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

A -- CONTROLLED BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMIMETIC SYSTEMS SOL BAA99-31 DUE 090899 POC Dr. Alan Rudolph, DARPA/DSO, afx (703) 696-3999 CONTROLLED BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMIMETIC SYSTEMS BAA99-31. DUE DATE: 09/08/99. POC: Dr. Alan S. Rudolph, DARPA/DSO; URL http:// www.darpa.mil/DSO/solicitations. Fax (703)-696-3999. PROGRAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals in the area of Controlled Biological and Biomimetic Systems (CBBS). The CBBS program seeks to exploit the unique capabilities of living systems and explore new technical capabilities through the use of living or biomimetic platforms or devices. The ability to passively monitor, influence, or control in real-time the distribution of autonomous individuals or populations of living or biomimetic systems could result in a number of applications of interest to the Department of Defense. These include locating targets in noisy or cluttered environments with speed and precision. The success of utilizing biological or biomimetic systems for this purpose will require the ability to analyze and possibly influence complex environmental cues, recognize patterns from background noise or clutter, and employ the necessary neural and mechanical circuitry to identify, locate, and navigate toward a desired target. Efforts to utilize these unique systems may be derived through the study and exploitation of living subsystems, such as organs used for visual, chemical, auditory, or electromagnetic target identification and navigation. The fabrication of working devices or systems could require the construction of unique interfaces, tags, or materials that monitor, influence, control, and or fuse sensory or mechanical movement in living or biomimetic systems. The modeling of complex biological systems may also be useful in deriving algorithms that result in location, identification, and navigation to unique targets. The intent of the program is to demonstrate, in field conditions, the application of living or biomimetic systems that detect, locate and navigate toward targets. The program will explore the control of biological systems or subsystems as real-time animal sentinels, first warning systems or detectors for targets of interest. These systems could be used to map agent concentration and distribution in potentially contaminated air, land, and water or seek out targets of interest. These systems might also be used to access areas that are inaccessible to human search in emergency response scenarios in which information about human presence or other target information might be needed. Unique locomotory schemes and materials required to achieve this activity which allow access to inaccessible environments such as climbing or digging are also of interest. The fabrication of devices that utilize living subsystems such as tissues or organs could be considered. In these cases, stability and robustness of the living device should be addressed. Extracting and utilizing genomic information from organisms that have unique stability might be useful in this regard. Modeling complexity in biological organisms as they analyze and respond to their environment and navigate to targets could also be useful in order to predict the behavior of these systems in such applications. Construction of quantitative tests which measure the metrics of performance for these capabilities such as time to target, efficiency of target location, locomotory and sensory performance are encouraged. All aspects of the program are for defensive purposes only. GENERAL INFORMATION: Proposers should obtain the Proposal Information Package (PIP), BAA99-31 for required forms, submission format details and background on applications. This pamphlet may be requested from the World Wide Web (www) at URL http://www.darpa.mil/DSO/solicitations, or by writing, faxing and e-mailing your request to DARPA/DSO, Attn: BAA99-31, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22203-1714, fax: 703-696-3999, email baa99-31@darpa.mil. The Technical Point of Contract (POC) is Dr. Alan S. Rudolph, DARPA/DSO. In all correspondence, reference BAA99-31. Early submission of proposals is strongly encouraged. Selections for awards may be made at any time during the evaluation process. Proposals will not be returned. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, proposals may be handled, for administrative purposes only, by a support contractor. All support contractors are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. Input on technical aspects of the proposals may be solicited by DARPA from non-Government consultants/experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. Non-Government technical consultants will not have access to proposals that are labeled by the offerors as "GOVERNMENT ONLY." FULL PROPOSALS: One (1) original and nine (9) copies shall be submitted. Full proposals shall consist of two volumes: Volume 1 -- Technical and Volume 2 -- Cost. Volume 1 -- Technical, maximum of 35 pages, including the special cover sheet, all figures, references, tables, charts, and appendices; Volume 2 -- Cost, unlimited page count. The technical proposal should be phased as outlined in the PIP. Phase I, the detailed design and proof of concept phase, should not exceed twelve (12) months. The cost proposal should include a resources breakdown by phases and tasks. Details of the proposal format may be found in the PIP. All proprietary material should be clearly marked and will be held in strict confidence. Facsimile transmissions or electronic media transmissions will not be accepted. Separate attachments such as institutional brochures, reprints, disks, or videotapes will be ignored. Volume 1 -- Technical: The technical proposal shall consist of: (1) Executive Summary (two pages or less); (2) Innovative Claims that include: the novel goals and objectives of the proposal, perceived need and potential impact on the DoD and industry; the specific applications envisioned, how the application would be implemented and a projected timeframe for realization, perceived advantages of the proposed system, key challenges and how they will be addressed; (3) A list of participants and a chart showing development tasks, milestones and funding levels versus time; (4) Plan for the design, fabrication and materials and device performance demonstration phases (phases I and II) to include technical risk mitigation steps; (5) Organizational structure of the team and management approach; (6) Summary of relevant prior work; (7) Brief description of applicable facilities and equipment; and (8) Short resumes of key individuals. If subcontracting is involved, level of effort, specific roles, key individuals and qualifications should be included. Volume 2 -- Cost proposals shall contain a summary cost breakdown and a detailed cost breakdown. The summary breakdown should be shown to the level of major tasks and should indicate manpower levels of effort, equipment and supplies, travel, and miscellaneous expenses for the tasks of the entire program, broken out by performer and time. Details of the cost sharing to be undertaken by the offeror must be included in the summary section of Volume 2 of the proposal. The PIP may be retrieved via the World Wide Web at URL http://www.darpa.mil/DSO/solicitations. All proposals must be submitted to DARPA/DSO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714 (Attn.: BAA99-31) on or before 4:00 PM, EDT, September 8, 1999. Full proposals must meet the objective and format guidelines as described in the PIP to be considered. Within approximately ten (10) business days of receipt, DARPA will acknowledge receipt of the proposal and assign a control number that should be used in all further correspondence regarding the proposal. Proposals may be submitted before and may be reviewed before the final submission date. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS: Evaluation of the proposals will be based on the following criteria in decreasing order of importance: 1) The scientific and technical merits of the proposed effort which clearly demonstrates sufficient knowledge of the proposed biological or biomimetic system; an understanding of the technical challenges associated with using the system for intended application; and a clear demonstration path for operationally relevant experimentation; 2) The likelihood that the proposed system will provide unique and/or new capabilities of use to the Department of Defense and commercial industry; (3) The qualifications of the principal investigator and other key personnel, and adequacy of equipment and facilities to accomplish the proposed work and testing of the components or systems; and (4) Realism of cost. BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT: This Commerce Business Daily (CBD) notice, in conjunction with the BAA99-31 PIP, constitutes the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated by FAR 6.102 (d) (2). A formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement will not be issued. Requests for the same will be disregarded. Evaluation and selection of proposals for award will be made to those offerors whose proposal is considered most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, 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 upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and other factors. The offeror must submit a separate list of all technical data or computer software that will be furnished to the Government with other than unlimited rights (see DFARS Part 227). All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit proposals that will be evaluated if received by the closing date. Because of the technical breadth implied in this solicitation and hardware demonstration required, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation. However, these organizations are encouraged to apply and/or team with other proposers. Posted 07/12/99 (W-SN352722). (0193)

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