SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Infospace Concept Exploration and Development
- Notice Date
- 11/6/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- 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, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-BAA-05-03-IFKA
- Description
- The purpose of this modification is to republish the original announcement, incorporating all previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This modification replaces all previous postings. This republishing also includes the following changes: (a) update the funding opportunity description, (b) change the FY 07 recommended date to 11 Dec 2006, (c) update the anticipated funding for each FY, (d) change the technical point of contact to Mr. James Hanna, (e) expand evaluation criteria 3, and (f) add ombudsman information. All other information remains the same. NAICS CODE: 541710 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 TITLE: Infospace Concept Exploration and Development FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: BAA 05-03- IFKA CFDA Number: 12.800 DATES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 05 should be submitted by 31 Mar 05; FY 06 by 01 Nov 05; FY 07 by 11 Dec 06; and FY 08 by 01 Nov 07. White papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 30 September 2009, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. See Section IV of this announcement for further details. I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION: The Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome Research Site, is soliciting white papers under this announcement for innovative technologies to support the development and operation of information management technology in accordance with AFRL Information Management technology goals. Information management (IM) is defined as a set of intentional activities to maximize the value of information to support the objectives of the enterprise. The managed information referred to a Managed Information Object (MIO) which is comprised of a payload (e.g., document, imagery, or movie clip) and metadata that characterizes the object (e.g., topic, time, and location). Much of the current research in the area of net-centric approaches aimed at addressing the technical challenges presented by System of Systems (SOS) and information interoperability is primarily focused in the area of Business to Business (B2B) exchange of services, information and/or products. Standards organizations such as the WC3 (www.w3.org) and OASIS (www.oasis-open.org) are engaged in the development of XML-based specifications that define the protocols and information exchange formats that establish the foundation for building business capabilities and their underlying commercial Web Services (WS) infrastructure implementations. The DoD is basing their Global Information Grid Enterprise Services (GIG-ES) (www.disa.mil) and Network Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) (www.disa.mil) infrastructure on these emerging standards. It is expected that NCES will provide the core services that will enable the interoperability of all DoD net-centric operations from business processes to the forward deployed warfighter. Concurrently, AFRL/IF has been conducting research in the areas of information dissemination and management approaches which have been focused uniquely on military applications and requirements. This research has lead to the development of multiple information dissemination and management infrastructures conforming to the Infospherics (www.infospherics.org) Common API. Both commercial and AFRL/IF research and development initiatives provide useful approaches to systems and information interoperability challenges. The concept of an Infosphere: "a set of managed information (MIOs), services to facilitate information gathering and dissemination, the producers and/or consumers of that information, and the managers of that information," is central to the AFRL Information Management vision. The Federation of Infospheress to address a set of mission and information requirements, provides a useful basis for interoperability regardless of underlying technology or implementation. Understanding how these concepts and technologies can be applied in the unique military operational and tactical domains is of critical importance. Further, identifying and addressing deficiencies in these technologies will be essential to achieving the DoD vision of Net-Centric Operations (NCO). This solicitation is divided into three (3) technical areas focused on how to construct, share and federate information. White papers are expected to address a technical area but may address solutions that respond to requirements across the technical areas as well. All white papers should address solutions based on the development of non-proprietary, modular components (including the delivery of source code) that will be capable of being integrated into existing or emerging IM infrastructures. Area (1): Dynamic Node Discovery-Fundamental to supporting a "from the ground up" automatic formation of a Infoshere, is the discovery and configuration of the underlying communications and networking nodes. This technical area is focused on developing methods and approaches to address this requirement, specifically focusing on an airborne network environment. A set of Internet Protocol based interfaces are required to allow services operating at the application (middleware) layer to discover and interact with each other regardless of the underlying communication waveforms and must support both connection oriented and connectionless services. A critical aspect of this research will be the specification and implementation of an API that enables observation and control to flow between the network layer and the application (middleware) layer. The software application (middleware) will use these common interfaces to facilitate the creation and maintenance of dynamically evolving information management infrastructures. The realization of this new capability will potentially require enhancements and/or modifications to lower layer protocols. Minimizing the impact of these enhancements and/or modifications on existing standards and systems is crucial. Successful white papers in this technical area will provide a flexible and standardized interface design consisting of non-proprietary, modular components (including the delivery of source code) capable of being integrated into existing or emerging IM infrastructures. The technical issues listed below identify specific concerns, but should not be used to limit or constrain innovative ideas: (a) Methods for node discovery generalized across a variety of communications systems, and differing physical and link layer configurations. (b) Methods to deal with reliability issues in the airborne network environment (c) Methods to handle network disruptions (d) Methods to address Tactical Data Links, and other non-IP based environments Area (2): Infosphere Discovery and Bootstrap-This technical area is focused on the need for rigorous processes and procedures that are necessary to dynamically discover, create, and maintain a shared information space in a dynamically changing airborne tactical environment. Information management capabilities across this environment will necessarily be decentralized. Components of the IM infrastructure, as well as the decentralized infospheres themselves will need the ability to discover and bind to each other. Information producing clients, (e.g. sensor platforms, FBCB2 entities, etc.) and information consumers, (e.g. TACP, SOF, Strike Assets, etc.) will need to discover and bind to an existing infosphere to facilitate mission information sharing requirements. Information management infrastructures (including clients) in this environment will need to rapidly adapt to changing network topologies and intermittent connectivity while maintaining the functional effectiveness. Successful white papers in this technical area will provide non-proprietary, modular components (including the delivery of source code) capable of being integrated into existing or emerging IM infrastructures. The technical issues listed below identify specific concerns, but should not be used to limit or constrain innovative ideas: (a) Methods