SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Combat zones That See (CTS)
- Notice Date
- 3/25/2003
- 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
- BAA03-15
- Archive Date
- 4/9/2004
- Point of Contact
- Scott Ulrey, Contracting Officer, Phone (703) 696-2434, Fax (703) 696-2208,
- E-Mail Address
-
sulrey@darpa.mil
- Description
- COMBAT ZONES THAT SEE (CTS), SOL BAA 03-15, DUE: 05/13/03; POC: DR. THOMAS M. STRAT, DARPA/IXO; FAX (703) 522-7161. BACKGROUND: Military Operations in Urban Terrain are fraught with danger. Urban canyons and abundant hide-sites yield standoff sensing from airborne and space-borne platforms ineffective. Short lines-of-sight neutralize much of the standoff and situation-awareness advantages currently rendered by U.S. forces. Large civilian populations and the ever-present risk of collateral damage preclude the use of overwhelming force. As a result, combat in cities has long been viewed as something to avoid. However, modern asymmetric threats seek to capitalize on these limitations by hiding in urban areas and forcing U.S. Forces to engage in cities. We can no longer avoid the need to be prepared to fight in cities. Combat zones That See will produce video understanding algorithms embedded in surveillance systems for automatically monitoring video feeds to generate, for the first time, the reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting information needed to provide close-in, continuous, always-on support for military operations in urban terrain. OBJECTIVE: Combat zones That See explores concepts, develops algorithms, and delivers systems for utilizing large numbers (1000s) of cameras to provide the close-in sensing demanded for military operations in urban terrain. Automatic video understanding will reduce the manpower needed to view and manage this monumental collection of data and reduce the bandwidth required to exfiltrate the data to manageable levels. The ability to track vehicles across extended distances is the key to providing actionable intelligence for military operations in urban terrain. Combat zones That See will advance the state-of-the art for multiple-camera video tracking to the point where expected track lengths reach city-sized distances. Trajectories and appearance information, resulting from these tracks, are the key elements to performing higher-level inference and motion pattern analysis on video-derived information. Combat zones That See will assemble the video understanding, motion pattern analysis, and sensing strategies into coherent systems suited to Urban Combat and Force Protection. PROGRAM STRUCTURE: Successful realization of the Combat zones That See objectives requires a relevant and comprehensive approach to design, architecture, research, development, integration, evaluation, demonstration, installation, and maintenance. Rather than solicit a collection of related but independent projects that need to be massaged into a coherent system, it is the intent of the government through this BAA to contract with a single integrated team that is exceptionally qualified to carry out all aspects of the CTS Program. The successful team will not only have the ability to perform exceptional research in the key technologies, but also to integrate, install, and maintain a system based on those technologies. While this BAA outlines some of the minimal capabilities that such a system should possess, it is expected that the successful Offeror will craft a solution that combines additional capabilities of the Offeror?s choosing, with those described herein, to create a demonstrable system that provides a coherent, comprehensive realization of the CTS objectives. GENERAL APPROACH: CTS will develop and deploy a multi-camera video surveillance system that combines commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies with its own research products to realize the performance goals described herein. A single CTS system integrator/development team will be chosen to design, develop, integrate, and demonstrate technologies for DARPA. Sufficient resources must be budgeted to cover all aspects of this program, to include the provision of any necessary on-site personnel to maintain the system and install upgrades in the field. The Combat zones That See Program will be developed in two stages, using a spiral process with increasing levels of complexity: Stage 1: Force Protection Configuration. An initial (largely COTS) Combat zones That See capability will be rapidly developed in the Combat zones That See system integrator?s lab and deployed to Fort Belvoir, Virginia. This deployed configuration will serve as a platform for concept development and technology integration. Close cooperation between the user and developer is envisioned in order to tailor Combat zones That See technologies for force protection applications. Extensive testing and evaluation of key technologies should take place using this testbed at Fort Belvoir. The ability to track vehicles over extended distances using fixed surveillance cameras separated by large distances is the central capability to be developed and demonstrated. Once this configuration?s technologies have been sufficiently matured, hardened, and evaluated, it will be deployed to an overseas urban location for additional user interaction and evaluation. Stage 2: Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) Configuration. The MOUT Configuration incorporates the development activities and lessons learned from the Force Protection (FP) Configuration, plus additional technology to provide a Combat zones That See configuration optimized for mobile forces in urban combat settings. Rapid deployment of a large video network is the central concept that differentiates the MOUT Configuration from the FP Configuration. Additional capabilities for analyzing the derived vehicle track data should be developed and demonstrated. Initial MOUT Configuration integration and development should occur in the Combat zones That See system integrator?s lab prior to deployment to Fort Belvoir. Once the technologies have matured and the system has been hardened and evaluated, it also will be deployed to an overseas location for additional