MODIFICATION
A -- Cognitive Information Processing Technology
- Notice Date
- 11/20/2002
- Notice Type
- Modification
- 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
- 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
- This modification extends the following submission deadlines and makes the other changes for BAA 02-21: Abstracts - 12:00 Noon (ET), Monday, April 5, 2004; Administrative correspondence and questions - 12:00 Noon (ET), Monday, May 31, 2004; Proposals - 12:00 Noon (ET), Monday, June 7, 2004; and Proposal abstract recommendations - will attempt to review within 90 days after receipt. References in the BAA requiring the submission of an "original and 4 hard copies" are changed to read "an original and 1 hard copy." The requirement that submissions be formatted "72 characters to the line, 60 lines to the page" is deleted. Any 12-point font is acceptable. All proposals, proposal abstracts, administrative correspondence, and questions submitted in response to this solicitation must be in the English language. Submissions received in other than English shall be rejected.cument describing those procedures. As is a good human assistant, the artificial assistant should be capable of proactively accessing and using electronic information sources locally and on the Internet, for example, to prepare appropriate materials in advance of a meeting. The Assistant must be robust in the face of uncertainty, being able to successfully cope with unanticipated external and possibly disruptive events. The intent of the EPCA Focal challenge is to foster a cross-disciplinary integrated approach that significantly advances the state of the art both at the system level and in core technology. It is essential that technologies and components developed in the course of this research be general enough to lend themselves to other applications (portability to other cognitive applications) - the goal (as is the goal of the entire BAA) is to create powerful and reusable cognitive information processing technologies and techniques rather than simply to create an ad hoc assistant system that serves only as a demonstration. However, successful integration of the cognitive information processing technologies and components into a working overall system is paramount. It is anticipated that there will be multiple awards, which will be reviewed at the 12-month milestone, to include a Preliminary Design Review and demonstration for determining continuation of the technological thrust being reviewed through the next milestones. Proposals submitted in response to the EPCA Focal Challenge must specifically address milestones at the 12-, 24- and 36-month points. At the 12-month milestone, for example, the contractor might address the analysis and development of the initial domain knowledge base; the types of learning algorithms needed to learn procedures and preferences by observation; the specification of the architecture for overall reasoning, decision-making, and learning for the system; and demonstrate elementary meeting scheduling capabilities and conflict resolution, and basic entity and event extraction from email and voicemail transcripts and correlation of such entities and events with calendar entries. Continuing the example, at the 24-month milestone, the contractor might demonstrate simple advice-taking behavior; deeper integration of information across calendars, email, voicemail, etc.; simple preference-inferring behavior; rudimentary modification of information presentation based on stated or inferred user preferences, using confirmatory dialogues; and the initial interaction with other software agents and online sources. At the 36-month milestone, to complete the example, the contractor might demonstrate natural language dialogue-based interaction; proactive information-seeking and preparation of appropriate materials in advance of events needing them (e.g., meetings); general reflective problem-solving to cope with unforeseen events and constraints; and more sophisticated interface behavior around modifications based on inference (e.g., non-annoyance of the user). The establishment of milestones, while at the discretion of the proposer, should clearly provide demonstrable results of the research and integration cumulatively achieved by the team at the milestone described. Proposals must discuss the use of phase or option years, to include fully defining the meaning of phase or option years. Base and phase or option years must be fully priced, to the extent possible. Deliverables, milestones, and demonstrations must be included and clearly defined with links to the Statement of Work. Proposers must propose a multi-organizational but integrated team comprising a Lead System Integration (LSI) function and a set of Technology Focus Centers (TFC's). The LSI function will have overall project management responsibility, to include chief architect and interface control functions, system integration of concepts from the TFC's, and concept validation and evaluation processes. Technology Focus Centers themselves should be multi-organizational, and must reflect a broad and deep representation from the technical community with unique and enabling capabilities for each major technical sub-area of this Focal Challenge; they should participate in the design of all versions of the Assistant system built by the Lead System Integrator, recommend technology elements to the Lead System Integrator, and develop technology elements for all iterations of the architecture and technology concepts for all systems envisioned by the proposal. All proposals must address the inclusion and use of a Technology Transition Committee, comprising DARPA representatives and LSI and TFC representatives. Submitted proposals must clearly discuss the offeror's planned approach to the sharing of information and responsibilities within each Technology Focus Center and between Technology Focus Centers and Lead System Integrators. The proposal must specifically address the proposer and team members' Intellectual Property rights, Government rights to Intellectual Property resulting from the research, and the methods to be used to meaningfully exchange possibly proprietary information among the awardees at the Lead System Integrator level and within the various LSI Integrator and TFC teams. The proposer must specifically address the use of human subjects, if any, at any point during the life of the project. If human subjects are not to be used, a statement of that fact must be included. If human subjects are to be used at any time in the project, the proposer must meet all requirements of Title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 46 Protection of Human Subjects, effective 13 December 2001, Department of Health and Human Services. The Common Rule (Federal Policy) for the Protection of Human Subjects (56 FR 28003) may also be found at 32 CFR Part 219, Department of Defense. If human subjects are to be used at any time during the project, the proposal must include Industrial Review Board (IRB) approval for the use of human subjects, or a plan for obtaining IRB approval for the use of human subjects prior to the use of the human subjects. Although proposals identified for funding under this Focal Challenge may result in a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and other factors, the Government anticipates awarding only contracts in order to maintain the desired level of control over this research. GENERAL INFORMATION: For those proposals submitted directly in response to this modification to BAA 02-21, Focal Challenge: Enduring, Personalized, Cognitive Assistant, a submission date of 12:00 NOON (ET), 19 December 2002 is established for consideration during the initial evaluation phase. Proposal cover sheets, as described in the basic BAA and Proposer's Information Pamphlet, should indicate the EPCA Focal Challenge as the BAA technology area for which the proposal is submitted. Proposals should be submitted to the addresses contained in the basic BAA. The 19 December 2002 submission date applies only to proposals submitted in response to the Focal Challenge. Due to the extremely short submission time, no abstracts responding to the Focal Challenge are required or will be accepted. All other submission requirements, formatting requirements, and reporting requirements remain the same as found in the initial solicitation describing the BAA. Offerors are still encouraged to submit other proposals addressing the issues in the basic BAA and to periodically check the Federal Business Opportunities and the IPTO Solicitation web page for possible new Focal Challenges and other modifications. The full proposal (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) in response to this Focal Challenge must be submitted in time to reach DARPA by 12:00 noon (ET) Thursday, December 19, 2002, in order to be considered during the initial evaluation phase. However, BAA 02-21 will remain open until 12:00 noon (ET) Friday, June 6, 2003. Thus, proposals for this Focal Challenge may be submitted at any time from issuance of this BAA amendment through Friday, June 6, 2003. While the proposals submitted after the Thursday, December 19, 2002, deadline will be evaluated by the Government, proposers should keep in mind that the likelihood of funding such proposals is significantly less than for those proposals submitted in connection with the initial evaluation and award schedule for this Focal Challenge. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (20-NOV-2002). IT ACTUALLY APPEARED OR REAPPEARED ON THE FEDBIZOPPS SYSTEM ON 12-NOV-2003. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
- Web Link
-
Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/BAA02-21/listing.html)
- Record
- SN00468451-F 20031114/031112212912 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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