Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contract Management Directorate (CMD), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- SELF-HEALING MINEFIELD SOL BAA99-21 DUE 090299 POC Dr. Thomas W. Altshuler, DATPA/ATO, fax (703)465-0824 SELF-HEALING MINEFIELD, BAA 99-21, DUE 2 September 1999, Dr. Thomas W. Altshuler, DARPA/ATO: FAX (703) 465-0824; E-mail: BAA99-21@darpa.mil. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals for the development and demonstration of a Self-Healing Minefield. Currently, antitank landmines are protected by antipersonnel landmines. This is especially true for scatterable surface landmines that may be visible to the enemy. The antipersonnel landmines provide a lethal barrier to inhibit breaching of the antitank minefield by dismounted forces. Recent simulations have shown that a more effective technique is to create an unburied antitank minefield that changes the spatial distribution of the antitank landmines to fill in lanes cleared during an enemy breach attempt. A surface minefield consisting of such a reorganizing network obviates the need for antipersonnel landmines deployed within the minefield. It is envisioned that the Self-Healing Minefield consists of a distributed network of antitank landmines capable of autonomously determining the need to respond to an enemy breach and move quickly to reorganize the minefield to prevent or "heal" the breach. Thus, the antitank minefield responds to the destruction or disabling of a landmine or a group of landmines by moving nearby mines to "plug the hole." The ability to robustly perform this "healing" process is driven by the statistical response of the aggregate of mines, and not by a highly precise response of the individual mines within the minefield. As such, the "healing" process need only achieve statistical coverage of the breaching lane where the probability of encountering an antitank landmine along that lane is similar to the probability encountered in the initial minefield configuration. For that reason, complex robotics, continuous motion, fine movements, precision navigation and fault free actuation of an individual mine is unnecessary. Instead, systems based on coarse reorganization mechanisms and appropriate control and "healing" algorithms are desirable. The time required for the reorganization process must be less than the time needed for the enemy to move vehicles into a breach once that lane is established. For this program the benchmark reorganization time is 10 seconds. The goal of the Self-Healing Minefield program is to demonstrate a prototype self-organizing network of mobile landmines that could each carry explosives and fusing equivalent to today's surface laid scatterable antitank landmines. No attempt will be made within this program to develop or demonstrate using active warheads. Instead, each element of the Self-Healing Minefield will carry a dummy warhead of size and shape consistent with the currently fielded scatterable antitank landmines. Preference will be given to proposals for the development of the entire Self-Healing Minefield system that have the following system attributes: 1) Robust communication between mines employed in a self-organizing network; 2) Locomotion to move a mass of approximately 2 kilograms with a maximum dimension of 12 centimeters on a side. (This weight and size preference is chosen to represent typical characteristics of currently fielded scatterable antitank landmines.) Proposals for systems or subsystems that cannot move a 2 kilogram payload will be considered non-responsive; 3) Mine mobility that permits individual mines to move distances required to achieve sufficient complete reorganization to heal a breach, typically at least 5 meters, in less than 10 seconds. Proposals for systems that cannot achieve reorganization in this time will be considered non-responsive; 4) Algorithms that achieve reorganization of the minefield to defeat the breaching attempt and account for the statistical uncertainties of motion and for multiple reorganizations to "heal" repeated breach attempts; and, 5) Resistance to communication and mobility countermeasures. This list of attributes is not comprehensive. Simple and innovative solutions are encouraged.Exceptionally innovative proposals that address only a single subsystem will also be considered; for example movement mechanisms, reorganization algorithms, communication protocols/systems. However, total system solutions with integrated teams will be given preference. Excluded for the purpose of this solicitation are proposals for system studies and/or evaluations. Such proposals will be judged non-responsive. PROGRAM SCOPE: Awards totaling approximately $13 million for up to 3 years are expected to be made during first half of FY00. Multiple awards are anticipated. Proposals should be for no longer than 36 months. Proposals should include plans for iterative laboratory and field demonstrations (at least one per year), with a final field demonstration at a military post to be determined at a later date within the continental United States. More details can be found in the Proposer Information Packet (PIP). Cost sharing is encouraged. Proposers are encouraged to form integrated collaborative teams to better address the diverse technologies and scientific aspects of a complete Self-Healing Minefield system. PRE-PROPOSAL: Contractors having the technical and management capabilities, facilities, and experience necessary to conduct all or portions of this program are invited to submit a brief pre-proposal describing their technical approach (including supporting data), management concept, participants, relevant experience, and estimated cost and timing of the project. Submission of a pre-proposal before the proposal is strongly encouraged. DARPA will ask the bidders with the most promising pre-proposals to submit complete Technical and Cost proposals for full evaluation. The initial screening is intended to save bidders the time and expense of developing a detailed