HR001117S0014-Amendment-01.pdf

HR001117S0014

Broad Agency Announcement

Innovative Systems for Military Missions

Tactical Technology Office

HR001117S0014

February 22, 2018

AMENDMENT 1

Contents

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Overview B. TTO Focus Areas

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

V. Application Review Information A. Evaluation Criteria B. Review and Selection Process

VI. Award Administration Information A. Selection Notices B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements C. Reporting D. Electronic Systems

VII. Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

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

Funding Opportunity Title – Innovative Systems for Military Missions Announcement Type – Initial Announcement Funding Opportunity Number – HR001117S0014 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) – 12.910

Research and Technology Development Dates – o Posting Date: 12 June, 2017 o Proposal Due Date: 11 June, 2018

Concise description of the funding opportunity – The Tactical Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is soliciting executive summaries, white papers and proposals for advanced research, development and demonstration of innovative systems for military missions.

Anticipated individual awards – Multiple awards are anticipated.

Types of instruments that may be awarded -- Procurement (FAR-based) contract, grant, cooperative agreement or other transaction.

Agency contact – The BAA Coordinator for this effort can be reached via:

HR001117S0014@darpa.mil

DARPA/Tactical Technology Office ATTN:

HR001117S0014

675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

PHONE: (703) 248-1512

mailto:HR001117S0014@darpa.mil

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) often selects its research efforts through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) process. The BAA will first appear on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website, http://www.fbo.gov/, and Grants.gov website at http://www.grants.gov/. It will then appear on the agency website, http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities. The following information is for those wishing to respond to the BAA.

A. Program Overview The Tactical Technology Office (TTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency (DARPA) is soliciting executive summaries, white papers and proposals for advanced research, development and demonstration of innovative systems for military missions.

Innovative systems are platforms, weapons, integrated systems or critical systems components that often incorporate emerging advanced technologies and enable revolutionary improvements to the capability, efficiency and effectiveness of the military.

This solicitation focuses on the very high payoff, high risk development, integration, demonstration, and evaluation of innovative systems or critical systems components enabled by, and incorporating, new or emerging technologies. Proposed efforts must also show significant promise to provide the U.S. military with revolutionary new mission capabilities, enable significant increases in mission effectiveness, or dramatically reduce system costs.

TTO’s mission is to develop prototype platforms, systems, and technologies which explore, design, develop, and test revolutionary military capabilities. Whether on the ground, at sea, in the air, in space, or bridging these domains, TTO platforms and systems are intended to create or prevent strategic and tactical surprise by placing revolutionary new capabilities in the hands of U.S. forces, and to drive potential adversaries to field costly countermeasures or accept U.S. advantage. Innovative system concepts of interest to TTO typically address emerging technical opportunities, advanced systems concepts, emergent threats, or new technology-enabled concepts of operation.

TTO seeks to “invert the cost equation,” by forcing adversaries to expend substantial resources to counter U.S. capabilities inside adversary acquisition cycle timelines. To be successful, TTO stresses the overwhelming importance of finding ways to simultaneously reduce the cost of developing, testing, fielding, and sustaining weapon systems, while drastically shortening the amount of time between identifying a warfighter need and deploying a capability to the field.

For all domains, TTO favors agile time-to-market driven approaches for systems development, which explicitly employ “design-to-cost” methods and whenever possible, leverage commercial capabilities. TTO strongly encourages respondents to adopt a complete systems engineering approach, which addresses life-cycle costs and impacts on logistics when considering mission application.

In addition, respondents should include consideration of TTO’s focus on cross-cutting capabilities, examples of which include:

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

Agile hardware and software development to promote rapid prototyping;

Cooperative autonomy (e.g., manned/unmanned teaming);

Cross-domain collaboration, integration, data sharing, and distributed command and control;

Innovative power and propulsion schemes; and

Disruptive architectural concepts leveraging commercial capabilities to reduce both investment and recurring costs and greatly compress the cycle of innovation.

TTO adheres to DARPA’s mission of developing breakthrough technologies in advance of stated military requirements. As such, TTO is explicitly not interested in approaches or technologies that offer incremental or evolutionary advancements beyond state-of-the-art.

