HR001117S0018.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement Computational Simulation of Online Social Behavior (SocialSim)

HR001117S0018

February 6, 2017

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

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Table of Contents

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Introduction and Background

B. Program Description and Scope

C. SocialSim Privacy Plan

D. Program Structure and Technical Areas

E. Schedule and Milestones

F. Deliverables

G. Government-Furnished Property/Equipment/Information

H. Intellectual Property

II. Award Information

A. Awards

B. Fundamental Research

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

B. Organizational Conflicts of Interest

C. Cost Sharing/Matching

D. Other Eligibility Requirements

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

C. Submission Dates and Times

D. Funding Restrictions

E. Other Submission Requirements

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

VII. Agency Contacts

VIII. Other Information

A. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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B. Proposers Day

C. Submission Checklist

D. Associate Contractor Agreement Clause (ACA)

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PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Information Innovation Office (I2O)

Funding Opportunity Title: Computational Simulation of Online Social Behavior (SocialSim)

Announcement Type: Initial Announcement

Funding Opportunity Number: HR001117S0018

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA): Not Applicable

Dates o Posting Date: February 6, 2017 o Proposers Day: February 6, 2017 o Abstract Due Date: February 16, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET) o Proposal Due Date: March 29, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET) o BAA Closing Date: March 29, 2017, 12:00 noon (ET)

Anticipated Individual Awards: DARPA anticipates multiple awards for Technical Area 1 and Technical Area 2, and a single award for Technical Area 3.

Types of Instruments that may be awarded: Procurement contracts or Other Transactions (OTs).

Agency Contacts o Technical POC: Dr. Jonathan Pfautz, Program Manager, DARPA/I2O o BAA Email: SocialSim@darpa.mil o BAA Mailing Address:

DARPA/I2O

ATTN: HR001117S0018

675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114 o I2O Solicitation Website: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities mailto:SocialSim@darpa.mil http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities

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PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of computational simulation of the spread and evolution of information in the online environment. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is being issued, and any resultant selection will be made, using procedures under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2) and 35.016.

Any negotiations and/or awards will use procedures under FAR 15.4. Proposals received as a result of this BAA shall be evaluated in accordance with evaluation criteria specified herein through a scientific review process.

DARPA BAAs are posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website (https://www.fbo.gov/).

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

A. Introduction and Background

A rapidly increasing percentage of the world’s population is connected to the global information environment. At the same time, the information environment is enabling social interactions that are radically changing how and at what rate information spreads. Both nation-states and non-state actors have increasingly drawn upon this global information environment to convey information and further certain goals.

A simulation of the spread and evolution of online information, if accurate and at-scale, could enable a deeper and more quantitative understanding of adversaries’ use of the global information environment than is currently possible using existing approaches. At present, the U.S. Government employs small teams of experts to speculate how information may spread online. While these activities provide some insight, they take considerable time to orchestrate and execute, the accuracy with which they represent real-world online behavior is unknown, and their scale (in terms of the size and granularity with which populations are represented) is such that they can represent only a fraction of the real world. These deficiencies preclude the possibility of reliably simulating important dynamics, such as large information cascades [1,2] and the emergence of influential information “gatekeepers” [3,4].

1 Cheng, J., et al. "Can cascades be predicted?" Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on World Wide Web. ACM, 2014.

2 Cha, M., et al. "Characterizing social cascades in Flickr." Proceedings of the first workshop on Online Social Networks. ACM, 2008.

3 Meraz, S., & Papacharissi, Z. "Broadcasting and listening practices on# Egypt: Networked framing and networked gatekeeping on Twitter." International Association for Media and Communication Research, Durban, South Africa (2012).

4 Bakshy, E., et al. "Everyone's an influencer: Quantifying influence on Twitter." Proc. of the 4th Int'l Conf. on Web Search and Data Mining. ACM, 2011.

https://www.fbo.gov/

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High-fidelity (i.e., accurate, at-scale) computational simulation of the spread and evolution of online information would support efforts to analyze strategic disinformation campaigns by adversaries, deliver critical information to local populations during disaster relief operations, and could potentially contribute to other critical missions in the online information domain.

B. Program Description and Scope

The goal of Computational Simulation of Online Social Behavior (SocialSim) is to develop innovative technologies for high-fidelity computational simulation of online social behavior.

