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BAA 02-08
Information Awareness
Proposer Information Pamphlet
SECTION I: Background Information
SECTION II: Proposer Information
SECTION III: DARPA BAA 02-08
COORDINATING POC:
DARPA/IAO
E-mail: BAA02-08@darpa.mil
FAX: (703) 527-3783
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ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE:
NEW GUIDELINES/PROCEDURES
BAA 02-08 PROPOSER INFORMATION PAMPHLET
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) often selects its research
efforts through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) process. This BAA appeared
first on the FedBizOpps website, http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. The following
information is for those wishing to respond to the Broad Agency Announcement.
INFORMATION AWARENESS; SOL: BAA 02-08, FIRST ROUND PROPOSALS
DUE: 22 APRIL 2002; BAA CLOSES 20 MARCH 2003. POC: LCOL DOUG
DYER, DARPA/IAO; QUERIES: BAA02-08@DARPA.MIL
INTRODUCTION
DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of information
technologies that will aid in the detection, classification, identification, and tracking of
potential foreign terrorists, wherever they may be, to understand their intentions, and to
develop options to prevent their terrorist acts. Proposed research should investigate
innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, technology or
systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary
improvements to the existing state of practice.
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SECTION I: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This section provides supplemental information on DARPA’s Information Awareness
Office (DARPA/IAO), specific technology focus areas and program structure.
Goal
Elements of an effective counter-terrorism solution include gathering a much broader
array of data than we are currently capable of doing, discovering information from
elements of the data, creating models of hypotheses, and analyzing these models in a
collaborative environment to determine the most probable current or future scenario.
DARPA has sponsored research in some of these technology areas. The Information
Awareness Office intends to conduct additional research and development to accelerate,
integrate, broaden, and automate current approaches to be able to predict and hence
preempt future terrorist actions against us.
Technical Areas of Interest
Refer to the BAA originally published at the FedBizOpps web site (copy included in
Section III of this PIP for reference).
Objectives
Refer to the BAA originally published at the FedBizOpps web site (copy included in
Section III of this PIP for reference).
Information Awareness Motivation
Currently, terrorists are able to move freely throughout the world, to hide when
necessary, to find unpunished sponsorship and support, to operate in small, independent
cells, and to strike infrequently, exploiting weapons of mass effects and media response
to influence governments. This low-intensity/low-density form of warfare has an
information signature, albeit not one that our intelligence infrastructure and other
government agencies are optimized to detect. In all cases, terrorists have left detectable
clues that are generally found after an attack.
To fight terrorism, we need to create a new infrastructure and new information
technology aimed at exposing foreign terrorists and their activities and support systems.
This is a tremendously difficult problem, because terrorists understand how vulnerable
they are and seek to hide their specific plans and capabilities
1
. Terrorist’s use of
camouflage and deception reduces their signature and introduces great uncertainty in the
1
Even though terrorist may publish their views and threats generally to gain popular support, information
about specific attacks, capabilities, supporters, and those responsible for attacks is kept secret to prevent
preemption. Terrorists also lie in an attempt to prevent reprisals. Terrorists must walk a fine line to keep
themselves unaccountable to their enemies while popular with their constituencies.
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interpretation of any data collected. Once an information leak is discovered, terrorists
can adapt quickly to stop it, either by changing tactics or re-organizing in some way.
The key to fighting terrorism is information. Elements of the solution include gathering a
much broader array of data than we do currently, discovering information from elements
of the data, creating models of hypotheses, and analyzing these models in a collaborative
environment to determine the most probable current or future scenario. DARPA has
sponsored research in some of these technology areas, but following the September
attacks, it became clear that additional research and development is warranted to
accelerate, integrate, broaden, and automate current approaches. In response, DARPA
has reorganized to form the Information Awareness Office.
Research Process and Evaluation
DARPA anticipates working in close collaboration with one or more U.S. intelligence
agencies that will provide operational environments, assist in evaluation, and act as a
technology maturation and transition partner(s). Thus the support infrastructure for
technology evaluation and feedback, now considered crucial for rapid development of
usable tools, will be available. The main focus is on usable tools, rather than
demonstrations -- DARPA is steadfastly committed to creating leave-behind prototypes
that are reliable, easy to install, and packaged with documentation and source code,
though not necessarily complete in terms of desired features. The idea is to enable our
partners in the intelligence community to evaluate new technology and pick it up for
experimental use and transition, as appropriate. As a result, DARPA will be able to
validate experiments and transition technology more easily.
We will often have strong notions of overall goals we'd like to achieve, but we will
depend on iterative refinement to work out the details---and researchers, user
representatives, and program managers all play an active role in determining how to
proceed. It will be critical to be able to share ideas within the funded research team such
that the protection of potentially proprietary ideas is at best a secondary concern, at least
for the system architecture.
2
We will also expect incremental software releases and
periodic technical reports. These artifacts of your research are our primary measure of
progress. On a more formal basis DARPA intends to conduct periodic reviews and
experiments to ascertain progress toward the accomplishment of specific Information
Awareness objectives. Proposals under this BAA should therefore include a milestone
assessment plan and appropriate performance metrics. The definition of these milestones
and metrics may be negotiated with selected proposers prior to awards under this BAA,
or may be proposed as a deliverable within 30 days of an award. In the latter case
2
The Government wishes to retain, at a minimum, Government Purpose Rights to all output from this
effort. Actual rights will be negotiated depending on the type of award instrument, the type of awardee,
and the nature of the technology. The Government may choose to disseminate some of the results publicly
and may discuss them at conferences and at other public and private meetings under appropriate security
constraints. They may form the basis for a subsequent BAA, Research Announcement (RAs), or other
solicitations from DARPA or other Government organizations.
