BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT: A Study to Determine Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capabilities with the NCCF Open Knowledge Mesh (KM)

** AMENDMENT 0001**

• The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) has been updated and has been attached to this posting titled, "Amendment 0001_BAA-NOAA-KMNLP-2024_30May2024_FINAL." The updates and revisions to the BAA have been indicated within the document by the red font.
• The Community Day presentation slide deck has been provided and is now included in the attachments/links section of this posting.
• The attendee list for the KM/NLP Community Day is now provided in the attachments/links section of this posting.
• A consolidated spreadsheet of the Questions and Answers (Q&A) received for the KM/NLP BAA is now included in the attachment/links section of this posting.
• The Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) was updated to correct the submission deadline to match the proposal submission deadline. The updated PPQ is now included in the attachments/links section of this posting.

The "Study to Determine Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capabilities with the NCCF Open Knowledge Mesh (KM)" Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is posted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 35.016. The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Systems Architecture Engineering (SAE) is requesting submission of full proposals to conduct studies and approaches that leverage identified technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to develop and demonstrate models, methods, and processes that support use and management of the knowledge mesh. This BAA is exploratory only and currently there is no planned mission for KM/NLP.

NOAA and the SAE JV program is requesting the generation, assessment, and delivery to NOAA, of an innovative and meritorious study that examines, delivers, and iteratively demonstrates independently validatable, and working models, features, and capabilities related to the development and management of an enterprise information processing system backed by an interoperable knowledge graph ecosystem (‘knowledge mesh’) of process-contextualized, semantically enabled facts, exposed as a unified access interface (envisioned as foundation model), that is capable of dynamically leveraging Application Programming Interface (APIs) using the knowledge mesh capability for the purpose of answering highly contextual queries from a number of personas representing a diverse swath of NOAA users. The NCCF knowledge mesh aligns with NOAA Strategic Objectives including those related to cloud and data management, as well as the NOAA AI Strategic Plan, and is a collaborative effort between NESDIS Systems Architecture and Engineering (SAE), the NOAA Center for AI (NCAI), and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), with support from others around NOAA. This BAA is expected to provide the necessary information needed for future solutions for the NOAA space architecture.

A virtual Community Day will be held on May 22, 2024 to allow for engagement with the Government on this requirement. It is required that all partners from industry, academia, and Government pre-register for this event at the link listed in the attachments/links section of this posting titled, "KM/NLP - VIRTUAL COMMUNITY DAY: Registration Form."

Attendees are encouraged to submit questions pertaining to the BAA in advance of the Community Day to ensure that thorough responses to these inquiries are incorporated into the presentations and question response sessions. All questions shall be
submitted NO LATER THAN May 24, 2024 at 3:00 PM to the Contracting Officers, Gabriela Bravo (gabriela.bravo@noaa.gov) and Mark Sullivan (mark.a.sullivan@noaa.gov) as well as Contract Specialists, Bryton Curtis (bryton.curtis@noaa.gov) and Lillie Joseph (lillie.joseph@noaa.gov). Upon registration for the event, attendees will have the opportunity to register for a limited number of 1-on-1 Question and Answer breakout sessions with Government representatives. The purpose of these 1-on-1 sessions is to give industry partners the opportunity to ask Government representatives questions that may reveal information that is sensitive in nature pertaining to their approach. A link to the registration page for the KM/NLP BAA 1-on-1 sessions is listed in the attachment/links section of this posting titled, "KM/NLP - COMMUNITY DAY: 1-on-1 Session Sign-up Sheet."

** Registration for both the Community Day and the 1-on-1 sessions occurs on a third party site. You will be exiting the government site to register. **

The "Study to Determine Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capabilities with the NCCF Open Knowledge Mesh (KM)" Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is posted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 35.016. The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Systems Architecture Engineering (SAE) is requesting submission of full proposals to conduct studies and approaches that leverage identified technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to develop and demonstrate models, methods, and processes that support use and management of the knowledge mesh. This BAA is exploratory only and currently there is no planned mission for KM/NLP.

NOAA and the SAE JV program is requesting the generation, assessment, and delivery to NOAA, of an innovative and meritorious study that examines, delivers, and iteratively demonstrates independently validatable, and working models, features, and capabilities related to the development and management of an enterprise information processing system backed by an interoperable knowledge graph ecosystem (‘knowledge mesh’) of process-contextualized, semantically enabled facts, exposed as a unified access interface (envisioned as foundation model), that is capable of dynamically leveraging Application Programming Interface (APIs) using the knowledge mesh capability for the purpose of answering highly contextual queries from a number of personas representing a diverse swath of NOAA users. The NCCF knowledge mesh aligns with NOAA Strategic Objectives including those related to cloud and data management, as well as the NOAA AI Strategic Plan, and is a collaborative effort between NESDIS Systems Architecture and Engineering (SAE), the NOAA Center for AI (NCAI), and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), with support from others around NOAA. This BAA is expected to provide the necessary information needed for future solutions for the NOAA space architecture.

A virtual Community Day will be held on May 22, 2024 to allow for engagement with the Government on this requirement. It is required that all partners from industry, academia, and Government pre-register for this event at the link listed in the attachments/links section of this posting titled, "KM/NLP - VIRTUAL COMMUNITY DAY: Registration Form."

Attendees are encouraged to submit questions pertaining to the BAA in advance of the Community Day to ensure that thorough responses to these inquiries are incorporated into the presentations and question response sessions. All questions shall be
submitted NO LATER THAN May 24, 2024 at 3:00 PM to the Contracting Officers, Gabriela Bravo (gabriela.bravo@noaa.gov) and Mark Sullivan (mark.a.sullivan@noaa.gov) as well as Contract Specialists, Bryton Curtis (bryton.curtis@noaa.gov) and Lillie Joseph (lillie.joseph@noaa.gov). Upon registration for the event, attendees will have the opportunity to register for a limited number of 1-on-1 Question and Answer breakout sessions with Government representatives. The purpose of these 1-on-1 sessions is to give industry partners the opportunity to ask Government representatives questions that may reveal information that is sensitive in nature pertaining to their approach. A link to the registration page for the KM/NLP BAA 1-on-1 sessions is listed in the attachment/links section of this posting titled, "KM/NLP - COMMUNITY DAY: 1-on-1 Session Sign-up Sheet."

** Registration for both the Community Day and the 1-on-1 sessions occurs on a third party site. You will be exiting the government site to register. **