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

A -- AUDIO/SPEECH PROCESSING SOL BAA 97-07-PKPX POC John Parker, Laboratory Program Manager, 315-330-4236; Joetta A. Bernhard, Contracting Officer, 315-330-2308 E-MAIL: Click here to contact the contract specialist., bernhardj@rl.af.mil. RL BAA#:97-07-PKPX, Audio/Speech Processing Rome Laboratory (RL) is soliciting white papers for research and development in audio and speech processing technology. Basic research and engineering solutions using new and innovative approaches will be sought. This BAA addresses the development of technology for in-house and advanced development programs to satisfy DoD and law enforcement requirements for (1) Message Sorting and Translation; (2) Interference Reduction; (3) Voice Countermeasures; (4) Jam-Resistant Communications; (5) Man-Machine Interface; and (6) Background Sound Identification. A description of these six areas of interest are as follows: (1) MESSAGE SORTING AND TRANSLATION -- Technology is being sought for the automatic sorting, routing and translation of messages. Robust automatic speech recognition (automatic speaker, language and event/activity) techniques and methods are sought for use in tactical (Avg. 9 dB signal-to-noise ratio, <5 seconds recognition time, minimum training time) environments. In addition, fusion of other pieces of data with speech recognition results is also of interest. Finally, papers related to voice to voice language translation are also sought. (2) INTERFERENCE REDUCTION -- Technology is being sought to reduce/remove interference from audio signals in tactical communications. The signal of interest may be either voice, Morse code or data. Interferences are undesired signals and noise. The removal process must be on-line, real time and work without human intervention. In addition, the techniques shall require minimal training and be effective in negative signal to noise ratios. (3) VOICE COUNTERMEASURES -- This area includes techniques such as voice concatenation, synthesis, and transformation. Techniques that perform with limited training data, and in noisy environments are sought. (4) JAM-RESISTANT SPEECH COMMUNICATIONS -- Of interest is the development of low bit rate speech communication algorithms for multiple bit rate jam resistant communications. Papers should address techniques below 2400 bits/second and be applicable to the tactical (noisy, preserve speaker identity) environment. (5) MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE (MMI) -- Rome Laboratory is developing MMI concepts to meet tactical audio processing requirements. These requirements are hands busy/eyes busy, and are becoming more complex as additional capabilities are added. Of interest are the development of new MMI techniques and strategies to improve efficiency and reduce errors for these applications. Since there are multiple applications and tasks, it is also of interest to understand the interrelationships between various workloads (visual, manual, oral, etc.) and input/output modalities for transportability of techniques to other tasks within the same or different domains. Of high interest is the ability to identify tasks where speech synthesis and recognition are appropriate modalities and provide a means for estimating their performance. (6) BACKGROUND SOUND IDENTIFICATION -- This technicalarea seeks new and innovative techniques to identify sounds based on features extracted from an analysis of the background noise. This technology area is also for tactical use (Avg. 9 dB Signal to Noise Ratio, <5 seconds recognition time, minimum training time). Deliverables for each area of this BAA will be technical reports, and when appropriate, demonstrations. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Offerors are required to submit three (3) copies of a five (5) to seven (7) page white paper. 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: John G. Parker, Reference RL-BAA 97-07-PKPX, Rome Laboratory/IRAA, 32 Hangar Road, Rome, NY 13441-4114. 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 submissions. Evaluation of proposals will be performed using the following criteria: (1) The Overall Scientific and/or Technical Merits of the Proposal, (2) Applications to Tactical Speech Processing, (3) Innovative Approach and/or Techniques, (4) Compatibility with RL In-House Efforts, (5) Cost Effectiveness and Consistency. No further evaluation criteria will be used to determine whether white papers submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received. Evaluation 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 in FY 98. Individual awards will not normally exceed 18 months in duration, with dollar amounts normally ranging form $100K to $1000K. Total funding for this BAA is not expected to exceed $6.2M from all sources. Foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting focal point for information if they contemplate responding. 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. The work to be performed 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. 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 to 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 Vincent 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. This BAA is open and effective until 36 months after publication of this announcement. To receive a copy of the Rome Laboratory "PRDA & BAA: A Guide for Industry"(Sep 96 REV), write to ATTN: Lucille Argenzia, Rome Laboratory/PKR, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY 13441-4514. 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 #97-07-PKPX. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. (0246)

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