SocialSim will focus specifically on information spread and evolution. Current computational approaches to social and behavioral simulation are limited in this regard. Top-down simulation approaches focus on the dynamics of a population as a whole, and model behavioral phenomena by assuming uniform or mostly-uniform behavior across that population. Such methods can easily scale to simulate massive populations, but can be inaccurate if there are specific, distinct variations in the characteristics of the population. In contrast, bottom-up simulation approaches treat population dynamics as an emergent property of the activities and interactions taking place within a diverse population. While such approaches can enable more accurate simulation of information spread, they do not readily scale to represent large populations. (See [5,6] for a more in-depth discussion of both approaches and additional challenges.)

SocialSim seeks novel approaches to addressing these challenges. As one example, “multi-resolution” approaches that creatively combine and/or extend top-down and bottom-up approaches may lead to breakthroughs that radically increase accuracy and scalability.

Specific SocialSim objectives are:

(1) Develop technologies that can accurately simulate online information spread and evolution at scales representing populations of interest (i.e., thousands to tens of millions).

(2) Develop efficient and robust methods for providing data to support simulation development, testing, and measurement.

(3) Develop rigorous methods and metrics for quantitatively assessing the accuracy and scalability of simulations of online information spread and evolution.

C. SocialSim Privacy Plan

The SocialSim program requires analysis of information spread and evolution in the online environment to accurately simulate such phenomena. Because social phenomena such as information spread and evolution arise as a result of interactions within a population, it is anticipated that performers in the SocialSim program may gather publicly available information (PAI) and encounter personally identifying information (PII). However, the program has no interest in identifying or analyzing specific individuals, precisely reconstituting individual behaviors, or advancing the technical means to do either; any proposed work with these aims will

5 Rahmandad, H., & Sterman, J. “Heterogeneity and network structure in the dynamics of diffusion: Comparing agent-based and differential equation models.” Management Science, 54(5), pp. 998-1014. May 2008.

6 Lymperopoulos, I., & Ioannou, G. "Understanding and modeling the complex dynamics of the online social networks: A scalable conceptual approach." Evolving Systems, 7, pp. 207-232, 2016.

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be considered out of scope.

The SocialSim program is highly cognizant of privacy concerns and will be vigilant in protecting individuals’ privacy. As such, DARPA will implement a proactive privacy plan for SocialSim to minimize the risks associated with handling PAI and PII. All performers in the SocialSim program will be required to participate and support this privacy plan. The goals of the SocialSim Privacy Plan are:

To respect and protect individual privacy.

To conduct data gathering and analysis (only to the extent that such activities are needed) in a legal, ethical, and societally responsible manner.

The SocialSim Privacy Plan will be distributed to performing teams before the start of their proposed research. All persons conducting work under the program will complete SocialSim-specific privacy training before the start of their proposed research. DARPA and the SocialSim performer teams will work collaboratively to continuously refine and update the Privacy Plan over the course of the program to ensure ongoing compliance with the above goals. In addition, the Privacy Plan will be continuously coordinated with DARPA’s internal privacy team, to include legal review of terms and conditions for data sources and data sets, and compliance with relevant privacy law and regulations, as applicable. Finally, a Government team consisting of experts in privacy, security, and ethics will recommend updates to the Privacy Plan, and ensure compliance as part of regular program reviews. The Privacy Plan, and subsequent revisions, will be made publically available.

Only data provided by, or reviewed and approved by, the SocialSim program will be used to conduct SocialSim research. Automated technical means will be applied to eliminate as much PII as possible from observational data. Any data sources and data sets in which PII may still be encountered will be deemed sensitive and will subjected to a set of privacy enforcement mechanisms. An initial set of privacy enforcement mechanisms include:

Sensitive data gathered and provided by the SocialSim program will be partitioned and access will be restricted by secure technical means

Sensitive data gathered for the SocialSim program will be retained only for strictly limited periods of time

All proposals must describe their plans for compliance with the SocialSim Privacy Plan, to include: (i) allocation of time and effort to learn and comply with the SocialSim Privacy Plan;

(ii) plans for ensuring continued compliance over their period of performance on the program;

and (iii) where relevant, specific technical means to be employed. Proposers should document their prior experience and existing processes for protecting sensitive data in a research program, as well as describe how that expertise may be applicable to SocialSim.

In addition to privacy considerations, performers must consider whether activities of their proposed approach could be considered Human Subjects Research (HSR). All HSR activities will be subject to independent review by both (i) appropriate institutional review boards (IRBs), and (ii) DoD headquarters.

