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COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 30,1996 PSA#1670Directorate of Contracting, Attn: ATZS-DKO-I, P.O. Box 12748, Fort
Huachuca, AZ 85670-2748 A -- ADVANCED FORENSIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM POC Program Manager, Dean
Fetteroff, (703) 640-1445; Contracting Officer, Patricia Woznick;
Contract Specialist, Marilyn Carney, (520) 533-1064. Broad Agency
Announcement 96-05, for Innovative Research and Development Projects in
the Advanced Forensic Development Program (AFDP). The Counterdrug
Technology Assessment Center (CTAC) of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) Laboratory is soliciting white papers for
innovative research and development projects in the advanced forensic
development program (AFDP). CTAC is the central drug enforcement
research and development organization of the United States Government.
The intent of the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to identify
technologies to provide near and mid term solutions to enhance the
forensic capabilities of Federal, State, and local Law Enforcement
Agencies (LEA) in drug cases. The FBI Laboratory, the world leader in
forensic research and applications, is participating with CTAC to
provide this capability to the forensic community. In the United
States, a high percentage of all criminal cases involve the sale,
distribution or abuse of illegal drugs. The vast majority of forensic
laboratories have been established to provide forensic analysis of
evidentiary material. Therefore, little coordinated, prioritized, and
budgeted effort is spent on research and development. The goal of this
research and development (R&D) is to employ innovative technological
approaches to provide counterdrug enforcement and drug demand reduction
agencies with increased forensic capabilities toward the presentation
of reliable scientific evidence in courts of law under existing
operational constraints. Projects addressing collaborative partnerships
between forensic laboratories, universities, research institutes or
commercial firms are preferred. The BAA is focused on nine major
forensic disciplines: (1) Chemistry: Projects in this area should
include improved analytical methods for the positive identification,
quantitation, and characterization of illicit drug materials. (2)
Portable Instrumentation: This area will develop new non-destructive
inspection technologies applicable to crime scene investigations and
investigative support for the detection of trace physical evidence of
illegal drug materials on surfaces, or hidden in conveyances and false
compartments such as walls. Projects may also include substantive
improvements to existing inspection devices, intelligent prescreening
techniques, signal processing algorithms for detection enhancement, and
the fusing of multiple type sensors. (3) Biological and DNA: projects
to be considered in this area would apply technologies to be determined
of source country or species identification of coca, poppy, or
marijuana plant material through DNA analysis. (4) Toxicology: Projects
to be considered should include technologies to improve the speed,
sensitivity, selectivity, size cost and simplicity of current screening
and confirmation procedures for the detection of illegal drugs and
their metabolites in biological fluids and tissues. (5)
Firearms/Toolmarks: (a) Projects to be considered favorably would
develop technological solutions and applications to an interactive and
automated database for comparison, correlation, identification, and
matching of firearms, cartridge cases, and bullets to suspects and
weapons in drug and violent crimes. (b) Other projects to be considered
include a measurement system for 3-D surface mapping and comparison of
recovered bullets with test firings from suspected weapons. (6)
Computers and Computational Research: Projects to be considered should
include methods for the analysis of computer data and networks for
patterns of criminal activity and the recovery and presentation of
erased, encrypted and compressed data. An additional project to be
considered would be to establish and or maintain a secure dial up
E-Mail server for forensic laboratories. Computer aided presentation or
complex evidence is desirable. (7) Document Examination: Projects to be
favorably considered should include interactive neural networks and
expert systems for handwriting (signature) comparison and the automated
comparison of shoeprint, tiretread, watermarks and markings on drug
packages. (8) Photographic and Video Techniques: Projects to be
considered should include advanced spectroscopic video imaging
techniques, video and audio noise suppression, subtraction and
enhancement and videographic presentation of evidentiary material. (9)
Fingerprint technology: Projects to be considered should include
latent fingerprint visualization on plastic materials and tapes used
for drug packaging and the study of the spectroscopic properties and
imaging of natural fingerprint residues. White papers may be submitted
any time prior to the closing date of 9/30/97 to the Technical Agent
listed below. Submission procedures are as follow: Ten (10) copies of
all white papers shall be submitted and must reference BAA #96-05.
