A -- JOINT BATTLESPACE INFOSPHERE (JBI) FUSELET RESEARCH AND

Notice Date

September 14, 2000

Contracting Office

Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL -- Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514

ZIP Code

13441-4514

Solicitation Number

Reference-Number-PRDA-00-09-IFKPA

Point of Contact

Joetta Bernhard, Contracting Officer, Phone (315) 330-2308, Fax (315) 330-7790, Email bernhard@rl.af.mil

E-Mail Address

Joetta Bernhard (bernhard@rl.af.mil)

Description

POC: Joetta A. Bernhard, Contracting Officer, (315) 330-2308, email: Joetta.Bernhard@rl.af.mil; POC: Mr. James R. Milligan, Program Manager, (315) 330-3013, email: James.Milligan@rl.af.mil. The Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is soliciting proposals for new concepts, mechanisms and tools to support the development of "fuselets" that operate within the Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI), a combat information management system envisioned by the USAF Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and described in their 1998 report "Information Management to Support the Warrior", and further defined by the SAB's 1999 report on "Building the Joint Battlespace Infosphere", SAB-TR-99-02. These reports are available at: http://www.sab.hq.af.mil/Archives/index.htm. PRDA Scope: This announcement seeks to acquire the technologies necessary to prototype demonstrable results for the following:1. JBI Fuselets; 2. JBI Fuselet Scripting Language and Rule Sets; 3. JBI Fuselet Server and Library; 4. Tools for JBI Fuselet Execution Monitoring and Management as well as to answer the following kinds of research questions: 1. How can we use agent technology to develop JBI fuselets, and DASADA technology to model, simulate, and control their combinatorial structure and behavior? 2. How can we use DASADA technology to model and build JBIP components like the Fuselet Server and Fuselet Library, and examine/control their interaction with fuselets, information objects, clients, and other JBIP components? 3. How can we use DASADA gauging technology to determine the "fusability" of information objects, and what kinds of fuselets would be appropriate for them? 4. How can we build off of this to provide the scripting, diagnostic, repair, configuration, monitoring, inspection, and management tools needed by the JFC Information Management Staff? JBI Characteristics: At the foundation of the JBI is a JBI Platform (JBIP) of protocols, processes, and common core functions that permit participating applications and organizations to share and exchange critical mission information in a timely manner. It provides uniform mechanisms for publishing new and updated objects into the JBI, and promptly alerts any JBI clients that are subscribing to such objects. These properties enable dynamic information flows among client programs of the JBI, serving to integrate the clients to conduct a single mission. The operation of the JBI depends on the proper flow of information via dynamic publish/subscribe linkages. If some aspect of this automated information flow is not working properly, the Joint Force Commander (JFC) Information Management Staff will need to diagnose and fix the problem quickly. Perhaps a JBI fuselet, further described below (and the focus of this PRDA), has failed and is no longer subscribing to and processing its inputs. To monitor and repair the JBI, the Information Management Staff will need to be familiar with the information structure represented in the JBI, and will need tools to inspect objects, clients, and fuselets that participate in the structure. JBI Fuselets: A fuselet is small program that subscribes to JBI information and publishes one or more new objects as a result of receiving the information being subscribed to. Characteristics of fuselets for the JBI include the following: -- Fuselets are written using a scripting language by Information Management Staff. They can be created from scratch using scripting tools and rule sets, or can be extracted by the JBI Fuselet Server (described below) from a library of fuselets, used as is or configured/modified to meet mission requirements. Fuslets can be used to encode a commander's standing orders (e.g., "policy"). -- Fuselets operate on a set of rules (e.g., boolean and probabilistic IF-THEN rules) -- they do not exhibit common sense or judgement during execution. -- Fuselets perform transformation and aggregation functions to transform data into knowledge. Functions include searching, filtering, collating, monitoring and updating information. -- Fuselet object subscription and/or publication can trigger activation of other fuselets (e.g., triggering chains of fuselets), and/or more heavy weight JBI clients (e.g., fusion engines). -- A fuselet is a JBI client, and therefore uses the JBIP to get its work done. It uses JBI query and subscribe mechanisms to obtain data of interest, and JBI publish mechanisms to provide useful information within the context of the JBI mission. The JBIP is the middleware foundation supporting fuselets and the JBI's publish/subscribe mechanism. -- Fuselets are part of the "glue" that makes the linkages that cause information in the JBI to flow to the right places in the right forms. -- Fuselets use JBI's Structured Common Representation (SCR), and are often designed to be pertinent to particular object types (like squadron) and levels (like wing level). -- Tools are needed to configure, monitor, manage and repair fuselets and their associated information structures during execution. -- Relevant COTS/GOTS technologies include the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), ontologies, agents and