B. TTO Focus Areas

1. Ground Systems Threats facing ground forces continue to grow in scale, speed, complexity, sophistication, and ubiquity of location, especially as operations encroach into increasingly urban and densely populated areas. Existing ground based systems suffer a multitude of challenges including distributing operations across expanding areas and domains; fighting for control and use of the electromagnetic spectrum; leveraging autonomy for decision-making and awareness; surviving kinetic and cyber engagements; and effectively applying lethal effects and efficiently scaling size, weight, and power (SWaP) for endurance.

TTO seeks breakthrough systems and technologies to define the next generation of ground combat systems and dramatically enhance the capabilities of the soldier and squad by an order of magnitude. TTO is interested in enhancing the lethality, mobility, logistics, performance, health, and survivability of individual soldiers and the capability to operate as small units in complex environments. TTO is interested in the aggregate performance improvement of the combat squad in the conduct of their mission to include mobility, robotics/unmanned systems, weapons, sensing, and communications. TTO also seeks advanced lethality, protection, autonomy, and propulsion concepts for manned and unmanned vehicle systems. TTO has special interest in platform systems that leverage the advantages of speed, non-attribution, and surprise in tactical environments, and by applying precise, concentrated force against high-value targets.

2. Maritime Systems TTO is interested in new technologies that significantly advance the functionality, performance envelope and modalities of current maritime and undersea operations, especially approaches that mitigate the shortcomings of distributed operation while concentrating effects as needed. This includes innovation in multi-platform, cross-domain combined arms to enhance sub-surface and surface maritime presence and operational capability; transformational system designs for tactical operations in dynamic and adverse weather conditions; long-range weapons systems with low latency targeting updates; swarming maritime systems and technologies; and high data rate, reliable, secure communication techniques.

3. Air Systems TTO is interested in air system technologies that support the full spectrum of cross-domain combat operations, including hypersonic systems, novel air vehicles, and X-plane demonstrator technologies that encompass air breathing and non-air-breathing propulsion concepts. TTO seeks to develop platforms that support operations executed in a low-profile manner aimed at achieving the advantage of speed in tactical environments, surprise, and the application of overwhelming force against specified targets. TTO is interested in manned-unmanned teaming in collaborative air systems and operations. Technologies that enable an innovative, cost effective and efficient means to detect, track, identify and engage low, slow and small UAVs within operationally relevant environments (urban, tactical, and strategic domains) are also of interest to TTO.

4. Space Systems TTO is interested in disrupting the traditional approach to the development and fielding of satellites and other space systems, which historically have resulted in lengthy acquisition cycles and very high cost – reducing our ability to innovate, upgrade, and respond to or deter adversary threats.

TTO’s focus on affordable, rapid fielding of space platforms includes: hyper-resilient space architectures based on emerging commercial systems; highly autonomous satellites and constellations incorporating robotics; approaches that radically reduce launch costs and improve throughput, especially for small systems (i.e., less than 1,000 kilograms); novel, low-cost approaches to obtain persistent, global coverage of the earth and near-earth space; improved survivability of individual space assets; approaches to improving space situational awareness and command and control that integrate with the air, maritime, and ground domains; and high-performance power generation and propulsion capabilities for launch systems, satellites, and other platforms, enabling freedom of movement between air and space domains and across orbital regimes.

5. Cross-Domain Systems TTO is interested in technologies, which address the “seams” between domains that potential adversaries may target. TTO is investing in approaches that aim to dramatically improve this integration, focusing on demonstrations and programs, which validate revolutionary precision engagement capabilities. This includes: the development of persistent, global surveillance architectures; real-time data updates, at scale; provision of real-time, decision quality information; and the demonstration of novel approaches that support rapid and affordable integration.

TTO is interested in swarm technologies to enhance cross-domain (air, ground, maritime, space) combat operations including: collaborative manned and unmanned guidance, control, and artificial intelligence; swarm behavior that enables cooperative cross-cueing techniques for enhanced navigation, localization, and targeting; and model-based approaches to autonomy, including swarming, counter-swarming, multi-platform coordination, and multi-modal human interaction optimized for operations within complex environments.

II. Award Information A. General Award Information Multiple awards are anticipated. The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. In general, initial awards are anticipated to be for less than $1 million and less than 18 months duration, although options that follow the base effort may also be proposed.

The Government reserves the right to select for negotiation all, some, one, or none of the proposals received in response to this solicitation and to make awards without discussions with proposers. The Government also reserves the right to conduct discussions if it is later determined to be necessary. If warranted, portions of resulting awards may be segregated into pre-priced options. Additionally, DARPA reserves the right to accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award. In the event that DARPA desires to award only portions of a proposal, negotiations may be opened with that proposer. The Government reserves the right to fund proposals in phases with options for continued work, as applicable.

