Directorate of Contracting, Attn: ATZS-DKO-I, P.O. Box 12748, Fort Huachuca, AZ 85670-2748

A -- ADVANCED FORENSIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM POC Program Manager, Dean Fetteroff, (703) 640-1445; Contracting Officer, Patricia Woznick; Contract Specialist, Marilyn Carney, (520) 533-1064. Broad Agency Announcement 96-05, for Innovative Research and Development Projects in the Advanced Forensic Development Program (AFDP). The Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC) of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Laboratory is soliciting white papers for innovative research and development projects in the advanced forensic development program (AFDP). CTAC is the central drug enforcement research and development organization of the United States Government. The intent of the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to identify technologies to provide near and mid term solutions to enhance the forensic capabilities of Federal, State, and local Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) in drug cases. The FBI Laboratory, the world leader in forensic research and applications, is participating with CTAC to provide this capability to the forensic community. In the United States, a high percentage of all criminal cases involve the sale, distribution or abuse of illegal drugs. The vast majority of forensic laboratories have been established to provide forensic analysis of evidentiary material. Therefore, little coordinated, prioritized, and budgeted effort is spent on research and development. The goal of this research and development (R&D) is to employ innovative technological approaches to provide counterdrug enforcement and drug demand reduction agencies with increased forensic capabilities toward the presentation of reliable scientific evidence in courts of law under existing operational constraints. Projects addressing collaborative partnerships between forensic laboratories, universities, research institutes or commercial firms are preferred. The BAA is focused on nine major forensic disciplines: (1) Chemistry: Projects in this area should include improved analytical methods for the positive identification, quantitation, and characterization of illicit drug materials. (2) Portable Instrumentation: This area will develop new non-destructive inspection technologies applicable to crime scene investigations and investigative support for the detection of trace physical evidence of illegal drug materials on surfaces, or hidden in conveyances and false compartments such as walls. Projects may also include substantive improvements to existing inspection devices, intelligent prescreening techniques, signal processing algorithms for detection enhancement, and the fusing of multiple type sensors. (3) Biological and DNA: projects to be considered in this area would apply technologies to be determined of source country or species identification of coca, poppy, or marijuana plant material through DNA analysis. (4) Toxicology: Projects to be considered should include technologies to improve the speed, sensitivity, selectivity, size cost and simplicity of current screening and confirmation procedures for the detection of illegal drugs and their metabolites in biological fluids and tissues. (5) Firearms/Toolmarks: (a) Projects to be considered favorably would develop technological solutions and applications to an interactive and automated database for comparison, correlation, identification, and matching of firearms, cartridge cases, and bullets to suspects and weapons in drug and violent crimes. (b) Other projects to be considered include a measurement system for 3-D surface mapping and comparison of recovered bullets with test firings from suspected weapons. (6) Computers and Computational Research: Projects to be considered should include methods for the analysis of computer data and networks for patterns of criminal activity and the recovery and presentation of erased, encrypted and compressed data. An additional project to be considered would be to establish and or maintain a secure dial up E-Mail server for forensic laboratories. Computer aided presentation or complex evidence is desirable. (7) Document Examination: Projects to be favorably considered should include interactive neural networks and expert systems for handwriting (signature) comparison and the automated comparison of shoeprint, tiretread, watermarks and markings on drug packages. (8) Photographic and Video Techniques: Projects to be considered should include advanced spectroscopic video imaging techniques, video and audio noise suppression, subtraction and enhancement and videographic presentation of evidentiary material. (9) Fingerprint technology: Projects to be considered should include latent fingerprint visualization on plastic materials and tapes used for drug packaging and the study of the spectroscopic properties and imaging of natural fingerprint residues. White papers may be submitted any time prior to the closing date of 9/30/97 to the Technical Agent listed below. Submission procedures are as follow: Ten (10) copies of all white papers shall be submitted and must reference BAA #96-05. White papers must be UNCLASSIFIED. White papers must be limited to 10 pages (including figures, charts, and tables) on single-sided, double-spaced pages; font shall not be smaller than 12 point; 1'' margins left/right/top/bottom. White