Broad Agency Announcement for a HBCU led Tactical Autonomy University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)

FA9550-22-S-0001, Amendment 1 is issued to provide Questions and Anwsers regarding the BAA and revise the below BAA sections (see Attachments). All other sections of the BAA remain unchanged. 

BAA section changed:

A.1. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION SUMMARY last paragraph

A.2. CONSORTIUM COORDINATION PLAN paragraph (f)18.i.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION. Third paragraph

C.1.b-d ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES

C.2.c. OTHER Conflict of Interest (page 17)

D.2.b(4)(c)Project Narrative, Principal Investigator (PI) and Senior Personnel Time

D.2.b(7) Project Narrative, Support of Permanent Resident Status for Foreign National Principal Investigators

D.2.e. Budget

D.5.a.Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions Deadline

H.5.c and d SECURITY

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

AIR FORCE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST RESEARCH BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA)

TACTICAL AUTONOMY (TA)

UNIVERSITY AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTER (UARC)

AFRL Announcement #FA9550-22-S-0001

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

For decades, Congress has recognized the need to develop a diverse national science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce.  While federal agencies provide significant opportunities for underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in these fields, the national STEM workforce remains less racially and ethnically diverse than the U.S. general population.  As the largest federal R&D funding agency and the largest employer of federal STEM professionals, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plays an essential role in the U.S. science and technology ecosystem and can greatly expand opportunities to diversify the STEM workforce.  To this end, the DoD operates under a department-wide STEM strategic plan, with the following goals:

1. Inspire community engagement in DoD STEM education programs and activities to provide meaningful STEM learning opportunities for students and educators.

2. Attract the Nation’s and DoD’s current and future STEM workforce through multiple pathways to educational and career opportunities.

3. Increase participation of underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM education and workforce development programs, activities, and outreach.

4. Advance the efficiency and effectiveness of STEM education and workforce development programs, activities, and outreach through evaluation and assessment.

Section 220 of the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directed DoD to develop a plan to assess the capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCUs/MIs) and establish program(s) to award contracts, grants, or other agreements in order to develop the capability of these institutions to more effectively compete for Federal R&D funding. 

Additionally, despite the autonomy advances in the last decade, several factors continue to impede the deployment and adoption of autonomous systems:

1. Trust in Mission Autonomy: Machine learning techniques widely used today are inherently unpredictable and lack the necessary mathematical framework to provide guarantees on correctness, while DoD applications that depend on safe and correct operation for mission success require predictable behavior and strong assurance.  Additionally, if we assume autonomous systems are capable of moral agency, then the goal of machine ethics is to enable machines to reason ethically.

2. Collaboration between Platforms: Achieving higher levels of autonomy in uncertain, unstructured, and dynamic environments increasingly involves data-driven machine learning techniques with many open systems science and systems engineering challenges.    

3.  Human-Machine Teaming: In the absence of an adequately high-level of autonomy that can be relied upon, substantial operator involvement is required, which not only severely limits operational gains, but creates significant new challenges in the areas of human-machine interactions and mixed initiative control.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) and the DoD intend to address the NDAA directive, and the need to progress autonomy research, in part, by establishing an HBCU-led University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) consortium to execute research focused in Tactical Autonomy that will aid in the transition of research into practical applications. The program objectives include fostering creative autonomy research in science and engineering; enhancing early career development of outstanding STEM professionals to ultimately increase and diversify the pool of STEM talent to fulfill the Department’s missions; and increasing opportunities for university(ies) faculty, staff, and students to engage with the Air Force, Space Force and DoD missions and related challenges in science and engineering.

Under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(3)(b) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(ii), Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services and 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(5) as implemented by FAR 6.302-5(a)(2)(i) Authorized or required by Statue, specifically 10 U.S.C. § 4144, the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of the Chief Scientist (AF/ST) invites Universities from eligible educational institutions that can demonstrate the following:

1. Carnegie Foundation Classification of R2 or higher. (Required at time of proposal)
2. Research and engineering capabilities in autonomy. (Required at time of proposal)
3. Research and education consortium with other HBCUs and with defense organizations.
4. Plans to increase the number of graduates in DoD-relevant STEM disciplines
5. Plans to support the implementation of the DoD Mentor Protégé Program (MPP) where eligible small businesses expand their footprint in the defense industrial base.