Awards under this BAA will be made to proposers on the basis of the evaluation criteria listed below (see section labeled “Application Review Information,” Section V.), and program balance to provide overall value to the Government. The Government reserves the right to request any additional, necessary documentation once it makes the award instrument determination. Such additional information may include but is not limited to Representations and Certifications (see Section VI.B.4, “Representations and Certifications”). The Government reserves the right to remove proposals from award consideration, should the parties fail to reach agreement on award terms, conditions, and/or cost/price within a reasonable time, or the proposer fails to provide requested additional information in a timely manner. Proposals identified for negotiation may result in a procurement contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction, depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, whether or not the research is classified as Fundamental Research, and other factors. Any requests for or assumptions regarding Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) or Government Furnished Information (GFI) should be clearly stated in the proposal.

Proposers looking for innovative, commercial-like contractual arrangements are encouraged to consider requesting Other Transactions. To understand the flexibility and options associated with Other Transactions, consult www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management#OtherTransactions.

In all cases, the Government contracting officer shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type, regardless of instrument type proposed, and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with selectees. DARPA will apply publication or other restrictions, as necessary, if it determines that the research resulting from the proposed effort will present a high likelihood of disclosing performance characteristics of military systems or manufacturing technologies that are unique and critical to defense. Any award resulting from such a determination will include a requirement for DARPA permission before publishing any information or results on the program. For more information on publication restrictions, see the section below on Fundamental Research.

B. Fundamental Research It is DoD policy that the publication of products of fundamental research will remain unrestricted to the maximum extent possible. National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189 defines fundamental research as follows:

http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management#OtherTransactions http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/contract-management#OtherTransactions

‘Fundamental research’ means basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary research and from industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons.

As of the date of publication of this BAA, the Government cannot identify whether the work under this BAA may be considered fundamental research and may award both fundamental and non-fundamental research.

Proposers should indicate in their proposal whether they believe the scope of the research included in their proposal is fundamental or not. While proposers should clearly explain the intended results of their research, the Government shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with selectees. Appropriate clauses will be included in resultant awards for non-fundamental research to prescribe publication requirements and other restrictions, as appropriate. This clause can be found at www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/additional-baa.

For certain research projects, it may be possible that although the research being performed by the awardee is restricted research, a subawardee may be conducting fundamental research. In those cases, it is the awardee’s responsibility to explain in their proposal why its subawardee’s effort is fundamental research

III. Eligibility Information A. Eligible Applicants All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA.

1. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and Government Entities

a) FFRDCs FFRDCs are subject to applicable direct competition limitations and cannot propose to this BAA in any capacity unless they meet the following conditions: (1) FFRDCs must clearly demonstrate that the proposed work is not otherwise available from the private sector. (2) FFRDCs must provide a letter on official letterhead from their sponsoring organization citing the specific authority establishing their eligibility to propose to Government solicitations and compete with industry, and their compliance with the associated FFRDC sponsor agreement’s terms and conditions. This information is required for FFRDCs proposing to be awardees or subawardees.

All proposers are expected to address transition; transition is part of the evaluation criteria in Section V.A. However, given their special status, FFRDCs should describe how and when a proposed technology/system will transition to which Non-FFRDC organization(s).

http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/additional-baa

b) Government Entities Government Entities (e.g., Government/National laboratories, military educational institutions, etc.) are subject to applicable direct competition limitations. Government entities must clearly demonstrate that the work is not otherwise available from the private sector and provide written documentation citing the specific statutory authority and contractual authority, if relevant, establishing their ability to propose to Government solicitations.

c) Authority and Eligibility At the present time, DARPA does not consider 15 U.S.C. § 3710a to be sufficient legal authority to show eligibility. While 10 U.S.C.§ 2539b may be the appropriate statutory starting point for some entities, specific supporting regulatory guidance, together with evidence of agency approval, will still be required to fully establish eligibility. DARPA will consider FFRDC and Government entity eligibility submissions on a case-by-case basis; however, the burden to prove eligibility for all team members rests solely with the proposer.

