Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION TO SUPPORT A PROTOTYPE CTBT INTERNATIONAL DATA CENTER SOL BAA 95-24 POC Dr. Steven R. Bratt, ARPA/NMRO, FAX: (703) 696-2203. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Nuclear Monitoring Research Office (NMRO) seeks proposals to integrate advanced technologies within a prototype International Data Center for monitoring a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. There is particular interest in innovative adaptation and integration of technologies in the areas of automated, knowledge-based processing of hydroacoustic, infrasound, radionuclide and seismic data, automated, knowledge-based multi-source data fusion, knowledge-based interactive visualization and analysis tools, and intelligent data and information access. Program Objective and Description : The objective of the broader ARPA/NMRO Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Verification Readiness effort, to which responses to this solicitation might contribute, is to develop and demonstrate the critical monitoring technologies needed by the US for the CTBT negotiations which began in 1994, the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference which will begin in 1995, and the verification regimes established in support of these treaties. As part of this effort, ARPA has been given the responsibility to prototype and test an International Data Center (IDC) that will ultimately provide the US and other parties to the CTBT with open access to the data needed to support their verification requirements in the underground, underwater and atmospheric environments. The prototype IDC system is being developed and tested within the Center for Monitoring Research (CMR, formerly the Center for Seismic Studies) in Arlington, VA, and is based on an expansion of ARPA's Intelligent Monitoring System. The current version of the IDC has a relatively mature systems infrastructure and capability to collect, archive, process and analyze data from a global network of seismic sensors. It also has a growing capability to handle hydroacoustic, infrasound and atmospheric radionuclide data. Thus a key objective of this solicitation is to expand the capability to process data from the individual monitoring techniques and to fuse data from all techniques, and to do this in a tightly-integrated manner and within the same systems infrastructure. The prototype IDC will be the centerpiece of a UN Conference on Disarmament international seismic monitoring experiment (called GSETT-3) that will begin full-scale test operations in January 1995, and will be used for multi-lateral tests of non-seismic monitoring techniques starting in 1995. The prototype IDC will be available to an international CTBT verification organization, possibly in the 1996 - 1998 time frame, and will be available to US national CTBT verification authorities. The objective of this ARPA/NMRO procurement is to solicit proposals to integrate and test within the existing IDC infrastructure innovative support in one or more of the following six technology areas: 1. Automated signal processing and location subsystems to perform detection of signals, extraction of salient features, associate detections with events and locate events using seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound or radionuclide data. Knowledge-based technologies based on adaptive processing, pattern recognition techniques, propagation modeling algorithms (e.g., using heterogeneous earth, oceanic and atmospheric models, meteorological forecasting and backtracking, etc.), and other methods should be considered. 2. An automated, multi-sensor data fusion subsystem to associate, locate and characterize events based on the correlation of raw and parametric data across sensor types (seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide) using knowledge-based processing techniques. 3. Knowlege-based visualization tools for interactive analysis, mapping, image analysis, geographic information management and innovative display and presentation of integrated multi-sensor data and products. 4. Intelligent subsystems and services to provide or graphically present data, information, documentation, software, news and support to IDC users, based on electronic, optical and hardcopy media. 5. Knowledge acquisition and applied research to build and improve a global knowledge-base that is region and sensor specific, and which is used to drive existing and new automated and interactive systems. 6. Special activities to address other outstanding problems and technology gaps related to IDC development, CTBT verification and broader proliferation monitoring issues, including international experiment support, negotiations support, system design and analysis, modeling and simulation, performance assessments, system security, conferences and workshops, documentation, communication and sensor concepts, etc. ARPA is looking for advanced technologies that can be fully integrated within a six-month to two-year effort. Therefore, the following compatibility factors will be seriously considered for software and knowledge-base development proposals: a. Proposed efforts must be integrated, tested and demonstrated on the IDC system testbed in cooperation with the staff of the prototype IDC (at the ARPA Center for Monitoring Research in Arlington, VA), and approved by the IDC Configuration Control Board. b. Proposed efforts should be consistent with the emerging operational concept for a CTBT IDC. c. Proposed software should leverage, as much as practicable, the facilities, systems and software currently in place at the prototype IDC. d. Proposed software that automates, improves and adapts existing techniques will be favorably judged, though innovative new concepts and technologies with potential high payoff will be considered as well. e. Proposed software should be capable of applying region and context-specific knowledge, and of improving with experience based on human/computer assisted and/or machine learning techniques. f. Proposed efforts must be compatible with the software infrastructure of the IDC, including the Solaris 2.X operating system, Oracle 7.X for database management, X11R5 for