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D. Program Structure and Technical Areas

The SocialSim program will be awarded as a 48-month program divided into two phases. Phase 1 (21 months) will focus on information spread and evolution within singular information environments (such as, but not limited to, social networking environments like Twitter, Weibo, or VKontakte). Phase 2 (27 months) will focus on simulation spread and evolution within and across multiple different information environments. Proposals must address both phases.

The SocialSim program is divided into three Technical Areas (TAs):

(1) Simulation

(2) Data Provisioning

(3) Simulation Testing and Measurement

Prospective proposers are strongly encouraged to read the descriptions of all TAs, to ensure a full understanding of the program context, structure, and anticipated relationships among performers.

Potential performers may submit proposal(s) to any or all TA(s), but each proposal should address only one TA. To avoid a conflict of interest, selected TA3 performers, including any sub-contracted teammates, will not be eligible to perform under TA1. If an organization submits selectable proposals to both TA1 and TA3, the Government reserves the right to determine which proposal, if any, will receive the award.

A series of challenge problems will be used over the course of the program to demonstrate revolutionary advances in the simulation of online information spread and evolution. As the program progresses, challenge problems will increase in realism and complexity, and the simulations will be expected to demonstrate greater accuracy and scalability. Proposers in all TAs are encouraged to recommend existing data sets or data acquisition capabilities, as well as to explain their proposal in the context of notional and/or potential challenge problems.

Performers on SocialSim are expected to participate in a collaborative manner. High levels of conversation and interaction within and between TAs, and with the Government team are necessary to achieve the program goals. Performers awarded FAR-based contracts will have an Associate Contractor Agreement (ACA) clause included in their award (see Section VIII.D), and performers awarded OTs will have similar language incorporated into the agreement. It will ensure: (i) program coordination; (ii) the open exchange of research results and data; and (iii) potential integration of software developed by SocialSim performers. Once selections have been made, selectees should have their ACAs in place prior to the program kick‐off meeting.

TA1: Simulation

TA1 will develop technologies that can accurately simulate online information spread and evolution. These technologies will simulate populations of interest at scales from thousands to tens of millions, within reasonable execution time (i.e., seconds to hours on typical commercial off-the-shelf computing platforms).

TA1 will determine what properties and behaviors of populations must be represented (and at what level of detail) to accurately simulate information spread and evolution in the context of

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SocialSim challenge problems. TA1 will also determine what properties of information (e.g., form, content of a message or series of messages) must be represented. Similarly, TA1 will determine what properties of the information environment (e.g., types of communication supported) must be represented. TA1 will develop a simulation that captures the interactions between the population, the information, and the environment. TA1 will identify and/or develop computational modeling methods to implement this simulation in software. TA1 will support rigorous testing and measurement of simulation accuracy and scale (by TA3) in the context of SocialSim challenge problems. TA1 must demonstrate significant improvements in accuracy and scale over the course of the program.

Technical challenges relevant to TA1 include:

Representing and/or linking properties and behaviors of populations across multiple levels (e.g., from the aggregate dynamics of large populations to behaviors emerging from discrete interactions at small scales).

Simulating behaviors that have significant inherent complexity at the sub-population level, while maintaining the ability to scale to populations of millions.

Simulating not only information spread, but also information evolution as content spreads (e.g., repurposing particular components of a message’s form, but changing its topic).

Simulating information spread and evolution within and across multiple differing information environments (e.g., simulating of two interconnected environments, where one may enable users to “broadcast” while the other only supports single user-to-single user communication).

DARPA encourages a wide range of approaches, such as social/behavioral science theory-driven approaches, data-driven approaches, and/or combinations of these and others. Similarly, DARPA encourages consideration of a wide variety of computational modeling methods (e.g., innovative extensions to existing behavior modeling methods, novel applications of modeling methods from other disciplines), and/or the development of new modeling methods. Regardless of the approach, proposals must clearly articulate why the proposed solution represents a revolutionary advance over existing techniques and is likely to achieve significant increases in simulation accuracy and scale. Any approach to behavioral modeling and simulation that cannot be reasonably validated/supported by data will be considered out of scope. DARPA discourages approaches that require computing resources beyond those generally available commercially.

TA1 proposals must describe plans for supporting TA3 testing and measurement activities (e.g., metrics development, challenge problem development and extension). TA1 proposals must also present plans for interfacing with TA2 to support the identification of data required for simulation development and evaluation.