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awardees will work with DARPA to devise and execute a meaningful milestone plan and
performance metrics.
Expected Technical Deliverables
I. Regular Software Releases. Software releases will be packaged with detailed
technical documentation, user documentation, libraries, sources and executable code, and
delivered as self-extracting installation executables for the expected computing
environment of our customers.
II. Technical Briefings and Reports. Briefings and reports will be developed as a
product of individual effort, a tiger team, or as part of a larger working group. Quarterly
Status Reports and Annual Project Summary Reports must be submitted as a minimum.
III. Internet Products. Software products that integrate (I) and (II), will be directly
uploaded / posted to Web pages specified by DARPA Program Managers. Proposers are
encouraged to identify data and software components (including source code) they would
be willing to make available to others to help achieve the overall objectives of this BAA.
SECTION II: PROPOSER INFORMATION
This section provides detailed information on proposal format, submission requirements,
proposal evaluation, award and funding processes, and related information. Proposals
not conforming to the format and submission requirements specified below will be
rejected without review, and not be evaluated.
BAA 02-08 proposers must be a U.S. organization (i.e., for-profit or not-for-profit
organization, or academic institution), and most performing personnel must be U.S.
citizens (see "U.S. Organization Certifications," in instructions for Volume I,
Section II, E.1, below; and, "U.S. Citizenship Certifications," in instructions for
Volume I, Section II, E.2, below).
DARPA anticipates selecting proposers for award who would perform unclassified work
only. DARPA also intends to team with one or more U.S. intelligence agencies, and may
desire that proposers selected for award would perform in collaboration with those
agencies. Key Performers of prospective awardees whose activities would involve
collaboration with the Intelligence Community must hold a current Top Secret
Department of Defense (DoD) clearance and be approved for access to Sensitive
Compartmented Information (SCI), or be eligible for the timely granting of such
clearance and access. A sufficient number of non-key performers to enable the effective
accomplishment of the proposed research effort must also hold a Top Secret DoD
clearance with SCI access, or be eligible for the timely granting of such clearance and
access. In addition, prospective awardees whose activities would be associated with the
Intelligence Community must also possess a current DoD Top Secret Facility clearance
and an approved SCI Facility (SCIF).
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Proposers desiring consideration for awards involving collaboration with the Intelligence
Community shall identify Key Performers and enabling support staff satisfying the above
Top Secret DoD clearance and SCI access requirement (see "Personal Security Clearance
(PCL) Certification," in instructions for Volume I, Section II, E.3, below); shall certify
their DoD Top Secret Facility clearance (see "Facility Clearance (FCL) Certification," in
instructions for Volume I, Section II, E.4, below); and, shall detail their organization's
approach to maintaining separation of unclassified and classified activities and materials,
and controlling access to classified information based on the need-to-know of its
personnel (see “Security Management and Administration Specification,” in instructions
for Volume I, Section II, E.5, below).
Period of Performance
Proposers may submit proposals for up to a 36-month base period, plus two (2) one-year
options.
Contractor Sensitive Information
1. Organizational Conflict Of Interest. Each cost proposal shall contain a section
satisfying the following requirements: awards made under this BAA are subject to the
FAR at 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. All proposers and proposed
subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are supporting any DARPA
technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations must
state which office(s) the proposer supports and identify the prime contract number.
Affirmations shall be furnished at the time of proposal submission, and the existence
or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in
FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. This disclosure shall include a description of the
action the proposer has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize or mitigate
such conflict. If the proposer believes that no such conflict exists, it shall so state in
this section. It is the policy of DARPA to treat all proposals as competitive
information, and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation.
2. Special Resource Personnel. The Government intends to use personnel from SRS
Technologies, Syntek Technologies, CACI, Schafer Corporation and Adroit Systems
as special resources to assist with the logistics of administering proposal evaluation
and to provide advice on specific technical areas. These contractor personnel are
restricted by their contracts from disclosing proposal information for any purpose
other than these administrative or advisory tasks. Contractor personnel are required to
sign the Organizational Conflict of Interest Non-Disclosure Agreements (OCI/NDA).
By submission of its proposal, each proposer agrees that proposal information may be
disclosed to these selected contractors for the limited purpose stated above. Any
information not intended for limited release to these contractors and other non-
Government employees must be clearly marked as “GOVERNMENT REVIEW
ONLY” and segregated from other submitted proposal material. Restrictive notices
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notwithstanding, proposals may be handled for administrative purposes only, by one
or more of the above support contractors.
Proposal Format
Proposals shall consist of two, separately bound volumes: Volume I (Technical and
Management Proposal); and, Volume II (Cost Proposal). Ring binders are not
acceptable. Volumes I and II shall be submitted together. Volume I shall not exceed 15
single-sided pages. Page length for Volume II is not limited. Page limitation includes all
figures, tables, and charts. The cover (if any), title page, official letter of transmittal, and
table of contents page do not count against the 15-page limitation for Volume I, provided
they contain no substantive text. A bibliography, copies of not more than three (3)
relevant papers (both specified in instructions for Volume I, Section IV), and an
attachment, if appropriate, detailing proproser proprietary claims (specified in
instructions for Volume I, Section III.I.) also do not count against the Volume I 15-page
limitation.