proposal that has little chance for award. DARPA intends to respond to pre-proposals within three weeks of receipt with a recommendation to propose or not propose. Regardless of the recommendation, the decision whether to submit a full proposal is the responsibility of the proposer. All full proposals will be completely reviewed regardless of the disposition of the pre-proposal. All pre-proposals are due no later than 1600 EDT Friday, 16 July 1999. Offerors should submit one original and seven copies of the pre-proposal to: DARPA/ATO, ATTN: BAA99-21/Altshuler, 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203. GENERAL INFORMATION: Proposers must obtain the pamphlet entitled "BAA99-21 Self-Healing Minefield, Proposer Information Pamphlet" that provides further information on the Self-Healing Minefield program, the submission, evaluation and funding process, proposal format, and other general information. This pamphlet may be obtained from the URL: http://www.darpa.mil/baa or by sending requests (include your name, address, telephone number, and E-mail address) by E-mail, BAA99-21@darpa.mil, by fax (703-465-0824) Attn: BAA99-21/Altshuler) or by mail (Attn: BAA99-21/Altshuler, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22203). The PIP will be sent via first-class mailto each requester. Proposals not meeting the format described in the PIP may not be reviewed. One (1) original, seven (7) single-sided, hard copies of the full proposal, and two (2) additional copies of the Executive Summary shall be submitted to DARPA/ATO, Attn: BAA99-21/Altshuler, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22203, no later than 1600 EDT, Thursday, 2 September 1999, in order to be considered. Additional information about the Self-Healing Minefield program is available at www.darpa.mil/ATO. This web site may be modified at anytime during the BAA process. PROPOSAL EVALUATION: All pre-proposals and proposals will be opened and processed for administrative and logistical purposes by Walcoff and Associates, a support contractor. All contract support personnel will have signed and have on-file with DARPA and Walcoff and Associates, the appropriate non-disclosure and conflict of interest certifications before handling proposals. Proposals will be evaluated by a review panel that may consist of bothgovernment and non-government experts. Proposers who object to having their submissions reviewed and evaluated by non-governmental personnel must indicate so by stating "For Government Review Only" on the proposal front cover. Both government and non-government personnel will have signed and have on file with DARPA and Walcoff and Associates the appropriate nondisclosure and conflict of interest certifications before reviewing proposals. All proposals will be treated with the strictest confidence. Evaluations of the proposals will be based on the following criteria in descending order of importance: (i) the scientific and technical merits of the proposed effort, including the feasibility of the approach and the relevance of the proposed goals to the DARPA program objective; (ii) the adequacy of the technical tasks proposed to reach a quality field demonstration within the time-frame of the program; (iii) the qualifications of the proposal investigators and other key research personnel, their record of past performance, and the adequacy of current and planned equipment and facilities to accomplish the research objectives; and, (iv) cost realism. Each of these criteria will be rated on a numerical scale. Proposals not receiving at least 50 percent of the points available in the criterion covering scientific and technical merit (criterion (i)), will be judged unacceptable and reviewed no further. When the proposal evaluation is completed, the offeror will be notified of selectability or non-selectability of their proposal. Selectable proposals will be considered for funding; non-selectable proposals will be destroyed. One (1) copy of non-selectable proposals may be retained for file purposes. Not all proposals deemed selectable may be funded. Decisions to fund selectable proposals will be based on funds availability, scientific and technical merit, contribution to program goals, and overall program balance. Proposals receiving a letter of selection may be considered for funding for a period of up to one year. The government reserves the right to make award selections without discussions. Technical questions regarding this BAA must be submitted in writing by e-mail (BAA 99-21@darpa.mil), by fax (703-465-0824), attn: BAA99-21/Altshuler), or by mail (Attn: BAA 99-21/Altshuler, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203). This Commerce Business Daily (CBD) notice, in conjunction with the BAA99-21 PIP, constitutes a BAA as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). No additional information is available nor will a formal Request For Proposal (RFP) or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. Selection of proposal(s) for award will be made to those offerors whose proposals are considered most advantageous to the Government. The Government reserves the right to fund selected tasks from proposals, and to select for award any, all or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. Proposals identified for funding may result in a procurement contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or "Technology Investment Agreement (TIA)", depending on the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction among parties, and other factors. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal. No portion of the BAA will be set aside for Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and Minority Institution (MI) participation due to the impracticality of reserving a discreet or severable area of research and development for exclusive competition among those entities. HBCUs and MIs are encouraged to apply and/or team with other proposers. Posted 06/14/99 (W-SN342328). (0165)

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