agent-markup-languages, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Common Object Model (COM), Distributed Common Object Model (DCOM), Visual Basic, Java/Jini, and JavaScript. However, in the implementation of fuselets, there exists the need to be mindful of security concerns (e.g., those associated with JavaScript and mobile code). The JBI Fuselet Server mentioned above is part of the JBIP that manages and executes fuselets. It utilizes a library of fuselets designed to support generic and mission-specific requirements for which the JBI is stood up. The typical information objects that a fuselet works with consist of a set of attribute/value pairs that can be used to express arbitrary data structures. Information objects have associated metadata attributes to aid in JBI query, subscription, and management (dealing with storage access and security) processes. Agent-based Technology Programs: Agents have been used for applications as diverse as information search, filtering, message routing, and network control. Commercial development of agent technology has focused largely on e-commerce applications such as web searching, is primarily focused on single-agent systems, and is generally immature for many defense unique requirements. Therefore, DARPA and AFRL are conducting research initiatives that focus on large-scale, dynamic, heterogeneous, multi-agent systems. Some representative programs are: -- Control of Agent-Based Systems (CoABS): Focuses on developing and demonstrating techniques to safely control, coordinate and manage large systems of autonomous software agents. http://iso.isotic.org/Programs/progtemp/progtemp.cfm?mode=126 http://www.rl.af.mil/div/IFT/IFTB/coabs/coabs.html. -- Autonomous Negotiating Teams (ANTs): Utilizes highly decentralized and autonomous negotiation of tasks, roles and allocations, to provide solutions for challenging distributed allocation problems http://www.rl.af.mil/div/IFT/IFTB/ants/ants.html -- DARPA Agent Mark Up Language (DAML): Create an Agent Mark-Up Language (DAML) built upon XML that allows users to provide machine-readable semantic annotations for specific communities of interest and tools that embed DAML markup on to web pages and other information sources in a manner that is transparent and beneficial to the users. http://iso.isotic.org/Programs/progtemp/progtemp.cfm?mode=347 -- Active Templates (uses agent technology): Develop lightweight planning and execution management software to automate military operations, maintaining a causal model of the situation and providing incremental payoff as new automated functions are added and the causal model is improved. http://iso.isotic.org/Programs/progtemp/progtemp.cfm?mode=332 The Composition Problem: The Dynamic Assembly for Systems Adaptability, Dependability, and Assurance (DASADA) Program is a FY 2000 new-start initiative sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to address current deficiencies in the composition of systems. DASADA technology will enable system architecture refinement with guarantees that critical system properties will be assured through design principles that guide the selection, adaptation, and dynamic run-time assembly of appropriate system components. DASADA adopts a three-faceted concurrent engineering paradigm for adaptable, dependable, and high assurance mission critical systems: Continual Design, Continual Coordination, and Continual Validation. In this model, components are selected or constructed, and customized and evaluated before system assembly (Continual Design), during system assembly (Continual Coordination), and after system assembly (Continual Validation) to ensure that they can and do operate together with the rest of the system, in its current context, and within tolerated bounds. Continual Validation is particularly essential for assured applications because assurances that may have been met at initial system design time may not prove to be appropriate for field conditions, which are subject to rapid change while the system is running. Such applications typically cannot be "taken down" for long reengineering or enhancement cycles, but must be dynamically assembled in response to feedback from run-time gauges of functional and non-functional system properties. Two necessary bases for all three facets of dynamic assembly are: (1) being able to precisely determine and usefully specify the room for variation in components and their composition, and (2) being able to measure that components fit, and continue to fit, together as system and context change, within functional and non-functional tolerances permitted by dynamically evolving system requirements. The measurement probes must be insertable into legacy as well as new components and compositions, and "displayable" to humans and automated agents as useful and quickly interpretable gauges to prevent inappropriate system assemblies, and to trigger re-assemblies promptly when needed. More information on the DASADA Program can be found at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/tech/programs/dasada/index.html http://schafercorp-ballston.com/dasada/index2.html http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=HTMLCBD_ALL&docid=cite=SN475649. PRDA Approach: It is anticipated that offerors will investigate and apply COTS (e.g., XML) and GOTS (e.g., DASADA) technologies to incrementally develop a component-based framework comprised of capabilities for the development (scripting language and tools), execution (rule/constraint monitoring and enforcement mechanisms), and management (JBI Fuselet Sever/Library functions) of JBI fuselets and associated components (information objects, other JBI clients, and the JBIP). It is envisioned that: (a) agent