All pages in Volumes I and II shall be printed single sided, on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, using
one-and-one-half line spacing or more, three-quarter-inch margins or greater, and at least
12-point type. Foldout pages will be counted as multiple pages equal to the number of
included 8-1/2 by 11 inch foldout sheets, or fractional foldout sheets. The content of
tables shall be printed using one-line spacing or more, and at least 10-point type.
Annotation of illustrations or graphics shall be printed using at least 8-point type.
Submitted supporting materials, other than a bibliography and copies of not more than
three (3) relevant papers, will not be reviewed, and their submission is therefore strongly
discouraged. Proposers are encouraged to submit clearly worded, concise, but descriptive
technical proposals.
DARPA’s desire is to receive great ideas quickly, in a succinct package, and avoid
onerous proposal preparation requirements that undoubtedly add cost for proposers. To
reduce required content, we are attempting to avoid requirements for duplicative content,
and not require a statement of work (SOW) or cost details that are prematurely detailed
prior to selection of a proposal for funding. Successful proposers can anticipate a request
for a draft SOW and additional cost detail consistent with the submitted proposal and any
negotiated changes.
Regardless of the security level of the effort proposed, only UNCLASSIFIED proposals
will be accepted.
Volume I: Technical and Management Proposal (15-page limit)
The sections below shall appear in clearly marked form in the order indicated.
Part I - Administrative:
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A. Title Page, to include:
(1) BAA 02-08, Information Awareness;
(2) Proposal title;
(3) Technical area addressed by proposal;
(4) Date proposal was prepared;
(5) Lead organization submitting proposal;
(6) If interested in consideration for awards involving collaboration with the
Intelligence Community in addition to awards for unclassified work, inclusion
of the following statement, “Request consideration for awards involving
collaboration with the Intelligence Community;”
(7) Type of business of lead organization, selected from among the following
categories: "LARGE BUSINESS," "SMALL DISADVANTAGED
BUSINESS," "OTHER SMALL BUSINESS," "HBCU," "MI," "OTHER
EDUCATIONAL,” or "OTHER NONPROFIT;"
(8) Contractor’s reference number (if any);
(9) Other team members (if applicable), and type of business for each;
(10) Technical point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street
address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail (if
available);
(11) Administrative point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name,
street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail
(if available);
(12) Certification as to the equal authenticity of both the hard and electronic copies
of the proposal (see Proposal Submission instructions); and,
(13) Total funds requested from DARPA, and the amount of cost-share (if any).
B. Official Transmittal Letter.
Part II - Detailed Proposal:
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This section provides the detailed discussion of the proposed work necessary to enable
an in-depth review of the specific technical and managerial issues. Specific attention
shall be given to addressing both risk and payoff of the proposed work that make it
desirable to DARPA. The detailed Technical and Management proposal shall include
the following elements, in the order indicated:
A. Brief statement of main goals (expected results) of the proposed research effort shall
be provided, stated in terms of the tangible benefits of the project if the proposed
research is successful (i.e., new capabilities and research products to be produced).
The specific basis for confidence that the proposed approach is feasible from both a
technical and cost perspective shall be addressed.
B. Cost of the proposed effort: Specified by contract year.
C. Technical Plan: Clearly shows how the stated technical goals and deliverable
products are to be achieved / produced within the proposed cost and schedule shall be
provided. As a minimum, the technical plan shall consist of the following elements,
presented in the order indicated:
(1) Innovative claims for the proposed research effort:
This is the centerpiece of the proposal and should succinctly describe the
uniqueness and benefits of the proposed approach relative to the current state-
of-art and alternative approaches. Claims of innovativeness shall be clearly
stated, described in detail, supporting justification provided for each, and each
correlated with associated technical goals or deliverable products.
(2) Technical goals and deliverable products:
The technical area(s) to be addressed in the proposed research program shall be
identified, and a general discussion shall be provided of the state-of-the-art for
each area to be researched. Technical goals and deliverable products associated
with the proposed research program shall be identified, correlated with specific
technical areas, and described in detail, with specific focus on their associated
rationale and how they fit within the Information Awareness vision.
(3) Technical approach:
The technical approach for accomplishment of technical goals and deliverable
production shall be described in detail. The use of mature and off-the-shelf
technology to supplement new and innovative higher order solutions and as part
of the overall technical approach shall also be discussed. If interested in
consideration for awards involving collaboration with the Intelligence
Community in addition to awards for unclassified work, proposed plans and
capabilities to accomplish technology transition to the U.S. Intelligence
Community shall be described in detail. If the proposed effort consists of
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multiple segments or phases that could reasonably be partitioned for purposes of
funding, these segments or phases should be clearly identified, with separate
cost estimates provided for each in the Volume II Cost Proposal.
