Travel Requirements B.2. FAR and DFARS Clauses B.3. Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) on Non-DoD Information Systems B.4. Representations and Certifications B.5. Terms and Conditions (for cooperative agreements only)

C. Reporting D. Electronic Systems

VII. Agency Contacts

VIII. Other Information A. Proposers Day B. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) C. Associate Contractor Agreement (ACA) Clause

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Tactical Technology Office (TTO)

Funding Opportunity Title – OFFensive Swarm Enabled Tactics (OFFSET)

Announcement Type – Amendment

Funding Opportunity Number – HR001117S0011

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) – 12.910 Research and Technology Development

Dates o Proposers Day: Virtual, posted on FBO o Posting Date: October 12, 2017 o Proposal Due: November 29, 2017, 1700 (Eastern)

**Calls for Swarm Sprinter proposals will be issued periodically (6-month intervals are anticipated) as amendments to this BAA at future dates yet to be determined.

These calls may be issued at any time up to one year from the posting date.

Concise description of the funding opportunity – The goal of OFFSET Swarm Sprints is to create focused breakthroughs in swarm technologies to be integrated into the OFFSET Swarm Systems Architecture. The specific topic of interest for this amendment is the design and development of Swarm Tactics relevant to OFFSET Vignette 1, in the thrust area of Swarm Autonomy.

Total amount anticipated to be awarded – Approximately $3M

Anticipated individual awards – DARPA intends to award up to fifteen Swarm Sprinter awards in this initial swarm sprint call. No individual award is anticipated to be above $750K (including all options proposed).

Types of instruments that may be awarded – Procurement contract, cooperative agreement, or Other Transaction.

Agency contact o Points of Contact

The BAA Coordinator for this effort can be reached at:

OFFSET@darpa.mil mailto:OFFSET@darpa.mil

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

This publication constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2) and 35.016 and 2 CFR § 200.203. Any resultant award negotiations will follow all pertinent law and regulation, and any negotiations and/or awards for procurement contracts will use procedures under FAR 15.4, Contract Pricing, as specified in the

BAA.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals to expand the operational effectiveness of combat forces utilizing unmanned swarm systems.

Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

The following information is for those wishing to respond to this BAA.

A. Program Vision

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B. Program Description

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.1. Core Elements of the OFFSET Swarm System This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.2. Defining the Swarm Systems Architecture This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.3. OFFSET Swarm Ecosystem This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.3.a. Swarm Systems Integrators The initial release of this BAA sought well-balanced and expert teams, referred to as Swarm Systems Integrators (SSIs), capable of holistically designing, developing, and deploying the envisioned OFFSET swarm system architecture, as detailed above, to include:

an extensible game-based architecture to enable design and integration of swarm tactics a community-fostering forum (e.g., swarm tactics exchange) for curation of swarm tactics and an automated workflow for their assessment immersive interactive modalities for intuitive and robust teams of humans and swarm systems aggressive experimentation and systems integration efforts for realizing swarm capabilities

B.3.b. Swarm Sprinters This BAA amendment seeks proposals for OFFSET Swarm Sprinters. Swarm Sprinters may comprise third-party developers and/or users. These Swarm Sprinters must be able to design swarm tactics and/or requisite supporting elements, as well as develop and integrate them according to the specifications set forth by the architectures (as developed by the Swarm Systems Integrators).

The Government would like to engage with a wider developer and user audience for this capability;

therefore, OFFSET anticipates soliciting proposals for Swarm Sprinters over multiple intervals to conduct “sprints” or rapid technology development efforts to generate novel swarm tactics and to accelerate additional enabling technologies while ensuring operational relevance of the capability-based experiments.

Candidate sprint topics may include more narrowly defined thrusts (such as, for example, the design of swarm tactics relevant to searching a building for hidden caches), or broad emphasis areas (such as integration of novel maneuver specifications for heterogeneous swarm systems).

Possible sprints may also emphasize desired improvements to the overall architecture, including enabling toolkits and/or interface enhancements; payload development studies; swarm deployment technologies; and/or other focused investigations based on continued monitoring of advancing technologies relevant to the OFFSET program interests.

Proposals for Swarm Sprinters are expected to be solicited through multiple BAA amendments at periodic (approximately six-month) intervals. The development sprints comprise focused short-term efforts, with key objectives to deliver frequent product increments and integrate them with the open-source architectures provided by the Swarm Systems Integrators. Upon award, Swarm Sprinters are expected to work with the Swarm Systems Integrator(s) to further enhance the swarm systems architecture and its demonstrable capabilities. The Swarm Systems Integrator(s) are also expected to work collaboratively and openly with the Swarm Sprinters to enable smooth integration and encourage user feedback. To promote this open and transparent teamwork, OFFSET will use Associate Contractor Agreements (see Section VIII.C) and intends to prohibit any selected Swarm Systems Integrator(s), their subcontractors, and any subsidiaries from proposing to or being awarded as a Swarm Sprinter.