White papers must be UNCLASSIFIED. White papers must be limited to 10
pages (including figures, charts, and tables) on single-sided,
double-spaced pages; font shall not be smaller than 12 point; 1''
margins left/right/top/bottom. White papers shall contain a rough order
of magnitude cost estimate. White papers must clearly indicate the
forensic discipline being addressed in order to facilitate Government
evaluation. White papers will not be returned. Telephone inquiries
concerning the status of white papers will not be entertained.
Following evaluation of the white papers, the Contracting Officer
reserves the right to request a full proposal from any, all, part of,
or none of the white papers. In the event a white paper is considered
favorably, the offeror will be invited to submit a proposal within 45
calendar days of notification by the Contracting Officer. Such
notification will confirm that the offeror's white paper addresses
areas of interest and relevance to the AFDP and the offeror has a
reasonable chance for a competitive award based on CTAC's subsequent
evaluation of the offerors's proposal. Those offerors invited to submit
a proposal shall submit the proposal in two volumes as described below,
formatted (i.e. 8-1/2'' X 11'' pages, etc) in a manner identical to
that of the white papers described previously. Volume I shall be the
technical portion and shall include an Executive Summary, a Technical
Approach, descriptions of relevant prior work, a program plan outlining
the scope of the project, milestone charts, a facilities and equipment
description, and a management plan including a description of the
company's plans for counterdrug enforcement products, technology
products, substance abuse, and additional research applications. This
volume shall be limited to 50 pages including all figures, tables,
foldouts, and charts. All paragraphs containing proprietary information
must be clearly marked. Volume II shall contain all cost/price
information with supporting schedules in accordance with Appendix A of
the Proposer Information Pamphlet, entitled ``Standard Form 1411
(SF1411), Contract Pricing Proposal Cover Sheet''. The breakdown shall
include materials, direct labor, indirect costs and other direct costs
such as special test equipment or travel. Offerors shall provide
exhibits as necessary to substantiate the cost elements. Ten (10)
copies of each proposals shall be submitted to the technical agent
listed below and must reference subject BAA. All submissions shall be
received within 45 calendar days of their request by the agency. White
papers and all proposals will be evaluated by a Proposal Review Board
of Federal, State, and local forensic laboratory personnel. Offerors
must include a statement authorizing review of the white paper and
proposals by the Federal, State, and local forensic laboratory
personnel. Both white papers and proposals will be evaluated with
respect to the following criteria in descending order of importance:
(1) Potential contribution of the effort to a forensic laboratory's
specific mission, including relevance and contribution to the national
technology base; (2) Overall scientific and technical merit of the
proposal including (a) an understanding of the technical problem and
its application to a specific forensic discipline. The offeror shall
demonstrate a solid understanding of the issues unique to the specific
discipline being proposed; (b) the soundness of the approach. The
offeror shall present sound reasons for the selection of the
application and a reasonable schedule for program execution; (c)
probability of success. The offeror shall establish a realistic
estimate for successful insertion of the proposed project into routine
laboratory efforts; (3) The offerors capabilities, related experience,
facilities, techniques, or unique combinations of these which are
integral factors for achieving the proposed objective; (4) The
qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed principal
investigator, team member of key personnel who are critical to
achieving the proposed objectives; and (5) Realism of proposed cost.
Multiple awards by CTAC or its designated contracting agent may result
from this BAA. The number of proposals funded will depend upon the
technical merits of the proposals received and available funding. One
year to eighteen month baseline projects addressing collaborative
partnerships between forensic laboratories, universities, research
institutes or commercial firms are preferred; however, multi-year
development projects will be considered provided the offeror can
structure a baseline demonstration phase followed by phases to develop
fielded prototypes. Full cost estimates should be provided for the
baseline and any follow-on phases. The Government may negotiate the
complete effort including the phases, but will initially provide funds
only for the baseline project. Cost-plus type awards are anticipated.
Government laboratories are prohibited from direct competition. There
will be no formal Request for Proposals or other solicitation with
regard to this BAA nor does the issuance of the BAA obligate the
Government to fund any subsequently invited proposals nor pay any
proposal preparation costs. Although no portion of this announcement is
set-aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) or
Minority Institutions (MI) participation, proposals from all
responsible sources capable of satisfying the Governments needs may be
submitted and shall be considered. This notice constitutes a BAA as
authorized by FAR 6.102(d)(2)(I). This BAA will remain open through 30
September 1997. (239) Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0001 19960829\A-0001.SOL)
A - Research and Development Index Page
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