(4) Program Schedule:
A schedule for the proposed research program, reflecting a milestone
assessment plan and top-level cost estimates, shall be provided. The milestone
assessment plan shall include appropriate performance metrics. Schedules and
cost estimates shall be top-level down to any partitioned segment or phase
consistent with the technical approach. Costs should be detailed only at a
summary level for direct labor, other direct costs and direct material. The
schedule should convey a clear picture of how the proposed research program is
planned to progress over the course of the proposed effort, and allow ready
correlation of proposed activities with the proposer’s cost estimates. The
milestone assessment plan will be used to monitor progress toward achievement
of stated technical goals and deliverable products and thereby enable a “Go / No
Go” decision concerning continued support of the research effort. The definition
of milestones and metrics may be negotiated with selected proposers prior to
contract award, or may be proposed as a deliverable within 30 days of an award.
In the latter case awardees will work with DARPA to devise and execute a
meaningful milestone plan and performance metrics.
(5) Related research and alternative approaches:
Other relevant research being undertaken by the proposer and others, as well as
potential alternative approaches, shall be identified. The advantages and
disadvantages of other identified relevant research efforts or alternative
approaches shall be identified and discussed with respect to the proposed
research effort.
D. Demonstration and Integration Plans.
(1) Proposers shall include a multiphase development narrative that demonstrates a
clear understanding of the proposed research and a plan for periodic and
increasingly robust demonstrations over the project life that will show
applicability to the overall Information Awareness project concept.
(2) Proposers shall identify and describe demonstrations they will perform to show
the capabilities and validity of their methods.
Note: Proposers should expect to undergo reviews by a panel of DARPA-
selected subject matter experts concurrently with, or subsequent to, major
demonstrations and milestones. The purpose of these reviews is to assess the
technical feasibility and accuracy of the proposers' models, agents, algorithms,
and architectures to support program goals. These reviews are in addition to
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the periodic progress review meetings conducted by DARPA program managers
as part of normal program management function.
E. Corporate Capabilities Section - Describes proposer relevant capabilities. As a
minimum, this description shall include proposer organizational past
accomplishments and work in this or closely related research areas to show how
past/current performance justifies an award; qualifications of Key Performers and
proposed consultants and subcontractors; a description of the facilities that are to be
used in the proposed effort; and, the following certifications:
(1) U.S. Organization Certification:
Proposers shall certify that their organization(s) is/are a U.S. organization.
Exceptions will be considered for non-U.S. organizations performing under
proposals involving only unclassified work. For the purposes of BAA 02-08, a
“U.S. organization” is defined as corporation, business association, partnership,
society, trust, or any other entity, organization or group that is incorporated to
do business in the United States. Certification shall consist of the specification
of each proposer’s articles of incorporation.
(2) U.S. Citizenship Certifications:
Each proposer shall certify that all performers planned to participate on the
proposed work program are U.S. citizens. Exceptions will be considered for
non-U.S. citizens performing under proposals involving only unclassified work.
Certification shall consist of the specification of each proposed performer's
name, social security number, and date and place of birth, or for naturalized
citizens, U.S. naturalization certificate number, and city, state and date of
certificate issue.
(3) Personal Security Clearance (PCL) Certifications:
Personal Security Clearance (PCL) Certifications are required only of
proposers desiring consideration for awards involving collaboration with
the Intelligence Community. Proposers shall certify to DARPA Security and
Intelligence Directorate (DARPA/SID), through appropriate security channels,
the PCL and SCI access of proposed Key Performers and designated research-
enabling non-key performers. Proposer certification shall consist of the
proposed performer's name, Social Security number, the level of SCI clearance
held, the granting U.S. Government agency, and the date of the performer's
most recent Single-Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) or SSBI Periodic
Review (SSBI-PR). For proposed performers not possessing an active SCI
clearance, proposers shall certify the date of the proposed performer's most
recent SSBI or SSBI-PR, or alternatively, the date a SSBI or SSBI-PR
investigation request was submitted, and the U.S. Government agency to whom
the investigation request was submitted.
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(4) Facility Clearance (FCL) Certification:
Facility Clearance (FCL) Certification is required only of proposers
desiring consideration for awards involving collaboration with the
Intelligence Community. Proposers shall certify to DARPA Security and
Intelligence Directorate (DARPA/SID), through appropriate security channels,
that their organization holds an active FCL, the level of FCL granted, and the
Defense Security Service (DSS) issued facility cage code. If existing facilities
were accredited by agencies not serviced by DSS proposers shall identify the
U.S. Government agency that provided classified storage and processing
approval.
(5) Security Management and Administration Specification:
Security Management and Administration Specification is required only of
proposers desiring consideration for awards involving collaboration with
the Intelligence Community. Proposers shall describe their organization's
approach to maintaining separation of unclassified and classified activities and
materials, and controlling access to classified information based on the need-to-
know of its personnel.
(6) Key Performer Availability Certifications:
Certifications shall consist of the specification of each Key Performer’s name,
and the percentage of their effort to be dedicated to the proposed work program.
Percentage of effort shall be expressed in terms of the proposer’s Full-Time
Equivalent (FTE) for employees. The FTE value shall be specified in terms
hours.
F. Management Plan - Describes the proposer’s overall approach for managing the
proposed research effort. In addition, the management plan shall include:
(1) An organization chart for the proposed research team.
(2) A brief discussion of the proposer’s organization (to include a discussion of the
relationship among team members, and any formal teaming agreements that are
required to execute the proposed program).
(3) A discussion of the unique capabilities of team members, and the task
responsibilities of team members.
(4) A description of the planned use / functional responsibilities of personnel in the
research effort.
