HR001119S0045-Amendment-01.pdf

Questions and Answers Military Tactical Means (MTM)

Broad Agency Announcement HR001119S0045 Amendment 0001

10/28/2019

The purpose of this amendment is to publish unclassified answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) submitted against DARPA BAA HR001119S0045, Military Tactical Means (MTM).

Unclassified answers will also be posted on the DARPA Opportunities page for this solicitation found on DARPA.mil (http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities). Answers to classified questions will be distributed to those who requested access to the Classified Addendum, as noted in the BAA.

UNCLASSIFIED Q&A:

Q1. On Page 10 of the BAA under Section III: Technical Proposal. Is Section G Classified Addendum Response part of the 30-page limit for the Technical Volume? Our response to Section G may be classified and therefore submitted separately.

A1. Yes, it is included in the 30 pages.

Q2. The classified addendum states that GFI will be provided. Will any classified GFI be provided? Is all GFI unclassified? When will the GFI be provided?

A2: Certain parts of GFI are classified. Certain ground truth and airborne data when processed to demonstrate detection and false alarm performance are classified. Initial data sets will be available at time of contract award. Incremental data sets will be provided during phase 1.

Q3. On Page 14 of the BAA under b) Volume II, Cost Proposal, it states “The costs of Government furnished equipment, facilities and information (GFE/GFF/GFI) count against the full budget the Government has available for the program”. Is the GFI that DARPA is providing per the classified addendum included in this budget? If it is, what is the cost amount and does that amount need to be included within our proposal submittal?

A3. GFI is funded through a separate funding path. However, if separate data collections are available for algorithm development, then those costs should be included in the proposal.

Q4. On Page 12 of the BAA under Section V: Statement of Work, it states to include “approximate cost of each major task”. Is this a mandatory requirement to be compliant with the

BAA?

A4. Yes

Q5. On Page 16 of the BAA under b) Classified Submission Requirements and Procedures it states that the “source SCG is submitted along with the proposal”. If applicable, which Volume should this source SCG be included within, and does it go against page count if in the Technical and Management Proposal?

A5. All Source Security Classification Guides (SCG) from which other classified material is derived must be submitted in Volume 1, Technical and Management Proposal section under Section VI: Additional Information. The Source SCG will not count against the Volume 1 page count.

Q6. On Page 18 of the BAA under (c) Both Classified and Unclassified Submissions, it states “unclassified portion can be submitted through the DARPA BAA Website, per the instructions in Section IV.4b”; however, IV.B.4 is Other Submission Requirements and does not address an electronic submission. Please advise.

A6. Please disregard the reference to the DARPA BAA Website in IV.B.1.d.2(c) on Page 18.

While the Volume II Cost Proposal shall be unclassified, and an unclassified version of the Statement of Work shall be provided as well, please submit all documents in accordance with the proposal submission instructions in section IV.B.1.d.2.

Q7. Can just the electronic version of the proposal be submitted by the due date and time or do the hardcopies also need to be received by the due date and time? If submitting a classified portion, do those hardcopies also need to be received by the due date and time?

A7. Please see the answer to question 6 above with respect to electronic submission. The full proposal must be received by the due date and time specified in the BAA to be considered a timely submission for the initial round of proposal selections.

Q8. Reference Part II, Section IV.3, Proposals Format, a) Volume I, Technical and Management Proposal, Section IV: Management Proposal, Paragraph H which states: “To manage cost, Proposers describe an earned value management system (EVMS) which will be appropriate for an R&D program, such as MTM.”

Can the Government please confirm that it is leaving it up to the Offeror to determine what EVMS is appropriate based on the proposed value of Phase 1? Further, if the value of Phase 1 is under the $20M threshold noted in DoDI 5000.2, Table 8: EVM Application Requirements, that the Offeror shall describe what EVM-like reporting it will employ under the resultant contract?

