National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 4600 Sangamore Road, Attn: PCE, MS D-88, Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

A -- FOUNDATION FEATURE DATA EXTRACTION BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT SOL NMA202-BAA-98-0001 POC Tamara J. Verdon, Contracting Officer, (301) 227-4244, fax (301) 227-5573, e-mail verdont@nima.mil I. INTRODUCTION. The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) invites the submission of white papers that describe proposed techniques for research on the subject of feature extraction to improve methods of spatial data collection. The techniques are needed to enable NIMA to process greater amounts of imagery to create selected feature data under more stringent timelines with less manpower while maintaining traditional quality standards. For those white papers that show merit, NIMA plans to solicit proposals. Focused research efforts are solicited to advance the state of the art in the following topical areas: (1) automated feature extraction from commercial satellite multi-spectral and pan-chromatic imagery, (2) automated feature extraction from National Technical Means (NTM) imagery, and (3) automated feature extraction from NTM and commercial satellite multispectral and panchromatic imagery. Feature extraction for this effort includes recognition, delineation, and attribution. Automated for this effort means minimal operator interaction. The features to be recognized, delineated, and attributed include (1) River Centerline, Feature Attribute Coding Catalog (FACC) AP030; (2) Road Centerline, FACC BA010; (3) Trees, FACC EC030; and (4) Orchard, FACC EA040. These features are a subset of 30-50 features that will populate the United States Imagery and Geospatial Information System (USIGS) Feature Foundation Database (FFD). The FFD implements the Digital Geographic Information Exchange Standard (DIGEST), Version 2.0 (June 97), Part 4, Feature Attribute Coding Catalog (FACC) to define features, attributes, and values. The above four features were selected because improvements to their extraction will provide the greatest value to populating the database. A description of the USIGS FFD can be found in the Geospatial Information Infrastructure (GII) -- Master Plan. (See the NIMA Web Page, http://www.nima.mil, under "What's Hot".) A description of the attributes and rules for delineation for each of the selected features is contained in the DRAFT Associated Performance Specification Foundation Feature Data, MIL-PRF-890049/1, 15 December 1997. The production system targeted for insertion of the technologies is the Integrated Production Cell (IPC). The IPC consists of government cartographers using commercial software and hardware to populate the FFD. Source data includes NTM imagery, commercial satellite imagery, existing cartographic data, and other data as required. A description of the IPC; production software and hardware, production processes, etc. can be found in the GII Master Plan. The IPC is being spirally developed, which means that at approximately six months intervals (called Effectivities) the capabilities of the IPC change. The next Effectivity is planned for April 1998. At that time the configuration, production processes, and production metrics will be validated and become available. It will be against these metrics that the technologies will be developed and evaluated. New technologies before they are approved for and integrated into the IPC are evaluated in the NIMA Prototyping Facility (NPF). To be evaluated in the NPF the technologies must demonstrate merit. The imagery sources and other associated data from which the features are to be extracted are described in the Government Furnished Property (GFP) section of this announcement. A full copy of this Broad Agency Announcement NMA202-BAA-98-0001 can be found on NIMA's Web Page http://www.nima.mil, under "Vendor Opportunities". II. GENERAL INFORMATION. Each single white paper and then, if requested, each proposal should address a single topic, however, multiple topics can be submitted by a single offeror. The topic of primary interest should be clearly identified in the proposal. Teaming between industry, independent research centers and academia is encouraged. All software developed as a result of this effort must comply with the United States Imagery and Geospatial Information System (USIGS) architecture. (See USIGS documentation, http://www.nima.mil/aig/). The government shall have Unlimited Rights to all technical data and software, which directly result from this research. Results of research shall be written as a paper in a manner suitable for publication in a national/international peer reviewed journal or professional journal. Basic Period of Performance: Phase 1 of the program, referred to here as the Basic Period of Performance, concludes twelve months after contract award. The contract may include two options for twelve months each. Funding of the options will be based on offeror's performance. Total Funding: Funding for FY98 is anticipated to be $650,000. NIMA anticipates to award up to five proposals. Final number of awards and the number options funded will be based on funding availability. Funding for the option years is expected to be at the same level as FY98. III. AREAS OF INTEREST. This BAA is for three (3) research topics. Full details of the requirement for each of these topics can be found in NMA202-BAA-98-0001 on NIMA's Web Site at http://www.nima.mil, under "Vendor Opportunities". TOPIC 1. Automated Feature Extraction from Commercial Imagery. New algorithms and advanced data compositing techniques are sought that will allow the super impositioning of a variety of image sources and enhanced computer vision tools to allow automated feature extraction. TOPIC 2. Automated Feature Extraction from National Technical Means (NTM) Imagery. New algorithms and advanced data compositing techniques are sought that will allow the super impositioning of a variety of image sources and enhanced computer vision tools to allow automated feature extraction. TOPIC 3. Automated Feature Extraction from NTM Imagery and Commercial Satellite Multispectral and Panchromatic Imagery. New algorithms and advanced data compositing techniques are sought that will allow the super impositioning of a variety of image sources and enhanced computer vision tools to allow automated feature extraction. All offerors for Topics 2 and 3 shall have DoD Secret certified personnel and facilities for processing and storage of classified data up to DoD SECRET. IV. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY. All awarded research shall use the designated Government Furnished Property (GFP) as test data. No other data shall be substituted. The GFP will be provided upon award of a successful proposal. Requests and technical questions regarding GFP may be submitted in writing to Ms. Chung Hye Read who is the POC for the GFP (address information is provided in Section IX). GFP is only to be used for activities and research directly in support of this announcement. At the completion of the contract, the GFP shall be returned at the contractor's expense to the address from which it was shipped. If offeror wants an additional type of data, the type of data and rationale for data shall be included in the proposal. A full description of GFE can be found in NMA202-BAA-98-0001 on NIMA's Web Site, http://www.nima.mil, under "Vendor Opportunities". V. REQUIREMENTS. The information provided in this BAA, in addition to that provided in Commerce Business Daily (CBD) Announcement, constitutes as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d) (2) (1). In the case of the Principal Investigator leaving the organization he (she) is representing, Government has the right to terminate the contract. The proposal submission process is in two stages. First, white papers on one of the three topics with all four features or any combination of the four features are sought from prospective offerors. Based on the evaluation of those white papers, selected offerors will be invited to submit more detailed proposals. The intent of a request for white papers is to minimize the labor and costs associated with the production of detailed proposals. All interested offerors, therefore, are encouraged to submit white papers. However, all proposals submitted under the terms and conditions cited herein will be reviewed, regardless of the disposition (or lack of) white papers. White papers should be no longer than five double line spaced typed pages and should outline: proposed objectives and approach; expected outcomes; credentials of key project members; and costs, in summary. Ten copies of white papers should be submitted. White papers must be received at the address shown in this Section by 2:00 p.m. EST on 19 Feb 1998. White papers submitted in whole or in part by electronic media (e.g. computer disk or tape, facsimile machine, electronic mail) will not be accepted. White papers will be evaluated against criteria 1, 2, and 3 in Section VI. Letters to encourage or discourage submission of proposals will be sent directly to the proposed Principal Investigators on or about 27 Feb 1998. Further, NIMA responses may be transmitted via facsimile to expedite communications, so white paper respondents should be sure to include 'fax' numbers in the packages. Proposals. General: Organizationally approved, signed, completed proposals must be received by the agency at the address shown in this Section by 2:00 p.m. EST on 8 April 1998. Please note that only this address servesas the collection point for proposals. Proposals submitted in whole or in part by electronic media (e.g., computer disk or type, facsimile machine, electronic mail) will not be accepted. Proposals received after the deadline will be treated according to Federal Acquisition Regulation part 52.215-10, Late Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals of Proposals. Proposals will be evaluated against criteria 1. through 6. in Section VI. Letters announcing whether or not a proposal is being recommended for an award will be mailed by about 22 May 1998 directly to the Principal Investigator. Awards are planned to be in place by about 26 June 1998, this shall be cited as the proposed start date for the budget. Submission: A proposal signed by appropriate officials and marked "Original," along with 10 copies of the signed original, shall be submitted directly to the address listed below. Each proposal shall be typed double spaced and no longer than 50 pages, all-inclusive (including, for example, vitae, cover and signature pages, and budget). The technical portion (see Section V.D.3, Content) shall be limited to no more than 30 of the 50 pages. Proposals shorter than 50 pages are heartily encouraged. Separate attachments, such as brochures or reprints, that cause the proposal to exceed 50 pages shall render the entire proposal ineligible. Address for submission of proposals: NATIONAL IMAGERY AND MAPPING AGENCY ATTN: PCE/D-88/NMA202-BAA-98-0001/Tamara Verdon, 4600 Sangamore Road Bethesda, MD 20816-5003. Content: The proposal must be signed, complete, and self-contained to qualify for review. Proposals must adequately describe the technical objectives and approaches, and the expenditures for equipment, all of which will be evaluated by scientific reviewers per Section VI. Proposals shall include: (1) Abstract: Provide an abstract no longer than one page. (2) Text: The technical portion of the proposal shall be limited to 30 pages and should: (A) Describe in detail the research to be undertaken. State the objectives and approach and the relationship to state-of-knowledge in the field and to similar work in progress. Include appropriate literature citations. Discuss the nature of expected results. (B) Describe the facilities available for accomplishment of research objectives. Describe the equipment planned for acquisition under this program and its application to objectives. (C) Describe in detail proposed sub-awards or relevant collaborations (planned or in place) with industry, government organizations, or educational institutions. Particularly describe how collaborations are expected to facilitate the transition of research results to application. If sub-awards are proposed, make clear the division of research activities and provide detailed