A07_BAA_for_ARCO_27_Nov_18.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

W56JSR-18-S-0001

For

The Army Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)

Issued By:

Army Contracting Command (ACC) – Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG)

6007 Combat Drive

Issue Date: 23 March 2018 Amendment Date: 27 November 2018

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is intended to fulfill requirements for scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing state-of-the-art technologies and/or increasing knowledge and understanding as a means to identify and develop robust innovative concepts, stimulate technology innovation, and exploit breakthroughs in science. This BAA identifies research/exploratory development areas of interest and provides prospective offerors information on the preparation of Whitepapers along with evaluation factors. THIS BAA DOES NOT

FOCUS ON SPECIFIC SYSTEMS OR HARDWARE SOLUTIONS. THIS

ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR THE ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING,

OR OTHER TYPES OF SUPPORT SERVICES.

Table of Contents I. Overview of the Funding Opportunity

A. Required Overview Content

1. Federal Awarding Agency Name(s)

2. Program Name

3. Broad Agency Announcement Title

4. Broad Agency Announcement Number

5. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code/Title, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers

6. Response Date

II. Focus Areas of Interests and Opportunities A. Funding Opportunity Description – RCO

1. Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)

2. Cyber

3. Electronic Warfare

4. Optical Augmentation

5. Survivability

6. Swarm and Anti-Swarm

7. Communications

8. Long Range Fires

9. Air & Missile Defense

10. Disruptive Technology

III. General Information A. Award Information

1. Procurement Contracts

2. Grants

3. Cooperative Agreements

4. Cooperative research and development agreement

5. Technology Investment Agreement (TIA) Assistance Transaction other than a Grant or Cooperative Agreement (see 32 CFR, Part 37)

6. Other Transaction for Prototype (OTA)

B. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

3. System for Award Management (SAM)

4. Commitment to Small Business

5. Contracts Options

6. Foreign Firms

7. Receipt Qualification

8. Conflicts of Interest

9. Administrative and National Policy Requirements:

IV. Multi-Step Solicitation Process A. Whitepaper Submissions (Per Special Notice/Government Request) B. Demonstration (Per Special Notice/Government Request) C. Submission of Full Proposals (Per Special Notice/Government Request)

V. Evaluation

1. Evaluation Factors

2. Review and Selection Process

3. Recipient Qualification

VI. Basis for Award A. Negotiation and Discussions

B. Award Notices

Broad Agency Announcement For

Army Rapid Capabilities Office

I. Overview of the Funding Opportunity

This publication constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in support of the Army Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO). The RCO serves to expedite critical capabilities to the field to meet Combatant Commanders’ needs. The Office enables the Army to experiment, evolve, and deliver technologies in real time to address both urgent and emerging threats while supporting acquisition reform efforts. The RCO executes rapid prototyping and initial equipping of capabilities, particularly in the areas of cyber, electronic warfare, survivability and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), as well as other priority projects that will enable Soldiers to operate and win in contested environments decisively. Beyond closing current capability gaps, the Office also aims to stimulate aggressive, proactive capability development and leverage disruptive technologies to meet Army strategic objectives. Additionally, the RCO leverages innovation by other government agencies and industry partners, as well as Warfighter feedback, to deliver solutions on an accelerated timeline. Within the Office, there is a dedicated cell called the Emerging Technologies Office (ETO), which engages directly and continuously to align, understand and drive academia, industry, and Science & Technology solutions to near-term and emerging threats with development and demonstration of revolutionary new capabilities. The ETO serves as an ombudsman, collaborating with industry to direct efforts towards specific areas of need. The RCO delivers urgently needed materiel capabilities that mitigate near-term operational risk against rapidly modernizing adversaries until enduring Army programs deliver capability. The Office also addresses strategic gaps, generated by Combatant Commanders, which lack a materiel solution in the next 1-5 years. The RCO executes analysis, prototyping, development, procurement, and production for select high-priority capability solutions. It acts as a change agent, challenging traditional approaches and leveraging Congressional NDAA approaches to acquisition agility.

This BAA is issued under the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2), which provides for the competitive selection of basic and applied research proposals, and 10 U.S.C. 2358, 10 U.S.C. 2371, and 10 U.S.C. 2371b, which provide the authorities for issuing awards under this announcement for basic and applied research. The definitions of basic and applied research may be found at 32 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 22.105.

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 sec. 2701, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.” Any award from this BAA must comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulation (EAR).

Under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2371b, the RCO office is interested in awarding funding agreements to nontraditional and traditional defense contractors 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 acquired or developed by the Department of Defense, or to improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces. Additionally, the Government may use any information gained as a consequence of this BAA pursuit of future market research efforts for arriving at the most suitable approach to acquiring, distributing, and supporting supplies and services.

ACC-APG will not issue paper copies of this announcement. ACC-APG reserves the right to select for award and fund all, some, or none of the whitepapers, proposals, or demonstrations in response to this announcement. The cost of preparing whitepapers in response to this BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or to any other contract.

However, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect costs as specified in FAR 31.205-18. It is the policy of ACC-APG to handle all whitepapers, proposals, and presentations submitted under this BAA as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation.

This BAA is intended for industry and academia submissions and considerations related to advanced research technology development, innovative commercial technologies, development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement. However, submissions may be directly relevant to enhancing mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components, or material proposed to be acquired or developed by the Department of Defense, or improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces. Work funded under this BAA may include applied research and advanced technology development that may or may not be related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement.

This BAA is used to fulfill the RCO requirements for scientific study, experimentation /demonstration and prototyping directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on a specific system or hardware solution and discovering innovative or disruptive commercial technology solutions.

A. Required Overview Content

1. Federal Awarding Agency Name(s)

This Department of Defense (DoD) program is issued by the U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Division E on behalf of the Army Rapid Capabilities Office.

2. Program Name

Army Rapid Capabilities Office

3. Broad Agency Announcement Title

Army Rapid Capability Office (RCO) Broad Agency Announcement

4. Broad Agency Announcement Number

Broad Agency Announcement W56JSR-18-S-0001

5. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code/Title, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers.

NAICS codes will be released with each special amendment notice, and the CFDA is

12.431 “Basic Scientific Research.”

North American Industry Classification System

NAICS Title Small Business Size Standard

541713 Research and Development in Nanotechnology 1,000 employees

541714 Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nano biotechnology)

1,000 employees

541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)

1,000 employees

541720 Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities

$20.5 million

6. Response Date

This BAA is a continuously open announcement valid for five years from the release date unless rescinded. Amendments to this BAA will be periodically publicized as special notices to detail specific areas of interest and solicit information/solutions associated with enhancing mission effectiveness of military personnel or platforms, systems, components, and materials. The Government reserves the right to request, Whitepapers, Demonstrations, Full Proposals, or a combination thereof. Upon the receipt of a whitepaper, a proposal, a completed demonstration, or a combination thereof the government intends to complete an assessment and the applicant will be advised of the results by email. The intent of the special notices are for detailing the specifics associated with a focus area of interests/opportunity, and to outline the timeline and information submission requirement. All amendment special notices will be periodically posted on the Federal Business Opportunities, and requisite links to the announcement on RCO and SOCOM Vulcan websites at; https://www.fbo.gov/, http://rapidcapabilitiesoffice.army.mil/eto/, and https://www.vulcan-sof.com. Interested parties are encouraged to periodically check these websites for updates and amendments.

II. Focus Areas of Interests and Opportunities

A. Funding Opportunity Description – RCO

1. Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)

The Army is looking to provide military systems with alternative PNT solutions, and enabling capabilities, that do not rely only on Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, or solutions that rebroadcast signals from existing GPS sources it which can provide Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) to a local consumer. The Army is looking for reliable PNT solutions that are resilient to jamming and capable of supporting multiple length missions and multiple scale users (e.g., 1, 10, 100, etc.) The Army seeks solutions that are functional above ground, below ground, and in urban environments. The Army is interested in exploring any technologies that meet any or all of these criteria elements of position, navigation, and timing as well as multiple technology readiness levels (from early concepts, prototypes, to finished products).

2. Cyber

The Army, as a modern enterprise, is interested in software and algorithms, hardware/software systems, artificial intelligence, or other solutions, and enabling capabilities, which are proficient in identifying threats, cleaning up sorting and categorizing data in real time to provide reliable decision options to Army users, creating offensive cyber solutions, or other effects. The Army is particularly looking for novel solutions to collect and/or analyze vast amount of dynamic data, identify meaningful and bogus correlations, flag potential data gaps, identify false positives, remove human confirmation bias, and reduce the overall risk of creating damage by incorrect interpretations. The Army will also explore proof of concepts and prototype solutions to help identify the next wave of solutions and look for innovative and responsiveness approaches to defend and counter emerging cyber threats.

3. Electronic Warfare

The Army is looking at the commercial sector that continues to develop data analytics and machine learning techniques, and other electronic warfare capabilities. The Army is interested in taking advantage of those developments for military applications. One application of interest is using machine learning techniques on monitoring and assessing threat RF emissions, to establish normal and abnormal patterns of life, to characterize emitter types and signal structures, to assess utility of electronic attack systems, or for other tactical uses. This does not limit the Army to looking for other novel applications for providing an enhanced capability to the Warfighter.

3.1 Expert Systems Integration into EWPMT for SOI Readings automated significance ranking based on troop and emissions patterns of movement and RF activity

The RCO intends to award approximately up to $360,000 and may award up to 2 contracts under this announcement, subject to the availability of funds.

Full proposals for procurement contracts are requested. Proposal format shall be in accordance with instructions found at “1. Contract Proposal” page 61 of this announcement. Please submit all proposal volumes to Darbye Brooks at darbye.t.brooks.civ@mail.mil via the AMRDEC SAFE website at https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe/Welcome.aspx. Proposals shall not be submitted to the technical point of contact.

mailto:darbye.t.brooks.civ@mail.mil https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe/Welcome.aspx

Proposal submission are due no later than 1:00pm ET on 20 July 2018.

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL (PROJECT DESCRIPTION): The technical portion of the proposal shall be no longer than 30 pages including tables and figures, single spaced text, size 12 Times New Roman font with one inch page margins. Technical proposals shall include the technical approach, schedule, detailed design specifications to provide delivery of a software prototype addressing the below:

Problem Statement:

Existing human-driven methods for Electronic Warfare (EW) decision making can be burdensome, slow and inaccurate. The US Army has decided to employ an Expert Systems (ES) Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based reasoning and expert logic / decision playbooks to relieve the cognitive burden on Army EW personnel, specifically Electronic Warfare Officers (EWO) operating the Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool (EWPMT) and Raven Claw (RC) systems. ES will provide real-time execution of EWO codified logic and reasoning within the Integrated EW Architecture. So designed, the ES system is to be integrated into the EWPMT software baseline to improve speed and accuracy of current EW Integrated Architecture solutions. This request for whitepapers solicits design details of such integrated solution from vendors. Solicited designs should have sufficient detail to implement prototypes in future support of some key elements of the EW use cases described below. Design should incorporate flexibility in defining input ontology, logic, reasoning engine, decision/reasoning trees and playbooks for the expert system to enable this key use case. Design should include software definitions of key interfaces and data structures/formats/messages, key playbook/decision tree definitions.

Key Use case Description

The ES is to provide real-time ranking of sensor readings by applying EWO logic and reasoning. Such logic rules should be flexible, programmable, shareable, and subject to change and reconfiguration as the EWO doctrine evolves.

The ES will rank sensor readings on a scale of 0 to 10. Rank 10 reading will be highest in importance. Rank 0 will be lowest in importance. This ranking information is used to filter out less relevant readings from user display upon programmable user setting.

Signal readings are automatically ranked in importance by ES using their characteristics, such as locations and movement patterns in relation to each other and in relation to known “Blue” (i.e. friendly) and “Red” (i.e. adversary) signals and platforms, Blue and Red Situational Awareness (SA) information as well as signals emission activity patterns. For example, if certain Signal Of Interest (SOI) readings display certain movement activity in relation to blue force formation, specific movement speeds, formation patterns, these readings can be elevated in rank according to rulebooks/reasoning logic flexible in definition. Similarly, if a section of enemy formation changed their location as indicated by Red SA data as well as demonstrated some change in their radio emission activity (e.g. went “dark”) as indicated by sensor readings, ES should rate these prior sensor readings according to some other predetermined ranking logic.

In automating its SOI readings ranking decisions, ES received the following information elements:

1) Signal readings from RC and EWPMT software (SW) and Sabre Fury (SF) and other (VROD/VMAX) EW sensor(s)

2) Blue Force SA information (e.g. Joint Capabilities Release (JCR), Joint Battle

Command-Platform (JBC-P), etc.) over EWPMT Multicom adapter

3) Red SA from Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) and

EWPMT Multicom adapter

ES applies AI to classify and rank sensor readings as:

1) Blue Force (i.e. friendly), classified by proximity to known theater assets and/or signal characteristic and/or behaviors

2) Non-Blue Force (e.g. adversary, civilian, neutral party, etc.), inferred by proximity and/or signal characteristics or behavior

Assigned by Expert System ranking Metrics for EWPMT displayed readings (i.e., signal confidence / ranking levels) should be calculated/inferred from various signal characteristics and the below list. Recommended attributes / Features that can be used for ES reasoning in such ranking assignment:

1) Signal characteristics

2) Reading is identified as Blue or Red

3) Reading confidence levels (derived)

4) Geospatial Information from sensors and Blue/Red SA systems

5) Proximity of Red Readings to Blue Readings, as deducted

6) Temporal characteristics of Sensor readings and Blue Red SA

7) Absolute and Relative Movements of Red and Blue SA Readings

8) Distances and formations between readings and Red and Blue SA Readings

9) Temporal activities, “patterns of life” and temporal heuristics of detected SOIs

10) Nature of detected SOIs, any auxiliary SOI information

Brief Architecture Description

Offerors’ response shall demonstrate familiarity with the following SW architecture of EWPMT-based systems:

Design Elements sought

Proposal submissions shall include complete Expert System Specification, addressing scalability, speed of ranking, flexibility in ontology and rule books definitions, specification of the required by the design computing requirements. The proposed

VMF SF Bridge Controller-1ISA ISA

ISA

Legend Controller-1 = ISA controller ES = AI Expert System EWPMT = Electronic Warfare Planning & Management Tool ISA = Integrated Sensor Architecture format MultiComm Service = translates WMF to ISA

ES

EWPMT (Raven Claw)

ES S/W Interface For Future Extensions

Sabre Fury (SF)

Multicomm Service

ISA

Raven Claw 2

(Vehicle)

ISA

VMF DCGS-A

RED SA

Raven Claw 1

(Vehicle)

VMF

Raven Claw 1 = represent RC in vehicle, can provide Blue pos ition Raven Claw 2 = represent RC in vehicle, can provide Blue pos ition Sabre Fury = Sabre Fury Sensor SF Bridge = Sabre Fury Sensor ISA Bridge VMF = Variable Message Format

Design Specifications shall demonstrate ES ability to apply learnt behaviors and patterns to ES ranking decision making.

Proposed design specification should address:

1) All Software (SW) and Hardware (HW) interface definitions and specifications

2) All database definitions and detailed specification, to include tables, their relations and database standards and libraries

3) All data structures, protocols and messaging definitions

4) All echelon level and force level information to be utilized in design and the formats of their representation within the proposed prototype

5) Specific rulebook/playbook designs and/or decision tree design

6) Specific ontologies, sensor information elements

7) Sensor reading ranking algorithm/logic/reasoning design

8) Computing environment definitions

9) All libraries and packages dependencies and versions

10) A list of all known licenses any of the utilized by the design SW modules

(including 3rd party) may be covered by

Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Dennis Bushmitch, email:

dennis.bushmitch.civ@mail.mil

3.2 Human Vehicle Interface for Next Generation Combat Vehicle

The RCO is requesting whitepapers. Format shall be in accordance with instructions found at “Whitepaper Submissions” page 54 of this announcement. A rough order of magnitude (ROM) in accordance with page 60 of this announcement is requested with the whitepaper submissions and will not contribute to the page total the whitepaper submissions.

Vulcan specific collection for whitepaper submissions can be found at:

https://www.vulcan-sof.com/RFI/cbb79359-5c13-4220-a1c7-a31482a95cb2 mailto:dennis.bushmitch.civ@mail.mil https://www.vulcan-sof.com/RFI/cbb79359-5c13-4220-a1c7-a31482a95cb2

In accordance with the instructions at page 56, ROM shall not be submitted via the Vulcan site. Please submit all ROMs to Darbye Brooks at darbye.t.brooks.civ@mail.mil.

Subject line must read “ROM Human Vehicle Interface-[Company Name]”.

Example: ROM Human Vehicle Interface- ABC Inc. Failure to do so may result in not elimination for consideration for the funding opportunity.

Whitepaper submissions are due no later than 1:00pm ET on 27 December 2018.

Problem Statement:

The rapid growth of autonomous driving technologies and systems creates a pressing need for new paradigms for vehicle operators. The human-vehicle interface has historically been a static design, with few changes, even in the face of decades of vehicle technology advances. At this time, the large amount of data available for the operator’s use, and the increased availability of autonomous and semi-autonomous driving capabilities, provides an opportunity to reimagine the human-vehicle interface for a new era. For the Army Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), with its mission of expediting critical capabilities to the field, the future human-vehicle interface is of great importance, not just in vehicle operation but in other on-vehicle activities such as, but not limited to, communication, ISR, weapons, and payload handling, remote vehicle tele-operations, and remote autonomous vehicle supervision activities.

Many new developments are relevant to this opportunity, for example and not limited to:

• Advances in computer technology and software systems provide more complex, capable vehicle systems

• Increased situational awareness is made possible by the growth in vehicle sensors, cameras, and external sources of data, all brought together by local and distributed communications networks

• The rapid growth in autonomy technologies and systems have led to greater information availability, improved safety, and a change in the role of the operator

• The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities allows more data to be processed, analyzed, and presented to the operator, and allows some decisions to be automated mailto:darbye.t.brooks.civ@mail.mil

• Greater communications and media capabilities provide considerable challenges in terms of managing information, cognitive loads on the operator, and vehicle operation

• Off-board sensor integration to enhance vehicle, weapon and accessory control functionality

• Interfaces to enhance embedded training to include simulation exercises, networked simulation exercise, and immersive reality.

For Army RCO, these developments have to be considered in the context of other needs such as, but not limited to, signature suppression, visibility of the vehicle, and crew survivability.

