Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- DYNAMIC DATABASE SOL SOL BAA 97-45 DUE 121597 POC Major Thomas J. Burns, USAF, fax (703) 696-2203 DYNAMIC DATABASE, SOL BAA #97-45, POC: Major Thomas J. Burns, USAF, Program Manager, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Information Systems Office (ISO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22203-1714. Facsimile: (703) 696-2203, E-mail: tjburns@darpa.mil (e-mail contact preferred). Contractual point of contact: DARPA, Contracts Management Office (CMO), Attn: Alan Frederick, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. Facsimile: (703) 696-2208; E-mail: afrederick@darpa.mil (e-mail contact preferred). DARPA is soliciting proposal abstracts and proposals (technical and cost) from individual companies, and from consortia of companies, for research and new technology related to the development of a Dynamic Database. As the number of sensors, platforms, exploitation sites, and command and control nodes continues to grow in response to Joint Vision 2010 information dominance requirements, Commanders and analysts increasingly require the ability to rapidly sift through massivevolumes of sensor data over wide areas to assess both friendly and enemy situations. Complicating this problem is the fact that current military situation assessment systems exploit only a fraction of all available multi-sensor data, and are unable to maintain a spatio-temporal history of the battlespace suitable for detecting tactically significant patterns and events. Additionally, today's situation estimates are produced by disjoint, labor-intensive systems that react slowly and asynchronously to rapidly changing terrain, environment, and operational conditions. The challenge of the Dynamic Database (DDB) program is to continuously update an integrated, multi-level picture of the dynamic battlespace by effectively converting immense quantities of multi-sensor data into tactically significant information. This challenge will be met by designing, building, and demonstrating a battlespace awareness information system that (1) efficiently stores essential battlespace information and provides ready access to battlespace sensor observations collected over time, (2) uses the resulting sensor history to identify and focus users attention on tactically significant battlespace events, and (3) shares and synchronizes local situation estimates across the distributed battlespace. Dynamic Database contents will be maintained and shared through a Dynamic Situation Model (DSM) that integrates geo-registered sensor history data with terrain, environmental, and force information to yield a logically consistent, multi-level view of the battlespace. Single and multi-sensor data fusion approaches will be developed that efficiently populate and update the DSM by filtering tactically significant changes from the Dynamic Database sensor history. This objective includes the development of theory and techniques for incorporating mission and situation context into low-level processing algorithms, and advanced phenomenology models for translating expected conditions and behaviors into multi-sensor observables. Significant situation changes will be shared and synchronized throughout the battlespace within a scaleable DDB enterprise of distributed DDB nodes, computing applications, processors, and information repositories. Database technologies are desired that efficiently manage tera-object quantities of heterogeneous, time-sensitive information distributed across multiple sites and information repositories. DDB enterprise technologies will be developed to monitor database conditions for change, trigger external processes when conditions meet posted criteria, propagate changes across DSM nodes, and support queries and searches of distributed databases. Databases are also desired that efficiently manage tera-object quantities of heterogeneous, time-sensitive information distributed across multiple sites and information repositories. The DDB system will be developed by an associated team of technology developers led by a system integrator under a distributed, collaborative development strategy. The following six technology categories will be addressed under this BAA: System Design and Technology Integration; Single Sensor Processing; Multi-sensor Fusion; Dynamic Situation Modeling; Database Development; and Focused DDB Research. Proposal abstracts are due 3 November 1997, 1500 hours Eastern Standard Time to the contractual POC listed above. Offerors are strongly advised to submit proposal abstracts for a review process. DARPA will review the proposal abstracts and respond in writing to the abstract authors, to include comments on the likelihood that the full proposal will be selected. Exact formats and procedures for the proposal abstract and proposal submission are included in the Proposers Information Package (PIP). Discouraging or negative responses from DARPA shall not preclude an offeror from submitting a proposal, and if such a proposal is submitted, it shall be evaluated. Full technical and cost proposals in response to this BAA must be submitted to DARPA at the address herein, Attn: Mail Room, Re: BAA97-45 Dynamic Database (T. Burns) not later than 1500 hours Eastern Standard Time on 15 December 1997. After review of the proposals, DARPA is intending to make awards starting on or about the second Quarter of government Fiscal Year 1998. All proposed approaches should include a description of the proposed technique, an assessment of the current state of the art in the proposed area, and plans to design, build and evaluate the proposed approach. All proposed developments must include metric evaluations to measure system and subsystem performance against explicitly stated goals. The anticipated