technology will play a major role in the development of JBI fuselets, and (b) the DASADA Program will provide many of the technologies (e.g., Architecture Design Languages (ADLs), design-time and run-time gauges, and tools for dynamic assembly/re-assembly) required to ensure that fuselets are designed to properly operate together, operate with other JBI clients, and operate with JBIP core services in the context of the JBI SCR and dynamically changing JBI mission requirements. AFRL requires innovative, yet demonstrable and usable solutions to meet the needs of this PRDA. Technical solutions should emphasize the use of open systems that accommodate distributed, modular, and extensible approaches. Deliverables will be technical reports, robust software prototypes and demonstrations. Additional information concerning this PRDA 00-09 can be found at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/prda.prda-main.html. Principal funding of the PRDA and the anticipated award of efforts as a result of this PRDA will start in 2Q FY01, and will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions depending on the nature of the work proposed. Individual awards will not normally exceed six (6) months in duration with dollar amounts normally ranging between $50K to $250K. Total funding for exploratory development and demonstration under this PRDA is anticipated at $1.2M over four (4) fiscal years. Offerors are encouraged to submit one or more white papers that address exploratory development with demonstrable results. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Offerors are required to submit (5) copies of a 15 page (or less) white paper with a cover letter. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: James R. Milligan, Reference PRDA-00-09-IFKPA, AFRL/IFTD, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title. Period of Performance, Cost, Name of Company, White paper type; Section B: Effort objective; and Section C: Technical Summary. Offerors must mark their white papers/proposals with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609. Also, Small Businesses only should send one (1) copy of the cover letter only (1st Class Mail, Unclassified Only) to ATTN: Ms Janis Norelli, Director of Small Business, AFRL/IFB, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4514. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest to the Government. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of the PRDA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Complete instructions for proposal preparation will be forwarded with the invitation for proposal submission. Evaluation of proposals and white papers will be performed using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance, 1) Overall scientific and technical merit, including the approach for the development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology and its evaluation, 2) Related Experience -- the extent to which the offeror demonstrates technology and domain knowledge, 3) The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology in terms of reliability and robustness, and 4) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any). Options are discouraged and unpriced options will not be considered for award. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract. It is, however, an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is excluded at the prime contract level. Data subject to export control constraints may be involved and only firms on the Certified Contractor Access List (CCAL) will be allowed access to such data. For further information on CCAL, contact the Defense Logistics Service Center at 1-800-352-3572. The work to be performed may require a SECRET/NOFORN facility clearance and safeguarding capability, therefore personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET/NOFORN information at the time of award. The cutoff date for submission of white papers is 18 Oct 00 for FY01, 15 Oct 01 for FY02, 15 Oct 02 for FY03 and 15 Oct 03 for FY04. This PRDA is open and effective until cancelled. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear significant concerns from offerors or potential offerors for this announcement. Routine questions are not considered to be "significant concerns" and should be communicated directly to the Contracting Officer, Joetta A. Bernhard, (315) 330-2308. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the Contracting Officer or Program Manager, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreement and recommendations to the appropriate Government personnel. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Ralph M. Lentz, Lt Col, Chief, AFRL/IFK at (315) 330-7746. When requested the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman should only be contacted with issues or problems that have been previously brought to the attention of the contracting officer and could not be satisfactorily resolved at that level. To receive a copy of the AFRL/IFK "BAA & PRDA: A Guide for Industry," Sep 1996 (Rev), write ATTN: Carol Furgol, AFRL/IFK, 26 Electronics Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4515, or fax her at FAX 315-330-4728, or the guide may be accessed at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/bp-guide.html All responsible firms may submit a white paper which shall be considered. Respondents are asked to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number with their submission as well as a fax number, and an e-mail address, and reference PRDA-00-09-IFKPA. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

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Record

Loren Data Corp. 20000918/ASOL004.HTM (D-258 SN496789)