RFP_N642672698000.docx

Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Consortium Manager Request for Proposal (RFP) Leveraging Enterprise Technologies for Holistic AI, Logistics, Integration, Transformation, and Yield Naval surface Warfare Center, Corona Division

OTA RFP Number: N642672698000

Background

The OTA, 10 U.S.C. § 4022, allows the Department of Defense (DoD) to “carry out prototype projects that are directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components or materials proposed to be carried out by the DoD, or to improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces.” Constant innovation and rapid technology advances are occurring throughout the world. Partnerships with commercial industry, the civil maritime sector, and others will be used to leverage these approaches and increase flexibility and agility, reduce cost, improve technology and capability insertion, and decrease program development cycles. The OTA offers an alternative to Federal Acquisition Regulation‐based acquisitions, allowing for access to participation by non-traditional defense contractors with innovative solutions that may not normally desire to participate in government procurement.

Requirement

The Naval surface Warfare Center, Corona Division (NSWCCO) requires innovative technological solutions to address current and future security threats in the surface and maritime environment. NSWCCO’s intent is to competitively establish an Other Transaction (OT) Agreement with a single Consortium, a legal entity whose members will be comprised of both traditional and non-traditional defense contractors. As part of the selection of the single Consortium, the Government will evaluate the Consortium Manager (CM) proposed to manage the operations of the Consortium based on its Consortium Membership Agreement. The Consortium Management Firm will sign the Base OT Agreement on behalf of the Consortium. Prototype projects will be awarded to the CM on behalf of the Consortium member or team proposing the project.

Objectives of establishing the Base OT Agreement with the CM (on behalf of the Consortium) include: (1) Minimizing barriers to entry for small businesses and non-traditional vendors to work with the Government and to identify and realize teaming opportunities among entities to promote integrated research and prototyping efficiencies; (2) Facilitating proposal development; and (3) Reducing the cost of prototype development.

Following selection of the Consortium and Consortium Manager by the Government, and upon execution of the Base OT Agreement, the CM will be responsible for further building membership by attracting, retaining, and mentoring members to prepare them to compete for forthcoming prototype projects that will be solicited by NSWCCO. The CM will also be expected to aid in building teaming arrangements among Consortium members, as needed, to best meet the requirements of individual projects.

Competing the Base OT Agreement, as well as competing each of the ensuing prototype projects among the consortium membership, will also satisfy the requirements of the authority granted in 10 U.S.C. § 4022 that permit the streamlining of potential future follow-on production awards resulting from successful prototype projects.

1.0 Instruction to Offerors

1.1 Compliance

The CM shall provide concurrence with submitting payment requests and receiving reports using Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF), in one of the following electronic formats that WAWF accepts: Electronic Data Interchange, Secure File Transfer Protocol, or World Wide Web input. Information regarding WAWF is available on the Internet at https://wawf.eb.mil/.

The CM shall provide concurrence with obtaining and maintaining registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) throughout the life of this Agreement.

The CM shall provide current status of its facility clearance and level of safeguarding or demonstrate the ability to obtain a facility clearance.

The CM shall provide a narrative on their current accounting system and how it will track expenditures for a project separately from other tasking.

1.2 General Information

Proposals and questions concerning this OT requirement, either technical or procedural, must be submitted via email to Kim Chu at kimhoang.chu.civ@us.navy.mil. No direct discussion between the technical representative and prospective Offeror will be conducted.

All emails shall contain the subject line “N642672698000 COMPANY NAME”.

2.0 Proposal Submission

Proposals shall be submitted in the English language. The narrative material in the proposal shall be prepared in no smaller than 10-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced with no less than a one-inch margin on all sides. In the event photo reduction is used for tables, charts, and drawings, their presentation must be clear and legible. No pictures or hyperlinks are allowed.

Proposals and all attachments shall be compatible with Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat, as applicable.

Offerors are required to submit their proposals in separate sections as follows:

In addition to the above, Offerors are highly encouraged to submit comments/recommendations concerning Attachment 1 DRAFT NSWCCO OTA Base Agreement for Consortium Manager. The Government reserves the right to accept or reject any suggestions.

Proposals shall be considered valid for 180 days after submission unless the Offeror formally withdraws.

2.1 Section I Management of the Consortium

Offerors shall provide the following:

2.1.1 The CM proposed to perform Consortium management duties under this agreement, including the following information:

(a) The name, address, email address, telephone numbers, Unique entity ID (UEI) Number, and Business Size/Organization Type (i.e. Large, Non-Traditional, Academia, etc.) of the Consortium Management Firm and each member of the Consortium;

(b) Names, titles, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of persons authorized to negotiate on the Offeror’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation;

(c) Name, title, and signature of a person authorized to sign the proposal; and

(d) The status and level of the current Facility Clearance held by the Consortium Management Firm.

2.1.2 Details on how the CM will manage the Consortium, including details on the contents of the Consortium Membership Agreement that will be executed with Consortium members, proposed organizational structure, corporate structure and manpower. Include information on the methodology used to attract and maintain Consortium members.

2.1.3 Narrative description that includes a process flow diagram and timeline identifying all steps and responsible parties showing how the CM will: (1) process and disseminate Government problem statements, and (2) process preliminary whitepaper solutions.