TA2: Data Provisioning

TA2 will develop methods for efficiently and robustly providing data to support simulation development (TA1) and simulation testing and measurement (TA3). Data and analyses describing real-world online information spread and evolution will inform the development of accurate simulations. In addition, data and thorough analyses of online behaviors and dynamics will provide a “gold standard” for rigorously measuring the accuracy of TA1 simulations against the real world over the course of the SocialSim program.

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TA2 will gather data and perform analysis of online information spread and evolution. In addition to gathering data about spread and evolution, TA2 will gather and analyze data on relevant population properties, information properties, and information environment properties – at multiple levels of resolution (e.g., the extraction of aggregate statistics of a message’s spread versus observations of the spread within a network). TA2 will apply methods to improve the veracity and quality of the data (e.g., removal of “noise”), and apply common and/or state-of-the-art analytic techniques to richly describe the dynamics of information spread and evolution. TA2 will structure the data, align data across data sets, and characterize data provenance and uncertainty. TA2 will provide automated means for detecting and removing PII, in compliance with the SocialSim privacy goals presented in Section I.C and the SocialSim Privacy Plan. TA2 will provide a secure data repository and provide other SocialSim performers with managed access to data, analyses, and analytic tools. TA2 data gathering and analysis approaches will accommodate rapid shifts in focus to support different challenge problems over the course of the program (e.g., different populations, different information environments).

Technical challenges for TA2 performers may include:

Capturing fast, complex, and often ephemeral information spread and evolution phenomena.

Rapidly adapting to a changing online environment (e.g., changes in the commercial terms of service of an online social networking site of interest that prevents or enables data acquisition).

Identifying and correlating events, topics, and specific messages across multiple information environments (e.g., aligning information about a recent event that appears in two different social networking environments).

Appropriately representing media content to enable scalable simulation of information spread and evolution (e.g., leveraging existing tools for the extraction of language, tone, and topic from images to allow for the simulation of information spread using “tokens” of tens of bytes instead of megabytes of raw data).

Developing new instruments to study the causes of information spread and evolution in real or proxy environments.

DARPA anticipates that data gathering will be done using a range of methods and from multiple sources. For example, it may include identifying and retrieving existing publicly available information (PAI) from the research community, purchasing data from commercial social media analytics providers or services, gathering PAI from social networking environments, creating synthetic data sets that align with real-world data, and/or conducting empirical studies at appropriate scales in laboratory or real-world environments. DARPA also expects analysis to be done using a range of techniques; for example, adapting existing off-the-shelf analysis tools or study protocols and/or creating new analytic methods. DARPA encourages the use of Government or commercial off-the-shelf technologies, approaches, and/or existing data sources.

DARPA expects that the data sets needed to support SocialSim will not be massive by commercial or academic standards. SocialSim is not intended to be a “big data” program.

Therefore, TA2 approaches that propose research on large-scale storage, processing, and dissemination systems are out of scope. TA2 may incorporate public cloud services; however, the relevance and benefits to the SocialSim program must be clearly stated.

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TA2 proposals must describe plans for supporting TA3 challenge problem development (e.g., describing data availability, developing gold standard data and analyses for use in evaluations).

TA2 may also collaborate with TA3 to provide an appropriate environment for test events. TA2 proposals must also present plans for interacting with TA1 performers (and a variety of potential simulation approaches) to provide data, analyses, and analytic tools to inform simulation development.

TA3: Simulation Testing and Measurement

TA3 will conduct independent evaluation of the accuracy and scalability of simulation technologies developed by TA1. A key goal of the SocialSim program is to develop rigorous methods for quantitatively assessing the improvements in accuracy and scale resulting from new approaches to simulating human behavior.

TA3 will develop the challenge problems and evaluation metrics that will be used to assess progress in SocialSim. TA3 will develop a baseline challenge problem to assess the initial accuracy and scale of the TA1 simulations. TA3 will identify a range of behaviors that are fundamental to online information spread. This set is expected to include information cascades (i.e., accelerated resharing of information), recurrence (i.e., renewed bursts of activity for existing information), gatekeepers (i.e., key influencers who change how information spreads), and persistent minorities (i.e., small, committed groups that change how information spreads).

TA3 will develop multiple measures of each phenomenon and evaluate the accuracy of the TA1 simulations (e.g., simulated cascades may be compared to gold standard data on the total number of reshares, the rate of growth of the number of reshares, and the number of people involved in the cascade).

