HR001123S0007.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement

Willow

STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY OFFICE

HR001123S0007

October 20, 2022

HR001123S0007 Willow

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description A. Program Overview II. Application and Submission Information III. Application Review Information A. Evaluation Criteria

IV. APPENDIX 1: CLASSIFIED ADDENDUM REQUEST FORM

PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Strategic Technology Office (STO) Funding Opportunity Title – Willow Announcement Type – Initial announcement Funding Opportunity Number – HR001123S0007 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) – Not applicable Dates (All times are Eastern Time) o Posting Date: October 20, 2022 o Request Classified Addendum Date: November 3, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. ET o Proposers’ Day: November 14, 2022 o FAQ/Questions Due Date: November 21, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. ET o Notification of Classified Submission Date: December 8, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. ET o Proposal Due Date and Time: December 19, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. ET

Total amount anticipated to be awarded for Phase 1 and Phase 2 (Base and Option):

$52M

Anticipated individual awards – Multiple awards are anticipated.

Types of instruments that may be awarded -- Procurement Contract or Other Transaction.

Agency contact o Points of Contact The BAA Coordinator for this effort can be reached at:

HR001123S0007@darpa.mil

DARPA/STO

ATTN: HR001123S0007

675 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-2114

PART II: FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

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

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals in Acoustic Warfare (AW) systems to counter active surface sonars.

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

A. Program Overview

Willow seeks to develop innovative payloads to conduct Acoustic Warfare to counter active surface sonars. Payloads will be deployed on “nodes” (e.g., Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), buoys, moored systems, etc.) commensurate with proposed operational concepts.

Performers are expected to propose plans for compelling operational concepts and deployment hardware that inform design requirements, including command and control (C2). If a proposer selects a UUV-based solution, they should propose an integration and test timeline consistent with current supply chain disruptions.

Willow is a two-phase effort, with an 18-month Phase 1 Base and a 16-month Phase 2 Costed Option. Proposers must address both the Phase 1 (Base) and Phase 2 (Costed Option) in their proposal to span the execution of the entire program. At the end of Phase 1, performers will participate in an at-sea test to demonstrate their counter-sonar capabilities from a single node. The Phase 2 demonstration will be a sea test where multiple (>= 3) nodes demonstrate Phase 1 capabilities extended to a multi-node implementation. Although fully integrated solutions are preferred by the end of Phase 2, the Government recognizes that cost and schedule constraints may necessitate the demonstration of one fully integrated node, and two (or more) unintegrated payloads.

To ensure success, Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V), hardware-in-the-loop simulations, and at-sea testing will be central components of the Willow program. The Government will establish Modeling and Simulation (M&S) for the Willow program to support IV&V. The Government approach will be to model the acoustic environment and the sonar signal processing chain. Performers will provide the Government team with simulated and measured projector waveforms. The Government will run these waveforms through the IV&V model to assess performance.

Independent of the IV&V process, progress against program metrics will be measured both in simulation throughout the program and in live in-water testing at program demonstrations.

Performers are required to provide their own end-to-end modeling, simulation, and analysis to develop their Willow nodes, and sonar receiver processing. Proposers should describe their simulation development timeline, beginning with an early end-to-end simulation capability in Month 3. Throughout the program execution, performers must inject digital twins of software and hardware elements into their simulated environment as those mature.

Planned program simulations, in-water tests, and IV&V events are shown in Table 1 for Phase 1 and Table 2 for Phase 2. These events are for proposer cost and schedule planning purposes only.

The Government reserves the right to alter test dates and locations to facilitate meeting program objectives. Proposers are strongly encouraged to propose additional intermediate and engineering tests to address risk items and demonstrate progress against program objectives.

Test Phase 1 (Base) Month Location GFE

Simulations 3 – 18 Performer sites -

Phase 1 IV&V 11 Virtual -

Phase 1 at-sea testing 15 Deep water site Surrogate sonar systems, test ships

Node coordination testing 16 Lake Travis Lake rental, test support

Table 1: Planned Phase 1 Simulation and Testing

Test Phase 1 (Base) Month Location GFE

Simulations 1-16 Performer sites -

Phase 2 IV&V 3 Virtual -

Phase 2 final demonstration 14 Deep water site Surrogate sonar systems, test ships

Table 2: Planned Phase 2 Simulation and Testing

II. Application and Submission Information

The effort being solicited by this BAA is classified SECRET or otherwise involves access to or generation of classified information. A formal request for the classified addendum may be submitted by filling out the HR001123S0007 REQUEST FORM (found at the end of this notice) and emailing the Request Form to HR001123S0007@darpa.mil with subject line titled "Request

DARPA-BAA-HR001123S0007."

Proposers are required to submit this request no later than November 3, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Material will be sent no later than 5 business days from receipt of request. Requests submitted after this date will be disregarded. The HR001123S0007 Request Form is the only method of request that will be accepted. All requestors will receive a confirmation email with either a delivery tracking number or email confirmation depending on delivery method. Prior to mailto:HR001122S0053@darpa.mil receipt of any information, proof of facility clearance level must be validated by the Program Security point of contact before any classified documentation on the BAA is sent to the proposer.

III. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated using the evaluation criteria for selecting proposals, their relative importance, and the method of evaluation contained in the CLASSIFIED Addendum.

IV. APPENDIX 1: CLASSIFIED ADDENDUM REQUEST FORM

APPENDIX 1: HR001123S0007 CLASSIFIED ADDENDUM REQUEST FORM

Date:

Company Name:

Company Address (Unclassified):

Company Address (Classified):

Unclassified Fax:

Point of Contact Name:

POC Phone Number:

POC Fax Number:

POC Email:

Company CAGE code:

Security or FSO Phone Number:

Security or FSO Fax Number:

Security or FSO Email:

Company Secure Fax number: