Mission Oriented Information Management (MOIM)

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United States

Mission Oriented Information Management (MOIM)

Agency:
Department of the Air Force

Official Address:
26 Electronic Parkway Rome NY 13441-4514

Zip Code:
13441-4514

Contact:
Gail E. Marsh, Contracting Officer, Phone 315-330-7518, Email Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil

Link:

Date Posted:
26/07/2018

Classification:
A

Contract Description:
AMENDMENT 4 to BAA RIK-2014-0011

The purpose of this modification is to republish the original announcement, incorporating any previous amendments, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c).

This republishing also includes the following changes:

(a) Update NAICS CODE;
(b) Section I: Update to Funding Opportunity Description and a new focus area;
(c) Section II.1: Revise funding information;
(d) Section III: Updated to reflect current eligibility requirements;
(e) Section IV.1: Add a new suggested submission date and revise end date;
(f) Section IV.3.c: Revise the Technical POC information;
(g) Section V.1: Updated proposal submission instructions; and
(f) Section VII: Updated the Technical POC.

No other changes have been made.
_________________________________________

NAICS CODE: 541715

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

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Mission Oriented Information Management (MOIM)

BAA ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial announcement

BAA NUMBER: BAA RIK-2014-0011

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) Number: 12.800

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION:

The Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/RI), Rome Research Site, is soliciting white papers under this announcement for innovative technologies to enable the effective management of information for military operations.

AFRL/RI conducts research in the areas of information management and dissemination. Resultant approaches have focused on the creation of services-based information management techniques. This research has led to the development of service oriented information management and dissemination implementations. The continued development and maturation of innovative concepts and enhanced services that maximize the value of information to support the objectives of military operations is the primary focus of this BAA.

Background: The Information Management Technologies Branch of the Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome Research Site, are researching and developing techniques and services for information management in diverse military environments. Information Management (IM) is defined as a set of intentional activities to maximize the value of information to support the objectives of the military enterprise. These activities include role/policy based information access control, information tagging and contextualization through semantic assessment, discovery and identification, scalability and responsiveness to resource availability and the administrative activities that support them. Understanding how concepts for sharing information amongst disparate producers, consumers and operational domains and the technologies that can be applied in the unique military operational and tactical domains are of critical importance.

Multi-Domain Interoperability (MDI) continues to emerge across the AF and DoD as a growing and pervasive information sharing requirement. The need exists across command echelons, military services, security domains, coalitions and civilian entities. The MDI problem is more complex, however, than just sharing information by invoking services or querying databases in other domains. From the consumer’s perspective it is difficult to know if the information exists, where it exists, how to access it if policy permits and whether or not it is in a usable form. While the information owners must determine to whom access should be granted, what information is releasable under what conditions and how many resources to make available to service extra-domain needs. Addressing these information discovery, access and policy issues is necessary but insufficient to add value to the supported operational processes if it only results in low quality information overloading the systems and users. The solution to information sharing must be more comprehensive to enable the identification and delivery of mission relevant information within mission time-scales.

AFRL’s information centric technology vision has culminated in a suite of AFRL Information Management (IM) services that enable the management of all information interactions through domain independent “universal services” whose functions include obtaining, discovering, characterizing, identifying, prioritizing, mediating, persisting and disseminating information within and between mission partners. The most recent IM developments correlate users with operational activities, determine information requirements, assess information for mission relevance and establish information processing priorities based upon mission importance and system resource availability. In conjunction with IM capabilities is the development of mobile applications that provide moving map capabilities for sharing tactical Situational Awareness (SA) information of the battlespace, collectively known as the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) suite of tools.

The research and development to be conducted under this BAA are as follows:

• Augment and mature the AFRL IM to produce highly scalable mission oriented middleware
• Demonstrate the capabilities in operationally relevant environments

FY19 Focus Area Descriptions:

Merging the mobile revolution with Machine Learning (ML) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to revolutionize support to Force Protection (FP), Isolated Personnel (IP) and Personnel Recovery (PR) and enable transformative mission effectiveness is of particular interest. Every Airman is a sensor, and protecting the force is everyone’s duty. FP is multi-dimensional, providing multi-layered protection of forces and resources. It covers actions at home station, in transit, and at deployed locations. Necessary is an infrastructure that can collect the ML data necessary to build mobile ML algorithms in a standardized, easily repeatable way on a platform that others can leverage. AFRL seeks a collection infrastructure capable of instrumenting TAK mobile devices with ML data/sensor collection plugins (e.g. barometer, accelerometers, compass, etc.) and tagging the data in such a way that inference engines can reason and learn from information gathered from across federated networks of diverse systems and organizations.