TA3 will develop additional follow-on challenge problems that build on the baseline challenge problem in at least four primary directions: (i) improving the accuracy and scale within baseline phenomena and measures; (ii) improving accuracy and scale against additional measures; (iii) improving generalizability across populations, environments, and message properties; and (iv) incorporating evolution of information as it spreads. Additional online behaviors relevant to information spread and evolution, that were not considered in the baseline challenge problem, may also be part of follow-on challenges. At a minimum, TA3 challenge problems will include a framing scenario description, a set of online behaviors to simulate, multiple clear measures by which simulation results will be compared with gold standard data, and accuracy and scale targets.

For each challenge problem, TA3 will organize and conduct test events where TA1 simulations are executed and quantitatively compared to gold standard data according to the predefined metrics, with the results of this evaluation being reported to the program. These quantitative comparisons will measure progress across the program. TA3 will conduct a minimum of seven challenge problem test events, beyond the baseline event. TA3 will deliver formal evaluation reports on test events that capture the overall progress of the program, guide future work, and document accomplishments.

TA3 will meet and/or exceed overall testing and measurement goals in accordance with the program schedule. Approaches could include the establishment of a suitably staffed, experimental integration facility at a physical location, at which program performers would convene to participate in test events under the guidance of TA3, and/or a remotely accessible

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computing platform and application-program interfaces (APIs) that TA1 could use to collaborate with TA3 to integrate simulations in advance of test events. Additional approaches may also be proposed.

While DARPA is interested in TA3 proposals that can demonstrably accelerate the rate and execution of test events to go beyond the minimum of seven planned events, proposals seeking to advance the state of the art in modeling and simulation toolkits, integration platforms, or APIs will be considered out of scope. DARPA is interested in well-organized, adaptive combinations of process and technology that best support the goal of assessing the accuracy and scalability of the simulations within the milestones of the SocialSim program.

TA3 proposals must include plans for collaboration with TA2 to develop challenge problem data sets to provide to TA1, and to serve as gold standard data during test events. TA3 may also collaborate with TA2 to provide an appropriate environment for test events. TA3 proposals will also present plans for collaboration with TA1 during the development of challenge problems to ensure fair and objective evaluation of all simulations, as well as specific interactions with TA1 during test events.

E. Schedule and Milestones

The SocialSim program is scheduled to run for 48 months. Phase 1 will span 21 months, and Phase 2 will span 27 months. Proposers should describe a technical program that spans all 48 months, but clearly specifies the division of effort between Phase 1 and Phase 2. Figure 1 shows the SocialSim overall program schedule and milestones.

Figure 1: SocialSim program schedule and milestones

The challenge problem test events represent the key milestones for the program, involving participation from all performers. TA1 performers will provide simulations to be evaluated.

TA2 performers will deliver evaluation data sets including gold standard knowledge. TA3 will provide metrics for assessing simulation accuracy and scale, a venue for the test event, organization of the execution of the events, the gathering of results, and reports out to the entire

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program.

Establishing a rigorous baseline of simulation accuracy and scale in the first 9 months of the program is a significant milestone. Figure 2 shows the schedule for the SocialSim baseline challenge problem. Again, all performers are expected to contribute to reaching this milestone.

Figure 2: SocialSim baseline challenge problem schedule and milestones

All performers should expect to attend a kickoff meeting in the Washington, DC area. All performers are expected to attend PI Meetings/Test Events (as shown in Figure 1) to: (i) provide the Program Manager and other SocialSim performers with updates on progress towards milestones and overarching scientific goals; (ii) summarize outstanding technical challenges; and

(iii) support simulation testing and measurement. For budgeting purposes, proposers should assume the kickoff meeting will take two days, but each meeting thereafter will require four days, and will alternate between Washington, DC, and a west coast location.

F. Deliverables

All performers (TA1, TA2 and TA3) are responsible for providing, at a minimum, the following deliverables as applicable:

Technical publications – All fundamental research papers or reports approved for public release, based upon support from DARPA (either in part or in whole), will be provided, for informational purposes only, to DARPA.

SocialSim presentations – Annotated slide presentations will be submitted one week prior to any official SocialSim event (kickoff, PI meetings, test events, etc.). Revised (if required) versions of presentations will be delivered within one month after each program event.