B.3.c. OFFSET Government Team This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.4. OFFSET Metrics This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

C. OFFSET Swarm Sprints Structure

The overall OFFSET program is structured as a 42-month effort. The first phase extends for 18 months, with the subsequent two phases conducted over 12 months each. The program’s agile development cycle is embodied in a Swarm Systems Integrator-Sprinter ecosystem that focuses development and integration efforts toward six biannual capability-based experiments. Regular field exercises provide opportunities to test and evaluate integration of technologies and provide more direct engagement between warfighters and technologists.

The OFFSET Swarm Sprints are intended to provide technology injects and enhancements to the swarm systems architectures and their demonstrable capabilities. Such injects provide means to:

respond to the evolving needs of the program, leverage emerging technologies as they become available, and pursue opportunities for technology transitions.

To accomplish this objective, the Government anticipates issuing multiple calls for Swarm Sprints over the 42-month duration of the OFFSET program. The duration of each Swarm Sprint is generally expected to be 6 months, with an additional 3 month option period to facilitate integration activities. The initiation and execution of these Swarm Sprints are anticipated to align with the respective capability-based experiments, as dictated by the Swarm Sprint Topics. This will ensure close interaction with the Swarm Systems Integrators and facilitate the demonstration of the proposed component and integrated technologies.

These Swarm Sprints are organized into five thrust areas or high-level research areas of interest to OFFSET, to include Swarm Tactics; Swarm Autonomy; Human-Swarm Teaming; Virtual Environment; and Physical Testbed. Table 1 provides a description of each of these thrust areas.

Table 1: Descriptions of Swarm Sprint Thrust Areas

Thrust Area Description

Swarm Tactics Design, development, assessment, and integration of swarm tactics aligned with

OFFSET mission objectives and vignettes

Swarm Autonomy

Development of systems enablers for enhanced swarm autonomy including both hardware and software along with associated tactics, primitives, and algorithms

Human-Swarm Teaming

Development, enhancement, and integration of novel human interface technologies, interaction modalities, and swarm grammar frameworks

Virtual Environment

Design, integration, and assessment of synthetic entities within the virtual game-based environment that enhance the platforms, sensors, networking, adversary, environmental, and other component elements

Physical Testbed

Design and integration of physically implementable technologies for augmenting physical testbed entities, to include additional platforms, sensors, infrastructure, computation, and experimental design

The Swarm Sprints are categorized further into Core Sprints and Ad Hoc Sprints (described below), the former relating to those Swarm Sprints anticipated to occur at regular six-month intervals in each of the thrust areas, and the latter allowing for instantiating “on-demand” swarm interest topics aligned with a specified thrust area.

Figure 1: Notional overall Swarm Sprint schedule. BAA Amendments announcing Swarm Sprints are anticipated to be released at approximate six-month intervals. Core Sprint timelines are subject to change.

Swarm Sprints in the five previously mentioned thrust areas will provide critical enhancements to the overall OFFSET program. Swarm Sprint performers in both Core and Ad Hoc Sprint activities are likely to be motivated by a number of incentivizing elements of the OFFSET program structure.

Given that the outcomes of each Swarm Sprint will offer novel features and/or new capabilities for one or more of the Swarm Systems Integrators’ respective architectures, these integrators are inclined to adopt and showcase the most compelling and innovative Swarm Sprinter-developed contributions as part of their integration efforts. Further, the Swarm Sprinters may directly help inform and shape the evolution of the swarm technologies of interest to OFFSET, both through their close interactions and feedback with the Swarm Systems Integrator teams and also via their active contribution of feature requests, bug reports, and updates to the OFFSET code and knowledge base.

D. Swarm Sprint Description

This BAA amendment solicits proposals for the first Core Swarm Sprint. (No Ad Hoc Swarm Sprints are being announced in this amendment.)

D.1. Core Sprint | Swarm Tactics for Vignette 1

Sprint At-A-Glance Name: Swarm Tactics for Vignette 1 Thrust Area: Operational Swarm Tactics Purpose: Design and implement one or more swarm tactics of operational relevance for a heterogeneous swarm isolating an urban objective

Figure 2: Conceptual rendering of the user-generated OFFSET Tactics Exchange for swarm tactics

D.1.a. Swarm Sprint Description

(1) Operational Swarm Tactics

A key component of the OFFSET program is the generation of an extensive playbook of swarm tactics that disruptively create new opportunities for future swarm systems in urban operations.