evaluation. AWARDS: One award is anticipated for design, architecture, research, development, integration, evaluation, demonstration, installation, and maintenance of all technologies developed in the Combat zones That See program. Expected funding level is up to $4 million per year for 3 years. Non-critical path tasks that can be cleanly separated as individual modules should be proposed and costed as options. The contract will be incrementally funded by fiscal year, assuming identified milestones have been satisfactorily met. Funding in the out years is subject to satisfactory evaluation of the Go/No go criteria as well as availability of funds. Contract Mechanisms: Awards will be in the form of Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) or Cost Reimbursement (CR) contracts, Delivery Order (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity), Cooperative Agreements, or Other Transactions. Grants are not likely to be used. SELECTION CRITERIA: Proposals will be selected through a technical/scientific/business decision process with technical and scientific considerations being most important. Evaluations will be performed using the following criteria list in descending order of relative importance: (1) Quality and Technical Merit, (2) Relevance of Proposed Approach to Combat zones That See Program Goals, (3) Capabilities and Experience, (4) Offeror's Approach to Technology Transfer, and (5) Cost Realism and Value of Proposed Work to Government. Further details may be found in the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) which can be accessed at http://www.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations/cts/index.htm. GENERAL INFORMATION: As broadcast in the CTS Pre-solicitation announcement, a Briefing to Industry (BTI) is scheduled for 27 March 2003 to be held in Arlington, VA. Information on the CTS BTI may be found at URL: http://www.schafercorp-ballston.com/bti2003. Pre-registration for the CTS BTI is mandatory. The deadline for pre-registration is 20 March 2003 via WWW at http://www.schafercorp-ballston.com/bti2003. Persons not pre-registered will be turned away at meeting check-in. No persons will be registered at meeting check-in. All pertinent information and materials presented at the CTS BTI will be made publicly available at http://www.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations/cts/index.htm. Proposal abstracts ARE NOT requested in advance of full proposals. DARPA will employ an electronic upload process for proposal submissions for BAA 03-15. Performers may find guidance for proposal submission at URL: http://www.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations/cts/index.htm. Organizations must register at http://www.tfims.darpa.mil/baa to propose. Only the lead or prime organization should register. One registration per proposal should be submitted. This means that an organization wishing to submit multiple proposals should complete a single registration for each proposal. The deadline for registration is 29 April 2003 at the URL listed above. By registering, the Proposer has made no commitment to submit. Proposal Submissions must be unclassified. Offerors must be willing to cooperate and exchange software, data, and other information with other contractors if it contributes to the success of the program. This includes coordination with a contractor or integrator, chosen by DARPA, if appropriate. A statement of cooperation must be included in the final proposal. REQUIREMENTS/PROCEDURES: The Award Document for each proposal selected and funded will contain a mandatory requirement for submission of DARPA/IXO Quarterly Status Reports and an Annual Project Summary Report. These reports will be electronically submitted via the DARPA/IXO 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) which can be accessed at http://www.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations/cts/index.htm. PROPOSAL DELIVERY: Proposals must be uploaded no later than 1600 (EST), 13 May 2003 to be considered for the first round of funding. BAA 03-15 will be open until 25 March 2004. Proposals submitted under this BAA after the above referenced date will be accepted, but will not be considered for the first round of funding. Please reference http://www.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations/cts/index.htm for complete submission instructions. PROTECTION OF INFORMATION: It is the policy of DARPA to treat all proposals as competitive information and to disclose contents only for the purposes of evaluation and assessment. The Government may use selected support contractor personnel from Schafer Corporation, DynCorp Systems and Solutions LLC, SET Associates, and McNeil Technologies to assist in administrative functions only. Those contractors sign binding, non-disclosure agreements with DARPA. TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INQUIRIES: Technical, contractual, or administrative questions should be emailed to baa03-15@darpa.mil. Answers to all questions generally relevant to the technical, contractual, and administrative aspects of the solicitation will be posted on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for public access. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. All responsible sources may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit proposals and team with 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 technology for exclusive competition among these entities. Government contractors are required to register at the Government?s Central Contractor Registration site in order to negotiate contracts with most government agencies. This URL is provided as a reference: http://www.ccr.gov. Since this FedBizOpps Announcement, along with the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated in the FAR 6.102 (d)(2)(i), all prospective Offerors MUST also refer to the PIP before submitting a proposal. DARPA anticipates that initial contractor selections will be made during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2003.
- Record
- SN00287714-W 20030327/030325213927 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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