Live Call for Papers.pdf

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) W911QY-25-R-0023

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

REQUEST FOR WHITE PAPERS

BAA TOPIC: Topic G. Simulation and Training Technology, “Live Training Simulation and Battlefield Effects”

Introduction

Applications to the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) “Live Training Simulation and Battlefield Effects” are being solicited by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Soldier Center (SC) Soldier Effectiveness Directorate (SED) Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC), Live Training Team.

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) W911QY-25-R-0023 was publicized on SAM.gov on 03 March 2025. This Sources Sought Notice calls for White Paper submissions in reference to the research within the BAA Topic G. Simulation and Training Technology, Live Training Simulation and Battlefield Effects section. The BAA W911QY-25-R-0023, issued under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 6.102(d)(2), provides for the competitive selection of proposals. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984,” and subsequent amendments. The type of research solicited under this BAA attempts to increase knowledge in science and/or to advance the state of the art as compared to practical application of knowledge.

Funding of research and development (R&D) within DEVCOM-SC-SED-STTC areas of interest will be determined by funding constraints and priorities set during each budget cycle. Awards related to the submission of White Papers requested by this Notice are subject to funds availability and priorities. DEVCOM-SC-SED-STTC may choose not to select any new awards due to unavailability of funds or other factors.

The sequence of steps leading to award is:

(1) Request for White Paper initiated,

(2) All concept papers, proposals, and administrative inquiries should be submitted to:

U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center

DEVCOM SC ATTN: FCDD-SCD-EXA

(Mr. Matthew Whipple or Ms. Jennifer Rourke) General Greene Avenue Natick, MA 01760-5020 TEL: (508) 206-3803 (Mr. Whipple) or (508) 206-3853 (Ms. Rourke) Email: usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil

(3) Written or telephonic feedback provided to the Offeror regarding the White Paper’s scientific merit and potential contributions to the Army mission as per established criteria presented in this mailto:usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil announcement,

(4) Request of a formal proposal(s) submission initiated by POC, if the White Paper merits a proposal request,

(5) Submission of a timely, formal proposal(s),

(6) Evaluation of the formal proposal from criteria noted in BAA solicitation W911QY-25-R- 0023, and

(7) Contract or grant award for selected proposal(s) based on availability of funds or other factors.

This sequence allows earliest determination of the potential for funding and minimizes the labor and additional costs associated with submission of full proposals that have minimal probability of being selected for funding.

BAA W911QY-25-R-0023 allows several potential instrument types (e.g., contract, grant, cooperative agreement) to result from a successful proposal. For this Notice, the intention of the Government is to award a BAA contract.

Note that interested Offerors must submit a White Paper electronically in order to be eligible to submit a formal proposal under this Notice. This Notice requires that White Papers be submitted electronically no later than 22 September 2025, 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST). See Part V, Deadlines, for additional details.

THOSE SUBMITTING WHITE PAPERS/PROPOSALS ARE CAUTIONED THAT ONLY A

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING OR GRANTS OFFICER CAN OBLIGATE THE

GOVERNMENT TO ANY AGREEMENT INVOLVING EXPENDITURE OF GOVERNMENT

FUNDS.

This Sources Sought Notice for White Papers consists of five parts as follows:

• Background and Introduction

• Part I: Research Objectives

• Part II: Preparation, Submission, Evaluation Criteria, Review and Selection Process

• Part III: Feedback

• Part IV: Deadlines

• Part V: Inquiries

Technical POC(s):

Gino F. Franomeni 12423 Research Parkway Orlando, FL 32826 407-384-5542 gino.f.fragomeni.civ@army.mil mailto:gino.f.fragomeni.civ@army.mil

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

Army doctrine requires units to train as they intend to fight—that is, training must simulate realistic battlefield conditions ranging from small arms weapons engagements to large-scale chemical, biological, or nuclear attacks. To accomplish this, the Army needs advanced technologies to provide Soldiers with fully immersive, live, virtual, and constructive training environments with the ability to accurately replicate ballistics for all types of weapons (current and future), battle damage effects, visual and auditory cues, and haptic or force-based feedback (e.g.

weapon recoil or explosive blasts). Systems must be able to operate both indoors and outdoors and allow trainees to interact with both live and virtual targets, personnel, vehicles, and other battlefield entities in support of a train anywhere, anytime doctrine. Furthermore, to be effective for future training environments, solutions should leverage, wherever possible, a modular open systems approach and take advantage of embedded training opportunities utilizing existing platform capabilities to achieve training objectives while minimizing new hardware requirements and appended systems.

I. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The following technical areas are being sought for innovative applied research, development, evaluation, and testing efforts that address current limitations in live, virtual, and constructive training environments:

(1) Weapon Tracking: Exploration of innovative wireless, low size, weight, and power (SWaP) weapon tracking capabilities, including inertial, optical, and computer vision sensors that enable tracking of weapon systems and soldiers in a live training scenario. Special interest areas include precise navigation-grade inertial measurement units (IMUs) and wireless and/or marker-less tracking technologies.

(2) Edge Computing: Solutions for embedded computing capabilities and innovative algorithm design for low latency, low power dismounted computing. Research should support achieving the following size, weight, and power goals: a. Dimensions: 100mm length x 70mm width x 50mm height

b. Weight: less than 1 pound

c. Power: power management should allow for 96 hours of standby runtime established interests are in local cellular, WiFi, and self-healing mesh network capabilities.

(4) Landmark/Object Detection Technology: Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision algorithms and techniques for object recognition that enable new capabilities in tracking and localization. Topics of interest include target recognition, image feature tracking, and algorithm optimization.

(5) After Action Review (AAR): Research related to improving mission rehearsal and AAR in training, including distributed AAR, particularly in areas involving multi-sensor (e.g. videos, position, timing, and written or auditory feedback) data collection, analysis, and presentation specific to live training environments.

(6) Replication of Battlefield Effects: Simulation or accurate replication of visual and auditory cues for battlefield effects, such as weapon launch signatures, terminal ballistic effects, and chemical or biological attacks. Solutions may include, but are not limited to, virtual, augmented, or mixed reality systems, non-pyrotechnic explosion/blast indicators, and training environment instrumentation.

(7) Dynamic Occlusion: Research that enables accurate, real-time depth sensing and occlusion mapping for use in virtual, augmented, and/or mixed reality solutions, with a specific emphasis on outdoor performance in highly complex environments and at ranges beyond 300 meters (out to five kilometers).

(8) Novel Use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML): The use of AI/ML to increase capabilities in any of the aforementioned areas of interest. Special topics of interest include prediction of GNSS receiver satellite availability due to terrain features (e.g., building obscuration), high accuracy pedestrian dead reckoning, video denoising, and video scene feature depth and distance estimation to include accurate passive range finding under conditions of high pixilation.

(3) Network: Research related to building, maintaining, and/or optimizing networks in remote environments. Networks must handle data from greater than 10,000 clients with simultaneous bursts of heavy, rapid traffic that may include anything from small protocol-specific messages to larger audio and video files. The research is not focused on any particular network type, but

Please note that is the Government’s intent to seek Government Purpose Rights for data rights on deliverables associated with this effort.

Data Right – Government Purpose Rights:

Government Purpose Rights (including rights to any copyrights or trade secrets) in the technical data, computer software and computer software documentation, as applicable, will be requested on the response to this solicitation.

The term "Government purpose rights" as used herein means the rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose technical data, computer software and any computer software documentation within the Government without restriction.

II. PREPARATION, SUBMISSION, EVALUATION CRITERIA, REVIEW AND

SELECTION PROCESS

Preparation & Submission:

The process of execution begins with White Paper evaluation and a down-selection process. From among the whitepapers submitted, the Government will notify the Offeror if their White Paper is selected, and formally request a full proposal. The full proposals undergo a full scientific review and programmatic review prior to being funded.

