SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Dynamic Assembly for Systems Adaptability, Dependability and Assurance (DASDA) Experimental Demo Proj (EDP) Vehicle for Innovative Concepts Exploitation (DEVICE)
- Notice Date
- 2/12/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- 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-PRDA-02-07-IFKA
- Point of Contact
- Joetta Bernhard, Contracting Officer, Phone (315) 330-2308, Fax (315) 330-7790,
- E-Mail Address
-
Joetta.Bernhard@rl.af.mil
- Description
- POINTS OF CONTACT: Program Manager: James R. Milligan, 315-330-3013, e-mail: james.milligan@rl.af.mil; Technical Advisor: Craig S. Anken, 315-330-4833, e-mail: craig.anken@rl.af.mil; Contracting Officer: Joetta A. Bernhard, 315-330-2308, e-mail: joetta.bernhard@rl.af.mil. The Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/IF) is soliciting white papers for innovative solutions pertaining to the research, development, and transition of technology that will enable mission critical systems to meet the high assurance, dependability, and adaptability requirements of the United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD). The Dynamic Assembly for Systems Adaptability, Dependability, and Assurance (DASADA) Program, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), began in FY00, and is a four (4) year initiative to address current deficiencies in the composition of software-intensive systems. DASADA technology is aimed to enable architecture refinement with guarantees that critical system properties will be assured through design rules that guide the selection, adaptation, and dynamic run-time assembly of appropriate system components. The DASADA Program consists of two (2) main phases: Phase I: Technology Development Projects (TDPs) that resulted from contract awards made under DARPA Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 00-20, and Phase II: Experimental Demonstration Projects (EDPs) led and performed by service organizations and their contractors. The intent of this Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) is to support Phase II of the (DASADA) Program. EDPs are intended to collaborate with DASADA Phase I TDPs, experiment with their products, further integrate these technologies, and scale them for application on realistic, medium to large DoD systems. DASADA Phase II EDPs involve the conduct of experiments to evaluate and demonstrate the value of DASADA technologies in their utility to solve mission critical problems (i.e., those experienced by major military programs and/or systems/subsystems) that arise from deficiencies in our ability to compose and reassemble computer-based systems from new and existing components. These deficiencies stem largely from the fact that information and other software system architectures have become much more complex, where developers are moving from building monolithic and client/server applications to building n-tier, peer-to-peer, web-service, and application-service architectures, many of which take advantage of the World Wide Web. Software executing on distributed systems represents a unique synthesis of application code and code for managing requirements such as heterogeneity, scalability, security, and availability. In addition, the increasing pace required to evolve embedded software systems to fit new environments and contexts requires high-level design models from which adaptive, high confidence system implementations can be verifiably generated. Under these new circumstances, developers are faced with an increased challenge to deliver systems that need to be more scalable, robust and amenable to change than ever before. DASADA attempts to address this challenge through an architecture-driven approach based largely on the following: -Components that, in the object-oriented world are built from objects, and are used to build applications. Although components are often associated with those from object technologies such as Microsoft's Common Object Model (COM), Sun's Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), or the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), components can also be whole applications, and may include legacy components that are not object-oriented at all. -Probes that interact with the executing system and its environment to collect data. -Gauges that convert probe data into measures that are meaningful for system tuning. -Adaptation Mechanisms that perform dynamic system assembly/re-assembly based on the need for change as derived from a comparative analysis between the system specification and feedback on its actual implementation and operation. It is envisioned that the resultant contract will include the following activities. (1) Integration and scaling/adaptation of selected DASADA technologies, as appropriate, for effective insertion into or application on a DoD system development/upgrade/operation. (2) Determination, collection, and application of appropriate milestones, metrics, measures, and baseline data for controlled experimental evaluation of the value and effectiveness of the technology. Measures would likely address usability, scalability, robustness, insertion cost, and impact on developmental, maintenance, and operational improvements in productivity/effort/time, product/service quality/effectiveness, and cost. (3) Establishment of appropriate processes and procedures for collecting the data necessary to measure results and assist programmatic decision-making at key predefined milestones. (4) Reporting on scheduled milestone achievements, lessons learned, and technological/programmatic recommendations. (5) Periodic demonstrations (e.g., on a semi-annual basis) of experiment results. (6) Active participation in DASADA-related meetings with the intention to provide program status/progress and foster collaboration with technologists and Government personnel in such areas as evaluation criteria, operational requirements, technology improvement needs, lessons learned, insertion costs, experimentation results, etc. Additional information about the DASADA Program including its current TDP participants, products, technologies, and activities may be obtained from the following web sites: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/tech/programs/dasada/, http://www.darpa.mil/ito/research/dasada/, http://schafercorp-ballston.com/dasada/ THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Offers are required to submit five (5) copies of a fifteen (15) page or less white paper with a cover letter indicating whether the offeror is a large, small, women-owned small or small disadvantaged business, or Historically Black College, University, or Minority Institution. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Cost of Task, Name of Company; Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary. Offerors must mark their white papers/proposals with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: James R. Milligan, Reference PRDA #02-07-IFKA, AFRL/IFTD, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. 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. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of the PRDA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. The following criteria will be used to determine whether white papers submitted are consistent with the intent of this PRDA and of interest to the Government, which are listed in descending order of importance: (1) Overall Scientific and Technical Merit -- Including how the proposed experiment addresses the needs of the target system/organization mission, the approach for the development/integration/enhancement/application of the proposed technology and its evaluation, (2) Related Experience -- The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge, (3) Openness/Maturity 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. White papers submitted will be evaluated as they are received. The following criteria for proposals submitted by offerors invited will be used to determine whether these proposals are consistent with the intent of this PRDA and of interest to the Government, which are listed in descending order of importance: the following evaluation criteria for proposals will be used: (1) Understanding of the problem -- Clear description of operational problems and development/maintenance costs associated with system. The problems/costs should be quantified to the extent possible. The pervasiveness of the problem (i.e., its occurrence beyond the specific system in question) should be documented, (2) Understanding of the technologies -- Clear description of how a specified mix of DASADA (and other) technologies should ameliorate the problems described in Item 1 above, and a demonstrated understanding of the: (a) Extent to which the technologies are likely to ameliorate the problem, (b) Maturity of the technologies and amount and type of efforts required to make them useable, (c) Efforts required to integrate technologies, (3) Adequacy of planning -- Well-defined tasks and milestones with associated resources. Pre-arranged involvement of key personnel from research or other institutions. Well-defined evaluation criteria and specific measures to be used to assess the criteria, along with descriptions of available baseline data and plans for acquiring needed data, (4) Potential for transition -- Demonstration of sincere interest of the operational service organization or office responsible for the target system/program of the experiment. Involvement (e.g., as reviewers/evaluators) of personnel from other programs with similar problems (e.g., those identified in Item 1, above). Evidence that the problem is of large magnitude and is likely to remain so (e.g., no commercial solution is likely), (5) Cost - Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any). Also, consideration will be given to other factors such as past and present performance on recent Government contracts and the capacity and capability to achieve the objectives of this PRDA will be used. Options are discouraged and unpriced options will not be considered for award. Awards of efforts as a result of this PRDA will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions depending upon the nature of the work proposed. Complete instructions for proposal preparation will be forwarded with the invitations for proposal submissions. All responsible firms may submit a white paper which shall be considered. Principal funding of this PRDA and the contract awards are anticipated to start in FY02. Individual awards will not normally exceed 48 months in duration, with dollar amounts ranging between $200K to $5M. Total funding for the PRDA is anticipated to be $15M. 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 focal point, Joetta A. Bernhard, for information if they contemplate responding. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this announcement is not 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 in FAR 31.205-18. The work to be performed may require a SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability, therefore personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET information at time of award. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear significant concerns from offerors or potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. Routine questions are not considered to be "significant concerns" and should be communicated directly to the Contracting Officer, Joetta Bernhard, 315-330-2308. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the contracting officer or program manager, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations to the appropriate Government personnel. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Linda Reed, Deputy Chief, Contracting Division, at 315-330-7748. When requested, the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the source selection process. An informational briefing is not planned. It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY02-10 Apr 2002; FY03-10 Apr 2003; FY04-10 Apr 2004. White papers will be accepted at any time, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each fiscal year after the dates cited. This PRDA is open and effective until 30 Sep 2004. A copy of the AFRL/IFK publication, "BAA & PRDA: a Guide For Industry", Sep 1996 (Rev), may be accessed at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/bp-guide.html. Respondents are asked to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number with their submission as well as a fax number, and an e-mail address, and reference PRDA-02-07-IFKA. Proposers are warned that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.
- Record
- SN00025629-W 20020214/020212213151 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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