HR001117S0011-Amendment-02.pdf

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 1

Broad Agency Announcement OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) Amendment 2 – Swarm Sprint 2 Tactical Technology Office (TTO)

HR001117S0011

March 26, 2018

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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 2

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 | Systems Enablers for Enhanced Swarm Autonomy

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 (updated)

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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 3

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 ... 34 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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 4

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: March 26, 2018 o Proposal Due: April 30, 2018, 1300 (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 development and integration of systems enablers for enhanced swarm autonomy 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 swarm sprint call. No individual award is anticipated to be above $450K (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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 5

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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 6

• 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.

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 7

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 six months, with an additional three-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

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 8

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 second Core Swarm Sprint. (No Ad Hoc Swarm Sprints are being announced in this amendment.)

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 9

D.1. Core Sprint | Systems Enablers for Enhanced Swarm Autonomy

D.1.a. Swarm Sprint Description

i. Swarm Autonomy Description Various autonomous capabilities for individual unmanned platforms have achieved a level of maturity that allows system designers to take some aspects of autonomy as given. For example, obstacle avoidance, path-planning, waypoint navigation, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) are examples of autonomous behaviors that all have stable and actively used implementations available in Robot Operating System (ROS) or other open-source projects. For the large swarms of vehicles envisioned by the OFFSET program, these agent-level autonomous behaviors provide a foundation for the swarm-level autonomy upon which this Swarm Sprint will build. Swarm Sprinters will leverage existing or develop new sensors, algorithms, and/or primitives to enable novel capabilities only attainable through or dramatically enriched by the use of swarm systems architectures. Proposers responding to this Swarm Sprint solicitation should address one or both of the following questions:

1. What disruptive new capabilities does the proposed technology provide to a swarm?

2. How does the proposed technology scale to provide exponential advantage by implementing it in a swarm?

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

Sprint At-A-Glance Name: Systems Enablers for Enhanced Swarm Autonomy Thrust Area:

Purpose:

Swarm Autonomy Develop and integrate systems enablers for enhanced swarm autonomy, including both hardware and software along with associated swarm tactics, swarm primitives, and swarm algorithms

Figure 2: Enabling disruptive and scalable swarm capabilities through enhanced swarm autonomy

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 10

• Swarm Platform Enhancements: Novel applications of sensors, actuators, and effectors to enable new swarm system capabilities. Platform enhancement proposals should include development of realistic or surrogate models to be integrated into the OFFSET game-based simulations, as well as either (a) plans for integration into one or both of the Swarm Systems Integrators’ physical platforms, or (b) design and performance specification of platform requirements for future integration, if not currently feasible. Integration plans should include approximate cost estimates per unit and minimum required swarm sizes and/or compositions to achieve the proposed swarm capability.

• Autonomy Elements Enhancements: Novel design of autonomy elements to take advantage of swarm architectures to enable new capabilities or to achieve greater efficiency, efficacy, or resiliency. Enhanced autonomy elements proposals should include development and integration of novel swarm algorithms and/or swarm primitives into the OFFSET game-based simulations and outline integration plans for implementation in OFFSET swarm platforms. The computation costs and communications requirements imposed on the swarm systems platforms by the proposed technologies should be clearly articulated.

Swarm Sprinters will be leveraging Swarm Systems 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. Proposals that focus their enhanced swarm autonomy on these operational contexts and on enabling advanced existing or future potential swarm tactics are highly encouraged.

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

ii. Urban Context Description 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. The OFFSET program will conduct field experiments at a six-month heartbeat, and as the experiments continue, BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 11 the environments will become more complex and the scope and time for each experiment will grow. Experiment environments will begin at the size of two square blocks and progress up to a size of eight square blocks. Vignette details are included in Table 2. Swarm Autonomy Swarm Sprinters are encouraged to propose enhanced swarm autonomy capabilities applicable across all vignettes, though a focus on a particular vignette is acceptable.