2. Non-U.S. Organizations and/or Individuals Non-U.S. organizations and/or individuals may participate to the extent that such participants comply with any necessary nondisclosure agreements, security regulations, export control laws, and other governing statutes applicable under the circumstances.

3. Classified Proposals For classified proposals, applicants will ensure all industrial, personnel, and information systems processing security requirements are in place and at the appropriate level (e.g., Facility Clearance Level (FCL), Automated Information Security (AIS), Certification and Accreditation (C&A), and any Foreign Ownership Control and Influence (FOCI) issues are mitigated prior to submission. Additional information on these subjects can be found at http://www.dss.mil.

B. Organizational Conflicts of Interest FAR 9.5 Requirements

In accordance with FAR 9.5, proposers are required to identify and disclose all facts relevant to potential OCIs involving the proposer’s organization and any proposed team member (subawardee, consultant). Under this Section, the proposer is responsible for providing this disclosure with each proposal submitted to the BAA. The disclosure must include the proposer’s, and as applicable, proposed team member’s OCI mitigation plan. The OCI mitigation plan must include a description of the actions the proposer has taken, or intends to take, to prevent the existence of conflicting roles that might bias the proposer’s judgment and to prevent the proposer from having unfair competitive advantage. The OCI mitigation plan will specifically discuss the disclosed OCI in the context of each of the OCI limitations outlined in FAR 9.505-1 through FAR 9.505-4.

Agency Supplemental OCI Policy In addition, DARPA has a supplemental OCI policy that prohibits contractors/performers from concurrently providing Scientific Engineering Technical Assistance (SETA), Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) or similar support services and being a technical performer.

Therefore, as part of the FAR 9.5 disclosure requirement above, a proposer must affirm whether http://www.dss.mil/ the proposer or any proposed team member (subawardee, consultant) is providing SETA, A&AS, or similar support to any DARPA office(s) under: (a) a current award or subaward; or (b) a past award or subaward that ended within one calendar year prior to the proposal’s submission date.

If SETA, A&AS, or similar support is being or was provided to any DARPA office(s), the proposal must include:

The name of the DARPA office receiving the support;

The prime contract number;

Identification of proposed team member (subawardee, consultant) providing the support; and An OCI mitigation plan in accordance with FAR 9.5.

Government Procedures In accordance with FAR 9.503, 9.504 and 9.506, the Government will evaluate OCI mitigation plans to avoid, neutralize or mitigate potential OCI issues before award and to determine whether it is in the Government’s interest to grant a waiver. The Government will only evaluate OCI mitigation plans for proposals that are determined selectable under the BAA evaluation criteria and funding availability.

The Government may require proposers to provide additional information to assist the Government in evaluating the proposer’s OCI mitigation plan.

If the Government determines that a proposer failed to fully disclose an OCI; or failed to provide the affirmation of DARPA support as described above; or failed to reasonably provide additional information requested by the Government to assist in evaluating the proposer’s OCI mitigation plan, the Government may reject the proposal and withdraw it from consideration for award.

C. Cost Sharing/Matching Cost sharing is not required; however, it will be carefully considered where there is an applicable statutory condition relating to the selected funding instrument (e.g., for any Other Transactions under the authority of 10 U.S.C. §2371b). Cost sharing is encouraged where there is a reasonable probability of a potential commercial application related to the proposed research and development effort.

IV. Application and Submission Information A. Address to Request Application Package This solicitation contains all information required to submit a proposal. No additional forms, kits, or other materials are needed. This notice constitutes the total solicitation. No additional information is available, except as provided at FBO.gov or Grants.gov, nor will a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) or additional solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for the same will be disregarded.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission Proposers are strongly encouraged to submit an executive summary and, if encouraged, a white paper in advance of a full proposal. A DARPA Program Manager may contact you to further discuss the idea in your executive summary or white paper. This procedure is intended to minimize unnecessary effort and cost in proposal preparation and review.

Regardless of DARPA’s response to an executive summary or a white paper, proposers may submit a full proposal. DARPA will review all full proposals submitted using the published evaluation criteria and without regard to any comments resulting from the review of an executive summary or white paper.

All submissions must be written in English with type not smaller than 12-point font. A page is defined as being no larger than an electronically formatted page of 8.5” by 11.0” with type not smaller than 12 point. Smaller font may be used for figures, tables, and charts. Copies of all documents submitted must be clearly labeled with the DARPA BAA number, proposer organization, and proposal title/proposal short title.