Other technical presentations – Copies of materials for public presentation (e.g., conference slides, videos, podcasts) based upon support from DARPA (either in part or in whole) will be submitted, for informational purposes only, at least two weeks prior to the event.

Software – All software developed based upon support from the SocialSim program (either in part or in whole) will be delivered to DARPA subject to the Intellectual Property restrictions negotiated; however, open source offerings are preferred. In the typical case, a performer would routinely deliver software that includes commented source code, data

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specific to building and/or executing the software, and documentation (including, at a minimum, a user manual and software design document).

Data sets including any data gathered based upon support from the SocialSim program (either in part or in whole) will be delivered to DARPA. Data sets will be delivered with documentation that provides an overview of the data, articulates how the data was captured, the purpose of that capture, the extent of PII within the data, and permitted derivative usage of the data.

Final phase reports for each program phase that concisely summarize the technical effort, achievements, and remaining technical challenges, will be due one calendar month after the end of each phase. These are in addition to the final report.

Monthly status reports detailing progress made, tasks accomplished, major risks, planned activities, trip summaries, changes to key personnel, financial status, and any potential issues or problem areas that require the attention of the Government must be provided within 15 days after the end of each month.

TA3 proposals must clearly address how challenge problems and associated data and analyses will be delivered to DARPA. Similarly, TA3 proposals must address plans for reporting the outcomes of test events to DARPA and to TA1 and TA2 performers.

G. Government-Furnished Property/Equipment/Information

Proposals should clearly state any assumptions regarding the use of proposed Government facilities and capabilities, as well as any proposed Government-furnished equipment used as part of their approach. Proposers should not assume that the Government will provide them with any data, analysis tools, or existing models or simulations needed to perform their tasks.

H. Intellectual Property

The SocialSim program will emphasize creating and leveraging open source technology.

Intellectual property rights asserted by proposers are strongly encouraged to be aligned with open source regimes. See Section VI.B.1 for more details on intellectual property. DARPA anticipates that a large amount of data will be generated under SocialSim, and that the analyses and validation will be strengthened by data sharing. Performers are strongly encouraged to establish the appropriate agreements to enable collaboration and data sharing. DARPA encourages sharing, within the program only, of pre-existing data sets, including those data generated through funding by other sources, so long as they are compliant with the SocialSim Privacy Plan.

SocialSim will facilitate rapid innovation by providing a base for future researchers and developers of online social behavior simulation technologies. Therefore, it is desired that all noncommercial software (including source code), software documentation, hardware designs and documentation, and technical data generated by the program be provided as deliverables to the Government, with a minimum of Government Purpose Rights (GPR), as lesser rights may adversely impact the lifecycle costs of affected items, components, or processes.

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II. Award Information

A. Awards

Multiple awards are anticipated for TA1 and TA2. A single award is anticipated for TA3. The level of funding for individual awards made under this solicitation has not been predetermined and will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Awards will be made to proposers whose proposals are determined to be the most advantageous and provide the best value to the Government, all factors considered, including the potential contributions of the proposed work, overall funding strategy, and availability of funding. See Section V for further information.

The Government reserves the right to:

select for negotiation all, some, one, or none of the proposals received in response to this solicitation;

make awards without discussions with proposers;

conduct discussions with proposers if it is later determined to be necessary;

segregate portions of resulting awards into pre-priced options;

accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award;

fund proposals in increments and/or with options for continued work at the end of one or more phases;

request additional documentation once the award instrument has been determined (e.g., representations and certifications); and remove proposers from award consideration should the parties fail to reach agreement on award terms within a reasonable time or the proposer fails to provide requested additional information in a timely manner.

Proposals selected for award negotiation may result in a procurement contract or Other Transaction (OT) depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and other factors.

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.

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

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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:

‘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 expects that program goals as described herein may be met by proposers intending to perform fundamental research and does not anticipate applying publication restrictions of any kind to individual awards for fundamental research that may result from this BAA. Notwithstanding this statement of expectation, the Government is not prohibited from considering and selecting research proposals that, while perhaps not qualifying as fundamental research under the foregoing definition, still meet the BAA criteria for submissions. If proposals are selected for award that offer other than a fundamental research solution, the Government will either work with the proposer to modify the proposed statement of work to bring the research back into line with fundamental research or else the proposer will agree to restrictions in order to receive an award.