The white paper should include a technical solution with a twelve (12) month base award and two

(2) twelve (12) month option periods. The white paper must include the anticipated period of performance, a technical description of the proposed concepts, the technical objectives, and a planned approach to accomplish the stated objectives as well as a rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost per year. The ROM cost should consist of the total cost plus profit/fee/overhead. It is anticipated that only one contract will be awarded for this effort.

Requests for or offers of conference or symposium support, consultant services, engineering and/or marketing services, and/or training support will not be considered under this announcement. Only concepts for research/exploratory development will be considered. All concept papers, proposals and administrative inquiries should be submitted to U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil

White Papers shall not exceed five (5) 8 ½ x 11 inch pages of computerized text at 12 pitch (including charts, graphs, photographs, etc.) and shall include the following:

(1) A brief technical explanation of the proposed effort that addresses the major research thrust, the research goals and deliverables, a proposed approach to achieve these goals and deliverables, and military relevancy.

(2) A brief management description outlining key personnel and experience.

(3) Any past performance the contractor has with similar research efforts.

(4) An estimated cost/price and performance schedule for the work.

Evaluation Criteria

White Papers will be evaluated by technical/scientific personnel who are knowledgeable within the particular topical area/specific interest area to determine if the paper presented is consistent with the intent of the BAA and of interest to the Government. White Papers will be evaluated using the following criteria:

a) Scientific/technical merit,

b) Management approach,

c) Importance to agency programs, and

d) Proposed cost/price

Based on these evaluation criteria, the highest rated concept papers will show considerable potential to develop into highly qualified proposals that could likely lead to an award. Concept papers will be evaluated by the Government within ninety (90) days of receipt.

Review and Selection Process:

Upon completion of White Paper evaluations, Offerors will be notified whether or not their White Paper was favorably received. Favorable review of a White Paper does not constitute selection of mailto:usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil the proposed effort for contract award and will not establish a binding commitment for the Government to fund the effort in whole or in part. Upon notification, the Government will issue a request for proposal letter to the qualified Offeror(s), who best meet the program objectives. If proposals are solicited, proposals are due no later than thirty (30) days of the request for proposal letter. The requirements for proposal preparation and submission can be found at https://sam.gov/opp/e85e373d22ef47018b0336fc6a258002/view.

This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to reimburse any proposal preparation cost for responding. The cost of proposal preparation in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect costs as specified in FAR 31.205-18, Independent Research and Development and Bid and Proposal Costs. Any request for White Paper or submission of a full proposal does not guarantee award. The Government reserves the right to cancel this requirement at any time and shall not be liable for any cost of proposal preparation or submission. This announcement constitutes the Government's solicitation for this effort. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published.

III. FEEDBACK

Written or telephonic feedback will be provided to the Offeror regarding the White Paper’s scientific merit and potential contributions to the Army mission. If the Government decides to request a full proposal, a written request for proposal will be sent to the Offeror. The request may also include feedback intended to improve the proposal.

IV. DEADLINES

White Paper submissions, no more than five (5) pages in length, are encouraged to be submitted as early as possible but must be received, via email, to U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil, no later than 22 September 2025, at 5:00 P.M. EST. No extensions will be granted. Only unclassified White Papers will be accepted. The White Papers will be reviewed to determine that the proposed effort is within the scope and interest of this solicitation. A proposal will only be solicited from White Papers deemed the best to meet program objectives.

V. INQUIRIES

Communication with the primary technical POC Gino Franomeni at gino.f.fragomeni.civ@army.mil is essential in tailoring responses to the specific needs of DEVCOM-SC-SED-STTC. This preliminary communication is especially important because once the formal proposal is submitted as instructed in the specific Scientific and Technical Area of Interest listed in Section VI of the BAA, no further communication between the proposed contractor and the Government technical POC is allowed.

https://sam.gov/opp/e85e373d22ef47018b0336fc6a258002/view mailto:usarmy.natick.devcom-sc.mbx.osi-spod@army.mil mailto:gino.f.fragomeni.civ@army.mil