SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- University Center of Excellence (UCoE) in Assured Cloud Computing
- Notice Date
- 5/14/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, New York, 13441-4514
- ZIP Code
- 13441-4514
- Solicitation Number
- BAA-10-10-RIKA
- Point of Contact
- Lynn G. White, Phone: (315) 330-4996
- E-Mail Address
-
Lynn.White@rl.af.mil
(Lynn.White@rl.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NAICS CODE: 541712 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: University Center of Excellence (UCoE) in Assured Cloud Computing ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial announcement FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: BAA# 10-10-RIKA CFDA Number: 12.800 I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION: For the purposes of this solicitation, a University Center of Excellence (UCoE) is defined as a joint effort among the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), another Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Directorate (AFRL TD), and an outstanding educational institution (which by definition includes universities, colleges, local educational agencies, and any other nonprofit institutions that are dedicated to improving science, mathematics, and engineering education) to perform high priority collaborative research. A UCoE should extend the research capabilities of AFRL and provide opportunities for a new generation of United States (US) scientists and engineers to address Air Force research needs. UCoEs have previously been referred to as Science and Technology Workforce for the 21st Century (STW-21) centers. The purposes of a UCoE are to: - Perform excellent research in high priority Air Force interest areas. - Strengthen AFRL in-house technical capabilities by providing frequent substantive professional interchanges between AFRL and educational institution personnel. - Educate students within the US in vital technology areas and offer opportunities for AFRL new employee recruitment. The AFRL Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) and AFOSR seek an educational institution applicant to provide a UCoE in the area of Assured Cloud Computing. Of particular interest is research related to information assurance for virtual machines and for internet-based and intranet-based computing, i.e., cloud computing. Note that assured cloud computing is intended to extend beyond what some refer to as secure cloud computing. Cloud computing can be secure and, at the same time, be entirely irrelevant to the AF mission. Assured cloud computing is meant to include not only secure computing over blue and/or gray networks, but more completely, whatever is necessary to accomplish the AF computing mission at hand, in a secure, timely and effective manner. Since network behavior is influenced at many levels by fundamental theories of information exchange in the network protocols and policies developed, AFRL additionally seeks to understand both mathematically and experimentally how such fundamental approaches to information exchange influence overall network performance and behavior. From this analysis, AFRL desires to develop strategies to assess and influence the predictability and performance of heterogeneous types of Air Force communication networks that must provide assured transfer of data, assured computations and assured operations in dynamic, hostile, contested and high interference environments. Specific areas of expertise for a viable applicant will include cloud monitoring, virtual machine design, formal protocol design, information and mission assurance. Additional expected areas of expertise include: estimation theory in local and global environments, theory for the design and analysis of communication protocols, and management of computational and communications resources. Collaborations between AFRL/RI researchers and educational institution researchers towards advances and applications in these technical areas will then enable specific ways to model, characterize, design, and manage commercial and military systems, and capture and predict the performance of these systems under many diverse conditions. Researchers from the UCoE will work side-by-side with AFRL/RI researchers to address critical Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) challenges. The UCoE researchers will coordinate research projects with AFRL/RI researchers, share information and best practices, author joint studies and publications, and provide a greater number of learning opportunities and applications for students and the defense community overall. Frequent interactions are expected and office space should be available in each location. Joint conferences, workshops and other research exchange activities are also expected. AFRL is open to leveraging the existing AFRL/RI and National Research Council (NRC) Summer Faculty and Post-Doc programs which are currently administered by the AFRL/RI Information Institute. In this manner, educational institution staff and/or students with the appropriate credentials can be hosted at the Information Directorate with minimal additional administrative overhead, in a coordinated fashion with the existing visiting faculty and summer research programs. Applicants are encouraged to consider providing personnel exchange opportunities that can foster AFRL/RI activities that parallel graduate research groups at universities, i.e., closely integrated researchers under research advisors geared toward journal and conference paper publication and thesis/dissertation accomplishment. AFRL is seeking both traditional and innovative approaches to strengthening research collaborations with academia. Multiple/alternative approaches that meet the objectives are welcomed and encouraged. The UCoE is expected to have access to state-of-the-art laboratories to support cutting edge research in order to experimentally verify mathematically derived results. Experimental results are also expected to direct refinements of mathematical models. Computer and communication systems today are faced with increasing demands on reliability and performance in many heterogeneous mission scenarios, network infrastructures, policies, and protocols. In order to address these challenges, AFRL is looking to be able to experimentally quantify the likelihood that critical information associated with specific mission needs will reach its destination with predictable latency rather than packets simply reaching their destination. Additionally, AFRL seeks to experimentally quantify the likelihood that a given architecture, protocol or policy will support delivery and processing of this information with a certain probability. AFRL seeks also to ensure that such policies will not lead to system instability due to lack of resources or introduce vulnerabilities in security. Finally, AFRL seeks to establish a comprehensive strategy to manage content, protocol, policy, and structure for highly heterogeneous and dynamic conditions. Candidates are encouraged to identify and propose AFRL/RI facilities and resources as potential complements to educational institution resources. Additional reference: Jabbour, Kamal, The Science and Technology of Cyber Operations, High Frontier, vol. 5, no. 3, May 2009, pp. 11-15. II. AWARD INFORMATION: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $6M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 11 - $1M; FY 12 - $1M; FY 13 - $1M; FY 14 - $1M; FY 15 - $1M; FY 16 - $1M. The award will not exceed 72 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $0.5M to $1M per year. There will be a single award in the form of a cooperative agreement with an initial 2 year basic agreement and two additional 2-year options. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: 1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: Only educational institution applicants are eligible. A team of educational institutions may apply as long as one educational institution proposes as the prime recipient. Applicants are advised that routine access of educational institution researchers to Rome Research Site buildings and facilities is limited to US citizens and permanent residents. Individuals eligible for access are subject to background checks. 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 SOLICITING 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 Sites "Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): A Guide for Industry," September 2009, may be accessed at: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLRRS/Reference%2DNumber%2DBAAGUIDE/listing.html 2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit 10 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, Name/Address of educational institution, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count); 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, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, a fax number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA 10-10-RIKA with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph six of this section. 3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: White-papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 11 Jun 2010. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. 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. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Security Service (DSS) Site for the NISPOM is: https://www.dss.mil/portal/ShowBinary/BEA%20Repository/new_dss_internet//isp/fac_clear/download_nispom.html. 6. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white-papers to the Contracting Officer. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: Dr. Andrew Noga AFRL/RIB, Bldg 106 26 Electronic Parkway Rome, NY 13441-4514 Electronic submission to Andrew.Noga@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: The primary evaluation criteria, will be as follows: - The scientific and technical merits of the proposed research with the expectation that the proposal includes a clear, multidisciplinary, basic research component in the area of Assured Cloud Computing with an engineering emphasis. - The potential contributions of the proposed research to the mission of the Air Force. - The opportunities that the UCoE will provide for professional interactions between educational institution and AFRL personnel through such methods as collaborative research, faculty and student visits, joint workshops, and personnel exchanges. - The ability of a UCoE to educate US scientists and engineers in research areas important to the Air Force. The secondary evaluation criteria, will be as follows: Other evaluation criteria used in the technical reviews, which are of lesser importance than the primary criteria and of equal importance to each other, are: - The principal investigator and other key personnel qualifications, capabilities, related experience including experience on past DoD-funded projects, facilities, or techniques or a combination of these factors which are integral to achieving Air Force objectives. - The realism and reasonableness of proposed costs. No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white-papers/proposals. Individual white-paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria. White-papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received. 2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will evaluate the white-papers/proposals for selection. 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, and 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. 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/Grants 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 submission. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS: A UCoE award may not be renewed beyond six years, nor may a subsequent UCoE be awarded in the same or related subject to the same educational institution within five years of the completion of the UCoE award. A UCoE award does not allow the receiving educational institution to reference a federal government entity (i.e. Department of Defense, Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory, etc.) in the official name of the UCoE. Reference Joint Ethics Regulation, DoDD 5500.7-R, para. 3-209: Endorsement of a non-Federal entity, event, product, service, or enterprise may be neither stated nor implied by DoD or DoD employees in their official capacities and titles, positions, or organization names may not be used to suggest official endorsement or preferential treatment of any non-Federal entity [with certain exceptions]. Process for reviewing and terminating University Centers of Excellence: - A review board with representatives from government, academia, and industry (if appropriate) will be established for each UCoE. - There will be a review of a UCoE at least every two years to evaluate the UCoE's progress in: (i) Performing quality research; (ii) Fostering collaborations between educational institution and AFRL personnel; (iii) Providing educational opportunities to scientists and engineers within the US. The review board will also adjust the UCoE research topics, as needed and decide whether to continue funding the UCoE. AFOSR and AFRL/RI each reserve the right to eliminate or reduce funding to a UCoE one year after providing written notice to the other. If necessary, a warranted contracting/grants officer will negotiate a termination agreement with the UCoE. A review board with representatives from government, academia, and industry (if appropriate) will be established for each UCoE. 3. REPORTING: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be required to submit their reporting requirement through the AFRL/RI web-based, reporting system known as JIFFY. Prior to award, the successful offeror will be given complete instructions regarding its use. Additional Reporting Requirements for University Centers of Excellence: - Copies of all reports, such as technical reports, financial reports, and patent reports, required by the UCoE funding agreement must be provided to AFOSR. - Consistent with National Security Decision Directives-189, AFRL shall not limit what an educational institution chooses to publish as the result of research supported at a UCoE. VII. AGENCY CONTACTS: Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below: Dr. Andrew Noga, AFRL/RIB Telephone: (315) 330-2270 Email: Andrew.Noga@rl.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below: Lynn White, AFRL/RIKA Telephone (315) 330-4996 Email: Lynn.White@rl.af.mil The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the cognizant contracting officer for resolution. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows: Susan Hunter Building 15, Room 225 1864 Fourth Street Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130 FAX: (937) 225-5036; Comm: (937) 255-7754 All responsible organizations may submit a white-paper which shall be considered.
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