MODIFICATION
A -- Information Institute Research Program
- Notice Date
- 9/26/2006
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514
- ZIP Code
- 13441-4514
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-BAA-06-01-IFKA
- Description
- The purpose of this modification is to republish the original announcement, incorporating all previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing also includes the following changes: (a) add an additional focus area entitled "Visualizing Situations" with white papers due for that focus area only by 15 Nov 2006, (b) add Grants.gov information and (c) add ombudsman information. No other changes have been made. NAICS CODE: 541710 FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514 TITLE: Information Institute Research Program ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial announcement FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: BAA 06-01-IFKA CFDA Number: 12.800 DATES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 06 should be submitted by 1 March 06; FY 07 by 1 March 07 (see below for separate recommended date for focus area entitled Visualizing Situations); and FY 08 by 1 March 08. White papers will be accepted until 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on 31 December 2008, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. See Section IV of this announcement for further details. I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION: Research areas of interest include innovative approaches, basic and exploratory research projects in the area of information science and technology. Information science and technology areas of interest include but are not limited to: Information Exploitation; Information Fusion & Understanding; Information Management including JBI & Collaborative Environments; Advanced Computing Architecture including Biocomputing & Quantum Computing; Cyber Operations, active & passive; Command & Control including Effects Based Operations & Decision Sciences; Connectivity including Integrated Transmission & Exploitation. Efforts that will be performed as part of the Information Institute (II) Research Program are intended to be collaborative university efforts designed to provide AFRL/IF with leading edge research that can be applied to a variety of AFRL/IF & Air Force needs. Universities conducting research as part of the II are encouraged to work collaboratively with other institutions and to leverage on-going AFRL/IF research programs and activities. Additionally, AFRL/IF has an active Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions Program. Hence, research proposals from HBCU/MI may be funded from special funds that may be set aside by the II Director. Supplemental information regarding each of the seven research areas is available upon request by e-mail from: Anna.Lemaire@rl.af.mil. Visualizing Situations. This topic area solicits white papers to explore visualization technologies that will enhance or enable a human analyst's 'mental model' of a situation in such a way as to provide the analyst the ability to completely understand the situation, the immediate ability to assess the situation, and to quickly and accurately determine a response to shape the situation. Situational Awareness (SA) is "the perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future" (Endsley, 1988). The manner in which the data is presented to a human will shape that person's 'mental model'. The ability to understand the evolving situations are critical for a decision maker. One of the primary means of gaining that understanding is through the visualization of current objects (information on location and identification). Existing visualization techniques are adequate for providing geospatial views of individual objects in low density environments. For example, in the military environment, the visualization of vehicles and aircraft provides an analyst a view of the environment. As the density of objects increases, the individual objects can be clustered together to form military groups which are then visualized using standard military symbology (MILSTD2525B) icons. Similarly in the cyber domain, individual alerts can be clustered to form tracks. However there is an enormous gap in the ability to provide visualizations for other than individual and clustered objects. Visualizing Situations Scope: We seek cost-effective approaches to situation visualization tools that are easily adaptable to different modeling techniques and that possess a 'pluggable' interface to enable integration. The visualization approach should be domain independent, but it is suggested that the Cyber domain be used as a starting point. We encourage a multidisciplinary collaboration between industry and academia lead teams. Awards under this topic area will not normally exceed twelve (12) months with an approximate face value of $150K per award. The technical point of contact for this topic area is Mr. George Tadda, AFRL/IFEA, 315-330-3957, email George.Tadda@rl.af.mil. It is recommended that white papers for this additional topic area be provided by 15 November 2006 and sent electronically to: George.Tadda@rl.af.mil. II. AWARD INFORMATION: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $3M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 06 - $1M; FY 07 - $1M. Additional funding of $1M for FY08/FY09 is also being pursued. Each award is limited to approximately $100,000 to $300,000 in value with a duration of not more than thirty six (36) months. The total value of all efforts awarded under this BAA will not exceed $3 million. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts, grants, co-operative agreements, or other transactions depending upon the nature of the work proposed. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: 1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential applicants are eligible. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting office focal point, Lori L. Smith, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-1955 or e-mail Lori.Smith@rl.af.mil for information if they contemplate responding. The e-mail must reference the title and BAA 06-01-IFKA. 2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement. IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION: 1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITATING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. See Section VI of this announcement for further details. For additional information, a copy of the AFRL/Rome Research Site's "Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): A Guide for Industry," Aug 2005, may be accessed at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/bp-guide.doc. 2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit 3 copies of a 3 to 5 page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest to the Government. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost of Task, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email); Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, a fax number, and an e-mail address with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph five of this section. 