Figure 3: Varying types of illustrative urban terrains: (left to right) high-rise, commercial corridors, and residential sprawl

Referencing Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 12-10B.1, 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

Vignettes 2 and 3 extend to the latter two phases, which can be described as:

• Secure a Foothold: Providing the attacking force with a position from which they can continue the assault through the objective area

• Seize the Objective: Pushing forces to clear or control the objective area, including consolidation of the objective area and reorganization for future tasking

For illustrative purposes, consider the following narrative scenario of a representative mission that spans the OFFSET vignettes:

http://www.marines.mil/News/Publications/MCPEL/Electronic-Library-Display/Article/900535/mcrp-12-10b1-formerly-mcwp-3-353/

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A rifle company is tasked with taking and holding a block of structures in a built-up urban area. They must isolate, attack, and hold a series of buildings as part of a coordinated battalion-level effort to take the city. Using intelligence, the company commander prioritizes the target buildings and assigns platoons to each urban objective.

Each platoon, deploying from their assembly area, must maneuver to the objective area, conduct reconnaissance, and secure a perimeter to interdict enemy manpower, supplies, and communications. The company and attached elements provide support for each platoon action, including direct or indirect fires.

Individual squads from the platoons must seize each building, searching for enemy combatants, improvised explosives devices, and other hazards while attempting to minimize the risks to fellow warfighters and non-combatants.

Once the urban objectives have been secured, the company must prepare for counter offensives by establishing security and communications, clearing fields of fire, selecting fighting positions, and establishing routes between positions.

D.1.b. Technical Description OFFSET is broadly interested in enhancements to the current baseline of hardware and software systems capabilities to demonstrate near-term advances in swarm autonomy as well as to facilitate future potential breakthroughs within the OFFSET development ecosystem. Of particular interest are those proposals that may unlock the greatest potential for disrupting current operational paradigms found by specifically enhancing the swarm autonomy for swarm systems in the context of complex urban environments.

Proposals must clearly articulate how the swarm enhances or enables their proposed contributions to provide new capabilities. The Government is particularly interested in the scaling effects of the swarm autonomy; proposals that show significantly better-than-linear scaling in swarm mission performance are of great interest. In keeping with the agile development and integration vision of OFFSET, proposals should describe in detail an integration/evolution path to realize the proposed capabilities within a six-month sprint timeline. Proposals that offer longer development horizons may be considered, but require compelling arguments detailing why their inclusion in this sprint would benefit the OFFSET virtual and/or physical testbeds, as well as an estimated timeline for integration into one or both of the OFFSET Swarm Systems Integrator architecture(s).

Potential Swarm Sprinters may propose innovations by either (a) enhancing or augmenting current baseline platform hardware components available in the OFFSET virtual and/or physical testbeds or (b) expanding current baseline autonomy components of swarm tactics (i.e., existing or proposed swarm primitives and/or swarm algorithms). Both technical approaches will necessarily involve integration with the OFFSET game-based virtual environments as well as demonstration of the proposed innovations (possibly only in simulation but preferably including physical experiments).

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 13

Swarm Platform Enhancements to Enable Advances in Swarm Autonomy Swarm platform enhancement proposals should provide novel applications of sensors, actuators, or effectors to enable new swarm autonomy capabilities and should provide detailed descriptions of their hardware enhancements in context of the enabled capabilities and their utility in urban operations. Innovation claims of newly enabled or dramatically enhanced swarm autonomy should be rigorously articulated, i.e., any potential revolutionary swarm tactics enabled by the proposed technology should be highlighted and detailed. Platform enhancement proposals should include integration plans for introducing the proposed hardware and associated software for one or both of the Swarm Systems Integrator architectures, as well as software and virtual model integration plans for the Swarm Systems Integrators’ game-based environments.

Proposers should focus on how their technical approaches specifically accentuate the advantages of a swarm in dramatically improving the capabilities of the base technology. Illustrative examples (not an exhaustive list) of such capabilities include concepts relating to: new sensors to enhance collaborative environment understanding; mobile robotic arms for distributed manipulation; novel non-RF-based communications and signaling; or distributed kinetic effects in support of collective actions such as breaching or smoke screening.

Given the limited timeframe for the Swarm Sprint, novel uses of existing technologies are highly encouraged. Swarm platform enhancement proposals should ideally be physically realizable in the context of current OFFSET swarm platforms; however, proposals that focus on virtual integration may be considered if the physical integration is not feasible during the Swarm Sprint timeframe (e.g., the hardware is not available in quantities required).

Proposals should provide rough-order-of-magnitude estimates for the cost of their technologies per unit of the swarm, as well as estimates for the minimum swarm sizes and/or swarm compositions of the swarm where the effects of the proposed capabilities are best manifested.