Sprinters will be leveraging Integrator-developed hardware/software architectures and game-based environments that offer both a physical and a virtual world in which relevant operational scenarios, such as urban operations, can be extensively explored and expanded. OFFSET aims to generate and assess 100+ swarm tactics that enable a heterogeneous swarm to achieve the desired objective capabilities described in Section I.B.1.c (found in the initial posting of BAA# HR001117S0011) and summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Objective capabilities of interest for surrogate aerial and ground autonomous swarm systems

Operational Context Vignette 1 Vignette 2 Vignette 3 Representative

Mission Isolate an urban objective Conduct an urban raid

Seize key urban terrain

Mission Duration 15-30 minutes 1-2 hours 4-6 hours

Area of Operations approx. two square city blocks approx. four square city blocks approx. eight square city blocks

Swarm Size 50 100 250

(2) Vignette 1 Decomposition The focus of the first Core Swarm Sprint is the generation of swarm tactics for Vignette 1 in which a heterogeneous swarm of 50 agents is employed to isolate an urban objective within an area of two square city blocks over a mission duration of 15-30 minutes. Given the varying terrains of urbanized areas, the mission battlespace could include high rises, industrial/commercial buildings, or residential sprawl as illustrated in Figure 3. For this initial Swarm Sprint effort, the outdoor environment is assumed to consist of buildings that are 3-10 stories high with streets that are 10-25 meters wide and relatively unconstrained (e.g., no complex overhangs or power lines). The indoor environments are expected to be relatively unconstrained (e.g., open doors) and uncluttered. All friendly forces can be assumed to be known and/or easily distinguishable. (Note that future vignettes are expected to extend operations into more complex environments.)

Figure 3: Varying types of urban terrains; high rise, commercial, and residential sprawl.

Referencing Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-35.3, an offensive urban operation can be divided into a series of four phases: reconnoiter the objective, isolate the objective, secure a foothold, and seize the objective. The scope of Vignette 1 covers the first two phases, which can be described as:

Reconnoiter the Objective: Gathering of intelligence such as avenues of approach, supply routes, ingress and egress points, infrastructure and utilities, locations of enemy combatants, and other information that may not be apparent in existing databases or maps

Isolate the Objective: Denying the enemy the ability to maneuver or reinforce by impeding the flow of manpower, supplies, weapons, and communications

For illustrative purposes, consider the following narrative scenario of the representative mission for Vignette 1.

An infantry small-unit is tasked to isolate an urban objective upon receipt of intelligence that the enemy is building up forces in a strategically significant building a couple blocks away. Deploying from their assembly area, the unit must traverse to the objective area, conduct reconnaissance, and secure a perimeter to impede the flow of enemy manpower, supplies, and communications.

Relevant to the above scenario, examples of operationally relevant tactics for Vignette 1 include, but are not limited to:

Conduct reconnaissance of the area of operations

Generate a semantic map of the area of operations

Identify ingress and egress points to an area of operation

Identify, localize, and track opposing force personnel

Maintain flank and rear security

Establish a perimeter around a building

Identify and defend against possible attack vectors

Employ military deception with decoys or feints

Provide persistent surveillange over an area of operations

Maintain connectivity for friendly mobile forces

Deploy sensor network

Localize origins of enemy fire

D.1.b. Technical Description Referencing the OFFSET Swarm Tactics framework described in Section I.A (found in the initial posting of BAA# HR001117S0011), the central focus of OFFSET is the generation of swarm tactics, which may be composed of one or more swarm primitives, which may further be composed of one or more swarm algorithms.

In response to this Core Swarm Sprint, the proposed contributions of a Swarm Sprinter could reflect the development of:

A single swarm tactic with a fixed set of swarm primitives but multiple swarm algorithm implementations

A set of similar swarm tactics that uses numerous common swarm primitives and/or swarm algorithms

Multiple dissimilar tactics that address a variety of mission objectives and use numerous common swarm primitives and/or swarm algorithms

The Swarm Sprinter development effort should focus on novel swarm tactics that achieve high-level operational objectives rather than the underlying primitives or algorithms (e.g., collision-avoidance, image processing). However, proposals may consider and leverage novel primitives or algorithms if they are essential to the proposed swarm tactics. Proposals are encouraged to leverage existing and/or open-source algorithms and libraries. Parametric variation at the primitive or algorithm levels is not of interest for OFFSET (e.g., via manual tuning of gains or parameters with a given algorithm to modulate or optimize performance).