3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 06 by 1 Mar 06; FY 07 by 1 Mar 07 (see above for separate recommended date for focus area entitled Visualizing Situations); and FY08 by 1 Mar 08. White papers will be accepted until 2 p.m. Eastern time on 31 December 2008, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. Submission of white papers will be regulated in accordance with FAR 15.208. 4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY, are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS). 5. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: Anna L. Lemaire, Information Directorate/IFB, 26 Electronic Parkway Rome, NY 13441-4514 with the exception of the focus area entitled Visualizing Situations. Respondents are required to provide their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number with their submittal and reference BAA 06-01-IFKA. Electronic submission to Anna.Lemaire@rl.af.mil will also be accepted. V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION: 1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, will be used to determine whether white papers and proposals submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government: (1) The scientific and/or technical merits of the proposal; (2) The innovativeness of the proposed approach and/or techniques; and (3) The reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees, if any. Also, consideration will be given to past and present performance on recent Government contracts, and the capacity and capability to achieve the objectives of this BAA. No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received. 2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate has contracted for various business and staff support services, some of which require contractors to obtain administrative access to proprietary information submitted by other contractors. Administrative access is defined as "handling or having physical control over information for the sole purpose of accomplishing the administrative functions specified in the administrative support contract, which do not require the review, reading, or comprehension of the content of the information on the part of non-technical professionals assigned to accomplish the specified administrative tasks." These contractors have signed general non-disclosure agreements and organizational conflict of interest statements. The required administrative access will be granted to non-technical professionals. Examples of the administrative tasks performed include: a. Assembling and organizing information for R&D case files; b. Accessing library files for use by government personnel; and c. Handling and administration of proposals, contracts, contract funding and queries. Any objection to administrative access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection. 3. The Government may use the services of JAG Technologies in an advisory role in the technical evaluation of white papers and/or proposals. The exclusive responsibility for evaluation remains with the Government. Representatives of the foregoing firm who review the white papers and/or proposals will sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to highlight the sensitivity of the evaluation process and to protect any proprietary information within the proposals. If the offeror desires the cited firm be excluded from access to information contained in its white paper and/or proposal, offeror must so indicate in a letter of transmittal accompanying the document. VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION: 1. AWARD NOTICES: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Notification by email or letter will be sent by the technical POC. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after proposal submission. Complete instructions for proposal preparation will be forwarded with the invitations for proposal submissions. Those white papers that are found to be consistent with the BAA and are invited to submit a technical and cost proposal will be required to do so through Grants.gov if the following conditions apply: (1) the award will be in the form of a grant or co-operative agreement and (2) the offeror chooses to submit the proposal electronically. As a prerequisite to submitting an electronic proposal, there are several one-time actions that must be taken in order to submit an application/proposal through Grants.gov (e.g. obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, register with the Central Contract Registry (CCR), register with the credential provider, and register with Grants.gov). See www.grants.gov/GetStarted. Use the Grants.gov Organization Registration Checklist at http://www.grants.gov/section3/OrganizationRegCheck.pdf to guide you through the process. Designating an E-Business Point of Contact (EBiz POC) and obtaining a special password called MPIN are important in the CCR registration process. Applicants, who are not registered with CCR and Grants.gov should allow at least 21 days to complete these requirements. It is suggested that the process be started as soon as possible. In order to download the application package, you will need to install PureEdge Viewer. This small, free program will allow you to access, complete, and submit applications electronically and securely. For a free version of the software, visit the following website: www.grants.gov/DownloadViewer. Should you have questions relating to the registration process, system requirements, how an application form works or the submittal process you must direct those questions to Grants.gov at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. Detailed instructions for submitting a proposal through Grant.gov APPLY will be provided at the time a proposal is requested should the offeror choose to submit electronically. 2. REPORTING: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offeror's will be required to submit their reporting requirement through one of our web-based, reporting systems known as JIFFY or TFIMS. Prior to award, the offeror will be notified which reporting system they are to use, and will be given complete instructions regarding its use. VII. AGENCY CONTACTS: Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below: Anna L. Lemaire Telephone: (315) 330-3936 Email: Anna.Lemaire@rl.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below: Lori Smith Telephone (315) 330-1955 Email: Lori.Smith@rl.af.mil The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition. In accordance with AFFARS 5315.90, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Aug 2005) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows: Amy Smith AFRL/PK Building 15, Room 225 1864 Fourth Street Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7132 (937) 255-3079 All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.
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