Discussion of the impact of the proposed platform enhancement to the swarm platform in terms of durability, power consumption, communications requirements, etc. are highly encouraged.

Proposers should also indicate the required level of integration with the swarm platforms, i.e., whether the technologies must be tightly integrated into the swarm platforms, or if modular packages can be added or removed as needed.

Autonomy Elements Enhancements to Enable Advances in Swarm Autonomy Proposers emphasizing the development of enhanced autonomy elements may consider scaling existing autonomy algorithms or creating new algorithms to take advantage of swarm architectures to enable new capabilities or to achieve greater efficiency, efficacy, and/or resiliency. Such approaches should consider the existing hardware-based capabilities of the testbeds and seek to advance what is possible with what is presently available. Efforts should provide rigorous characterizations of their swarm algorithms and/or swarm primitives in the context of the swarm mission vignettes of interest to OFFSET. For example, based on computational complexity and/or simulation analysis of proposed technologies, what limitations do they impose on the swarm, such as time latency of execution completion (which may limit achievable operational tempos) or scaling with the size of the swarm (which may limit number of manageable sub-swarms).

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 14

Proposers should focus on how their technical approaches specifically benefit the swarm’s ability to deliver expanded or novel swarm capabilities. Illustrative examples (not an exhaustive list) of such capabilities include concepts relating to: decentralized robust decision-making; adaptive multi-agent path planning; algorithms for distributed perception and sensor fusion; network security and resiliency in adversarial settings; or distributed spatio-temporal signal detection and classification.

Enhanced autonomy elements proposals should include development and integration of new swarm algorithms and swarm primitives into the OFFSET game-based simulations. Clear technical integration plans and details on the required level of integration into OFFSET’s current swarm systems architectures should be provided. Additional considerations to be addressed include analysis and estimates of the computation costs and communications requirements imposed on the swarm systems platforms by the proposed technologies. These considerations reflect the real-world constraints of operating in the challenging urban environment relevant to the OFFSET vignettes as well as the types of small robotic platforms with limited computational and communications capabilities. Proposals that incorporate solutions or mitigations to these issues in their enhanced swarm autonomy elements are of particular interest.

Proposed technologies that are not capable of being supported by the swarm systems currently provided by the Swarm Systems Integrators are acceptable, but such proposals should clearly specify technical requirements for the swarm systems and/or interfaces that would enable implementation of the proposed innovations in the future.

Swarm Systems Architecture(s) Integration Proposals for both swarm platform enhancements and autonomy element enhancements that can be integrated with the physical testbeds for the capabilities-based experimentation are preferred.

The OFFSET program focuses on swarms of small human-portable unmanned assets in the Group 1 UAS class and small robotic ground platforms. Swarm platform enhancements for this Swarm Sprint should be reasonably feasible to integrate into a swarm comprising 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. Autonomy element enhancements should be reasonably feasible to execute using common low-cost embedded computers (e.g., ODroid XU4, Jetson TX1/TX2), COTS sensors (e.g., cameras), and low-SWaP communication solutions (e.g., WiFi networking). Proposals for technology that require resources beyond these limitations are acceptable but should propose a testbed or experiment that would demonstrate the benefit of their technology for swarms. Replicating and validating the capability in simulations to show how the proposed technology could be deployed once the SWaP requirements are met is also acceptable.

The Swarm Systems Integrators’ architectures offer extensible and open interfaces, such as the Robot Operating System (ROS), to facilitate integration and interoperability across multiple Swarm Systems 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 technologies into one or both architectures. Swarm Sprinters are highly encouraged to make use

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 15

of the Swarm Integrator Portals (see more details below) to acquire more specific details about each Swarm Systems Integrator’s software and hardware interfaces. Swarm Sprinters are encouraged to consider development of their proposed innovations in both Swarm Systems Integrator architectures, if feasible. However, proposals focusing efforts on a single architecture are acceptable and should specifically highlight which distinguishing features between the architectures inspire or require preferential development.

Swarm Integrator Portals are public websites developed and maintained by the respective Swarm Systems Integrators. These online portals provide up-to-date information on currently available swarm systems technologies, including specifications of platform hardware components, software application programming interfaces (APIs), and simulation environment usage documentation.

The Swarm Integrator Portals also provide community features that allow the broader swarm research and development community to interact with the Swarm Systems Integrator teams.