Swarm Sprinter proposals should include a plan to evaluate the performance of each swarm tactic against the stated mission objectives through the extensive use of simulation or game-based environments. This assessment should be performed across a diverse mission parameter space, with rationale for specific factor ranges provided using rigorous statistical analysis methods (e.g., Monte Carlo simulations). Analysis scripts, output data, and detailed results should be provided as a deliverable to DARPA. Swarm Sprinters should also provide simulation-based videos that clearly demonstrate the functionality of each swarm tactic, including any user inputs and relevant unique variants of the given tactic. The quality and utility of these artifacts are expected to aid in DARPA’s decisions (e.g., exercising options) to pursue integration of the Swarm Sprinter’s results into the larger OFFSET architecture(s).

Proposals for this swarm sprint should primarily develop swarm tactics that address the stated mission objectives of Vignette 1. Swarm tactics developed for this swarm sprint should be reasonably feasible to integrate into a swarm comprising of small air and ground vehicles using mostly commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and low size, weight, and power (SWaP) components. The fixed wing and multirotor airframes are anticipated to be Group 1 (9kg), while the ground vehicles are anticipated to weigh less than 50kg. The swarm tactics and associated algorithms should be reasonably feasible to execute using common low-cost embedded computers (e.g., ODroid XU4, Jetson TX1/TX2), COTS sensors, and low-SWaP communication solutions.

If deviations from the above technical baselines are essential to the proposed novel swarm tactics, appropriate justifications and expected performance specifications should be provided.

Examples of deviations may include, but are not limited to: hybrid VTOL/fixed-wing vehicles, advanced sensors, or more powerful computation boards.

Given the early developmental status of the OFFSET architectures at the time of this Swarm Sprint’s topic release, the game-based environments described in Section I.B.1.a (found in the initial posting of BAA# HR001117S0011) are not anticipated to be fully operational by the beginning of this sprint. Therefore, Swarm Sprinters may propose to develop their tactics using any simulation or game-based environment of their choice. Upon completing the six-month base period, a three-month option period may be exercised to integrate promising tactics into the OFFSET game-based environments, which are expected to be operational by that time.

The OFFSET game-based environments are expected to leverage open architectures, such as the Robot Operating System (ROS), to facilitate integration and interoperability across multiple Swarm Integrators and Swarm Sprinters. Swarm Sprinter proposals should include a discussion on the expected level of effort that would be required to integrate the proposed tactics into such architectures.

D.1.c. Programmatic Description This Swarm Sprint is envisioned as a six-month base effort for swarm tactics development with an additional three-month option for swarm tactics integration into one or more of the OFFSET architectures.

Swarm tactics of interest to DARPA for integration will be selected based on their demonstrated performance, their operational relevance to Vignette 1, and the expected level of effort to potentially facilitate integration into one or more of the Swarm Systems Architectures and associated virtual and physical testbeds.

D.1.d. Deliverables for this Swarm Sprint It is anticipated that deliverables for this Swarm Sprint will consist of the following at a minimum:

Deliverable Frequency Format Description

Tactics Code Every two (2) months after contract award

Contractor format

The code and supporting library submissions should include clear documentation, be well commented, and follow programming best practices such that others experienced in the field can readily use and interpret the functionality of the code. Submissions should also include tactics analysis scripts.

Integration Plan Three (3) months after contract award

Contractor format

Provide explanation for how the Swarm Sprint results will be transitioned into the OFFSET Swarm system Integrator’s system approach.

Tactics Videos As required MP4, MPG, AVI, MOV

Simulation-based video(s) for each tactic should be submitted. The video(s) should clearly demonstrate the functionality of each tactic, including any user inputs and all unique variants of a given tactic.

Progress Report Monthly Microsoft PowerPoint

Progress reports will include a summary of technical accomplishments, planned actions for the next reporting period, graphical representations of work being completed, and all relevant financial information.

Final Report 15 days prior to contract end

Microsoft Word

Final report will include a detailed description of each tactic and assumptions made in the development (e.g., ideal comms, synthetic sensor). The report should also provide a detailed analysis of the performance of each tactic, including output data. The report will also include the level-of-effort anticipated to integrate the tactic into a ROS-based architecture.

II. Award Information

A. General Award Information

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B. Fundamental Research

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

III. Eligibility Information This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

A. Eligible Applicants

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B. Organizational Conflicts of Interest

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

C. Cost Sharing/Matching

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

This document contains all information required to submit a response to this solicitation. No additional forms, kits, or other materials are needed except as referenced herein. No request for proposals (RFP) or additional solicitations regarding this opportunity will be issued, nor is additional information available except as provided at the Federal Business Opportunities website (https://www.fbo.gov) or referenced herein.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

All submissions must be written in English with formatting specifications detailed below.

