14-009-Amendment-0002.pdf

Amendment 02

ONR BAA 14-009

Advanced Analytics and Data Science for Naval Warfare Planning and Execution

The purpose of this amendment is to post the following questions and answers:

Question 17: BAA 14-009 states that the Navy Tactical Cloud Reference Implementation is intended to be “the underlying environment for all work performed under this BAA.” What objective standard will be used to determine compatibility with the Navy Tactical Cloud Reference Implementation? Will proposers have an opportunity to use standard open source and commercial components compatible with the NTCRI platform components or will they have to use exact version, distribution, and vendor that NTCRI uses?

Answer: The Government maintains the NTCRI and will provide the current version to performers that are awarded contracts via this BAA. The BAA states that ONR “seeks to develop Naval Data Science and analytics, not to develop infrastructure, systems, tools, or middle-ware. Proposers shall ensure that any proposed work under this BAA not come packaged with unique or proprietary platforms or systems.”

Question 18: BAA 14-009 states that the Navy Tactical Cloud Reference Implementation is intended to be “the underlying environment for all work performed under this BAA” and “At a high level, the Naval Tactical Cloud Reference Implementation consists of a utility computing component (Cloudera), a Big Data analytic component (Hadoop Distributed Files System, Accumulo, MapReduce, and Storm), and a Data Storage component (Content Zone).”

Will alternate providers for these components be entertained, such as Hortonworks, MapR IBM, data in-motion analytics, ect? It is our understanding that several Navy-led development efforts of NTCRI Users are currently using Hortonworks HDP instead of Cloudera due to broader project support.

Answer: Use of Hortonworks vs. Cloudera should not be an issue since it is not a critical infrastructure component. In general ONR is required by transition agreements with Program Offices to minimize/eliminate licensed software whenever possible to minimize sustainment costs. Per the BAA, white papers should focus on Naval Data Science and analytics and only recommend infrastructure changes if a compelling case can be made that they will result in a leap ahead capability over what is possible using NTC RI and not result in significant increases in program sustainment costs.

Question 19: Is it possible to provide us with publicly released versions of the Navy’s PLA and Common Data Model documents?

Answer: The PLA and Common Data Model are not publicly releasable. If a performer was selected and needed access we would request VPN access from PEO IWS.

Question 20: In the context of the Track Data Model, does the track refer to the track (in the space-time domain) of ship, submarine, torpedo, missile, etc. or does the work “track” have a different connotation?

Answer: IN the context of the Track Data Model, “track” does refer to the track (in the space-time domain) of ship, submarine, torpedo, missile, etc.

Question 21: Please advise if foreign applicants may apply to this BAA. As this involves research related to the NTCRI, it seems foreign participation may be doubtful.

Answer: Non-citizens and non-US entities may propose and can perform work but may find themselves in a non-competitive situation due to security restrictions associated with the use cases and details of the reference implementation.