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G. Government-owned Resources - If any portion of the proposed research effort is
based on the use of Government-owned resources of any type, the proposer shall
specifically identify the property or other resource required, the date the property or
resource is required, the duration of the requirement, the source from which the
resource is required, if known, and the impact on the research if the resource cannot
be provided. If no Government-furnished property is required for conduct of the
proposed research, this subsection shall consist of a statement to that effect.
H. Proprietary Claims (if any) to results, deliverable products, prototypes, intellectual
property, or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results,
deliverables and/or prototypes shall be explicitly stated. If there are no proprietary
claims, this section shall consist of a statement to that effect. In addition, if
appropriate, the proposer shall include an attachment to Volume I containing
information required by DFARS 252.227-7017, Identification and Assertion of Use,
Release or Disclosure Restrictions (June 1995) and/or DFARS 252.227-7028 (June
1995) Technical Data or Computer Software Previously Delivered to the
Government.
I. IT Resources - Contractors requiring the purchase of information technology (IT)
resources as Government Furnished Property (GFP) must attach to the submitted
proposals the following information:
1. A letter on corporate letterhead signed by a senior corporate official and
addressed to Director, DARPA/IAO, stating that the proposer either cannot or will
not provide the information technology (IT) resources necessary to conduct the
said research.
2. An explanation of the method of competitive acquisition or a sole source
justification, as appropriate, for each IT resource item.
3. If the resource is leased, a lease purchase analysis clearly showing the reason for
the lease decision.
4. The cost for each IT resource item.
Part III - Additional Information
A brief bibliography of relevant technical papers and research notes by the proposer
(published and unpublished), which document the technical ideas upon which the
proposal is based. In addition, copies of not more than three (3) relevant papers can be
included in the submission. The bibliography and copies of the three (3) relevant
papers do not count against the 15-page limit of Volume I (Technical Proposal).
Submitted supporting materials, other than a bibliography and copies of not more than
three (3) relevant papers, will not be reviewed, and their submission is therefore strongly
discouraged.
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Volume II: Cost Proposal (no page limit)
Note: These requirements pertain to those proposers who are proposing to
undertake R&D via traditional FAR/DFARS-based contracts, cooperative
agreements, and grants. Proposers offering to undertake R&D via “Other
Transactions” may desire to obtain additional information from DARPA’s
contractual point-of-contact for this BAA, or from DARPA’s web site at URL
http://www.darpa.mil/cmo/pages/845.htm.
The sections below must appear in clearly marked form in the order indicated. Cost
estimates shall be provided by Government fiscal year (01 Oct to 30 Sep).
A. Title Page, to include:
(1) BAA 02-08, Information Awareness;
(2) Proposal title;
(3) Technical area addressed by proposal;
(4) Date proposal was prepared;
(5) Lead organization submitting proposal;
(6) If interested in consideration for awards involving collaboration with the
Intelligence Community in addition to awards for unclassified work, inclusion
of the following statement, “Request consideration for awards involving
collaboration with the Intelligence Community;”
(7) Type of business of lead organization, selected from among the following
categories: "LARGE BUSINESS," "SMALL DISADVANTAGED
BUSINESS," "OTHER SMALL BUSINESS," "HBCU," "MI," "OTHER
EDUCATIONAL,” or "OTHER NONPROFIT;"
(8) Contractor’s reference number (if any);
(9) Other team members (if applicable), and type of business for each;
(10) Technical point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name, street
address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail (if
available);
(11) Administrative point of contact to include: salutation, last name, first name,
street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax (if available), electronic mail
(if available);
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(12) Certification as to the equal authenticity of both the hard and electronic copies
of the proposal (see Proposal Submission instructions);
(13) Award instrument requested: cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF); cost-contract--no fee;
cost sharing contract--no fee; or, other type of procurement contract (specify):
grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction;
(14) Place(s) and period(s) of performance;
(15) Total proposed cost separated by basic award and option(s) (if any);
(16) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense
Contract Management Agency (DCMA) administration office (if known); and,
(17) Name, address, and telephone number of the proposer’s cognizant Defense
Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit office (if known).
B. One-page cost and fee summary - Correlates with the technical approach provided
in the technical proposal (Volume I).
C. Estimated cost breakdown, to include:
(1)
(2)
(3)
Total program cost and total costs for any partitionable segments or phases
therein, broken down by major cost items (i.e., direct labor, subcontracts /
consultants, travel, materials, other direct costs, overhead charges, G&A, and fee),
and further broken down by year;
Enumeration of anticipated major subcontracts and consultancy agreements, and
significant hardware/software purchases; and
Source, nature, and amount of proposer cost sharing.
D. Supporting cost and pricing information in sufficient detail to substantiate the
summary cost estimates in B and C, above. Include a description of the method used
to estimate costs and supporting documentation. Note: “cost or pricing data” as
defined in FAR Subpart 15.401 shall be required if the proposer is seeking a
procurement contract award of $550,000 or greater, unless the proposer requests an
exception from the requirement to submit cost or pricing data. “Cost or pricing data”
are not required if the proposer proposes an award instrument other than a
procurement contract (e.g., a grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction).
E. Organizational Conflict of Interest Certification - All proposers and proposed
subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are supporting any DARPA
technical office(s) through an active contract or subcontract. All affirmations must
state which office(s) the proposer supports and identify the prime contract number.
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Affirmations shall be furnished at the time of proposal submission, and the existence
or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in
FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. This disclosure shall include a description of the
action the proposer has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize or mitigate
such conflict. If the proposer believes that no such conflict exists, it shall so state in
this section.
F. Proposer’s taxpayers identification number (TIN), DFARS 204.7202-3; corporate
and Government entity (CAGE) code, DFARS 204.7202-1; and contractor Data
Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, FAR 4.602(d) and FAR 4.603. The
codes provided shall be those of the proposer and not of the principal place of
performance, if the two are different.
Proposal Submission
Proposal hard copies: Proposers shall submit one original and six (6) copies of Volume I
(Technical and Management Proposal), and one original and three (3) copies of the
Volume II (Cost Proposal).
Proposal soft / electronic copies: Proposers shall also submit one copy each of both
Volume I and II, using the following filename convention: “<OrganizationName>-
<PrincipalInvestigatorName>-<ShortNameForProposal>-<Volume>-
<AppropriateFileTypeExtension>.” Electronic copies of proposals shall accompany
submission of proposal hard copies. Submission of an electronic copy alone of either or
both proposal volumes is not responsive. It is the proposer’s responsibility to ensure that
proposal hard copies and electronic copies are equally authentic, and that either or both
are a valid basis for Government proposal evaluation. Proposers shall certify the equal
authenticity of both the hard and electronic copies of their proposals by including the
following notation on the proposal’s title page, “Both hard copies and electronic copies
of this proposal are certified as being equally authentic. Either is a valid basis for
Government proposal evaluation.”
Electronic copies of Volume I shall be submitted in Microsoft Word for Windows, RTF,
or PDF format. Electronic copies of Volume II shall be submitted in Microsoft Word for
Windows, Microsoft Excel for Windows, RTF, or PDF format. Electronic copies in
LaTeX, unformatted ASCII (with JPG or GIF attachments) or Postscript file formats are
not acceptable. Any version of Microsoft Word able to be opened and read by Microsoft
Word 2000 are acceptable. Graphics shall be embedded so that each document is stand-
alone. Documents with graphics as separate files are not acceptable. Electronic copies of
proposal Volumes I and Volume II shall be submitted together on the same compact
disk(s) or 3-1/2-inch, 1.4MB floppy diskette(s). Disks or diskettes shall be clearly
labeled as “BAA 02-08 Proposal”, and be marked with the proposer's organization,
principal investigator’s name, proposal title (short title), and notation certifying that the
electronic media was verified to be virus-free (using an up-to-date, reputable virus
detection utility, such as Norton or McAfee anti-virus software).
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Proposals shall be submitted to: DARPA/IAO, ATTN: BAA 02-08, 3701 North Fairfax
Drive, Arlington, VA 22203. Proposals submitted by e-mail or facsimile will NOT be
accepted.
Proposal submission date: BAA 02-08 will be open for a period of one year after its
publication on the FedBizOpps website. An initial round of evaluations will be
conducted. To be considered in this initial round of evaluations, proposals must be
received before 4:00 PM local time, 22 April 2002. The Government may request
additional proposals subsequent to this first round consistent with funding availability
and program requirements. Proposals received after the close of the initial evaluation
period, but before the close of the BAA, will be reviewed but the likelihood that funding
will be available or that program requirements remain outstanding will be less than for
proposals submitted prior to the initial round due date. Proposals received after the close
of this BAA will be returned unopened.
Evaluation, Award and Funding
Proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted in
accordance with a common work statement. DARPA's intent is to review proposals as
soon as possible after they arrive; however, proposals may be reviewed at any time
during the open period of the BAA for administrative reasons.
For evaluation purposes, a proposal is the two-volume document described in “Proposal
Format” (see above). Other additional materials or supporting information will not be
reviewed.
Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a technical review of each
proposal using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative
importance:
(1) Technical approach, including design innovation and effectiveness, approach
for research, implementation and testing;
(2) Overall scientific and technical merit;
(3) Potential contribution and relevance to this DARPA mission.
(4) Proposer's demonstrated capabilities and related experience; and,
(5) Cost realism and reasonableness.
The Government anticipates completing an initial round of evaluations during the third
quarter of fiscal year 2002. As soon as the proposal evaluation is completed, the
proposer will be notified of selectability or non-selectability. Selected proposals will be
funded; non-selected proposals will be destroyed. (One copy of non-selected proposals
may be retained for file purposes.) Resulting awards (if any) may take the form of
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procurement contracts, cooperative agreements, grants, or agreements entered into under
the authority of 10 USC 2371, or Section 845, Public Law 103-160, as amended
(commonly referred to as “technology investment agreements” or “other transaction
agreements for prototypes”). Prospective proposers who may require additional
information relative to the use of these “other transaction” authorities should contact the
contracts point-of-contact for this BAA, Barbara Meyrowitz, DARPA Contracts
Management Office (CMO), at bmeyrowitz@darpa.mil.
DARPA will construct a balanced program in order to meet its needs. A total of several
millions of dollars will be available for these efforts. The size of each award and
duration of efforts will vary according to the type of effort undertaken. In the case of
proposals containing partitioned segments or phases, proposers should define partitions
so that the annual budget for each is in the $200,000 to $1,000,000 range. If warranted,
portions or partitions of resulting awards may be segregated into pre-priced options. The
Government reserves the right to select for award all, some or none of the proposals
received. The Government also reserves the right to fund all, or any part of, a proposal
evaluated to be eligible for award. Awards are subject to the availability of Government
funds, and may be incrementally funded.