All unclassified concepts submitted electronically through DARPA’s BAA Website must be uploaded as zip files (.zip or .zipx extension). The final zip file should be no greater than 50 MB in size. Only one zip file will be accepted per submission, and submissions not uploaded as zip files will be rejected by DARPA. (Please note that the electronic submission form refers to a “proposal abstract,” which means the white paper described in this document).

Classified submissions and proposals requesting assistance instruments (grants or cooperative agreements) should NOT be submitted through DARPA's BAA Website (https://baa.darpa.mil), though proposers will likely still need to visit https://baa.darpa.mil to register their organization (or verify an existing registration) to ensure the BAA office can verify and finalize their submission. Additionally, an unclassified e-mail must be sent to the BAA mailbox requesting submission instructions for a classified proposal. Please see section IV.B.4.(b) for information regarding classified and partially classified submissions.

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 use the unclassified portion to the maximum extent reasonable. The unclassified portion can be submitted through the DARPA BAA Website, per the instructions above. The classified portion must be submitted separately, according to the instructions outlined in section IV.B.4.(b).

All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit an executive summary, white paper, or full proposal to this BAA, should be directed to HR001117S0014@darpa.mil.

Technical support for DARPA's BAA Website may be reached at BAAT_Support@darpa.mil and is typically available during regular business hours, (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern Time Monday - Friday). Please be sure to send a Courtesy Copy (CC) to the HR001117S0014 mailbox at HR001117S0014@darpa.mil. Proposers using the DARPA BAA Website may encounter heavy traffic on the submission deadline date; it is highly advised that the submission process be started as early as possible.

mailto:%20HR001117S0014@darpa.mil mailto:BAAT_Support@darpa.mil

1. Executive Summary Format Executive summaries are encouraged in advance of submitting white papers and full proposals in order to provide potential proposers with a rapid response to minimize unnecessary effort. Proposers should specifically and clearly address the innovation of their proposed system or subsystem component development, the scientific or technical basis for innovative claims, and the impact of the proposed development on military mission capabilities, efficiency, or effectiveness. The executive summary should be clearly marked “EXECUTIVE SUMMARY,” and the total length shall not exceed one (1) page. All executive summary submissions must be written in narrative form. No formal transmittal letter is required, but submissions must include the organization name, submission title, and technical POC information (e-mail and mailing address). All executive summaries must be written in English.

2. White Paper Format White paper submissions are encouraged in advance of full proposals in order to provide potential proposers with a rapid response and to minimize unnecessary effort.

White papers should follow the same content guideline as described in Sections I and II of Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal (see Section IV.B.3). The cover sheet should be clearly marked “WHITE PAPER,” and the total length should not exceed six (6) pages, excluding cover page, official transmittal letter, and quad chart. The page limitation for white papers includes all figures, tables, and charts. No formal transmittal letter is required.

All white papers must be written in English. The white paper must include a statement of the anticipated Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost and the anticipated duration of the proposed effort.

3. Proposal Format All full proposals must be in the format given below. Nonconforming proposals may be rejected without review. Proposals shall consist of two volumes: 1) Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal (composed of three parts), and 2) Volume II, Cost Proposal. The maximum page limit for Volume I is 30 pages (40 pages if the proposal dollar value is > $1 million). Bracketed numbers by each section listed below denote page limits. The page limitation for full proposals includes all figures, tables, and charts.

Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal, described below, may include an attached bibliography of relevant technical papers or research notes (published and unpublished), which document the technical ideas and approach upon which the proposal is based. Copies of not more than three (3) relevant papers may be included with the submission. The bibliography and attached papers are not included in the page counts given below. The submission of other supporting materials along with the proposals is strongly discouraged and will not be considered for review.

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

DARPA.

a) Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal Section I: Administrative

(a) Cover Sheet to include {no page limit}:

(1) BAA number (HR001117S0014);

(2) Proposal title;

(3) Technical area;

(4) Lead Organization submitting proposal;

(5) Type of organization, selected among the following categories: “LARGE

BUSINESS,” “SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS,” “OTHER SMALL

BUSINESS,” “HBCU,” “MI,” “OTHER EDUCATIONAL,” OR “OTHER

NONPROFIT”;

(6) Other team members (if applicable) and type of organization for each;

(7) Technical point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail (if available);

(8) Administrative point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail (if available);