Copies of all documents submitted must be clearly labeled with the DARPA BAA number, proposer organization, and proposal title/proposal short title.

B.1. Proposals All complete proposal packages must include the parts listed below. The following templates, which contain proposal content descriptions and instructions, have been provided as attachments to the BAA posted at www.fbo.gov and www.grants.gov. Use of these templates is mandatory for all proposal submissions to this BAA.

o Attachment 1 – Cover Page and Proposal Template o Attachment 2 – Cost Summary Spreadsheet o Attachment 3 – Summary Slide: Elevator Pitch o Attachment 4 – Administrative and National Policy Requirements

The proposal shall be delivered in two volumes, Volume I – Technical and Management Proposal and Volume II – Cost Proposal.

The proposal shall include the following sections, each starting on a new page (where a “page” is 8-1/2 by 11 inches with type not smaller than 12-point (figures, tables, and charts may use 8- or 10-point font), margins not smaller than 1 inch, and line spacing not smaller than single spaced.

Fold-outs up to 11 by 17 inches may be used, but will be counted as two pages. All submissions must be in English. The total page count for Proposal Volume I, (Technical and Management Proposal) is 10 pages.

Page Limit Includes: Page Limit Does NOT include:

Executive Summary Cover Sheet Innovative Claims & Deliverables Official Transmittal Letter Technical Approach Table of Contents Personnel, Qualifications & Commitments Summary Slide (Attachment 3) Relevance to DARPA Mission Milestones and Deliverables Summary Table

Schedule Cost Summary Spreadsheet Statement of Work Intellectual Property Resume(s) Administrative and National Policy Requirements Document https://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

Ensure that each section provides a detailed discussion of proposed work to enable an in-depth review of specific technical and managerial issues relevant to that section. Specific attention must be given to addressing both risk and payoff of the proposed work that make it desirable to DARPA

NOTE: Non-conforming submissions that do not follow the instructions herein may be rejected without further review.

B.1.a. Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal Section I: Administrative

i. Cover Sheet: should follow the format provided and include all information requested in Attachment 1

Section II: Summary of Proposal

i. Table of contents

ii. Executive Summary:

Provide an executive-level description of key elements and unique features of the proposed OFFSET Swarm Sprint effort. The Executive Summary shall also include a top-level schedule that outlines the proposer’s overall vision and approach to executing the entire duration of the Swarm Sprint.

iii. Innovative Claims and Deliverables:

Describe the innovative aspects of the Swarm Sprint effort in the context of existing capabilities and approaches, clearly delineating the uniqueness and benefits of this project in the context of the state-of-the-art, alternative approaches and other projects from the past and present. Describe how the proposed Swarm Sprint effort is revolutionary and how it significantly rises above the current state-of-the-art.

Describe the deliverables associated with the proposed project and any plans for further the work. Discuss the mitigation of any issues related to sustainment of the technology over its entire lifecycle, assuming the technology transition plan is successful.

iv. Technical Approach:

Describe the plan to meet the Swarm Sprint objectives. Clearly explain how the objectives will be met within the schedule available. Describe the expected physical capabilities of the swarm platforms (computing, sensing, mobility, etc.) needed to enact the tactics. Define the communication assumptions (including SWAP, topology, bandwidth, number of nodes connected, etc.).

v. Personnel, Qualifications, and Commitments:

Provide the qualifications of the proposed team and proposed personnel. The proposer shall identify key personnel by name and include a description of their role.

Short resumes may be provided for the Program Manager and Principal Investigator, as well as any other personnel deemed critical to the successful performance of the program. (These resumes may be submitted in an appendix that is not counted against the 10-page limit; however, each resume may be no longer than two pages).

The proposer shall also identify the number of hours committed for each of these key personnel in the program. DARPA requires key personnel identified in the proposal to be assigned as proposed, and the resulting contract/agreement will indicate no substitution shall be made without prior approval of the Government.

vi. Relevance to DARPA Mission:

Describe the relevance of the proposed OFFSET integration design to the DARPA mission. In particular, the proposer should describe the relevance of their OFFSET Swarm System to potential future swarm applications, including development of concepts of operations for use of the proposed OFFSET system. The proposer should characterize the level of technology maturity that will be achieved if their proposed program is successful and outline the remaining activities that would be required to fully mature OFFSET for transition efforts.