Communicating with DARPA
All correspondence and questions relative to this BAA and its accompanying PIP are to
be submitted to DARPA by e-mail or facsimile and be directed to one of the addresses
specified below (e-mail is preferred).
Addresses
The administrative addresses for this BAA are:
Electronic Mail: BAA02-08@darpa.mil
Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/baa
Fax: 703-527-3783 addressed to: DARPA/IAO, BAA 02-08
Mail to:
DARPA/IAO
ATTN: BAA 02-08
3701 N. Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203-1714
Submitted correspondence must include the name, organization, address, e-mail address,
telephone number and facsimile number of a designated point of contact.
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SECTION III: DARPA BAA 02-08, INFORMATION AWARENESS
INFORMATION AWARENESS
SOLICITATION BAA 02-08
Contracting Office Address:
Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-
1714.
Description:
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks strong,
responsive proposals from well-qualified sources to develop information
technologies to help prevent continued terrorist attacks on the citizens,
institutions, and property of the United States and its allies. Program efforts are
intended mainly to provide a series of increasingly powerful leave-behind
prototypes with a limited number of proof-of-concept demonstrations in extremely
high risk, high payoff areas.
TECHNICAL TOPIC AREAS:
I.
Repository technologies
II.
Collaboration, Automation and Cognitive Aids technologies
III.
Prototype System technologies
Offerors wishing to perform work in more than one topic area must submit
separate proposals for each area of interest.
OBJECTIVES:
(1) Development of revolutionary technology for ultra-large all-source
information repositories and associated privacy protection technologies.
(2) Development of collaboration, automation, and cognitive aids technologies
that allow humans and machines to think together about complicated and
complex problems more efficiently and effectively.
(3) Development and implementation of an end-to-end, closed-loop prototype
system to aid in countering terrorism through prevention by integrating
technology and components from existing DARPA programs such as:
Genoa, EELD (Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery), WAE
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(Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment), TIDES (Translingual
Information Detection, Extraction and Summarization), HID (Human
Identification at Distance), Bio-Surveillance; as well as programs resulting
from the first two areas of this BAA and other programs.
Repository Issues: The National Security Community has a need for very large
scale databases covering comprehensive information about all potential terrorist
threats; those who are planning, supporting or preparing to carry out such
events; potential plans; and potential targets. In the context of this BAA, the term
“database” is intended to convey a new kind of extremely large, omni-media,
virtually-centralized, and semantically-rich information repository that is not
constrained by today’s limited commercial database products -- we use
“database” for lack of a more descriptive term. DARPA seeks innovative
technologies needed to architect, populate, and exploit such a database for
combating terrorism. Key metrics include the amount of total information that is
potentially covered, the utility of its data structures for data entry and use by
humans and machines in searching and browsing, data integration, and
capability to automatically populate, and the completeness, correctness, and
timeliness of the information when used for predictive analysis and modeling in
exploiting the information in these repositories. It is anticipated this will require
revolutionary new technology.
The database envisioned is of an unprecedented scale, will most likely be
distributed, must be capable of being continuously updated, and must support
both autonomous and semi-automated analysis. The latter requirement implies
that the representation used must, to the greatest extent possible, be
interpretable by both algorithms and human analysts. The database must support
change detection and be able to execute automated procedures implied by new
information. Because of expected growth and adaptation needs, the effective
schema must be adaptable by the user so that as new sources of information,
analytical methods, or representations arise, the representation of data may be
re-structured without great cost. If distributed, the database may require new
search methods to answer complex, less than specific queries across physical
implementations and new automated methods for maintaining consistency. The
reduced signature and misinformation introduced by terrorists who are attempting
to hide and deceive imply that uncertainty must be represented in some way. To
protect the privacy of individuals not affiliated with terrorism, DARPA seeks
technologies for controlling automated search and exploitation algorithms and for
purging data structures appropriately. Business rules are required to enforce
security policy and views appropriate for the viewer's role.
The potential sources of information about possible terrorist activities will include
extensive existing databases. Innovative technologies are sought for treating
these databases as a virtual, centralized, grand database. This will require
technologies for automatically determining schemas, access methods and
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controls, and translation of complex English language queries into the
appropriate language for the relevant databases.
DARPA currently has on-going research programs aimed at language translation,
information extraction from text, and multi-modal biometric technologies. These
component technologies will be used to feed the Information Awareness
database but must be augmented by other technologies and new sources of
information to dramatically increase the coverage of counter-terrorism
information. These other technologies include but are not limited to innovative
new methods of database integration, structured information authoring, and
exploitation of integrated data streams. Non-traditional methods of identifying and
monitoring terrorist activity are anticipated. Populating a database with
information derived from masked or deceptive behavior by an adversary is a
challenging technical problem. DARPA invites new ideas for novel information
sources and methods that amplify terrorist signatures and enable appropriate
response.