Finally, the continued growth of autonomous systems requires a consideration of:

• Semi-autonomous vehicle operation – control and user interface approaches for a collaborative approach to driving, with a continuum between full automation and manual driving

• Remote operation capability – control of vehicles by operators at a remote site, either by direct operation, supervised control of multiple vehicle in a convoy, or a command center solution for autonomous mission operations

• Inter-vehicle distributed fire control – distributed fire control from multiple platforms to display, decide, and engage targets among a vehicle formation.

Opportunity sought

Whitepaper submissions shall include how you would approach defining the future of human-vehicle interface and the how the opportunities that are afforded in the commercial space today and potentially in the future are, and can be, applied. This may be a working session, report, and/or prototype.

Technical Point of Contact: Mr. Robert Monto, email: robert.monto.civ@mail.mil

4. Optical Augmentation

The Army is looking at Optical Augmentation, or Pre shot detection capabilities, to enhance preemptive engagement; Areas of interest center around Pre-shot type capabilities to identify threats prior to engagement, reducing the need for hostile fire detection responses, and identifies or disrupts acquisition of target prior to initiation of threat.

Whereby, ultimately enabling Force protection and Survivability, while contributing to Lethality and Situational Awareness in increasingly lethal environments. The Army is also looking for novel applications understand the situation, and provide the ability to decide and act more rapidly than an enemy can respond.

5. Survivability

The Army is looking at providing novel platform (i.e. vehicle) protection, or other means and enabling capabilities, which, will significantly increase combat platform and formation force protection, survivability, situational awareness, and lethality.

6. Swarm and Anti-Swarm

The Army is looking at expendable systems that rely on large numbers, individual autonomy, and cooperation to provide an offensive or defensive capability in any area across the spectrum of Army operations (i.e., swarm). Additionally, as a defensive capability providing advancements in utilizing and defeating swarm behaviors (i.e., anti-swarm). The emerging technologies should offer advances in the ability to predict the effect of a given set of rules, and automatically derive individual rules to accomplish a desired team result. The defeat mechanisms can be either kinetic or non-kinetic, swarm or non-swarm, and offer a cost-effective solution compared to existing Army offensive and defensive systems.

7. Communications

The Army is looking to evaluate alternatives, or novel means, to traditional military communications. These can be outside the traditional radio frequency (RF) spectrum and traditional communication approaches. This includes, but not limited to exploring free space optical communications, sound-wave and any other non-RF communication types that can be conducted through various mediums (e.g., Air, Water, Solids). The communication solutions could be from point to point or point to multipoint, ground to ground, and ground to air.

8. Long Range Fires

The Army is looking to evaluate alternatives, and novel, means to provide long range fires solutions, and enabling capabilities. These can be outside the traditional means for providing armament and fires capabilities and will significantly increase the effectiveness and lethality against the current capabilities.

9. Air & Missile Defense

The Army is looking to evaluate alternatives means to provide air and missile defense, and enabling capabilities. These can be novel solutions that will significantly increase the effectiveness and lethality against the current capabilities.

10. Disruptive Technology

The Army is looking for operational breakthroughs, novel solutions, or unexpected capabilities. These capabilities can address known problems from a completely new angle by promoting revolutionary new areas of opportunity. These can qualify as "high risk/high reward" and change currently accepted approaches or capabilities.

III. General Information

The Government reserves the right to make multiple awards, no awards, or a single award, subject to the limitations of fiscal year funding. One or more awards per Technology Focus Area, as described in the Funding Opportunity Description, are anticipated. An Offeror may propose on more than one Area. The RCO plans to award approximately $50,000,000 under this announcement, subject to the availability of funds.

The period of performance, and values, of individual contract awards will range at the Government’s discretion. However in anticipation, but not limited to, three to twelve month period of performance awards, with dollar amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2,000,000 may be expected. The estimated start date of selected projects is subject to date of final award and availability of fiscal year (FY) funds. The award(s) will be made for the full performance period requested. Options may be utilized.

A. Award Information

ACC-APG, in support of the RCO, has the authority to award a variety of instruments.

ACC-APG reserves the right to use the funding arrangement or contract type most appropriate for the effort proposed. Offerors should familiarized themselves with these instruments types and the applicable regulation before submitting a proposal. Following are brief descriptions of the possible award instruments.

1. Procurement Contracts

A legal instrument, which consistent with 31 U.S.C 6303, reflects a relationship between the Federal Government and a State, a local government, or other recipient when the principle purpose of the instrument is to acquire property or services for the direct benefit or use of the Federal Government.

2. Grants

A legal instrument consistent with 31 U.S.C 6304, used to enter into a relationship.

