FY19_Special_Topic_LMR_BAA.docx

FA--Research and Development in support of the Living Marine Resource Program

FY19 LIVING MARINE RESOURCES (LMR) PROGRAM ENVIRONMENTAL NEED TOPIC

Solicitation Number N3943018S2103

Posted on NECO and FEDBIZOPS on 11/06/2018 – www.neco.navy.mil and www.fbo.gov

DESCRIPTION:

This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NEXWC) under FAR 6.102(d)(2) and 35.106. A formal Request for Proposals (RFP), other solicitation, or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued.

FAR Part 35 restricts the use of BAAs, such as this, to the acquisition of basic and applied research and that portion of advanced technology development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement. Contracts made under BAAs are for scientific study and experimentation directed towards advancing the state of the art and increasing knowledge or understanding. This announcement is not for the acquisition of technical, engineering, or other types of support services.

The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, through the Living Marine Resources (LMR) program, is soliciting pre-proposals for efforts related to the need topic listed below. If invited, offerors will be asked to submit a full proposal.

TESTING AND DEMONSTRATION OF EXISTING AUTOMATED SONAR DETECTORS

Background:

The LMR program has funded a project to standardize automated detection of U.S. Navy sonar within passive acoustic datasets. As part of this project, Navy researchers will be conducting a comparison and assessment of existing detectors that academic and independent groups have already developed. To bypass the time-consuming process of releasing a dataset that has been “scrubbed” for use by outside organizations, Navy researchers will conduct the comparison on a subset of data that would be compiled from Navy ranges and other sources. Data from Navy ranges will be used initially to better quantify and evaluate the performance of these existing detectors against known sources in multiple environments including SCORE, AUTEC, and PMRF. The analysis will then be expanded to selected data from commonly used recording devices (using data from at most two or three additional devices that also meet the data standardization metrics laid out for the detectors) and on data from different environments (again limited to two or three different environments). After evaluating these detectors, comparing their performance across environments, and identifying the inherent strengths and weaknesses of each one, a benchmark can be set of the necessary characteristics of a broadly applicable sonar detector.

Research Need:

The LMR program is looking for academic and independent groups that have already developed unclassified automated sonar detectors to submit their detectors to the Navy for testing. Please note that we are not interested in funding development of automated sonar detectors, we are focused on comparing performance of existing detectors. As part of this process the detectors may need to be adjusted to some degree by their developers in order to utilize the same dataset (e.g. a wav file of a given sampling rate) and generate the same output (e.g. a csv file), thereby standardizing the comparison process. The LMR program requests that a pre-proposal be submitted outlining the expected costs associated with adjusting the detectors as requested, submitting the detectors to the Navy, providing instructions on how to use the detector and troubleshooting as needed. In addition, if the applicant group has existing recordings of sonar that they have processed with their detector, the Navy may request a small subset of that data for testing on other sonar detectors. Specific instructions and data requests will be provided at a later date if selected for further consideration.

SUBMISSION PROCESS:

The pre-proposal submittal process is an email-based submission. Pre-proposals should be submitted via email to exwc_lmr_program@navy.mil. There is no specific format required for the pre-proposal, however, the pre-proposal should be consolidated into one single file and should not exceed 5 pages in length. All pre-proposal submissions must be received before the deadline.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE:

To be considered for funding in FY 2019, pre-proposals must be received no later than 11:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time on 21 December 2018. Offerors will receive a confirmation email message within one business day acknowledging successful submission. It is the responsibility of the offeror to confirm receipt of the submission. If invited to submit a full proposal, these will be due 30 days after notification.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Following an evaluation and selection process, successful pre-proposal offerors will receive an email inviting submission of a full proposal. Unsuccessful pre-proposal offerors will receive an email with a brief description of the reasons for preproposal rejection. Awards to non-government entities (academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, industry) will be in the form of contracts. The nominal duration of this work is expected to be a few months of work spread over the course of 1-2 years. Applicants are strongly encouraged to use realism of cost for the proposed effort as their metric, as this will be a critical element in the review process. Otherwise, meritorious pre-proposals and full proposals will be rejected if cost does not accurately reflect the proposed scope of work.

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

The pre-proposals and full proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria, of approximately equal weight.

1. TECHNICAL APPROACH: The scientific/technical merits and objectives in terms of meeting the stated need topic, as well as evidence that the science/technology is mature enough for applied research funding, and the performance criteria to measure success of the research effort.

2. OFFEROR’S EXPERIENCE: For the pre-proposal phase, the offeror should clearly provide evidence showing experience related to the solution being proposed. The organization’s capabilities related to experience, techniques, or a unique combination of these that are integral factors in achieving the contractor's proposed objectives. This equates to past performance, and will be assessed based on both relevance and confidence.

3. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR’S AND KEY MEMBER’S RELATED EXPERIENCE: For the pre-proposal phase, the offeror should provide the name, highest degree earned, organization/affiliation, location, and years of experience for the Principal Investigator and key personnel who are critical in achieving the objectives of the proposal. Principle Investigators and key personnel should be identified in the pre-proposal as such. If invited to submit a full proposal, the offeror will need to submit CVs for the Principal Investigator and key personnel.

4. COST/PRICE: The cost relative to the proposed scientific/technical approach. For the pre-proposal phase this information may be limited to a total cost estimate by calendar year (Jan 1 – December 31). Assume for Year 1 of your project that effort will begin in approximately March 2019. If invited to submit a full proposal, additional guidance on cost/price information will be provided.

5. PROJECT BENEFITS: Expected benefits of the proposed work, key issues the proposed solution addresses, potential application of the results, and advantages over current approaches.

6. PRODUCT IMPLEMENTATION: Describe the intended product(s) and all associated deliverables, the requirements for implementing the proposed products of this effort, and the potential technical risks that may pose a challenge to successful implementation.

NOTES:

1. An eligible pre-proposal or full proposal does not guarantee a contract. Multiple contracts may result.

2. An offeror is required to register with the system for award management (SAM). No contract award will be made to any offeror that is not registered. Registration may take up to three weeks. SAM may be accessed at https://www.sam.gov. Registration is not required for proposal submission, but must be completed prior to initiation of award negotiation. To avoid delays in the award process, applicants are encouraged to initiate SAM registration early in the submission and review process. Non-government awardees will also need to provide a DUNS (Dunn & Bradstreet) number (http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.doc) and CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity) code (http://govwin.com/knowledge/ccr-registration) before an award can be made.

3. The preceding data should be sufficient for completing a pre-proposal.

4. There are no solicitation documents applying to this BAA. Request for a solicitation package will not be acknowledged. Those interested in participating in the BAA must follow the instructions to submit a pre-proposal.

5. There is no commitment by the Navy either to make any contract awards or to be responsible for any money expended by the contractor before a contract award.

6. As no funding for contracts has been reserved in advance, NEXWC will be sharing qualified pre-proposals with other Federal Government activities to seek demonstration sites and/or funding. Some Federal Government activities may employ civilian contractors to determine the applicability of an offered technology to specific projects. Technical and cost pre-proposals and full proposals submitted under this BAA will be protected from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 3.104-4 and 15.207. The cognizant Program Manager and other scientific experts will perform the evaluation of technical proposals. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, one or more support contractors may be utilized as subject-matter-expert technical consultants in accordance with FAR 37.204. However, pre-proposal and full proposal selection and award decisions are solely the responsibility of Government personnel. Each support contractor’s employee having access to technical and cost pre-proposals and full proposals submitted in response to this BAA will be required to sign a non-disclosure statement prior to receipt of any pre-proposal or full proposal submissions. An offeror may require the non-government personnel to execute a supplemental non-disclosure agreement by including a copy of their institutional NDA with their proposal. However, note that a failure to come to an agreement may impact the ability to make an award. Please review FAR 37.204 and NFAS 15.303(d)(4). Eligibility notification will be sent to all contractors who have submitted a pre-proposal, after the Review Committee reviewed all pre-proposals submitted by the solicitation cut-off date.

7. For questions regarding this BAA, contact NAVFAC EXWC at (805) 982-4853 or (805) 982-5872 or via this email address: exwc_lmr_program@navy.mil. Correspondents are advised not to include Personally Identifiable Information (PII), business proprietary, or competition-sensitive information via email. Offerors will receive an automated email message acknowledging successful submission. If the contractor does not receive a notification of pre-proposal receipt, the contractor should call or e-mail NEXWC by using the phone number or e-mail address provided in this section.

8. Historically Black Colleges/Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) will be recognized according to DFARS 226.3. All responsible sources from academia and industry may submit proposals. No portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation, due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable items of this research for exclusive competition among the entities. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) including Department of Energy National Laboratories, are not eligible to receive awards under this BAA. However, teaming arrangements between FFRDCs and eligible principal bidders are allowed so long as they are permitted under the sponsoring agreement between the Government and the specific FFRDC.

DFARS 235.017-1 allows DOD FFRDCs which function primarily as research laboratories to apply. Naval laboratories and Warfare Centers as well as other DOD and civilian agency laboratories are not eligible to receive awards under this BAA and should not directly submit proposals in response to this BAA. If any such organization is interested in one or more of these program areas, they should contact the NEXWC program office to discuss its interest. As with the FFRDCs, these organizations may team with other responsible sources from industry and academia that are submitting proposals under the BAA. University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC) are eligible to submit proposals under this BAA unless precluded from doing so by their DOD UARC contract or an organizational conflict of interest.

9. Do not call the Contracting Office for verification. The pre-proposal is not received by the Contracting Office.