Collaboration, Automation And Cognitive Aids Issues: DARPA will be developing
technology to support collaborative work by cross-organizational teams of
intelligence and policy analysts and operators as they develop models and
simulations to aid in understanding the terrorist threat, generate a complete set of
plausible alternative futures, and produce options to deal proactively with these
threats and scenarios. The challenges such teams face include the need to work
faster, overcome human cognitive limitations and biases when attempting to
understand complicated, complex, and uncertain situations, deal with deliberate
deception, create explanations and options that are persuasive for the decision
maker, break down the information and procedural stovepipes that existing
organizations have built, harness diversity as a tool to deal with complexity and
uncertainty, and automate that which can effectively be accomplished by
machines so that people have more time for analysis and thinking. Emphasis
needs to be placed on ease of use, adaptation to the user who is often not a
scientist or engineer, and implicit encouragement to use the tools to make the
users’ tasks easier.
DARPA is seeking innovative technology for automating some of the team
processes; augmenting the human intellect via tools that assist teams thinking
together, tools that do some of the thinking for people, and tools that support
human/machine collaboration in the cognitive domain; and for providing a rich
environment for collaboration across existing hierarchical organizations while
maintaining the necessary accountability and control. DARPA envisions that the
human teams using its system will be drawn from multiple organizations
spanning state, local, and federal government. Thus, there will be the need to
permit collaboration across organizational-boundaries while providing control and
accountability and connection back to the central systems of each participating
organization. Technology will be required to support the entire life cycle of such
teams. Key challenges include knowledge management/corporate memory,
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declarative policy generation and context-based enforcement, business rules and
self-governance, and planning and monitoring team processes.
The goals for automation technology include speeding the front-end processes of
gathering, filtering, and organizing information and assimilating its content
without having to read all of it. On the back-end of the process, technology is
needed to automate or semi-automate the generation of efficient and persuasive
explanations, and to maintain consistency within a large, distributed multi-media
knowledge base. Technology is also required to make the tools and the
collaborative environment itself more efficiently used by humans by making it
aware of user context and preferences and smart and adaptive to optimize the
user experience. DARPA seeks technology to aid the human intellect as teams
collaborate to build models of existing threats, generate a rich set of threat
scenarios, perform formal risk analysis, and develop options to counter them.
These tools should provide structure to the collaborative cognitive work, and
externalize it so that it can be examined, critiqued, used to generate narrative
and multi-media explanations, and archived for re-use.
Prototype System Issues: One of the main objectives of the Information
Awareness effort by DARPA is to create a prototype, closed-loop, end-to-end
system. It is anticipated that technology and components from existing programs
such as Genoa, EELD, WAE, TIDES, HID, Bio-Surveillance; as well as programs
resulting from the first two technical areas of this BAA and other programs will be
integrated to provide this system. It is envisioned that this system will be
developed in an operational environment, but in a research and development
mode. Technology concepts, system architecture concepts, management,
experimentation and transition concepts to implement this prototype system and
assure its transition to operational use are solicited. A modular architecture that
permits easy insertion and extraction of functional components is anticipated.
This will allow early achievement of end-to-end functional capabilities from
collection to decision with available components and increasing capabilities as
new components become available for testing and experimentation.
This is not the role of the traditional system integrator in that innovative
management and integration techniques must be found to take the innovative
results from independent R&D programs and put them together into an evolving,
more capable prototype system to accomplish the objective of countering
terrorism. The U.S. is facing a new evolving complex threat that requires an
agile and urgent approach to system integration.
PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION: The Government anticipates multiple awards in
each of three technical areas. A multi-phase approach will be needed to achieve
program goals. Proposers should note that approaches with eclectic ideas from
multiple technical specialties or communities are actively sought. The degree of
advances will vary among the three technical areas of interest, but the goal is to
create a series of prototype systems that add value quickly and improves rapidly
over the program schedule -- the primary goal is a series of leave-behind
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prototypes with limited set of proof-of-concept demonstrations in very high risk
areas.
CAPABILITIES: Significant portions of the effort to be performed under this BAA
do not lend themselves to organizations specializing in a particular niche. Given
the breadth and depth of capabilities required to accomplish BAA objectives, it is
anticipated that successful proposers will possess unparalleled multidisciplinary
qualifications in order to maximize the outcomes of leading research and
development efforts. In many cases this will require a collaborative approach;
therefore, proposals reflecting the effective teaming of parties possessing
superior specialized knowledge and expertise are highly encouraged. On a
practical level teaming is intended to support critical mass efforts, to enhance the
integration of successful algorithms, and to lessen the average burden per
researcher associated with conducting evaluations or incorporating (if a team
wishes) superior ideas developed by others.
DURATION: Research under this BAA is expected to last for five years. During
the first 36 months a range of ideas will be developed via limited demonstrations
and preliminary prototypes. During the final 24 months the most promising
research avenues will be extended to support production of a scalable leave-
behind system prototype.
PROGRAM SECURITY REQUIREMENTS: All proposers must be U. S.
organizations (i.e., for-profit or not-for-profit organization, or academic institution),
and most performing personnel must be U.S. citizens. DARPA anticipates
selecting proposers for award who would perform unclassified work only.
DARPA also intends to team with one or more U.S. intelligence agencies, and
may desire that proposers selected for award would perform in collaboration with
those agencies. Key Performers of prospective awardees whose activities would
involve collaboration with the Intelligence Community must hold a current Top
Secret Department of Defense (DoD) clearance and be approved for access to
Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), or be eligible for the timely granting
of such clearance and access. A sufficient number of non-key performers to
enable the effective accomplishment of the proposed research effort must also
hold a Top Secret DoD clearance with SCI access, or be eligible for the timely
granting of such clearance and access. In addition, prospective awardees whose
activities would be associated