The principal purpose of which is to transfer a thing of value to the recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States, rather than to acquire property or services for the Department of Defense's direct benefit or use. Further, it is a relationship in which substantial involvement is not expected between the Department of Defense and the recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated by the grant. No fee or profit is allowed.

3. Cooperative Agreements

A legal instrument consistent with 31 U.S.C. 6305, used to enter into the same kind of relationship as a grant (see definition 3 above), and except that substantial involvement is expected between the Department of Defense and the recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated by the cooperative agreement. The term does not include "cooperative research and development agreements," as defined in 15 U.S.C. 3710a.

No fee or profit is allowed.

Grants and cooperative agreements are governed by the following regulation:

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 200, "Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards," as modified and supplemented by the Department of Defense's (DoD) interim implementation found at

2 CFR part 1103, "Interim Grants and Cooperative Agreements Implementation of Guidance in 2 CFR part 200" (79 FR 76047, December 19, 2014).

4. Cooperative research and development agreement.

IAW 15 U.S.C 3710a, any agreement between one or more Federal laboratories and one or more non-Federal parties under which the Government, through its laboratories, provides personnel, services, facilities, equipment, intellectual property, or other resources with or without reimbursement (but not funds to non-Federal parties) and the non-Federal parties provide funds, personnel, services, facilities, equipment, intellectual property, or other resources toward the conduct of specified research or development efforts which are consistent with the missions of the laboratory; except that such term does not include a procurement contract or cooperative agreement as those terms are used in sections 6303, 6304, and 6305 of title 31.

5. Technology Investment Agreement (TIA) Assistance Transaction other than a Grant or Cooperative Agreement (see 32 CFR, Part 37)

A legal instrument, consistent with 10 U.S.C. 2371, which may be used when the use of a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement is not feasible or appropriate for basic, applied, and advanced research projects. The research covered under a TIA shall not be duplicative of research being conducted under an existing DOD program. To the maximum extent practicable, TIA’s shall provide for a 50/50 cost share between the government and the offeror. An offeror's cost share may take the form of cash, independent research and development (IR&D), foregone intellectual property rights, equipment, or access to unique facilities, as well as others. Due to the extent of cost share, and the fact that an other transaction does not qualify as a "funding agreement" as defined at 37 CFR 401.2(a), the intellectual property provisions of a TIA can be negotiated to provide expanded protection to an offeror's intellectual property. No fee or profit is allowed on other transactions. Cost sharing & matching is not an evaluation factor used under this BAA. Exceptions to this may exist if the offeror is proposing the use of a TIA or an OTA as an award instrument.

6. Other Transaction for Prototype (OTA)

A legal instrument, consistent with 10 U.S.C. 2371 (as supplemented by Section 845 of Public Law 104-201 and Section 804 of Public Law 104-201) and 10 U.S.C. 2371b, which may be used when the use of a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement is not feasible or appropriate for prototype projects directly relevant to weapons or weapon systems proposed to be acquired or developed by the DOD. The effort covered under another transaction for prototype shall not be duplicative of effort being conducted under an existing DOD program (please refer to the “Other Transactions” OT Guide for Prototype Projects at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/otguide.doc). For Cost- Sharing requirements for these types of awards please see “C2 16. COST SHARING” found on page 30 at the web-link directly above.

B. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants under this BAA include degree-granting universities, nonprofit organizations, or industrial concerns. There is no restriction on the place of performance included in the BAA. Proposals are encouraged from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (as determined by the Secretary of Education to meet requirements of Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. § 1061)) and from Minority Serving Institutions defined as institutions “whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities…exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment.” [20 U.S.C. § 1067q and 10 U.S.C. § 2362].

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

There is no required cost sharing, matching, or cost participation for eligible applicants under this BAA and cost sharing and matching is not an evaluation factor used under this BAA. Exceptions to this may exist if the offeror is proposing the use of an OTA as an award instrument.

3. System for Award Management (SAM)

All offerors must have an active registration in SAM at https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1 prior to the BAA close date; and continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or application or plan under consideration by an agency.

Failure to comply with the SAM requirements will result in ineligibility for award.

4. Commitment to Small Business

It is the policy of the Department of Defense to provide maximum opportunity to small businesses, including small businesses in all socioeconomic categories to participate in DOD acquisitions. The DoD is strongly committed to providing prime and subcontracting opportunities for small businesses, including small businesses in all socioeconomic categories, and, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Minority Institutions to support the RIF program. Selection preference shall be given to small business offers addressing evaluation factors identified in section V “Evaluations.” If a small business (prime) proposer is teaming with an other than small business on the project, the small business must perform at least 51 percent of the cost of the work.

5. Contracts Options

It is the goal of the RCO to facilitate transition of technology into acquisition programs.