Potential considerations for longer-term sustainment of the OFFSET-developed capabilities, to include maintenance and/or sustainment of the swarm system developer community fostered throughout the OFFSET program, would highlight avenues for continued development and follow-on engagement that is of interest to the Government.

vii. Intellectual Property {no page limit}:

DARPA requires sufficient Government rights to intellectual property developed to enable the Government to: 1) flexibly brief Government stakeholders regarding technical progress and accomplishments, 2) allow validation of technical performance, capabilities, and accomplishments by independent technical (potentially non-Government) experts, 3) facilitate discussion of technical challenges and applications with the broader technical community, 4) support wargaming and analyses of alternatives, and 5) support transition opportunities, including design and performance data required to support other acquisition activities. It is anticipated that these latter activities will require the Government to conduct independent analyses, development, and assessments. DARPA anticipates needing Government Purpose Rights (GPR) and expects that much of the Swarm Sprinter development will leverage free/open source resources.

Proposers responding to this solicitation shall identify all data that it plans to furnish to the Government under any negotiated Other Transaction agreement in which the Government will receive less than unlimited rights and assert specific restrictions on that data. Proposers shall follow the format described below for this stated purpose.

In the event that proposers do not submit the list, the Government will assume that it automatically has “Unlimited Rights” to all data generated, developed, and/or delivered under an OT, unless it is substantiated that development of the data occurred with private or mixed funding. If mixed funding is anticipated in the development of data generated, developed, and/or delivered under an OT agreement, then proposers may consider identifying the data in question as subject to Government Purpose Rights.

For any items for which the proposer asserts data rights less than unlimited rights, the proposer shall describe the impact of the GPR or limited rights assertion. In other words, the proposer should describe what data the Government will get, how the Government will be able to use it, and describe the impact of this data rights assertion on the Government’s ability to transition the program.

In case of an award, the Government will assume unlimited rights if proposers fail to identify any intellectual property restrictions in their proposals. Include in this section all proprietary claims to results, demonstration systems, deliverables or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results, demonstration systems and/or deliverables. If no restrictions are intended, then the proposer should state “NONE.” It is noted an assertion of “NONE” indicates that the Government has “unlimited rights” to all data delivered.

viii. Statement of Work (SOW) {Limited to 2 pages, not counted against the 10-page Technical Volume limit}:

In plain English, the SOW shall clearly define the technical tasks/subtasks to be performed throughout the life of this program. The SOW shall be detailed to work breakdown structure (WBS) level 2. For each task/subtask, the SOW shall include:

A general description of the objective (for each defined task/activity);

A detailed description of the approach to be taken to accomplish each defined task/activity;

Identification of the primary organization responsible for task execution

(prime, subcontractor, by name, etc.);

The completion criteria for each task/activity, such as a product, event, or milestone that defines its completion; and A definition of all deliverables (reports, data, software, documentation, hardware, demonstration system element, multimedia, etc.) to be provided to the Government in support of the proposed research tasks/activities.

Include expected delivery date for each deliverable.

Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW or include any markings placing limitations on distribution on pages containing the SOW.

ix. Schedule {Limited to 2 pages, not counted against the 10-page Technical Volume limit}:

Include a schedule that graphically provides details all of the proposed program activities. This section should include a detailed schedule showing tasks (including task name, duration, WBS elements), milestones and the interrelationships among tasks. The task structure must be consistent with that in the SOW. Measureable milestones should be clearly articulated and defined in time relative to the start of the project.

x. Milestone and Deliverable Summary Table {Limited to 1 page, not counted against the 10-page Technical Volume limit}:

The Milestone and Deliverable Summary table should break down all proposed major reviews and test events for completing the OFFSET Swarm Sprint and the deliverables associated with the events. A template Milestone and Deliverable Summary Table can be found in Section I.D.

B.1.b. Volume II, Cost Proposal This volume is mandatory and must include all listed components. No page limit is specified for this volume.

The cost proposal should include a working spreadsheet file (.xls or equivalent format) that provides formula traceability among all components of the cost proposal. The spreadsheet file should be included as a separate component of the full proposal package. Costs must be traceable between the prime and subcontractors/consultants, as well as between the cost proposal and the

SOW.

i. Cover Sheet:

All proposers, including FFRDCs and other Government entities, must submit a cover page that follows format provided in Attachment 1.

ii. Cost Summaries Table:

Provide a single-page summary table for the base proposed and option, listing totals for labor, materials, other direct costs (ODCs), indirect costs (overhead, fringe, general and administrative (G&A)), and any proposed fee for the project. Include costs for each task in each fiscal year of the project by prime and major subcontractors, total cost and proposed cost share, if applicable. Proposers should use the template provided in Attachment 2 – Cost Summary and provide all information requested, including Material and Travel break out as shown on the separate tabs of the Excel file.

iii. Cost Details:

The proposer should include supporting cost and pricing information in sufficient detail (e.g., cost for each task by month) to substantiate the summary cost estimates and should include a description of the method used to estimate costs and supporting documentation.

Direct Labor: Provide labor categories, rates, and hours.