(9) Total funds requested from DARPA, and the amount of cost share (if any); and

(10) Award instrument requested: cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF), cost-contract – no fee, cost sharing contract – no fee, or other type of procurement contract (specify), grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction;

(11) Place(s) and period(s) of performance;

(12) Summary of the costs of the proposed research, including total base cost, estimates of base cost in each year of the effort, estimates of itemized options in each year of the effort, and cost sharing if relevant;

(13) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) administration office (if known);

(14) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit office (if known);

(15) Date proposal was prepared;

(16) DUNS number;

(17) TIN number;

(18) Cage code (lead organization);

(19) Proposal validity period (minimum 180 days);

(20) Affirmation of existing SETA support contacts (see Part III, Section B). If none, state “none”;

(21) Affirmation of Human Subject Research. If none, state “none”;

(22) Affirmation of Animal Research. If none, state “none”;

(23) Statement of Unique Capability Provided by Government or Government- Funded

Team Member {no page limit};

(24) Per Section III.A – Eligible Applicants, proposals that include Government or

Government-funded entities (i.e., FFRDC’s, National laboratories, etc.) as prime, subcontractor or team member, shall provide a statement that clearly demonstrates the work being provided by the Government or Government- funded entity team member is not otherwise available from the private sector. If none of the team members belongs to a Government or Government-funded entity, then the proposer should state “Not Applicable.”

(b) Table of Contents {no page limit}

Section II: Summary of Proposal {4} Note: The Summary of Proposal should not have any unique information not contained in the Detailed Proposal Information.

(a) Innovation: Succinctly describe the uniqueness and benefits of the proposed research relative to the current state-of-art or alternate approaches. Provide a basic description of the scientific or technical basis for the innovative claims.

(b) Results: Provide a short description of the results, products, transferable technology, and transition path.

(1) Include in this section all proprietary claims to the results, prototypes, intellectual property, or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results, and/or prototype. If there are no proprietary claims, this should be stated. For forms to be completed regarding intellectual property, see Section IV.B.4.i of this BAA. There will be no page limit for the listed forms.

(a) Technical Rationale: Provide a short description of the impact of the proposed development on military mission capabilities, efficiency, or effectiveness.

(1) This section is not intended to expand on the military utility of your concept.

The purpose of this section is to explain why the specific technical approach you chose is superior to other technical approaches.

(2) Proposers responding to this BAA must submit a separate list of all technical data or computer software that will be furnished to the Government with other than unlimited rights. The Government will assume unlimited rights if proposers fail to identify any intellectual property restrictions in their proposals.

(a) Technical Approach: Provide a short description of the technical approach and constructive plan for accomplishment of technical goals in support of innovative claims and deliverable production.

(b) Experience: Describe the unique capabilities of project and corporate team members.

Describe the proposer’s previous accomplishments and work in closely related research areas.

(c) Cost: Cost, schedule and measurable milestones for the proposed research, including estimates of cost for each task in each year of the effort delineated by the prime and major subcontractors, total cost and company cost share, if applicable. (Note: Measurable milestones should capture key development points in tasks and should be clearly articulated and defined in time relative to start of effort.)

(d) Quad Chart: Include in PowerPoint format a quad chart that reflects the content and claims in the proposal. The quadrants should be as follows: (1) proposal picture in the upper left-hand quadrant; (2) proposal description in the upper right-hand quadrant; (3) proposal military impact in the lower left-hand quadrant; and (4) proposal budget and schedule. For full proposals the quad chart will serve as the fourth page.

Section III: Detailed Proposal Information {26 or 36 if proposal is more than one million dollars}

(a) Statement of Work (SOW): In plain English, clearly define the technical tasks/subtasks to be performed, their durations, and dependencies among them. The page length for the SOW will be dependent on the amount of the effort. For each task/subtask, provide the following.

i. Objectives: Provide a general description of the proposal technical objective and a general description of each major task/activity. Provide a detailed description of the uniqueness and benefits of the proposed innovation relative to the current state-of-the-art in DoD, Industry and Academia as applicable.

ii. Technical Approach:

1. Provide a detailed description of the approach to be taken to accomplish each major task/activity in support of innovative claims and deliverable production.

2. Provide a top-level schedule for the major tasks.

3. Where the effort could reasonably be partitioned into an initial and future phases, the future phases should be identified as options.

iii. Exit Criteria: Describe the exit criteria for each major task/activity such as a product, event or milestone that defines its completion.

iv. Deliverables: Define all deliverables (reporting, data, reports, hardware, software, technology, products, etc.) to be provided to the Government in support of the proposed tasks/activities.