2.1.4 Details on the ability of the CM to attract and maintain technical expertise across the Consortium.

2.1.5 Description of services proposed to be provided to the Government.

2.2 Section II Engagement of Non-Traditional Contractors

Offerors shall provide a detailed plan and schedule on how the CM will populate the Consortium with members possessing significant technical capabilities to meet Government needs associated with the technology areas identified below in Section V. The offer shall include an approach for how the Offeror intends to engage and incentivize participation of non-traditional contractors in the performance of this agreement. Offerors shall include rationale that demonstrates the proposed non-traditional contractors are meaningful to the overall success of this agreement.

2.3 Section III Fee Rates and Structures

The CM shall provide complete details of proposed charges including any membership fees, fee rates/amounts, fee schedules, and structures the CM will charge Consortium members and the Government. Fee rates, schedules, and structures proposed will be incorporated into the CM Agreement, if accepted.

2.4 Section IV Past Performance

The CM shall provide up to three past performance references that reflect its experience managing a Consortium. Include a discussion on how the references provided are relevant to this requirement and any relevant points of contact. If the past performance referenced is related to a Government procurement, include contract/task order/agreement number, contract/task order/agreement type, program name, total contract/task order/agreement cost, short description of work performed, and names and valid telephone numbers for the Procuring Contract Officer/Agreements Officer, Contracting Officer’s Representative/Agreements Officer Representative, and Program Manager.

2.5 Section V Technology

The proposal submission shall provide information describing the technical expertise across the Consortium to support all of the planned technology areas below.

2.5.1 Network Architecture and Infrastructure: Research, development, demonstration, test, and evaluation of tools, techniques, procedures and processes that expand the state of the art in network architecture, engineering, infrastructure. This includes advanced design and implementation of secure, resilient, and scalable network solutions supporting critical naval operations across diverse environments. Key focus areas include software-defined networking, network function virtualization, advanced routing and switching protocols, zero-trust architectures, and the integration of next-generation wireless and satellite communication systems. This area also encompasses the development of robust and adaptable infrastructure solutions, including enterprise data centers, cloud computing environments, and tactical edge networks. Research and prototyping efforts may include optimizing network performance, enhancing cybersecurity posture through advanced threat detection and mitigation, and ensuring seamless interoperability across various platforms and domains. Emphasis is placed on automation, predictive analytics for network management, and the development of tools for rapid deployment and configuration of secure network infrastructure to meet evolving mission requirements.

2.5.2 Cyber: Research, development, demonstration, test, and evaluation of tools, techniques, procedures, and processes that expand the state of the art in cyber warfare, cyber engineering practices, and system security engineering practices throughout the system lifecycle. This includes advanced offensive and defensive applications, technologies (anti-tamper, supply chain risk management, hardware and software, microcode to application layer), and tools supporting vulnerability assessment and adversarial assessment (such as red team) cyber initiatives in all aspects.

2.5.3 Big Data Analytics/Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: Boundary extension of 'big data' analysis tools used for data classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, predictive analysis, visualization, and forensic analysis of streaming data. Research may include artificial intelligence/autonomy/deep learning for statistical pattern recognition, vehicle control, semantic reasoning, and cyber defense. Research may include threat assessment and enhancement of RF monitoring, and recording/analysis. Consider advanced Viz concepts for augmented reality, and personnel training/readiness.

2.5.4 Advanced Computing and Software Engineering: Research, development, demonstration, and exploitation of tools, techniques, and procedures that expand the state of the art in software engineering practices, advanced computing and computation, and heterogeneous/homogenous computing environments throughout the system lifecycle. This includes hardware and software architecture and design, formal verification tools and techniques, algorithmic development and design, clustering/high availability computing stacks, compiler technologies, software assurance tools, automatic code generation, networking tools and the necessary hardware and software to improve the state of the art in the field of computation and advanced computing.

2.5.5 Virtualization: Research, development, demonstration, and analysis of alternatives associated with virtualization technologies, including hardware abstraction techniques (hypervisors) and operating environment abstraction techniques (containers). Virtualization solutions to include dynamic resource allocation, cyber resilience, real-time performance assessment, heterogeneous hypervisor deployment, and incorporation of service-oriented concepts. Prototype efforts to include execution of hardware and software solutions that meet a wide range of Navy needs for both laboratory variations, portable, and shipboard environments.

3.0 Basis for Award

The Government intends to make a single award to a Consortium Management Firm on behalf of a Consortium. Selection of the Consortium Management Firm will be made to the Offeror that provides the best value to the Government as determined by an evaluation of the proposal submitted in response to this OTA RFP.

The Government reserves the right to contact one, some, or all Offerors prior to award.

3.1 Evaluation Factors and Relative Important

The Government will perform an evaluation of the evaluation factors below and assign strengths and weaknesses. The Government will then compare the various strengths and weaknesses among proposals to select the Offeror that represents the best value to the Government.

Factors 1-5 are of equal importance.

3.2 Definitions

Strength is an aspect of an Offeror’s proposal that has merit in a way that will be advantageous to the Government during performance of the agreement.

Weakness is defined as a flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful performance of the agreement.

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