Indirect Costs: Identify all indirect cost rates (such as fringe benefits, labor overhead, material overhead, G&A, etc.) and the basis for each.

Materials: Provide an itemized list of all proposed materials, equipment, and supplies for each year, including quantities, unit prices, proposed vendors (if known), and the basis of estimate (e.g., quotes, prior purchases, catalog price lists, etc.).

Travel: Provide a breakout of travel costs, including the purpose and number of trips, origin and destination(s), duration, and number of travelers per trip.

Subcontractor/Consultant Costs: Provide the above information for each proposed subcontractor/consultant. If the proposer has conducted a cost or price analysis to determine reasonableness, submit a copy of this along with the subcontractor proposal.

The proposer is responsible for the compilation and submission of all subcontractor/consultant cost proposals. Proposal submissions will not be considered complete until the Government has received all subcontractor/consultant cost proposals.

Please note that a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) or similar budgetary estimate is not considered a fully qualified subcontract cost proposal submission. Inclusion of a ROM or similar budgetary estimate, or failure to provide a subcontract proposal, will result in the proposal being deemed non-compliant.

Other Direct Costs: Provide an itemized breakout and explanation of all other anticipated direct costs.

iv. Subawardee Proposals The awardee is responsible for compiling and providing all subawardee proposals for the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO)/Agreements Officer (AO), as applicable.

Subawardee proposals should include Interdivisional Work Transfer Agreements (ITWA) or similar arrangements. Where the effort consists of multiple portions that could reasonably be partitioned for purposes of funding, these should be identified as options with separate cost estimates for each.

All proprietary subawardee proposal documentation, prepared at the same level of detail as that required of the awardee’s proposal and that cannot be uploaded with the proposed awardees’s proposal, shall be provided to the Government either by the awardee or by the subawardee organization when the proposal is submitted.

Subawardee proposals submitted to the Government by the proposed awardee should be submitted via DARPA's BAA Website (https://baa.darpa.mil) by the subawardee.

See Section IV.B.4.a. of this BAA for proposal submission information.

v. Other Transaction Requests The Government may award either a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contract or an Other Transaction for Prototype (OT) agreement for prototype system development.

https://baa.darpa.mil/

All proposers requesting an Other Transaction must include a detailed list of milestones. Each milestone must include the following:

milestone description, completion criteria, due date, and payment/funding schedule (to include, if cost share is proposed, awardee and Government share amounts).

It is noted that, at a minimum, milestones should relate directly to accomplishment of program technical metrics as defined in the BAA and/or the proposer’s proposal.

Agreement type, expenditure or fixed-price based, will be subject to negotiation by the Agreements Officer. Do not include proprietary data.

B.2. Proprietary and Security Information B.2.a. Proprietary Markings

Proposers are responsible for clearly identifying proprietary information. Submissions containing proprietary information must have the cover page and each page containing such information clearly marked with a label such as “Proprietary.” NOTE: “Confidential” is a classification marking used to control the dissemination of U.S. Government National Security Information as dictated in Executive Order 13526 and should not be used to identify proprietary business information.

B.2.b. Security Information

i. Program Security Information Proposers should include with their proposal any proposed solution(s) to program security requirements unique to this program. Common program security requirements include but are not limited to: operational security (OPSEC) contracting/sub-contracting plans; foreign participation or materials utilization plans;

program protection plans (which may entail the following) manufacturing and integration plans; range utilization and support plans (air, sea, land, space, and cyber);

data dissemination plans; asset transportation plans; classified test activity plans;

disaster recovery plans; classified material/asset disposition plans and public affairs/communications plans. DARPA does not anticipate this will apply to Swarm Sprinter proposals, but has included these details for completeness if they are needed.

ii. Unclassified Submissions DARPA anticipates that submissions received under this BAA will be unclassified.

However, should a proposer wish to submit classified information, an unclassified e-mail must be sent to the BAA mailbox (OFFSET@darpa.mil) requesting submission instructions from the Technical Office PSO. If a determination is made that the award instrument may result in access to classified information, a SCG and/or DD Form 254 will be issued by DARPA and attached as part of the award.

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), to include For Official Use Only (FOUO) Information, generated and/or provided under this BAA shall be safeguarded and marked as specified in DoD Manual 5200.01 Volume 4, DoD Information Security Program.

When information is controlled by the United States Munitions List (USML), the contractor must abide by the International Traffic Arms Regulation (ITAR) requirements.

iii. Both Classified and Unclassified Submissions DARPA does not anticipate classified content will be required for the Swarm Sprinter proposals; however, the below guidance is provided, if needed. For a proposal that includes both classified and unclassified information, the proposal may be separated into an unclassified portion and a classified portion. The proposal should include as much information as possible in the unclassified portion and use the classified portion ONLY for classified information. The unclassified portion can be submitted through the DARPA BAA Website, per the instructions in Section IV.B.4.a, below. The classified portion must be provided separately – please e-mail the BAA mailbox (OFFSET@darpa.mil) requesting submission instructions from the Technical Office

PSO.

