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

A -- TECHNOLOGY FOR MICRO UNATTENDED GROUND SENSORS SOL BAA 98-18 DUE 022798 POC Dr. Edward M. Carapezza, DARPA/TTO, FAX (703) 696-2204 WEB: http://www.darpa.mil, http://www.darpa.mil. E-MAIL: BAA98-18@DARPA.mil, BAA98-18@DARPA.mil. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for research, development, integration and demonstration of miniature, unattended ground sensors and related technologies. The underlying long-term objective is to support the real-time prosecution of time critical mobile targets, combat vehicles and dismounted soldiers, and to support the characterization of high value man-made structures, surface and underground facilities, with miniature, low power, cost effective, fields of unattended sensors. These miniature, unattended ground sensor systems, used singularly or internetted together, will provide a local, in-situ detection, tracking and identification capability near high value man-made facilities or at choke points in denied areas and information provided by these sensors will be fused with other longer range space, airborne, and ground sensor systems to enhance the aggregate surveillance and tracking capabilities of US forces. DARPA is seeking innovative concepts for developing and integrating technologies, in the area of miniature, unattended ground sensors, that will provide a leap ahead capability for future DoD operations. PROGRAM SCOPE: The goals of the Micro Unattended Ground Sensor program are to demonstrate advanced sensors systems, including sensor delivery, emplacement, and attachment systems, that will provide a significant unattended tactical sensing capability to detect, track, and classify time critical mobile targets and to characterize man-made structures, including the type of machinery utilized and the type of activities ongoing in these structures. Of interest are miniature, low power, unattended sensor systems that will provide a significant detection, localization, and classification advantage for our ground forces over potential enemy capabilities in counter detection, counter localization, and counter classification. Sensor systems providing a significant precision targeting capability to enable timely requests for indirect fire support, including sensor systems in which surveillance and targeting information can be exfiltrated and used by airborne assets such as JSTARS and related platforms are of interest. In order to achieve the program goals, research and development will be needed in several areas, including but not limited to, low power, miniature, high performance sensors, mixed signal sensor system interfaces including analog to digital convertors, digital signal processing, communications and related internetting protocols, data fusion and track correlation, sensor pre-deployment planning, and real-time analysis and display technologies. Affordable, miniature, unattended sensor systems, useful in environments ranging from open terrain to the more restrictive urban environment, are of primary interest. For scenarios related to urban environments, sensors to facilitate the remote surveillance of both the exterior and interior of multi-story structures, in preparation for building assault operations, or indirect targeting by tactical air assets, are of interest. Other restrictive environments, such as forested, littoral, and mountainous, are also of interest. Miniature, affordable, unattended acoustic, magnetic, seismic, chemical, biological, imaging, and environmental sensor systems, that can be used singularly or internetted together, can be tailored for optimum use in the open and restrictive environments described above, can be packaged into low power configurations and can be hand emplaced, delivered by ballistic projectiles such as 40mm, mortar, artillery rounds, by missile systems (such as Multiple Launch Rocket System, MLRS, or Army Tactical Missile System, ATACMS), by tactical aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, and unmanned ground vehicles, are of interest. Operational utility models, studies, and simulations relating various configurations of unattended sensors to longer range space, airborne, and ground surveillance assets, are also of interest. Configurations of interest include very small fields of high performance sensor nodes (from 1 to 3 nodes), larger fields of less capable, very low cost, micro unattended ground sensors (greater than 3 nodes), and hybrid mixes of these two bounding configurations. EVALUATION CRITERIA: Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria in descending order of importance: (1) Quality and Technical Merit, (2) Contributions/Relevance to DARPA and DoD, (3) Capabilities and Experience, (4) Plans and Capabilities to Accomplish Technology Transfer, and (5) Total Cost and Cost Realism (NOTE: Cost realism will be used as an evaluation criterion only in proposals which have significantly under or over estimated the cost to complete the effort). All awards made in response to this BAA will be subject to availability of government funds. Evaluations and selection or non-selection of proposals for funding will be made on the basis of the evaluation criteria listed and the overall balance considered most advantageous to the DARPA Tactical Sensor Program. GENERAL INFORMATION: DARPA has budgeted approximately $2.0 million for FY 1998, $4.0 million for FY99 and $4.0M for FY00. Multiple awards typically of 12-36 month duration are anticipated. Offerors should prepare proposals with a baseline period of performance of 12 months and with one or two options each with a 12 month period of performance, and with anticipated contract award dates in June 1998. This BAA will remain open for 6 months from the date of publication. The proposals are due on or before 4:00 PM (EST), February 27, 1998, in order to be considered for FY98 funding. Offerors must submit an original and six (6) copies of proposals to the administrative address for this BAA. It is the policy of DARPA to treat all proposals as competitive information and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Nondisclosure notices notwithstanding, proposals may be handled for administrative purposes by employees of two support contractors, System Planning Corporation (SPC) and Science Applications International Corporation(SAIC). Selections under this BAA will be made only by Government evaluators. This CBD notice, in conjunction with the pamphlet BAA98-18 Proposer Information Package (PIP), constitutes the Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). Addresses for obtaining the PIP are provided at the end of this notice. A formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement will not be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. The Government reserves the right to select for award any, all, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. In addition, the Government reserves the right to award either contracts, grants, or other instruments determined to be of benefit to the government in achieving the goals of this program. Awards are subject to the provisions of the FAR Subpart 9.5, Organizational Conflict of Interest. All offerors and proposed subcontractors must affirmatively state whether they are supporting any DARPA technical office(s) through an active contract orsubcontract. All affirmations must state which office(s) the offeror supports, and identify the prime contract number. Affirmation shall be furnished at the time of proposal submission. All facts relevant to the existence or potential existence of organizational conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in the FAR 9.501, must be disclosed. The disclosure shall include a description of the action the offeror has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid, neutralize or mitigate such conflict. This BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any pre-proposal or proposal preparation costs. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit proposals which will be evaluated. 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 research in miniature, unattended ground sensors. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION: Offerors are required to obtain a pamphlet, BAA 98-18 Proposer Information Package (PIP). The PIP provides further information on proposal format, the submission process, evaluation and funding processes, and other general information. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. Facsimile transmissions or electronic media transmissions of the proposal will not be accepted, any so sent will be disregarded. All requests for the PIP, administrative correspondence, or questions on this BAA should be directed to one of the administrative addresses below. DARPA prefers e-mail or fax. Telephone inquiries are strongly discouraged. The administrative addresses for this BAA and associated PIP are: Electronic Mail: BAA98-18@DARPA.mil, FAX: SAIC: 703-841-4762 (Addressed to: DARPA/TTO, BAA 98-18, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714). The PIP may also be obtained by accessing the World Wide Web at URL address (http://www.darpa.mil) and downloading the information for storage and/or printing. (0027)

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