papers shall contain a rough order of magnitude cost estimate. White papers must clearly indicate the forensic discipline being addressed in order to facilitate Government evaluation. White papers will not be returned. Telephone inquiries concerning the status of white papers will not be entertained. Following evaluation of the white papers, the Contracting Officer reserves the right to request a full proposal from any, all, part of, or none of the white papers. In the event a white paper is considered favorably, the offeror will be invited to submit a proposal within 45 calendar days of notification by the Contracting Officer. Such notification will confirm that the offeror's white paper addresses areas of interest and relevance to the AFDP and the offeror has a reasonable chance for a competitive award based on CTAC's subsequent evaluation of the offerors's proposal. Those offerors invited to submit a proposal shall submit the proposal in two volumes as described below, formatted (i.e. 8-1/2'' X 11'' pages, etc) in a manner identical to that of the white papers described previously. Volume I shall be the technical portion and shall include an Executive Summary, a Technical Approach, descriptions of relevant prior work, a program plan outlining the scope of the project, milestone charts, a facilities and equipment description, and a management plan including a description of the company's plans for counterdrug enforcement products, technology products, substance abuse, and additional research applications. This volume shall be limited to 50 pages including all figures, tables, foldouts, and charts. All paragraphs containing proprietary information must be clearly marked. Volume II shall contain all cost/price information with supporting schedules in accordance with Appendix A of the Proposer Information Pamphlet, entitled ``Standard Form 1411 (SF1411), Contract Pricing Proposal Cover Sheet''. The breakdown shall include materials, direct labor, indirect costs and other direct costs such as special test equipment or travel. Offerors shall provide exhibits as necessary to substantiate the cost elements. Ten (10) copies of each proposals shall be submitted to the technical agent listed below and must reference subject BAA. All submissions shall be received within 45 calendar days of their request by the agency. White papers and all proposals will be evaluated by a Proposal Review Board of Federal, State, and local forensic laboratory personnel. Offerors must include a statement authorizing review of the white paper and proposals by the Federal, State, and local forensic laboratory personnel. Both white papers and proposals will be evaluated with respect to the following criteria in descending order of importance: (1) Potential contribution of the effort to a forensic laboratory's specific mission, including relevance and contribution to the national technology base; (2) Overall scientific and technical merit of the proposal including (a) an understanding of the technical problem and its application to a specific forensic discipline. The offeror shall demonstrate a solid understanding of the issues unique to the specific discipline being proposed; (b) the soundness of the approach. The offeror shall present sound reasons for the selection of the application and a reasonable schedule for program execution; (c) probability of success. The offeror shall establish a realistic estimate for successful insertion of the proposed project into routine laboratory efforts; (3) The offerors capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques, or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposed objective; (4) The qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed principal investigator, team member of key personnel who are critical to achieving the proposed objectives; and (5) Realism of proposed cost. Multiple awards by CTAC or its designated contracting agent may result from this BAA. The number of proposals funded will depend upon the technical merits of the proposals received and available funding. One year to eighteen month baseline projects addressing collaborative partnerships between forensic laboratories, universities, research institutes or commercial firms are preferred; however, multi-year development projects will be considered provided the offeror can structure a baseline demonstration phase followed by phases to develop fielded prototypes. Full cost estimates should be provided for the baseline and any follow-on phases. The Government may negotiate the complete effort including the phases, but will initially provide funds only for the baseline project. Cost-plus type awards are anticipated. Government laboratories are prohibited from direct competition. There will be no formal Request for Proposals or other solicitation with regard to this BAA nor does the issuance of the BAA obligate the Government to fund any subsequently invited proposals nor pay any proposal preparation costs. Although no portion of this announcement is set-aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) or Minority Institutions (MI) participation, proposals from all responsible sources capable of satisfying the Governments needs may be submitted and shall be considered. This notice constitutes a BAA as authorized by FAR 6.102(d)(2)(I). This BAA will remain open through 30 September 1997. (239)

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