Note: It is recommended that the SOW be developed so that each phase of the project is distinct and does not overlap. The SOW is not included as part of the Volume I page limit.

Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW.

(b) Technical Rationale:

i. Provide the technical rationale for the objective requirement, including technology advancements and value-added to DoD capabilities.

ii. Provide technical rationale, scientific basis, and any supporting analysis for the technical approach for each major task/activity.

iii. Provide a comparison of the technical objectives and technical approach with other ongoing research and existing state-of-the-art, indicating advantages and disadvantages of the proposed effort.

(c) Risk: Risk and Risk Reduction.

i. Provide an initial list of critical technology risk areas.

ii. Describe the formal process for identifying and tracking the risk elements that translate into critical and unique technologies, processes and system attributes associated with technology objective.

iii. For each proposed risk reduction task:

1. Provide a detailed discussion of the technical objectives of each of the proposed risk reduction task as well as quantifiable success metrics.

2. Describe the technical approach for each risk reduction task.

3. Describe the value of performing the risk reduction activities during the initial phase, as opposed to deferring them until future phases.

iv. Describe the process for identifying and evaluating applicable technologies available from other Government and industry R&D programs.

(d) Results:

i. Describe the results, products, transferable technology and expected technology transfer/transition paths.

ii. Provide a description of all proprietary claims to the results, prototypes, intellectual property, or systems. If there are no proprietary claims, this should be stated. For forms to be completed regarding intellectual property, see Section IV.B.4.i

– Intellectual Property. There will be no page limit for the listed forms.

(e) Experience: A clearly defined organization chart for the program team which includes, as applicable: (1) the programmatic relationship of team member; (2) the unique capabilities of team members; (3) the task of responsibilities of team members; (4) the teaming strategy among the team members; and (5) the key personnel along with the amount of effort to be expended by each person during each year. 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.

Describe the unique capabilities of project and corporate team members. Describe the proposer’s previous accomplishments and work in closely related research areas.

(f) Facilities: Provide a description of any unique facilities necessary for execution of the proposed effort that would be used for the proposed effort.

(g) Organization:

i. Describe the programmatic relationship of corporate team members.

ii. Describe the responsibilities of corporate and project team members.

iii. Describe the teaming strategy among the team members.

iv. Identify the key personnel by name and include descriptions of their roles.

v. Submit a clearly defined organization chart for the project team.

(h) Project Management:

i. Management Plan:

1. Describe program management process that will be utilized to obtain the technical objective.

2. Include a description of how the team will function and share technical and financial information among the team members and with the Government.

3. Provide short resumes for the key personnel in key disciplines/risk areas.

ii. Schedule: Provide a detailed integrated schedule of all initial phase activities, including risk reduction tasks. Proposals below $1 million should provide an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) at a minimum at WBS Level 2. Proposals that exceed $1 million should provide an IMS at WBS Level 3.

1. Measurable critical milestones should occur every two (2) to three (3) months after start of effort. Additional interim non-critical management milestones are also highly encouraged at regular intervals.

2. Top-level schedules are required for optional phases and should be based on the proposer’s initial risk reduction strategy.

3. Include key events and demonstrations as appropriate for the technology concept.

a. An electronic copy of the IMS in MS Project shall be included with proposal submittals.

4. All tasks in the IMS shall be linked and the ability to display the critical path shall be implemented.

b) Volume II, Cost Proposal

Section I. Administrative All proposers, including FFRDCs, must submit the following:

Cover sheet (to include):

(1) BAA number (HR001117S0014);

(2) Proposal title;

(3) Technical area;

(4) Lead Organization submitting proposal;

(5) Type of organization selected among the following categories: “LARGE

BUSINESS,” “SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS,” “OTHER SMALL

BUSINESS,” “HBCU,” “MI,” “OTHER EDUCATIONAL,” OR “OTHER

NONPROFIT”;

(6) Proposer’s reference number (if any);

(7) All team members, their Cage Code(s) (if applicable) and type of organization for each;

(8) Technical point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail (if available);

(9) Administrative point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), and electronic mail (if available);

(10) Award instrument requested: cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF), cost-contract—no fee, cost sharing contract – no fee, or other type of procurement contract (specify), grant, cooperative agreement, or Other Transaction;

(11) Place(s) and period(s) of performance;

(12) Total proposed cost separated by basic award and option(s) (if any);

(13) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense Contract

Management Agency (DCMA) administration office (if known);

(14) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense Contract

Audit Agency (DCAA) audit office (if known);

(15) Date proposal was prepared;

(16) DUNS number;

(17) TIN number;

(18) CAGE Code;

(19) Subawardee Information; and

(20) Proposal validity period.