The award will be a 5 year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling estimated at $90,000,000. Anticipated annual funding is estimated at $12,000,000 per year. UARC re-certification will occur every 5 years as long as requirements continue to be met. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information.

AIR FORCE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST RESEARCH BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA)

TACTICAL AUTONOMY (TA)

UNIVERSITY AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTER (UARC)

AFRL Announcement #FA9550-22-S-0001

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

For decades, Congress has recognized the need to develop a diverse national science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce.  While federal agencies provide significant opportunities for underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in these fields, the national STEM workforce remains less racially and ethnically diverse than the U.S. general population.  As the largest federal R&D funding agency and the largest employer of federal STEM professionals, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plays an essential role in the U.S. science and technology ecosystem and can greatly expand opportunities to diversify the STEM workforce.  To this end, the DoD operates under a department-wide STEM strategic plan, with the following goals:

1. Inspire community engagement in DoD STEM education programs and activities to provide meaningful STEM learning opportunities for students and educators.

2. Attract the Nation’s and DoD’s current and future STEM workforce through multiple pathways to educational and career opportunities.

3. Increase participation of underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM education and workforce development programs, activities, and outreach.

4. Advance the efficiency and effectiveness of STEM education and workforce development programs, activities, and outreach through evaluation and assessment.

Section 220 of the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directed DoD to develop a plan to assess the capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCUs/MIs) and establish program(s) to award contracts, grants, or other agreements in order to develop the capability of these institutions to more effectively compete for Federal R&D funding. 

Additionally, despite the autonomy advances in the last decade, several factors continue to impede the deployment and adoption of autonomous systems:

1. Trust in Mission Autonomy: Machine learning techniques widely used today are inherently unpredictable and lack the necessary mathematical framework to provide guarantees on correctness, while DoD applications that depend on safe and correct operation for mission success require predictable behavior and strong assurance.  Additionally, if we assume autonomous systems are capable of moral agency, then the goal of machine ethics is to enable machines to reason ethically.

2. Collaboration between Platforms: Achieving higher levels of autonomy in uncertain, unstructured, and dynamic environments increasingly involves data-driven machine learning techniques with many open systems science and systems engineering challenges.    

3.  Human-Machine Teaming: In the absence of an adequately high-level of autonomy that can be relied upon, substantial operator involvement is required, which not only severely limits operational gains, but creates significant new challenges in the areas of human-machine interactions and mixed initiative control.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) and the DoD intend to address the NDAA directive, and the need to progress autonomy research, in part, by establishing an HBCU-led University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) consortium to execute research focused in Tactical Autonomy that will aid in the transition of research into practical applications. The program objectives include fostering creative autonomy research in science and engineering; enhancing early career development of outstanding STEM professionals to ultimately increase and diversify the pool of STEM talent to fulfill the Department’s missions; and increasing opportunities for university(ies) faculty, staff, and students to engage with the Air Force, Space Force and DoD missions and related challenges in science and engineering.

Under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(3)(b) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(ii), Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services and 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(5) as implemented by FAR 6.302-5(a)(2)(i) Authorized or required by Statue, specifically 10 U.S.C. § 4144, the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of the Chief Scientist (AF/ST) invites Universities from eligible educational institutions that can demonstrate the following:

1. Carnegie Foundation Classification of R2 or higher. (Required at time of proposal)
2. Research and engineering capabilities in autonomy. (Required at time of proposal)
3. Research and education consortium with other HBCUs and with defense organizations.
4. Plans to increase the number of graduates in DoD-relevant STEM disciplines
5. Plans to support the implementation of the DoD Mentor Protégé Program (MPP) where eligible small businesses expand their footprint in the defense industrial base.

The award will be a 5 year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling estimated at $90,000,000. Anticipated annual funding is estimated at $12,000,000 per year. UARC re-certification will occur every 5 years as long as requirements continue to be met. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information.