budgets for the proposed sub-awards. Descriptions of industrial collaborations shall explain how the proposed research would impact the industrial partner's research and/or product development activities. (D) Identify other parties to whom the proposal has been/will be sent. (3) Personnel: Describe the qualifications of the principal investigator and other key researchers involved in the project. For consortia or collaborations, one individual shall be the designated principal investigator for purposes of technical responsibility and contact. (4) Cost: The financial portion of the proposal, beginning on a new page, shall contain cost estimates sufficiently detailed for meaningful evaluation, including cost details for proposed sub-awards. For budget purposes, use an award start date of 26 June 1998. The budget must include the total cost of the project, as well as a breakdown of the amount(s) by source(s) of funding (e.g., funds requested from NIMA, non-federal funds to be provided as cost sharing). The costs shall be broken down for the year of the program. Elements shall include: Time being charged to the project, for whom (principal investigator, programmer, etc.), and the commensurate direct labor rates and benefits; All indirect rates; Estimate of material and operating costs; Costs ofequipment, based on most recent quotations and broken down in sufficient detail for evaluation; Travel costs and time, and the relevance to stated objectives; Publication and report costs; Subcontract costs and type (the portion of work to be subcontracted and rationale); note that subcontract costs must be described carefully in both the text and the cost section; Consultant fees (indicating daily or hourly rate) and travel expenses and the nature and relevance of such costs; communications costs not included in overhead; Other direct costs; and Annual total costs for the year. (5) Certifications: ertifications will be provided for completion upon determination that an offeror's proposal has been selected for award. (6) Deliverables: Deliverables Items: The following deliverable items are required for each contract awarded under this BAA: Bimonthly cost and technical reports, electronic distribution, and hardcopy; Annual reports in hardcopy and in hyper-text markup language (html); Scientific and Technical Reports (draft and reproducible Final Report) in hardcopy and html; Presentation Materials for all reviews and demonstrations (hardcopy, in some cases softcopy of slides as required); Issues and Technical Interchange Briefings at specified reviews in hardcopy and in softcopy; All software, hardware, and supporting engineering and technical documentation developed under or used in conjunction with activities funded under this BAA. The Government has unlimited rights to data and software, with exception of embedded COTS products that are enhanced using funds from this BAA; User documentation of sufficient quality to allow experienced government personnel to install and use software for demonstration; All proposed component developments must include experiments and metric evaluations to measure system and subsystem performance against explicitly stated goals or requirements; and Final program report that includes summary of achievements, outstanding issues, and specification or research goals met, partially met,and what would be required to achieve those not accomplished. Distribution of the final report is a public release. Any proprietary information and classified information shall be attachments to the Final report. VI. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS. Criteria: Criteria 1, 2, and 3 will be used to evaluate white papers. All six criteria will be used to evaluate final proposals. The primary evaluation criteria, of equal weight, are: (1) Scientific and technical merits of the proposed research; and (2) Relevance and potential contributions of the research to defense missions; Other evaluation criteria, of lesser importance than l and 2 but equal to each other, are: (3) The qualifications of the principal investigator and other key research personnel; (4) The adequacy of current or planned facilities and equipment to accomplish the research objectives; (5) The impact of interactions with other organizations engaged in related research and development, in particular industrial organizations, DoD laboratories and other organizations that perform research and development for defense applications; and (6) The realism and reasonableness of cost, including proposed cost sharing. Process: Proposals will undergo a multi-stage review. First, technical evaluation teams will review proposals using the criteria in this Section and as explained in Section IV. Then senior NIMA managers will review the findings of the evaluation teams. VII. AWARDS. Awards will be made at funding levels commensurate with the research and availability of funds. The period of performance is one year with two options for one year each. Funding of the options will be based on the awardee's performance and the availability of funds. Negotiations may result in funding levels less than originally proposed. Letters announcing whether or not a proposal is being recommended for an award will be mailed directly to principal investigators by about 22 May 1998. Awards are expected to be in place by 26 June 1998. VIII. REQUIRED MEETINGS. All awardees should plan for a kick-off meeting at NIMA commencing within a week after the contract is awarded and a design meeting one month after the kick-off meeting. All awardees, should plan for three meetings per year commencing within three months after the first design meeting. For the costing purposes offerors should assume one of these meeting will be held at NIMA. IX. POINTS OF CONTACT. Technical Point of Contact: Ms. Chung Hye Read, NIMA/TRB/D-84; Facsimile: (301) 227-3332; Electronic mail: readch@nima.mil; 4600 Sangamore Road Bethesda, MD 20816-5003. Contracting Point of Contact: Ms Tamara Verdon, NIMA/PCE/D-88; (301) 227-4244; Facsimile: (301) 227-5573; Electronic mail: verdont@nima.mil; 4600 Sangamore Road Bethesda, MD 20816-5003. (0030)

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