basic period of performance for all areas is estimated at 18 months, starting on or about the second quarter of government Fiscal Year 1998, followed by three one-year options. Multiple awards are anticipated as a result of this BAA. DARPA intends to use staff of SAIC, Arlington, VA, in support of processing and evaluating proposals it receives in response to this BAA. SAIC personnel are restricted by the contract through which these services are provided from disclosing any proposal information for any purpose other than to support source selection administration and evaluation. Further, relevant SAIC personnel are required to sign Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) and Non-Disclosure agreements. By the submission of its proposal, an offeror agrees that its proposal maybe disclosed to relevant SAIC personnel for the limited purpose of supporting source selection and evaluation. Alternatively, all information which an offeror does not wish released to these SAIC personnel must be clearly marked and segregated from the rest of the offeror s submission. The PIP provides important information on the following subject areas: program rationale and technical goals for each subject area, program schedule and estimated costs for each subject area, proposal abstract preparation and submission, proposal preparation and submission, award criteria, the submission of questions via electronic mail, and other important information. Technical and contractual questions should be directed to baa97-45@darpa.mil and will be answered through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file. Offerors should request or obtain a PIP in one of the following ways (electronic retrieval is encouraged): Documents will be available at the DARPA World Wide Web Site: http://www.darpa.mil/baa/, in the Information Systems Office section, one working day after the CBD publication. (b) Electronic mail: The electronic mail auto-responder is case sensitive. Use lower case only. Send an electronic mail to baa-info@DARPA.mil with no subject. Within the BODY of the message, enter: info baa97-45<carriage return>. Detailed instructions on obtaining the PIP and other files related to BAA 97-45 will be automatically mailed back to you. The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on the following Source Selection Criteria. These criteria are listed in priority order. 1. The quality of offeror s technical solution shall be evaluated against the following sub-criteria (listed in priority order): (A1) The soundness of the proposed technical approach, including proposed technology and system evaluation methods; (A2) The innovation of the proposed technical approach; (A3) The offeror s understanding of the problem scope and corresponding resource requirements. 2. The qualifications of the offeror to perform the work shall be evaluated against the following criteria (equal priorities): (B1) The quality and quantity of proposed technical personnel and their availability for the duration of the contract; (B2) The offeror s experience with relevant efforts (e.g., the System Design and Technology Integrator s experience leading distributed, collaborative, associate contractor design teams and integrating multi-disciplinary technologies). 3. The quality and clarity of the offeror s Statement of Work (SOW) and program plan, including the realism of the proposed cost. No other evaluation criteria will be used. DARPA, or an alternative procurement agent(s), reserves the right under this BAA to award contracts, grants, or agreements, be they cooperative agreements, or other transaction agreements under the authority 10 USC 2371. An offeror should state its preference for a particular award instrument, and develop its cost proposal accordingly. Offerors, and consortia of offerors, who wish to utilize the authority of 10 USC 2371 should direct their queries, questions and concerns to baa97-45@darpa.mil. These queries, etc., will be referred to the Contractual POC identified herein. The provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at 9.5 (Organizational Conflict of Interest) apply to all contracts awarded under this BAA. Accordingly, a potential contractor organization is cautioned to review its contract and subcontract history, before incurring substantial proposal preparation expense, to determine whether or not in its judgment a real or potential conflict of interest does or might exist that will prevent the contracting officer from considering its proposal or making an award under this BAA. Questionable circumstances or situations should be addressed to the Contracting Officer for resolution and decision as soon as possible. Offerors are also cautioned that the absence of any communication between offerors and the Contracting Officer on these matters (real or potential conflict of interests) shall not preclude the Contracting Officer from conducting his or her own research and analysis, arriving at his or her own determination of a conflict of interest. The government shall not be liable for cost of proposal preparation and submission. This BAA is unrestricted. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement and the PIP. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published. No portion of the BAA will be set aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) or minority institutions (MI) participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of research for exclusive competition among the entities. Prospective HBCU and MI developers are encouraged to team with other proposers. This BAA shall remain open from the date of its publication in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) through and including Monday, 15 December 1997. (0251)

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