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

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III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

DARPA welcomes engagement from all responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs, including academia (colleges and universities); businesses (large, small, small disadvantaged, etc.); other organizations (including non-profit); entities (foreign, domestic, and government); FFRDCs; minority institutions; and others.

DARPA welcomes engagement from non-traditional sources in addition to current DARPA performers.

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

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.

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.

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. Foreign Participation

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.

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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 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.

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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., OTs under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2371).

D. Other Eligibility Requirements

Ability to Receive Awards in Multiple Technical Areas - Conflicts of Interest Proposers may submit individual proposals to any of the three Technical Areas. However, offerors selected for TA3 cannot be selected for any portion TA1, whether as a prime, subcontractor, or in any other capacity from an organizational to individual level. This is to avoid OCI situations between the Technical Areas and to ensure objective test and evaluation results. The decision as to which proposal to consider for award is at the discretion of the Government.

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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 proposal (RFP) or additional solicitation 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

1. Abstracts Proposers are highly encouraged to submit an abstract in advance of a proposal to minimize effort and reduce the potential expense of preparing an out of scope proposal. The abstract provides a synopsis of the proposed project, including brief answers to the following questions:

What is the proposed work attempting to accomplish or do?

How is it done today, and what are the limitations?

Who will care and what will the impact be if the work is successful?

How much will it cost, and how long will it take?

DARPA will respond to abstracts with a statement as to whether DARPA is interested in the idea. If DARPA does not recommend the proposer submit a full proposal, DARPA will provide feedback to the proposer regarding the rationale for this decision. Regardless of DARPA’s response to an abstract, 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 abstract.

Abstract Format: Abstracts shall not exceed a maximum of 6 pages including the cover sheet and all figures, tables, and charts. The page limit does not include a submission letter (optional).

Reminder – Each abstract submitted in response to this BAA shall address only one TA.

Organizations may submit multiple abstracts to any one TA, or they may submit abstracts to multiple TAs.

All pages shall be formatted for printing on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper with 1-inch margins and font size not smaller than 12 point. Font sizes of 8 or 10 point may be used for figures, tables, and charts. Document files must be in .pdf, .odx, .doc, .docx, .xls, or .xlsx formats.

Submissions must be written in English.

Abstracts must include the following components:

Cover Sheet: Provide the administrative and technical points of contact (name, address, phone, email, lead organization). Include the BAA number, Technical Area being proposed, title of the proposed project, primary subcontractors, estimated cost, duration https://www.fbo.gov/

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of the project, and the label “Abstract.”

Goals and Impact: Describe what is being proposed, for which Technical Area, and what difference it will make (qualitatively and quantitatively) if successful. Describe the innovative aspects of the project in the context of existing capabilities and approaches, clearly delineating the relationship of this work to any other projects from the past and present.

Technical Plan: Outline and address all technical challenges inherent in the approach and possible solutions for overcoming potential problems. Provide appropriate specific milestones (quantitative, if possible) at intermediate stages of the project to demonstrate progress.

Capabilities/Management Plan: Provide a brief summary of expertise of the team, including subcontractors and key personnel. Identify a principal investigator for the project and include a description of the team’s organization including roles and responsibilities. Describe the organizational experience in this area, existing intellectual property required to complete the project, and any specialized facilities to be used as part of the project. List Government-furnished property, facilities, or data assumed to be available.

Statement of Work, Cost, and Schedule: Provide a list of tasks, and a cost estimate for resources required for each task over the proposed timeline of the project, broken down by phase. Include estimates of labor, materials, a list of deliverables and delivery schedule. Provide cost estimates for each subcontractor (may be a rough order of magnitude).

Bibliography: Proposers may optionally provide a brief bibliography.

DARPA recommends that abstracts conform to the following page counts:

Section Page Count Cover Sheet 1.0 Goals and Impact Technical Plan

3.0

Capabilities/Management Plan Statement of Work, Cost and Schedule

1.5

Bibliography 0.5

2. Proposals Proposals consist of Volume 1: Technical and Management Proposal (including mandatory Appendix A and optional Appendix B); Volume 2: Cost Proposal; and the Level of Effort Summary by Task Excel™ spreadsheet.

All pages shall be formatted for printing on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper with 1-inch margins, single-line spacing, and a font size not smaller than 12 point. Font sizes of 8 or 10 point may be used for figures, tables, and charts. Document files must be in .pdf, .odx, .doc, HR001117S0018 SOCIALSIM 22

.docx, .xls, or .xlsx formats.