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

A -- FAULT TOLERANT NETWORKS SOL BAA00-01 DUE 111599 POC D. Maughan, DARPA/ITO, fax (703) 522-7161 FAULT TOLERANT NETWORKS SOL BAA00-01 DUE 11/15/99 POC Dr. Douglas Maughan, DARPA/ITO, E-mail: baa00-01@darpa.mil, FAX: (703) 522-7161. ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: NEW REQUIREMENTS/PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED, EFFECTIVE AS OF SEPTEMBER 1999. PROGRAM BACKGROUND: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing Information Assurance and Survivability (IA&S) technologies for next generation information systems and networks that will support operations envisioned in Joint Vision 2010 (JV2010). The Defense Department's Joint Vision 2010 calls for information dominance in a high-tempo, tightly integrated multi-national environment. In order to gain dominant battlespace awareness, JV2010 stresses the need for information superiority; the capabilities to collect, process, and disseminate an uninterrupted flow of information while exploiting or denying an adversary's ability to do the same. JV2010 also stresses the need for integrating and improving interoperability with allied and coalitionforces. To achieve this vision, highly effective IA&S defense strategies, architectures, and mechanisms are needed to protect our own systems and networks. DARPA seeks innovative technology approaches that are measurably effective against practical attacks. Confidence in effectiveness must be achieved through system-level arguments involving approaches such as layered complementary mechanisms that will be cost-effective and scalable within three to five years. Approaches must find means to support the advanced functionality of future networks while maintaining a high level of confidence in the protection effectiveness. The suite of programs in the DARPA Information Assurance & Survivability thrust is a closely coordinated group consisting of the following: the Strategic Intrusion Assessment (SIA) program, the Intrusion Tolerant Systems (ITS) program, the Fault Tolerant Networks (FTN) program, the Dynamic Coalitions (DC) program, the Information Assurance (IA) program, the Information Assurance Science and Engineering Tools (IASET) program, the Autonomic Information (AIA) program, and the Cyber Command and Control (CC2) program. The programs will be coordinated by focusing on joint experimentation, sharing of laboratory facilities for experimentation, annual joint principal investigator meetings, and joint monthly meetings between DARPA Program Managers and Systems Integrators (for those programs with significant integration efforts) to exchange information, enhance innovation, and reduce redundancy. The SIA, ITS, FTN, and DC programs are fundamental technology development programs while the IA, IASET, AIA, and CC2 programs are more applications and systems driven technology development programs. This solicitation is for the Fault Tolerant Networks program within the IA&S program suite. A recent solicitation, BAA 99-33, included the DC, IASET, AIA, and CC2 programs. Additional solicitations will be forthcoming for the other programs within the DARPA IA&S program suite. PROGRAM OBJECTIVE: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) computer systems and networks are constantly under attack. Such attacks make systems unusable, degrade performance, lead commanders to make poor decisions due to faulty data, leak valuable secrets, and leave behind code that could provide continuing back-door access or be activated on a predetermined event to take obstructive action. DoD systems are vulnerable due to increased interconnection and connection to the Internet. Additional vulnerabilities exist in common COTS products and can be exploited by anyone in the world to attack DoD systems. The DoD needs to develop focused technologies that support continued network operations in the presence of successful attacks, particularly addressing vulnerabilities and issues expected to arise in DoD's emerging network-centric warfare vision. The Fault Tolerant Networks program will address these needs by developing technologies to provide continuous, correct network operations even when attacks are successful. The technologies developed by this program will leverage previous work in fault tolerant systems and apply these technologies to the networks of the future. This will reduce the amount of damage sustained during an attack and allow the networks to maintain an acceptable, minimum level of functionality. These include technologies for strengthening networks by introducing fault-tolerant capabilities against possible attacks at the network level, emphasizing integrity and availability; and technologies for mitigating potential vulnerabilities associated with denial of service attacks. Additionally, technologies that address attack response mechanisms using active network technology will allow the networks of the future to assist in their own protection and be more tolerant of future attacks. This BAA solicits proposals in the following technical topic areas of the Fault Tolerant Networks program: (1) fault tolerant survivable networks, (2) denying denial of service (DOS) attacks, (3) active network response, and (4) other innovative topics related to fault tolerant and survivable networks. Further information can be found in the Proposal Information Pamphlet. PROGRAM SCOPE: The Fault Tolerant Networks (FTN) program will focus primarily on the development of new network technologies that will allow the networks of the future to be resistant to attacks and continue to provide network services. These new network technologies will be demonstrated individually and integrated together (where appropriate) to provide requisite capabilities within several challenge scenarios. DARPA anticipates that the FTN program will be a five-year program, which began as part of the Inherent Information Survivability solicitation (BAA 99-10). Proposals for this BAA should be for 24 to 36 months of base funding and may include additional options. Awards totaling up to approximately $20 million over three years are expected to be made from this BAA. Multiple awards are anticipated. Collaborative teaming and cost sharing are encouraged. Multiple BAAs are anticipated within the FTN program. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Proposals are not limited to the specific strategies listed above, and alternative visions will be considered. However, proposals should be for research that substantially contributes towards the goals stated. Research should result in prototype hardware and/or software demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or solution. Integrated solution sets embodying significant technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined research endeavors. Proposals may involve other research groups or industrial cooperation and cost sharing. GENERAL INFORMATION: THIS IS A NEWLY IMPLEMENTED REQUIREMENT EFFECTIVE AS OF SEPTEMBER 1999. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/InformationTechnology Office (DARPA/ITO) requires completion of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Cover Sheet Submission for each proposed Proposal, by accessing the URL below: http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.asp?BAAid=0001. After finalizing the BAA Cover Sheet Submission, the proposer must submit the BAA Confirmation Sheet that will automatically appear on the web page. Each proposer is responsible for printing the BAA Confirmation Sheet and submitting it attached to the "original" and each designated number of copies. In doing so, the Confirmation Sheet should be the first page of your Proposal. Failure to comply with these submission procedures may result in the submission not being evaluated. Detailed information and instructions are outlined within the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP). Proposers must submit an original and 4 copies of the full proposal and 7 electronic copies (i.e., 7 separate disks) of the full proposal (in Microsoft Word '97 for IBM-compatible or ASCII format on one 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA00-01, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and Copy _ of 7). The full proposal (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) must be submitted in time to reach DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET), Monday, November 15, 1999, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain the BAA00-01 Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, mail request to the administrative contact address given below, or at URL address http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This Commerce Business Daily notice, in conjunction with the BAA00-01 Proposer Information Pamphlet and all references, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formalRFP 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: The overall scientific and technical merit must be clearly identifiable. The technical concept should be clearly defined and developed. Emphasis should be placed on the technical value of the development and experimentation approach. (2) Innovative Technical Solution to the Problem: Proposed efforts should apply new or existing technology in a new way such as is advantageous to the IA&S objectives. Plan on how offeror intends to get developed technology and information to the user community should be considered. (3) Potential Contribution and Relevance to DARPA Mission: The offeror must clearly address how the proposed effort will meet the goals of the IA&S undertaking. The relevance is further indicated by the offeror's understanding of the operating environment of the capability to be developed. (4) Offeror's Capabilities and Related Experience: The qualifications, capabilities, and demonstrated achievements of the proposed principals and other key personnel for the primary and subcontractor organizations must be clearly shown. (5) Plans and Capability to Accomplish Technology Transition: The offeror should provide a clear explanation of how the technologies to be developed will be transitioned to capabilities for military forces. Technology transition should be a major consideration in the design of experiments, particularly considering the potential for involving potential transition organizations in the experimentation process. (6) Cost Realism: The overall estimated cost to accomplish the effort should be clearly shown as well as the substantiation of the costs for the technical complexity described. Evaluation will consider the value to Government of the research and the extent to which the proposed management plan will effectively allocate resources to achieve the capabilities proposed. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal to this BAA, must be directed to one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM (ET), Monday, November 8, 1999; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA00-01. Proposals 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, BAA00-01. Electronic Mail: baa00-01@darpa.mil. Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html. Mail to: DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA00-01, 3701 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. Posted 09/29/99 (W-SN386165). (0272)

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