Swarm Sprinters are encouraged to engage with the Swarm Systems Integrator teams to facilitate their technology integration plans. Details for the Swarm Systems Integrators and links to the Swarm Integrator Portals can be found on the DARPA OFFSET landing page at https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/offensive-swarm-enabled-tactics.

D.1.c. Programmatic Description This Swarm Sprint is envisioned as a six-month base period-of-performance plus three-month option effort for Swarm Autonomy capability development. Included in this six-month base effort is the use and integration with one or both of the Swarm Systems Integrator architectures. The proposed level of effort should clearly state and reflect the proposer’s technical and program management approach to integrate their proposed contributions with one or both of the Swarm Systems Integrators’ architectures.

The focus of the option period is to, if exercised, facilitate integration and demonstration of the proposed technologies in an upcoming OFFSET capability-based experimentation event, anticipated to occur in Spring 2019. For physically realizable proposals, this effort will involve the development of or inclusion within appropriate experimental contexts to showcase the technology as integrated into the OFFSET swarm experimentation scenarios. For virtual-only integrations, this effort will include development and implementation of surrogate techniques (i.e., fiducials) to physically simulate and/or stimulate the proposed technology within the experimentation scenarios. Hence, proposals should include a costed option that addresses additional integration efforts, to include: active participation in experiment planning with Swarm Systems Integrators and Government teams; working with Swarm Systems Integrator(s) to incorporate and test their technologies; and further development, engineering support, documentation, and associated travel to the experimentation venue. (For planning purposes, consider travel to an east coast test site.)

https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/offensive-swarm-enabled-tactics

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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

Swarm Autonomy Software

Every two (2) months after contract award

Contractor format

Provide latest versions of software (i.e., source code) and supporting dependencies as appropriate, which should include clear and usable 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.

Integration Plan One (1) month after contract award

Contractor format

Detail how the Swarm Sprint efforts will develop within the context of one or both Swarm Systems Integrators’ architectures and interfaces. This document should reflect firm technical understanding, tasks, and schedule of integration activities, including engagement with Swarm Integrators.

Progress Report Monthly Microsoft PowerPoint

Include a summary of results and technical accomplishments, planned actions for the next reporting period, graphical representations of work being completed, and all relevant financial information

Technical Data Package

15 days prior to contract end

Contractor format

Provide any supporting and generated technical data, to include: simulation elements, e.g., 3D graphics and models;

benchmark sensor datasets; and simulation validation analysis and results

Final Report 15 days prior to contract end

Microsoft Word

Provide a detailed description of the developed technologies and impact on demonstrated and potential swarm capabilities. The report should also provide a detailed quantitative analysis of relevant metrics, to include, e.g., overall swarm performance, ease of integration, and extensibility of the developed technologies.

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 17

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.

https://www.fbo.gov/

BAA# HR001117S0011 AMENDMENT 2 OFFENSIVE SWARM-ENABLED TACTICS (OFFSET) 18

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 Slides o Attachment 4 – Administrative and National Policy Requirements o Attachment 5 – Transition Accelerator Tasks Template

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 Slides (Attachment 3) Relevance to DARPA Mission Milestones and Deliverables Summary Table Schedule Cost Summary Spreadsheet (Attachment 2) Statement of Work

Results and Technology Transfer (includes Attachment 5)

Intellectual Property Resume(s)

Administrative and National Policy Requirements Document (Attachment 4)

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.

http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

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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

ii. Official Transmittal Letter

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

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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. Results and Technology Transfer (Accelerator) {Optional and limited to two

(2) pages, not counted against the 10-page Technical Volume limit}:

Proposals should include an optional costed option associated with building a viable transition plan. Successful transition is incredibly important under the OFFSET program, especially given the program’s interest in leveraging and creating breakthrough technology developments. It is critical to design a transition plan for further maturing the technology and moving it from the developer to commercial and DoD users.

Interested proposers should describe their initial hypothesis on how this technology will transition from research to market and DoD impact. Describe what would be sold, who would make it, who would buy it, and what impact it would have. Proposals may include this optional costed option associated with building a viable transition plan. See Attachment 5.

viii. 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

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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 (OT) 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.

ix. Statement of Work (SOW) {Limited to two (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.

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

x. Schedule {Limited to two (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.

xi. Milestone and Deliverable Summary Table {Limited to one (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.1.d.

xii. Administrative and National Policy Requirements Document (Attachment 4):

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…