Under FAR 52.217-7, 52.217-8, and 52.217.9, contracting offices may include options in contracts for further testing, low rate production, or full rate production of technologies developed. These options can be executed by the cognizant contracting activity.

6. Foreign Firms

Foreign owned, controlled, or influenced firms are advised that security restrictions may apply that could preclude their participation in these efforts. Before preparing a proposal, such firms are requested to contact the RCO’s Security Branch at http://rapidcapabilitiesoffice.army.mil/eto/concerning their eligibility. Pursuant to the policy of FAR 35.017 and supplements, selected Federally Funded Research and Development Centers may propose under this BAA. All email inquiries directed to the RCO security branch shall include the subject line entitled “Army Rapid Capabilities Office Security.”

7. Receipt Qualification

a. For Assistance Instruments:

i. The Grants Officer is responsible for determining a recipient’s qualification prior to award. In general, a Grants Officer will award grants or cooperative agreements only to qualified recipients that meet the standards at 32 CFR 22.415. To be qualified, a potential recipient must:

(1) Have the management capability and adequate financial and technical resources, given those that would be made available through the grant or cooperative agreement, to execute the program of activities envisioned under the grant or cooperative agreement;

(2) Have a satisfactory record of executing such programs or activities (if a prior recipient of an award);

(3) Have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics; and

(4) Be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive a grant or cooperative agreement under applicable laws and regulations. Applicants are requested to provide information with proposal submissions to assist the Grants Officer’s evaluation of recipient qualification.

ii. In accordance with OMB guidance in parts 180 and 200 of Title 2, CFR, it is DoD policy that DoD Components must report and use integrity and performance information in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), or any successor system designated by OMB, concerning grants, cooperative agreements, and TIAs as follows:

1) If the total Federal share will be greater than the simplified acquisition threshold on any Federal award under a notice of funding opportunity (see §200.88 Simplified Acquisition Threshold):

a. The Federal awarding agency, prior to making a Federal award with a total amount of Federal share greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, will review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM (currently FAPIIS) (see 41 U.S.C. 2313);

b. An applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through SAM and comment on any information about itself that a Federal awarding agency previously entered and is currently in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM;

c. The Federal awarding agency will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to the other information in the designated integrity and performance system, in making a judgment about the applicant's integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in §200.205 Federal awarding agency review of risk posed by applicants.

2) If the total Federal share exceeds $500,000 on any Federal award under a notice of funding opportunity, the post-award reporting requirements reflected in Appendix XII to Part 200 of Title 2 CFR will be included in the award document. This requirement also applies to modifications of awards that: 1) increase the scope of the award, 2) are issued on or after January 1, 2016, and

3) increase the federal share of the award’s total value to an amount that exceeds $500,000.

b. For Assistance awards recipients will be required to submit the following representation prior to award:

Representations under DoD Assistance Agreements: Appropriations Provisions on Tax Delinquency and Felony Convictions

The applicant is ( ) is not ( ) a “Corporation” meaning any entity, including any institution of higher education, other nonprofit organization, or for-profit entity that has filed articles of incorporation.

If the applicant is a “Corporation” please complete the following representations:

(1) The applicant represents that it is ( ) is not ( ) a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability.

(2) The applicant represents that it is ( ) is not ( ) is not a corporation that was convicted of a criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

NOTE: If an applicant responds in the affirmative to either of the above representations, the applicant is ineligible to receive an award unless the agency suspension and debarment official (SDO) has considered suspension or debarment and determined that further action is not required to protect the Government’s interests. The applicant therefore should provide information about its tax liability or conviction to the agency’s SDO as soon as it can do so, to facilitate completion of the required considerations before award decisions are made. Applicant’s authorized representative must sign and date form.

8. Conflicts of Interest.

52.203-16 – Preventing Personal Conflicts of Interest.

Preventing Personal Conflicts of Interest (Dec 2011)

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause-- “Acquisition function closely associated with inherently governmental functions” means supporting or providing advice or recommendations with regard to the following activities of a Federal agency:

(1) Planning acquisitions.

(2) Determining what supplies or services are to be acquired by the Government, including developing statements of work.

(3) Developing or approving any contractual documents, to include documents defining requirements, incentive plans, and evaluation criteria.

(4) Evaluating contract proposals.

(5) Awarding Government contracts.

(6) Administering contracts (including ordering changes or giving technical direction in contract performance or contract quantities, evaluating contractor performance, and accepting or rejecting contractor products or services).

(7) Terminating contracts.

(8) Determining whether contract costs are reasonable, allocable, and allowable.

“Covered employee” means an individual who performs an acquisition function closely associated with inherently governmental functions and is—

(1) An employee of the contractor; or

(2) A subcontractor that is a self-employed individual treated as a covered employee of the contractor because there is no employer to whom such an individual could submit the required disclosures.

