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

A -- SURVIVABILITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOL BAA 98-04 DUE 012097 POC Ms. Teresa F. Lunt, DARPA/ITO, Fax: (703) 522-7161 SURVIVABILITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOL BAA 98-04 DUE 1/20/98 POC Ms. Teresa F. Lunt, DARPA/ITO, FAX: (703) 522-7161 The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing technology to address the survivability needs of critical infrastructure systems. Systems for power generation and distribution, telecommunications, banking, transportation control, and defense are just a few of those that depend critically on computing and telecommunication technologies. DARPA is developing technologies for use in building hardened information systems and networks that have strong barriers to attack, can detect malicious and suspicious activity, can isolate and repel such activity where possible, and can guarantee minimum essential continued operation of critical system functions in the face of concerted information attacks. In particular, DARPA is developing: (a) Technology to enable the credible detection of intrusions and suspicious events, allow shared infrastructure elements (such as firewalls) to react to detected events, and permit systems damaged by attacks to redirect resources to the most important tasks and to reconfigure in a way that is not susceptible to the original attack; (b) Strong barriers against attacks that would disrupt or compromise the network, and techniques for inserting protective mechanisms into current and new network technologies; (c) Wrapper technology that allows easy insertion of barriers to attack into legacy systems, and technology that enables the assessment of the security and survivability of such strengthened systems; and (d) Systems that are easily and automatically reconfigurable and can be specialized for the current threat environment. DARPA solicits proposals for demonstrations of its Information Survivability technologies and for ideas that represent new directions for Information Survivability. Proposals are sought in each of the following technical topic areas: (1) Demonstrations, testbeds, and test applications of the technologies already developed or underdevelopment in the Information Survivability program; (2) Practical system assurance measures, such as red team evaluations of the demonstrations; and (3) Novel technologies in new areas that hold potentially high impact for information survivability. PROGRAM SCOPE: Proposals will be considered in each of the above technical topic areas. Proposed research should investigate innovative, scalable approaches that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state of the art. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in incremental improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or hardware solution. Proposals may range from small scale efforts that are primarily theoretical in nature to medium scale experimental and prototyping efforts of hardware and/or software. Proposals may involve other research groups or industrial cooperation and cost sharing. Collaborative efforts and teaming are encouraged. Base proposals for individual efforts should be for one year to 18 months in length; optional tasks may be included for later years. GENERAL INFORMATION: In order to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review, proposers are strongly encouraged to submit brief proposal abstracts in advance of full proposals. An original and six (6) copies of the proposal abstract must be submitted to DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 98-04, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, in time to reach DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET), Monday, December 1, 1997, to guarantee review. Upon review, DARPA will provide written feedback to offerors either encouraging or discouraging submission of full proposals. DARPA discourages the submission of classified abstracts and proposals to BAA98-04. Proposers must submit an original and six (6) copies of full proposals in time to reach DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET), Tuesday, January 20, 1998, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain a pamphlet, BAA 98-04 Proposer Information, which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, proposal abstracts, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or mail request to the administrative contact address given below, as well as at URL address http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This Commerce Business Daily notice, in conjunction with the pamphlet BAA 98-04 Proposer Information, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of this research for exclusive competition among these entities. Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a scientific review of each proposal using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: (1) overall scientific and technical merit, (2) potential contribution and relevance to DARPA mission, (3) offeror's capabilities and related experience, (4) plans and capability to accomplish technology transition, and (5) cost realism. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, must be directed to one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM, Tuesday, January 13, 1998; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 98-04. Proposals and proposal abstracts may not be submitted by fax; any so sent will be disregarded. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-7161 Addressed to: DARPA/ITO, BAA 98-04, Electronic Mail: baa98-04@darpa.mil, Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations.html, Mail: DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 98-04, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. (0295)

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