Request_for_Proposals_(RFP),_HSHQDC-17-R-00010_Questions_and_Answers_S&T.pdf

Questions and Answer Table

Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate

Request for Proposals (RFP), HSHQDC-17-R-00010

Fiscal Year (FY) 17 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR).

Question # Question Proposed by Industry Government’s Response to Industry Question

Can you send me a web link for the proposal submission instructions please? I spent more than 1/2 hr and I can't find DNDO/DHS proposal submission instructions.

Submission instructions can be found on page 6 of the solicitation document.

Does the Special Notice under solicitation number HSHQDC17R00010 contain requirements similar to a current contract?

If possible, please provide the current contract number.

Or, is this a new requirement for the government?

DHS does not intend to share information regarding other efforts.

I was under the impression that the solicitation period will start on Dec.

15th. I have not heard from any one at DHS if there has been any development on this front. Can you please appraise me on its status?

Request for Proposals (RFP), HSHQDC-17-R-00010, is a joint solicitation between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and

Technology (S&T) Directorate and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office

(DNDO). This solicitation has been posted to FBO.gov.

Solicitation External Reference:

https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/OCPO/DHS-OCPO/HSHQDC-17-R-

00010/listing.html

What is the hard cap for the Phase grant? I saw $100K in a document. If this requires additional money (our estimate is $225K total), is there a way to request more?

The DHS SBIR Program is not a grant Based program. Any potential award under the SBIR program will be in the form of a contract not to exceed $100K

The estimated period of performance may take longer than six months.

Our estimate is nine months. Would that be acceptable?

The Period of performance for the SBIR Phase I is 6 months.

This is a US company with all the company officials being US citizens.

Is there any restriction on contractors?

SBIR Phase I actions a minimum of 2/3 of the research or analytical effort must be performed by the awardee.

7 Can you provide an explanation why Topic 2 was deleted?

Topic 002 was put in reserve at this time and may be considered in future

SBIR solicitations.

In the instructions it talks to a Cover Sheet which counts as 2 pages –

We note that the cover sheet is filled out in the Portal submission site, but were wondering if we also need to include this as the front part of the uploaded Technical Volume ? Or do we submit the technical volume as Pages 3-19 only as the uploaded content and the web portal portion creates pages 1-2?

The system generates the cover sheet based on your input. You do not need to leave extra space or recreate the information. Your technical volume starts as page 3 even though it is the first page of that document.

I am looking to submit a new SBIR Phase I proposal for Solicitation H-

SB017.1 (due 1/18), but when I select the Topic pulldown there is no

Topic 002 was put in reserve at this time and may be considered in future

SBIR solicitations.

https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/OCPO/DHS-OCPO/HSHQDC-17-R-00010/listing.html https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/OCPO/DHS-OCPO/HSHQDC-17-R-00010/listing.html selection for Topic H-SB017-002 (video analytics)- which is the one I am proposing.

Is topic H-SB017.1-002 still valid? It is present on the release through

FEDBIZOPS, but no longer appears on the DHS SBIR website.

Topic 002 is not present in the current solicitation on FBO.gov. Topic 002 was put in reserve at this time and may be considered in future SBIR solicitations.

I do not see a solicitation posted here. https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=009f

9981f9db88ce3e09b89d6ab2b753&tab=core&_cview=0. The DHS website states that proposals are due 1/18/17 but we are not aware of proposal requirements as of today

The solicitation has been posted to FedBizOpps (fbo.gov). If you open the site and use SBIR as a keyword, the solicitation should be listed in the top ten responses.

Proposals are due at 2PM EST on January 18, 2017.

Whom should Letters of Support for SBIRs be addressed?

Office of the Chief Procurement Officer?

Letters of Support may be addressed to the Office of the Chief Procurement

Officer.

Please confirm if it is acceptable to have non-US citizens involved in the project as long as they (i) are lawful US permanent residents (i.e.

Green Card holders), and (ii) will execute all work within the US.

If Non- citizens are to be utilized in the effort, this must be indicated where required. For both Phase I and Phase II, the R/R&D work must be performed in the United States.

In the cost proposal, there are no options to enter the fringe benefit rate. How do we enter the fringe benefits which is an indirect for the proposed direct labor rate?

In the Labor Category field, enter the proposed labor categories, (e.g., Principal Investigator/Project Manager, Research Assistant/Laboratory

Assistant, Analyst, and Administrative Staff).

b) In the Hours field, enter the proposed hours required for the specific labor category.

c) In the Rate ($) field, enter the proposed hourly rate for the specific labor category.

d) When you enter numbers into the Hours and the Rate ($) fields, the Cost

($) (hours x rate) field automatically populates with the calculation.

e) Add subsequent labor costs in the remaining rows. If you need to add more than three labor categories, click the Add More Lines button to add an additional row.

f) When you are finished with Section A, click Save and Continue to proceed to the Section B tab.

1) Could you give us more background information about this topic?

What would be the desired application for the proposed technologies?

2) Besides virtual currencies, many blockchain applications (e.g., messaging system, database) have been proposed in both industry and academy. Is this topic focused on integrating the existing work in a practical way, or research-oriented looking for novel applications?

3) Is energy consumption in the scope, since many benefits of blockchain mentioned in solicitation, such as decentralized transactions and reliability is at the price of large energy consumption?

4) What would be the evaluation metrics for the Phase I or Phase II project?

DHS is interested in homeland security applications that take advantage of the major advantages of block chain technology including but not limited to distributed control for transactions, open and/or private networks, limited trust environments, distributed ledger applications with mixed access controls, contract enforcement, hybrid chain architectures. Some examples where we believe opportunity exists includes but is not limited to multiparty disaster response, government process execution across components and agencies, chain of custody, first responder data processing, travel security. Energy and metrics are a concern but relative to the proposed technical context and approach.

In order to ensure the success of this project, we would like to use the most experienced researcher in this field. There is no US citizen or

Permanent resident who has any experience in this design. I am requesting that Department of Homeland Security allow this waiver for us to proceed with the SBIR submission.

Waivers are not required in order to submit a SBIR proposal. If Non-citizens are to be utilized in the effort, this must be indicated where required. For Phase I, a minimum of two-thirds of the research or analytical effort must be performed by the awardee. For both Phase I and Phase II, the primary employment of the principal investigator must be with the Small

Business Concern (SBC) at the time of award and during the conduct of the proposed project. Primary employment means that more than one-half of the principal investigator's time is spent in the employ of the SBC. This precludes full-time employment with another organization. For both

Phase I and Phase II, the R/R&D work must be performed in the United

States.