“Non-public information” means any Government or third-party information that—

(1) Is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) or otherwise protected from disclosure by statute, Executive order, or regulation; or

(2) Has not been disseminated to the general public and the Government has not yet determined whether the information can or will be made available to the public.

“Personal conflict of interest” means a situation in which a covered employee has a financial interest, personal activity, or relationship that could impair the employee’s ability to act impartially and in the best interest of the Government when performing under the contract. (A de minimis interest that would not “impair the employee’s ability to act impartially and in the best interest of the Government” is not covered under this definition.)

(1) Among the sources of personal conflicts of interest are—

(i) Financial interests of the covered employee, of close family members, or of other members of the covered employee’s household;

(ii) Other employment or financial relationships (including seeking or negotiating for prospective employment or business); and

(iii) Gifts, including travel.

(2) For example, financial interests referred to in paragraph (1) of this definition may arise from—

(i) Compensation, including wages, salaries, commissions, professional fees, or fees for business referrals;

(ii) Consulting relationships (including commercial and professional consulting and service arrangements, scientific and technical advisory board memberships, or serving as an expert witness in litigation);

(iii) Services provided in exchange for honorariums or travel expense reimbursements;

(iv) Research funding or other forms of research support;

(v) Investment in the form of stock or bond ownership or partnership interest (excluding diversified mutual fund investments);

(vi) Real estate investments;

(vii) Patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property interests; or

(viii) Business ownership and investment interests.

(b) Requirements. The Contractor shall—

(1) Have procedures in place to screen covered employees for potential personal conflicts of interest, by—

(i) Obtaining and maintaining from each covered employee, when the employee is initially assigned to the task under the contract, a disclosure of interests that might be affected by the task to which the employee has been assigned, as follows:

(A) Financial interests of the covered employee, of close family members, or of other members of the covered employee’s household

(B) Other employment or financial relationships of the covered employee (including seeking or negotiating for prospective employment or business).

(C) Gifts, including travel; and

(ii) Requiring each covered employee to update the disclosure statement whenever the employee’s personal or financial circumstances change in such a way that a new personal conflict of interest might occur because of the task the covered employee is performing.

(2) For each covered employee—

(i) Prevent personal conflicts of interest, including not assigning or allowing a covered employee to perform any task under the contract for which the Contractor has identified a personal conflict of interest for the employee that the Contractor or employee cannot satisfactorily prevent or mitigate in consultation with the contracting agency;

(ii) Prohibit use of non-public information accessed through performance of a Government contract for personal gain; and

(iii) Obtain a signed non-disclosure agreement to prohibit disclosure of non-public information accessed through performance of a Government contract.

(3) Inform covered employees of their obligation—

(i) To disclose and prevent personal conflicts of interest;

(ii) Not to use non-public information accessed through performance of a Government contract for personal gain; and

(iii) To avoid even the appearance of personal conflicts of interest;

(4) Maintain effective oversight to verify compliance with personal conflict-of-interest safeguards;

(5) Take appropriate disciplinary action in the case of covered employees who fail to comply with policies established pursuant to this clause; and

(6) Report to the Contracting Officer any personal conflict-of-interest violation by a covered employee as soon as it is identified. This report shall include a description of the violation and the proposed actions to be taken by the Contractor in response to the violation. Provide follow-up reports of corrective actions taken, as necessary. Personal conflict-of-interest violations include—

(i) Failure by a covered employee to disclose a personal conflict of interest;

(ii) Use by a covered employee of non-public information accessed through performance of a Government contract for personal gain; and

(iii) Failure of a covered employee to comply with the terms of a non-disclosure agreement.

(c) Mitigation or waiver.

(1) In exceptional circumstances, if the Contractor cannot satisfactorily prevent a personal conflict of interest as required by paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this clause, the Contractor may submit a request through the Contracting Officer to the Head of the Contracting Activity for—

(i) Agreement to a plan to mitigate the personal conflict of interest; or

(ii) A waiver of the requirement.

(2) The Contractor shall include in the request any proposed mitigation of the personal conflict of interest.

(3) The Contractor shall—

(i) Comply, and require compliance by the covered employee, with any conditions imposed by the Government as necessary to mitigate the personal conflict of interest; or

(ii) Remove the Contractor employee or subcontractor employee from performance of the contract or terminate the applicable subcontract.

(d) Subcontract flowdown. The Contractor shall include the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in subcontracts—

(1) That exceed $150,000; and

(2) In which subcontractor employees will perform acquisition functions closely associated with inherently governmental functions (i.e., instead of performance only by a self-employed individual).

(End of clause)

c. For Contract AND…