SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Cognitive Information Processing Technology
- Notice Date
- 6/12/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714
- ZIP Code
- 22203-1714
- Solicitation Number
- BAA02-21
- Response Due
- 6/6/2003
- Archive Date
- 6/6/2004
- Point of Contact
- Ronald Brachman, Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO), Phone none, Fax (703) 741-7804, - Zachary Lemnios, Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO), Phone none, Fax (703) 741-7804,
- E-Mail Address
-
none, none
- Description
- Cognitive Information Processing Technology, SOL BAA 02-21, Abstracts Due: April 4, 2003, Proposals Due: Friday, June 6, 2003 POC: Dr. Ronald J. Brachman and Mr. Zachary J. Lemnios, DARPA/IPTO; FAX: (703) 741-7804. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for research in the area of cognitive information processing technology. DARPA's Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) seeks proposals to perform innovative research and development on cognitive systems and technologies that offer significant advances in performance and other relevant metrics above and beyond extrapolations of current approaches. Proposed research should investigate novel approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Cognitive systems have a number of differentiating characteristics, but in short, they can be characterized as systems that know what they are doing. Such systems will have the ability to reason about their environment (including other systems), their goals, and their own capabilities; this reasoning will be able to take advantage of substantial amounts of appropriately represented knowledge. Cognitive systems will be able to learn both from their experiences and by being taught. They will be capable of natural interaction with humans, and will be able to explain their reasoning in natural terms. They will be able to form teams that succeed at goals that cannot be achieved as individuals. And, notably, they will be robust in the face of surprises provided by the environment; the avoidance of the "brittleness" of the expert systems of the past will be a distinguishing feature. All technologies and approaches that enable the creation, demonstration and implementation of advanced cognitive information processing techniques are of potential interest under this BAA, including cross-disciplinary approaches that combine both innovative hardware and software to create unique computing technologies. Applications of new cognitive information processing technology and systems are also of interest, in the form of stand-alone systems; mobile platforms; and deeply embedded, integrated components. DARPA seeks innovative proposals in the following areas: Computational Perception: Technologies developed under this area of interest will serve as the information processing interface between sensors or other interfaces to the external environment and the underlying computational processes in a cognitive system. Of interest are computational processes and embodiments that use a cognitive system's knowledge and experience to influence its perceptual capabilities in a way that provides revolutionary improvement in its abilities to detect important objects, events, and situations in its environment. Representation and Reasoning: This area of interest seeks to create pragmatically adequate and mathematically well-founded knowledge representation formalisms and reasoning processes to support the entire range of cognitive information processing demands. Approaches that allow a computational system to reflect on its own capabilities and performance and to use such reflection to improve performance and solve more difficult problems are of particular interest. Learning: This area seeks to develop technologies for machines that learn that are sufficient for measurable improvements of basic functionality through the accumulation of experience. Communications and Interaction Technology: This area seeks to develop technologies related to advanced interfaces between cognitive systems, legacy systems, and humans. Of special interest are capabilities that allow cognitive systems to be instructed, guided, and persuaded using natural human-oriented communications (e.g., natural language, pictures, gestures). Cognitive Architectures and Integrated Cognitive Agents: Systems that integrate the cognitive capabilities of reasoning, learning, explaining, ability to be advised, self awareness and robust coping with surprise are of interest, especially such systems that exhibit capabilities substantially beyond those achievable with conventional technology. Significant contributions to the understanding of system architectures adequate to produce functional artificial cognitive systems are also of interest. Robust Software and Hardware: This area seeks to develop novel structures and architectures for software and hardware platforms that facilitate the building and operation of robust, secure cognitive systems. New technology for innovative fault-tolerant and secure software and hardware infrastructure in the context of cognitive systems and teams of such systems is of interest. Cognitive Teams: This area seeks innovative ideas for creating and managing multi-agent systems that can achieve goals in a coordinated way. Such systems can include multiple artificial cognitive agents, humans, and non-cognitive components. Technology that facilitates successful performance of ad hoc teams or networks is of interest. Underlying Foundations: This area seeks to establish fundamental scientific and mathematical foundations for cognitive computing areas for which none exist or where those that do are inadequate. Areas of direct interest include, but are not limited to, the following: innovative ideas, concepts, and approaches to determine the most effective machine, information system, and network architectures for cognitive computing for different tasks and contexts; technologies inspired by biological systems that might provide cognitive systems with a more appropriate computing basis than conventional von Neumann platforms; scientific and technical advances in the understanding and implementation of trust relationships among autonomous cognitive systems. Additional information on these technology areas is provided in the Special Areas of Interest section of the BAA Proposer Information Pamphlet referenced below. PROGRAM SCOPE: Multiple awards are anticipated. Offerors submitting an abstract should include an estimate of costs based on the anticipated level of effort and associated costs to accomplish the work described. Abstracts and proposals will be reviewed as received and funding decisions made following each review. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state of the art. Proposals are not limited to the specific strategies listed above, and alternative visions will be considered. However, proposed research should contribute substantially towards the goals stated and include interim and final measurable milestones. Where relevant, research should result in prototype software and/or hardware demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in incremental improvement to the existing state of practice. Integrated solution sets embodying significant technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined research endeavors. Proposals may involve multiple research groups or industrial cooperation. GENERAL INFORMATION: This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) strongly advocates submission of an abstract prior to submission of a full proposal. Furthermore, responses require completion of a BAA Cover Sheet for each Abstract/Proposal prior to submission. This cover sheet can be accessing at the following URL: http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.asp?BAAid=02-21. After finalizing the BAA Cover Sheet, the proposer must print the BAA Confirmation Sheet that will automatically appear on the web page. Each proposer is responsible for printing the BAA Confirmation Sheet and attaching it to every copy. The Confirmation Sheet should be the first page of the Abstract/Proposal. If a proposer intends on submitting more than one Abstract/Proposal, a unique UserId and password should be used in creating each BAA Cover Sheet. Failure to comply with these submission procedures may result in the submission not being evaluated. NEW REQUIREMENTS/PROCEDURES: The Award Document for each proposal selected and funded will contain a mandatory requirement for submission of DARPA/IPTO Quarterly Status Reports and an Annual Project Summary Report. These reports will be submitted electronically via the DARPA/IPTO Technical-Financial Information Management System (T-FIMS), utilizing the government-furnished Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the World Wide Web (WWW). Further details may be found in the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP). ABSTRACT FORMAT: In order to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review, proposers are strongly encouraged to submit proposal abstracts, in accordance with the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), in advance of full proposals. Proposers must submit original and 4 hard copies of the abstract and 2 electronic copies (i.e., 2 separate disks) of the proposal abstract (in PDF or Microsoft Word 2000 for IBM-compatible format on a 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA 02-21, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and "Copy (Number) of 2". The abstract (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) must be submitted to DARPA/IPTO, ATTN: BAA 02-21, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, in time to reach DARPA by 12:00 NOON (EDT) Friday, April 4, 2003. PROPOSAL FORMAT: Proposers must submit an original and 4 copies of the full proposal and 2 electronic copies (i.e., 2 separate disks) of the full proposal (in PDF or Microsoft Word 2000 for IBM-compatible format on a 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA 02-21, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and "Copy (Number) of 2". BAA 02-21, Cognitive Information Processing Technology will remain open until 12:00 NOON (EDT) Friday, June 6, 2003. Thus, proposals may be submitted at any time from issuance of this BAA through Friday, June 6, 2003. Proposers should keep in mind that the likelihood of funding is reduced as fiscal year ceilings are reached. Proposers must obtain the BAA 02-21 Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, proposal abstracts, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet will be posted directly to FedBizOpps.gov and may also be obtained by fax, electronic mail, mail request to the administrative contact address given below, or at URL address http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Solicitations/index.html. Abstracts and proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This notice, in conjunction with the BAA 02-21 PIP and all references, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of this research for exclusive competition among these entities. Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a scientific review of each proposal, using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: (1) Overall Scientific and Technical Merit: The overall scientific and technical merit must be clearly identifiable and compelling. The technical concept should be clearly defined, developed and defensibly innovative. Emphasis should be placed on the technical excellence of the development and experimentation approach. (2) Innovative Technical Solution to the Problem: Proposed efforts should apply new or existing technology in an innovative way such as is advantageous to the objectives. The plan on how the offeror intends to get developed technology artifacts and information to the user community should be considered. The offeror shall specify quantitative experimental methods and metrics by which the proposed technical effort's progress shall be measured. (3) Potential Contribution and Relevance to DARPA/IPTO Mission: The offeror must clearly address how the proposed effort will meet the goals of the undertaking and how the proposed effort contributes to significant advances to the DARPA/IPTO mission. (4) Offeror's Capabilities and Related Experience: The qualifications, capabilities, and demonstrated achievements of the proposed principals and other key personnel for the primary and subcontractor organizations must be clearly shown. (5) Plans and Capability to Accomplish Technology Transition: The offeror should provide a clear explanation of how the technologies to be developed will be transitioned to capabilities for military forces. Technology transition should be a major consideration in the design of experiments, particularly considering the potential for involving potential transition organizations in the experimentation process. (6) Cost Realism: The overall estimated cost to accomplish the effort should be clearly shown as well as the substantiation of the costs for the technical complexity described. Evaluation will consider the value to Government of the research and the extent to which the proposed management plan will effectively allocate resources to achieve the capabilities proposed. Cost is considered a substantial evaluation criterion but secondary to technical excellence. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, must be received at one of the administrative addresses below by 12:00 NOON (EST) Friday, May 30, 2003; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 02-21. Proposals and proposal abstracts MUST NOT be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, proposals may be handled, for administrative purposes only, by a support contractor. This support contractor is prohibited from competition in DARPA technical research and is bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. Input on technical aspects of the proposals may be solicited by DARPA from non-Government consultants/experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. Non-Government technical consultants/experts will not have access to proposals that are labeled by their offerors as "Government Only." While non-government personnel may review proposals, contractors will not be used to conduct evaluations or analyses of any aspect of a proposal submitted under this BAA, unless one of the three conditions identified in FAR 37.203(d) applies. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: (703) 741-7804 Addressed to: DARPA/IPTO, BAA 02-21, Electronic Mail: baa02-21@darpa.mil, Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Solicitations/index.html; Mail to: DARPA/IPTO, ATTN: BAA 02-21, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714.
- Record
- SN00092563-W 20020614/020613085048 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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