Section II. Detailed Cost Proposal Note: Nonconforming proposals may be rejected without review.

(a) Supporting Cost and Pricing Data:

i. The proposer should include supporting cost and pricing information in sufficient detail to substantiate the summary cost estimates and should include a description of the method used to estimate costs and supporting documentation. The Government strongly encourages that tables included in the cost proposal also be provided in an editable (e.g., MS Excel) format with calculation formulas intact to allow traceability of the cost proposal numbers across the prime and subcontractors.

ii. The awardee is responsible for compiling and providing all subawardee proposals for the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO).

iii. Subawardee proposals should include Interdivisional Work Transfer Agreements (ITWA) or similar arrangements.

iv. 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 awardee’s proposal, shall be provided to the Government either by the awardee or by the subawardee organization by e-mail (HR001117S0014@darpa.mil) when the proposal is submitted.

v. 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.

vi. For IT and equipment purchases, include a letter stating why the proposer cannot provide the requested resources from its own funding.

vii.Each copy must be clearly labeled with the DARPA BAA number, proposer organization, and proposal title (short title recommended).

(b) Cost Breakdown Information and Format: Detailed cost breakdown to include the following.

i. Provide the total program cost and costs broken down by initial phase and options.

ii. Provide costs broken down for the initial phase, including at a minimum:

1. Direct labor, including labor categories and man-hours, and labor rates;

2. Cost by the prime and major subcontractors;

3. Cost by major risk/activity;

4. Materials;

5. Other Direct Costs (ODCs) (e.g., travel, equipment, etc.);

6. Overhead/Indirect charges, and rates used to calculate overhead/indirect costs;

7. Provide the source, nature, and amount of any industry cost-sharing.

iii. Identify the pricing assumptions that may require incorporation into the resulting award instrument (e.g., use of Government Furnished Property/facilities/ Information, access to Government Subject Matter Expert/s, etc.).

iv. Supporting Cost Data. Supporting cost and pricing information

1. Provide sufficient detail to substantiate the summary cost estimates above.

2. Include a description of the method used to estimate costs and supporting documentation.

3. All proprietary subcontractor proposal documentation, prepared at the same level of detail as that required of the prime and which cannot be uploaded with the proposed prime contractor’s proposal, shall be provided to the Government either by the prime contractor or by the subcontractor organization by e-mail (HR001117S0014@darpa.mil) when the proposal is submitted. The subject line of the e- mail shall contain the lead organization’s proposal title, lead organization name, lead organization proposal submission date, and subcontractor name.

4. Cost Notes:

A. Per FAR 15.403-4, certified cost or pricing data shall be required if the proposer is seeking a procurement contract award per the referenced threshold, unless the proposer requests and is granted an exception from the requirement to submit cost or pricing data. Certified cost or pricing data are not required if the proposer proposes an award instrument other than a procurement contract (e.g., a grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction.)

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

All proposers requesting an Other Transaction (OT) for Prototypes 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, contractor 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, fixed price or expenditure based, will be subject to negotiation by the Agreements Officer. Do not include proprietary data. If the proposer requests award of an OT for Prototype as a non-traditional contractor, information must be included in the cost proposal to support the claim. The term non-traditional defense contractor, with respect to a transaction authorized under section 2371b, means an entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one-year period preceding the solicitation of sources by the Department of Defense for the procurement or transaction, any contract or subcontract for the Department of Defense that is subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards prescribed pursuant to section 1502 of title 41 and the regulations implementing such section.

4. Additional Proposal Information

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) Security Information 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 to request submission instructions.

Classified submissions shall be transmitted and marked in accordance with the following guidance. Additional information on the subjects discussed in this section may be found at http://www.dss.mil/.

If a submission contains Classified National Security Information or the suspicion of such, as defined by Executive Order 13526, the information must be appropriately and conspicuously marked with the proposed classification level and declassification date.