Joint Publication 3-50 defines Personnel Recovery (PR) as “the sum of military, diplomatic, and civil efforts to prepare for and execute the recovery and reintegration of Isolated Personnel (IP).” AFRL seeks to address the top five PR capability gaps recognized by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) which collectively state that the DoD has a limited ability to: (a) recognize, declare, and report an isolating event, (b) conduct collaborative planning within the comprehensive PR network, and (c) quickly and accurately locate, authenticate, and recover IP. It is envisioned that some of these deficiencies can be addressed by implementing specialized IP and PR technical capabilities as TAK plugins and maximizing the ability of centralized and decentralized information management services to operate in Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments.

Specifically, AFRL seeks to research, develop, integrate and demonstrate IM services, mobile devices, sensors and applications tailored to address the following focus areas:

(a) ML geolocation plugins for Global Positioning System (GPS) denied navigation, sensor integration, positive identification (of the person, not the phone), flight line digital escort, Multiple Level Security (MLS) off-board integration capabilities for FP. Intelligent, adaptive and autonomous capabilities that offer force protectors advantages in speed, range, and effectiveness to assist them in meeting the demands of a changing operational environment are desired. Identifying, analyzing, and disseminating threat information to commanders and ensuring FP is of paramount importance.

(b) Survival of IP and their safe return to friendly control by building upon the foundation of IM services and associated TAK technologies. Creating new capabilities for IP in the form of customized plugins will dramatically increase the probability of IP survival by improving their ability to care for themselves, locate resources, navigate land, evade capture, and reach desired points of exfiltration. Developing an intuitive interface to the Combat Survival Evader Locator (CSEL) radio via a mobile device (e.g. via a Near Field Communication (NFC) connection) is envisioned as an important component to IP survival and safe recovery. Technical capabilities are sought that enable IP to survive in hostile environments, evade enemy forces, and deter/defeat enemy forces from locating/capturing. Technologies for surviving/evading might include water extraction from environment both on land and at sea, signature reduction (e.g. visual, EM, audible, thermal, olfactory, etc.), navigation, biometrically-driven location/authentication, protecting from exposure to environment, extending power (extended life batteries power generation/harvesting), and combining functionality of current vest/seat kit to reduce size/weight while improving capability.

(c) Capabilities designed for PR forces to improve their ability to report, locate, authenticate, support, and recover IP to friendly control, as well as act as both planning and prevention tools. These capabilities include advanced Search and Rescue (SAR) tools and collaborative net-centric capabilities for PR mission planning and execution. Other capabilities for locating and authenticating IP without highlighting their location to unfriendly forces, and technologies that assist in delivering supplies (e.g. water, food, ammunition, clothing, etc.), undetected by enemy forces, to IP in contested environments over long distances are desired. Preferred methods require no action by IP and do not require putting additional assets/forces at risk. IM and SA capabilities for rapid personnel recovery in contested environments and scenarios where the IP is injured and non-ambulatory should be considered.

II. AWARD INFORMATION:

1. FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $9.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows:

FY15 – $2.65M
FY16 – $2.65M
FY17 – $0.30M
FY18 – $0.30M
FY19 – $4.00M

Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $250K to $1.25M. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value.

The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential Offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

2. FORM. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts.

3. BAA TYPE: This is a two-step open broad agency announcement. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation.

As STEP ONE – We are only soliciting white papers at this time. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL. 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 regarding the proposal.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

All qualified offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply.

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, Gail E. Marsh, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-7518 or e-mail Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil for information if they contemplate responding. The e-mail must reference the BAA number and title.

