Rome Laboratory, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4514

A -- TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE ENGINEERING OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS SOL BAA 96-04-PKPX POC Craig S. Anken, Program Manager, 315-330-4833; Joetta A. Bernhard, Contracting Officer, 315-330-2308. Rome Laboratory (RL) is soliciting white papers for various areas of scientific research and development to increase the capabilities required to support the Design and Engineering of Intelligent Systems. The Engineering of Intelligent systems program seeks to provide integrated access and cooperation among functionally independent intelligent systems and information bases. The goal is to enable the development of large-scale, intelligent systems by providing the technology to transform multiple independent intelligent agents, potentially consisting of heterogeneous data sources, into virtual systems capable of providing integrated support to end-user applications. There have been a number of recent technology advances, initiatives and standardization's aimed at looking beyond the basic concepts of engineering large-scale intelligent systems. These efforts should provide a solid foundation from which to leverage in order to meet the challenges of the future. Solutions to the requirements of this area require expertise that is not limited to any single organization or community (artificial intelligence, cognitive science or computer science). Expertise is required across multiple technology areas such as collaborative computing, representation languages and standards, negotiation and reasoning protocols, resource allocation techniques, intelligent active data/knowledge bases, machine learning, human-computer interaction and more. Therefore it is appropriate to distribute the total work among the varying contractor communities. It is envisioned that the primary customers for this technology will be system developers who need integration tools and architectural concepts to provide integrated decision support and information access to their end-users. Identification of specific military and commercial applications to serve as the driving force in the development process is encouraged. Deliverables will be technical reports and demonstrations. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Offerors are required to submit three (3) copies of a five (5) page or less white aper with a cover letter indicating whether the offeror is a large, small, woman-owned small, or small disadvantaged business, or Historically Black College, University, or Minority Institution. 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. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: Craig Anken, Reference BAA #96-04-PKPX, Rome Laboratory/C3CA, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505. Also send one (1) copy of the cover letter only, by First Class Mail (DO NOT SEND CLASSIFIED), to ATTN: Janis Norelli, Director of Small Business, Rome Laboratory/BC, 26 Electronic Pky, Rome NY 13441-4514. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. 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. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Complete instructions for proposal preparation will be forwarded with the invitation for proposal submission. Evaluation of proposals will be performed using the following criteria: 1) The overall scientific and technical merits of the proposal, 2) The potential contributions of the effort to the overall objectives of the RL Artificial Intelligence program and ongoing efforts, and 3) The relative cost to the benefits, including leverage of ongoing work. No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting the proposals. Criteria (1) and (2) will be used to determine whether white papers submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government. Proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received. Individual proposal evaluations will be based on acceptability or unacceptability without regard to other proposals submitted under this BAA. Options are discouraged and unpriced options will not be considered for award. Principal funding of this BAA and the anticipated award of contracts will start approximately 4th quarter of FY96. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months in duration, with dollar amounts normally ranging from $150K to $400K. A higher figure may beapplicable to teaming arrangements that highly leverage on-going work and provide complementary and synergistic benefits. Total funding for this BAA is $1.5M. Foreign allied participation at the prime contractor level is permitted. Data subject to export control constraints may be involved and only firms on the Certified Contractor Access List (CCAL) will be allowed access to such data. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this announcement is not 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 in FAR 31.205-18. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear significant concerns from offerors or potential offerors during the proposal development phase of this acquisition. Routine questions are not considered to be ''significant concerns'' and should be communicated directly to the Contracting Officer, Joetta A. Bernhard, 315/330-2308. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not be diminish the authority of the Contracting Officer or Program Manager, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements and recommendations to the appropriate Government personnel. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Mr. Vincent R. Palmiero, Chief, Policy and Management Division, at 315/330-7746. When requested, the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals or in the source selection process. An informational briefing is not planned. The cutoff date for submission of FY96 white papers is 17 Feb 96, FY97 is 20 Feb 97, FY98 is 20 Feb 98. This BAA is open and effective until 30 Apr 98. To receive a copy of the Rome Laboratory ''BAA & PRDA: A Guide for Industry'', March 1994 (Rev), write to ATTN: Lucille Argenzia, Rome Laboratory/PKR, 26 Electronic Pky, Rome NY 13441-4514, or the Guide may be accessed at http://www.rl.af.mil:8001/Lab/PK/pk.main.html . All responsible firms may submit a white paper, which shall be considered. Respondents are asked to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number with their submission and reference BAA #96-04-PKPX. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the government. (0037) Rome Laboratory, 26 Electronic Pky, Rome NY 13441-4514 (0002)

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