A8. The requirement for proposers to describe an EVMS as part of Volume I is irrespective of the proposed cost of the effort. The MTM program is not considered a major system acquisition in accordance with FAR Part 34, so the formal EVMS requirements will not apply. Proposers should propose their own EVMS appropriate for an R&D program such as MTM.

Q9. Can the Government please provide an anticipated Phase 1 award date that Offerors can use for pricing purposes?

A9. For pricing purposes, proposers may use 3Q FY20 as the anticipated Phase 1 award date.

Q10. Due to delay released of the classified addendum and receipt of critical information from the Proposer’s Day just this week, would DARPA be willing to provide a 15 days extension on the proposal due date?

A10. The proposal due date will not be extended at this time.

Q11. Does “program team” as referred to in instructions for Section IV, item C on p. 11 a reference to key personnel, subcontractor teammates, or both?

A11. Both

Q12. Do the three relevant papers that may be included in the submission count against the page limitation of Section VI? If so, are excerpts permitted?

A12. No, the relevant papers do not count against the Volume 1 page requirements. Yes, excerpts are permissible.

Q13. Does the “proposed technical team” referred to in V.A.1 refer to key personnel, subcontractor teammates, or both?

A13. Both

Q14. The BAA is unclear regarding the TA2 deliverables for the base period versus the option period.

(U) As defined in table 5, the sensor design documents and CDR deliverables are expected to be completed in Months 9 and 12, along with the lab and rooftop results. Can you clarify what the TA-2 expectations are for the option period versus the base period deliverables?

A14. Base Period: mapping of modalities from TA1 to performance model analysis, CAD performance analysis, and initial laboratory component testing which proves initial prescribed performance.

A14. Option period: continued analysis of both performance validation and component testing which validates the full performer prescribed sensor.

Q15. Is it of interest to address AI / ML spoofing?

A15. Yes

Q16. What is the approximate data volume of the GFI collections?

A16. On the order of 1TB

Q17. Will the GFI include polarimetric data?

A17. Yes, tower based collections will include polarimetric imagery of a subset of targets.

• As a reminder to all performers, TA1 and TA2 are co-joined. Proposers must develop algorithms and processing chains that provide the best target detectability using multiple sensor modalities from which proposers provide a prescription of an optical system for TA2.

• The proposers will be evaluated on TA2 based on how well they have met their own prescribed sensor performance.

• It is strongly recommended that proposers begin TA2 design analysis as soon as even initial TA1 results are synthesized.

Q18. Are Proposer’s Day presentations by Chris Simi going to be available?

A18. No, the BAA takes precedence and proposers will be evaluated against the BAA criteria.

Q19. If award is made via an OTA, what OT consortia will the government employ?

A19. We will not utilize existing OTA consortia

Q20. What are the SWAP constraints of LEO small sats?

A20. Refer to classified BAA addendum

Q21. Is DARPA doing its integration of test systems into airborne test platforms or are you partnering with another government organization for that function

A21. DARPA will not be providing test aircraft each proposer will be required to provide own test aircraft.

Q22. Who is the named transition partner?

A22.We currently do not have a transition partner.

Q23. Will technical slides be available?

A23. No

Q24. Will performers have inputs into types of data collects? If so, please describe the process for requesting and anticipated timeline for response (availability of new dataset)

A24. After contract award, the V&V team will provide more insight to the particulars of additional data collections.

Q25. Please define probability of false alarm. Is this the probability of false alarm per pixel in clutter? False alarm per frame in clutter? False alarm given presence of a confuser?

A25. It is up to the proposer to define the variables associated with their false alarm and detection probability of analysis.

Q26. Could you explain better the difference between CDR1 and CDR2 what changes are you expecting?

A26. CDR1 is associated with Phase1 and CDR2 is part of phase 2 refer to BAA for metrics.

Q27.Task 2 will likely require hardware purchases. However some of this hardware could be dependent upon the results of task 1. Is the government satisfied with approximate of anticipated/estimated costs as the basis? Perhaps estimates from other programs, rather than a direct quote or a BOM?

A27. For TA2, proposers should provide basis of estimate.