Contractor employees requiring access to USAF bases, AFRL facilities, and/or access to U.S. Government Information Technology (IT) networks in connection with the work on contractual actions awarded under this BAA must be U.S. citizens. For the purpose of base and network access, possession of a permanent resident card (“Green Card”) does not equate to U.S. citizenship. This requirement does not apply to foreign nationals approved by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. State Department under international personnel exchange agreements with foreign governments. Any waivers to this requirement must be granted in writing by the Contracting Officer prior to providing access. The above requirements are in addition to any other contract requirements related to obtaining a Common Access Card (CAC). If an IT network/system does not require AFRL to endorse a contractor’s application to said network/system in order to gain access, the organization operating the IT network/system is responsible for controlling access to its system. If an IT network/system requires a U.S. Government sponsor to endorse the application in order for access to the IT network/system, AFRL will only endorse the following types of applications, consistent with the requirements above:

1. Contractor employees who are U.S. citizens performing work under contractual actions awarded under this BAA.
2. Contractor employees who are non-U.S. citizens and who have been granted a waiver.

Any additional access restrictions established by the IT network/system owner apply.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION: All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the Technical point of contact (POC) listed in SECTION VII. DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer.

1. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award:

FY15 by 18 Sep 2014
FY16 by 01 Sep 2015
FY17 by 01 Sep 2016
FY18 by 31 Aug 2017
FY19 by 31 Sep 2018

White papers will be accepted until 2 PM Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2019, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. This BAA will close on 30 Sep 2019.

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. CONTENT AND FORMAT: Offerors are required to submit 2 copies of a 5-6 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:

a. Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count);
b. Section B: Task Objective; and
c. Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables.

All white papers shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 point. 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-RIK-2014-0011 with their submission.

Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b).

3. HANDLING AND MAILING INSTRUCTIONS:

a. CLASSIFICATION GUIDANCE. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 and as amended by Change 2 dated May 18, 2016, 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: .

In the event of a possible or actual compromise of classified information in the submission of your white paper or proposal, immediately but no later than 24 hours, bring this to the attention of your cognizant security authority and AFRL Rome Research Site Information Protection Office (IPO):

Vincent Guza
315-330-4048 0730-1630 Monday-Friday
315-330-2961 Evenings and Weekends
Email: vincent.guza@us.af.mil

b. CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS. AFRL/RISA will accept classified responses to this BAA when the classification is mandated by classification guidance provided by an Original Classification Authority of the U.S. Government, or when the offeror believes the work, if successful, would merit classification. Security classification guidance in the form of a DD Form 254 (DoD Contract Security Classification Specification) will not be provided at this time since AFRL is soliciting ideas only. Offerors that intend to include classified information or data in their white paper submission or who are unsure about the appropriate classification of their white papers should contact the technical point of contact listed in Section VII for guidance and direction in advance of preparation.

c. MAILING INSTRUCTIONS. All mailed responses to this announcement must be sent U.S. Postal Service, registered mail and addressed to AFRL/RISA, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505, and reference BAA RIK-2014-0011. When mailing follow the directions regarding the number of copies required.

Electronic submission to the technical POC identified in Section VII will also be accepted. Encrypt or password-protect all proprietary information prior to sending. Offerors are responsible to confirm receipt with the technical POC listed in Section VII. AFRL is not responsible of undelivered documents.

If electronic submission is used, only one copy of the documentation is required.

Questions can be directed to the technical POC listed in Section VII.

4. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS/CONSIDERATIONS:

a. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

b. SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database to receive a contract award, and remain registered during performance and through final payment of any contract or agreement. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes forty-eight hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration before submitting a proposal. The provision at FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Oct 2016) applies.

c. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND FIRST-TIER SUBCONTRACT/ SUBRECIPIENT AWARDS: Any contract award resulting from this announcement may contain the clause at FAR 52.204-10 – Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2016).

d. ALLOWABLE CHARGES: 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.

e. GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: An offeror must have an government approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined based upon an audit performed by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

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:

a. Overall Scientific and Technical Merit — Including the approach for the development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology and its evaluation,
b. Related Experience – The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge,
c. Openness/Maturity and Assurance of Solution – The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology in terms of reliability and robustness, and
d. Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any).