B.2.c. Disclosure of Information and Compliance with Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls

This section is unchanged by this amendment; please refer to initial posting of

BAA# HR001117S0011.

B.3. Additional Proposal Information B.3.a. Human Research Subjects/Animal Use

Proposers that anticipate involving Human Research Subjects or Animal Use must comply with the approval procedures detailed at www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/additional-baa.

B.3.b. Approved Cost Accounting System Documentation Proposers that do not have a Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) complaint accounting system considered adequate for determining accurate costs that are negotiating a cost-type procurement contract must complete an SF 1408. For more information on CAS compliance, see http://www.dcaa.mil/cas.html. To facilitate this process, proposers should complete the SF 1408 found at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/115778 and submit the completed form with the proposal. To complete the form, check the boxes on the second page, then provide a narrative explanation of your accounting system to supplement the checklist on page one. For more information, see http://www.dcaa.mil/preaward_accounting_system_adequacy_checklist.html.

B.3.c. Small Business Subcontracting Plan Pursuant to Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. § 637(d)) and FAR 19.702(a)(1), each proposer who submits a contract proposal and includes subcontractors might be required to submit a subcontracting plan with their proposal. The plan format is outlined in FAR 19.704.

mailto:OFFSET@darpa.mil http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/additional-baa http://www.dcaa.mil/cas.html http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/115778 http://www.dcaa.mil/preaward_accounting_system_adequacy_checklist.html

B.3.d. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 749d)/FAR 39.2 All electronic and information technology acquired or created through this BAA must satisfy the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C § 794d)/FAR 39.2.

B.3.e. Intellectual Property All proposers must provide a good faith representation that the proposer either owns or possesses the appropriate licensing rights to all intellectual property that will be utilized under the proposed effort. The Government desires unlimited data rights for all software source code developed at taxpayer expense so that it can release the software as open-source software (OSS) to implement a software maintenance philosophy of OSS community development (per DFARS 227.7203- 2(b)(1)).

For the purposes of this solicitation, the following definitions for contracting apply:

1) “Unlimited rights” means rights to use, modify, reproduce, perform, display, release, or disclose data in whole or in part, in any manner, and for any purpose whatsoever, and to have or authorize others to do so.

2) “Government purpose rights” means the rights to use, duplicate, or disclose Data, in whole or in part and in any manner, for Government purposes only, and to have or permit others to do so for Government purposes only.

3) “Limited rights” means the rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose data, in whole or in part, within the Government. The Government may not, without the written permission of the party asserting limited rights, release or disclose the data outside the Government, use the data for manufacture, or authorize the data to be used by another party, except that the Government may reproduce, release, or disclose such data or authorize the use or reproduction of the data by persons outside the Government if—

i) The reproduction, release, disclosure, or use is—

(1) Necessary for emergency repair and overhaul; or

(2) A release or disclosure to—

(a) A covered Government support contractor in performance of its covered Government support contract for use, modification, reproduction, performance, display, or release or disclosure to a person authorized to receive limited rights data; or

(b) A foreign government, of data other than detailed manufacturing or process data, when use of such data by the foreign government is in the interest of the Government and is required for evaluation or informational purposes;

ii) The recipient of the data is subject to a prohibition on the further reproduction, release, disclosure, or use of the data; and

iii) The contractor or subcontractor asserting the restriction is notified of such reproduction, release, disclosure, or use.

4) “Data” means recorded information, regardless of form or method of recording, which includes but is not limited to, technical data, software (including executable code), maskworks and trade secrets. The term does not include financial, administrative, cost, pricing or management information and does not include subject inventions.

5) “Covered Government Support Contractor” means a contractor under a contract, the primary purpose of which is to furnish independent and impartial advice or technical assistance directly to the Government in support of the Government’s management and oversight of a program or effort (rather than to directly furnish an end item or service to accomplish a program or effort), provided that the contractor:

i) Is not affiliated with the prime contractor or a first-tier subcontractor on the program or effort, or with any direct competitor of such prime contractor or any such first-tier subcontractor in furnishing end items or services of the type developed or produced on the program or effort; and

ii) Receives access to Data for performance of a Government contract.

iii) Enters into a nondisclosure agreement with the Performer, if required.

i. For Procurement Contracts Proposers responding to this BAA requesting procurement contracts will need to complete the…