graphical windowing, and ISIS 3.X for inter-process communication. Function libraries to take advantage of most of these standards are available from the IDC. g. Proposed software that runs on SPARC-class workstations is desirable, though applications requiring platforms up to high-performance computers will be considered. Submission Process Proposers should submit white papers in advance of actual proposals. This procedure is intended to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review. Five (5) copies of each white paper should be sent to: Dr. Steven R. Bratt, Code: CTBT BAA, ARPA/NMRO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203. This BAA will be open for a period of one year extending from the date of this announcement. Early submission of white papers is strongly encouraged, since evaluation and selection may be made at any time during the one-year period. Offerors will be notified of the results of the evaluation within 60 days of the time ARPA receives each white paper. The evaluation will include a recommendation regarding submittal of formal proposals. Some, all, or none of the white papers/proposals may be selected for award and funding, though it is anticipated that there will be a small number (0 - 10) awards under this procurement. Award of a grant in lieu of a contract to universities and non-profit institutions will be considered, subject to the mutual agreement of all parties. The sum total of all awards is anticipated to be in the range of $2 - 6 million over a two-year period. No portion of the BAA will be set aside for HBCU or MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of the research for exclusion competition among the entities. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, white papers and proposals may be handled, for administrative purposes only, by the support contractor Digital Systems Research. This support contractor is prohibited from competition in ARPA technical research and is bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. All white papers and proposals will be reviewed by government officials only. White papers and proposals submitted by fax will be disregarded. Evaluation Criteria: White papers and proposals will be evaluated in a technical review using the following criteria: (1) Potential contribution and relevance to the stated technology areas, and conformance with the stated compatibility factors, (2) Overall scientific and technical merit, innovation and uniqueness, and potential impact of the technical approach, (3) Plan for integrating and testing the deliverables within the prototype IDC, (4) Offeror's capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposed objectives, (5) Qualifications, capabilities and experience of proposed principal investigator, team leader or key personnel who are critical to achieving the proposal objectives, (6) Realism and reasonableness of the proposed costs and fees. White Paper Format: White papers should follow these rules: 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper with 1 inch margins in type not smaller than 12 point. The white paper length will not exceed five (5) single-spaced pages. The five page limit includes all text, figures and tables, but does not include the cover page. The cover page should include the following information: (1) BAA number (2) proposal title, and (3) point of contact to include name, mailing address, telephone number, Fax number (if available), and E-mail address (if available). White papers not conforming may be rejected. Content: Should be an overview of the proposed work as well as a summary of the associated technical and management issues while meeting evaluation criteria. The following sections are suggested guidelines for uniformity and ease of review: (A) Brief Statement of Work, (B) Brief Technical Approach that describes the proposed effort and demonstrates scientific and technical merit, innovation, uniqueness and relevancy, (C) List of key personnel, including the proposed principal investigator and team leaders, (D) Brief summary of the Cost and Schedule (by Government fiscal year). Proposal Format: Technical proposals should follow these rules: 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper with 1 inch margins in type not smaller than 12 point. The technical proposal length will not exceed 30 single-spaced pages. The 30 page limit includes a summary page (with principal investigator and institutional affiliation), proposal text, tables, figures, references, statement of work (one sentence that describes each major element of work proposed), vitae, and current and pending government contracts and proposals, but does not include the cover page. The cover page should include the following information: (1) BAA number (2) proposal title, and (3) point of contact to include name, mailing address, telephone number, Fax number (if available), and E-mail address (if available). Technical proposals not conforming may be rejected. Content: Should be a detailed description of the proposed work and the associated technical and management issues in a manner that meets the evaluation criteria. The following sections are suggested guidelines for uniformity and ease of review: (A) Summary that provides a clear description of what will be provided through the proposed effort, (B) Relevance to the ARPA mission and program objectives, (C) Technical Approach that describes the proposed effort and demonstrates scientific and technical merit, innovation, uniqueness and relevancy, (D) Transition Plan for delivering, integrating and testing the subsystems and technologies within the prototype IDC, (E) Statement of Work, (F) Capabilities of the proposing organization, including related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposed objectives, (G) Personnel, including affiliations, qualifications, capabilities and experience of proposed principal investigator, team leader and other key personnel who are critical to achieving the proposal objectives, (H) Cost and Schedule (by Government fiscal year), including time-lines, and milestones for progress reports, demonstrations and final deliverable(s). 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