No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. 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.

3. ADEQUATE PRICE COMPETITION: The Government may simultaneously evaluate proposals received under this BAA with a common cutoff date for multiple offerors. In this case, the Government may make award based on adequate price competition, and offerors must be aware that there is a possibility of non-selection due to a proposal of similar but higher-priced technical approach as compared to another offeror.

4. FEDERAL AWARDEE PERFORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION SYSTEM (FAPIIS)
PUBLIC ACCESS: The Government is required to review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the FAPIIS before making any award in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold (currently $150,000) over the period of performance. An applicant may review and comment on any information about itself that a federal awarding agency previously entered. The Government will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to other information in FAPIIS in making a judgment about the applicant’s integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in 2 CFR § 200.205 Federal Awarding Agency Review of Risk Posed by Applicants and per FAR 9.104-6 FAPIIS.

VI. STEP TWO INFORMATION – REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL & AWARD:

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.

For additional information when developing proposals, reference the AFRL “Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Guide for Industry,” Mar 2015, and RI-Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions, Jul 2018.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS:

Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a SECRET or TOP SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET or TOP SECRET/SCI information at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to, a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under this BAA.

This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-3572. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your white paper/proposal.

3. DATA RIGHTS:

a. SBIR RIGHTS. The potential for inclusion of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or data rights other than unlimited on awards is recognized. In accordance with (IAW) the Small Business Administration (SBA) SBIR Policy Directive, Section 8(b), SBIR data rights clauses are non-negotiable and must not be the subject of negotiations pertaining to an award, or diminished or removed during award administration. Issuance of an award will not be made conditional based on forfeit of data rights. If the SBIR awardee wishes to transfer its SBIR data rights to the Air Force or to a third party, it must do so in writing under a separate agreement. A decision by the awardee to relinquish, transfer, or modify in any way its SBIR data rights must be made without pressure or coercion by the agency or any other party.
b. NON-SBIR RIGHTS. Non-SBIR data rights less than unlimited will be evaluated and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Government Purpose Rights are anticipated for data developed with DoD-reimbursed Independent Research and Development (IR&D) funding.

4. REPORTING:
a. Contract Applicable: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports.
b. FAPIIS Applicable: As required by 2 CFR 200 Appendix XII of the Uniform Guidance and FAR 9.104-6, non-federal entities (NFEs) are required to disclose in FAPIIS any information about criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings, and/or affirm that there is no new information to provide. This applies to NFEs that receive federal awards (currently active grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts) greater than $10,000,000 for any period of time during the period of performance of an award/project.

5. NOTICE: The following provisions* apply:
(a) FAR 52.209-11, Representation by Corporations Regarding Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction under any Federal Law
(b) DFARS 252.239-7017, Notice of Supply Chain Risk
(c) DFARS 252.204-7008, Compliance with Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls
* Please note that the current versions or deviations of the related clauses will be included in any resulting contract.

6. GRANT AWARDS ONLY: For efforts proposed as grant awards, offerors must provide an abstract in their proposal (not to exceed one page) that is publicly releasable and that describes – in terms the public may understand – the project or program supported by the grant. The DoD will publically post the abstract to comply with Section 8123 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235).

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS:

All white paper and proposal submissions and any questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact as specified below (unless otherwise specified in the technical area):

TPOC Name: James R. Milligan
Mailing Address: 525 Brooks Road, Rome, NY 13441-4505
Telephone: (315) 330-4763
Email: james.milligan.2@us.af.mil

Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred):

Gail Marsh
Telephone (315) 330-7518
Email: gail.marsh@us.af.mil

Emails must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition.

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, 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 (Jun 2016) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA.

The AFRL Ombudsman and AFRL Alternate Ombudsman are as follows:

Ombudsman:  Ms Lisette K. LeDuc,
1864 Fourth St.
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130
937-904-4407
lisette.leduc@us.af.mil

Alternate Ombudsman:  Ms Kimberly L. Yoder
1864 Fourth St.
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130
937-255-4967
kimberly.yoder@us.af.mil

Sol Number:
BAA-RIK-2014-0011