and approaches for dynamic infosphere instantiation, initialization, and self-identification (b) Methods for dynamic infospheres to initialize in pre-defined configurations based on operational and/or functional requirements (c) Methods for instantiating with initial information sets (d) Methods for automatic discovery and association with infospheres for either clients interactions or federate participation. Area (3): Infosphere Federation. This topic area seeks the development of information management technology to support the federation of information across multiple infospheres. The idea of a single, universal information space is unlikely to be achieved in any complex military or commercial endeavor. Wherever it is necessary to have multiple information spaces, it is anticipated that clients will need to acquire information across the infospheres. Therefore the spaces themselves need to connect to create a federation that allows one information space to be 'extended' by the contents of the other. These infospheres will be organized and based on multiple factors such as geographic regions, functional requirements, organizational boundaries, and network topology/infrastructure. The necessary modes of interaction will require higher-level services where service agreements between the infospheres manage the interactions in a seamless and efficient manner. These information services connect information spaces together for the purpose of providing a 'single virtual' information space. The federation interfaces to the information space encompass trust management, confidentiality, integrity management, policy mediation, content filtering, information replication and pass-through processing. Successful white papers in this technical area will provide non-proprietary, modular components (including the delivery of source code) capable of being integrated into existing or emerging IM infrastructures. The technical issues listed below identify specific concerns, but should not be used to limit or constrain innovative ideas: (a) Methods for performing information discovery across infospheres without prior knowledge of the existence of that information (b) Methods for seamless information sharing across information boundaries to satisfy both client demand and information management efficiencies. (c) Distributed trust mechanisms between infospheres (d) Role and policy mappings for discretionary and mandatory access (e) Information service agreements that enable the specification of: a. QoS requirements b. Information sharing obligations c. Enforcement of obligations across infospheres (f) Mediation of inconsistent data standards (g) Methods for managing the lifecycle of the federation, addressing formation, dynamic adaptation, and dissolution. II. AWARD INFORMATION: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $15M. Principal funding of this BAA and the anticipated award of contracts will start approximately the third quarter of FY 05. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 05-$0.7M; FY 06-$4M; FY 07-$2M; FY 08-$4M; and FY09-$4M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 18 months with dollar amounts ranging between $200,000 to $300,000 per year. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions depending upon the nature of the work proposed. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: 1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential applicants are eligible. Foreign allied participation at the prime contractor level is allowed of the following countries: France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom. 2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement. IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION: 1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITATING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. 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. For additional information, a copy of the AFRL/Rome Research Sites "Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): A Guide for Industry," Aug 2005, may be accessed at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/bp-guide.doc. 2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit 3 copies of a 3 to 5 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: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Cost of Task, Name of Company; Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, a fax number, and an e-mail address with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph five of this section. 3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 05 should be submitted by 31 Mar 05; FY 06 by 01 Nov 05; FY 07 by 11 Dec 06; and FY 08 by 01 Nov 07. White papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 30 September 2009, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. Submission of white papers will be regulated in accordance with FAR 15.208. 4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: 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. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY, are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS). 5. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: James Hanna, Rome Research Site/IFSE, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505. Respondents are required to provide their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number with their submittal and reference BAA 05-03-IFKA. Electronic submission to James.Hanna@rl.af.mil will also be accepted. Please include the text "BAA-05-03" in the subject line. V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION: 1. CRITERIA: The following criteria 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, which are listed in descending order of importance: (1) Overall Scientific and Technical Merit -- Including the approach for the development and/or enhancement 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, the relative maturity of the proposed technology in terms of reliability and robustness, extent of a modular non-proprietary component approach and (4) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any). Also, consideration will be given to past and present performance on recent Government contracts, and the capacity and capability to achieve the objectives of this BAA. No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received. Cost sharing will not be considered in the evaluation. 2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will review 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, or 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. VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION: 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. 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 proposal submission. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS: Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror 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 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. Data subject to export control constraints may be involved and only firms holding certification under the US/Canada Joint Certification Program (JCP) (www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp) are allowed access to such data. 3. REPORTING: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offeror's will be required to submit their reporting requirement through one of our web-based, reporting systems known as JIFFY or TFIMS. Prior to award, the offeror will be notified which reporting system they are to use, and will be given complete instructions regarding its use. VII. AGENCY CONTACTS: Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below: Mr. James P. Hanna Telephone: (315) 330-3473 Email: James.Hanna@rl.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below: Lori Smith Telephone: (315) 330-1955 Email: Lori.Smith@rl.af.mil The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition. In accordance with AFFARS 5315.90, 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 (Aug 2005) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows: Amy Smith AFRL/PK Building 15, Room 225 1864 Fourth Street Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7132 (937) 255-3079 All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.
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