A -- NIMA HBCU/MI BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Notice Date

December 15, 2000

Contracting Office

National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Contracting for Acquisition & Technology Directorate, Attn: PCA/D-88, 4600 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

ZIP Code

20816-5003

Solicitation Number

NMA201-01-BAA-2005

Response Due

January 7, 2001

Point of Contact

Tamara J. Verdon, Grants Officer, (301) 227-7829

E-Mail Address

Click here to contact the Grants Officer (verdont@nima.mil)

Description

A. GENERAL -- The National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Office of Research and Technology announces an interest in receiving proposals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) including Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Other Minority Institutions for research in the following six (6) general areas of enabling technologies which are of interest to NIMA: (1) Geospatial Information Science: Includes uncertainty, spatio-temporal analysis, topological reasoning, common-data-model-compliant data development, information management for massive databases, integrated source management, interoperability, scale and high-dimensional representations. (2) Physical Science: Includes geodesy and geophysics, hydrography, and remote sensing phenomenology including synthetic aperture radar, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging. (3) Computer Science: Includes human-centered computing, knowledge management/virtual experts and multi-modal user interfaces. (4) Image science: Focuses on neuroscience-inspired approaches (excluding classical neural network applications) to target recognition and cartographic feature extraction, either automated or to assist analysts. Includes imagery compression and decompression; and includes image processing capabilities of data from electro-optical, spectral and/or synthetic aperture radar sensors. (5) Mathematics: Includes combinatorial strategies, fractal representations and wavelets, and refinement schemes applicable to geospatial data and information. (6) Visualization Technology: Includes visualization technologies, web-based visualization technologies and other collaborative methods, and data interoperability and reuse for 3D and 4D data sets. The purpose of this program is to support NIMA research and development goals in specific, appropriate technology areas, and to promote the participation of HBCU/MI in the mainstream research funding program of the NIMA Office of Research and Technology. This program does not replace the NIMA University Research Initiatives, which are available to all universities. This effort aims to attract researchers at HBCU/MIs toward technical endeavors which will improve their competitiveness in winning additional support from the larger NIMA research programs. For the purpose of further understanding NIMA's research objectives, reference may be made to the technical descriptions in Section VIII of the NURI 2001 BAA (NMA201-01-BAA-2002) also located at http://164.214.2.59/poc/contracts/baa.html. B. SELECTION FOR AWARD -- Selection for award will be based on a competitive evaluation using the following criteria. Each proposal will be evaluated on the basis of all the factors below. The technical quality of the proposal is significantly more important than the management factor. The technical sub-factors are of equal importance. The cost factor is less important than both the technical and management factors. The primary basis for selecting proposal for acceptance shall be technical and management merit, availability of funds, and program balance. The criteria are: (1) Technical: (a) Anticipated benefits of the research or research and development effort to the NIMA mission, (b) The scientific/technical quality of the research or research and development proposal and its relevance to the topic description, with special emphasis on its innovation and originality, and with consideration for the potential of the successful completion leading to further support by the main NIMA research programs, and (c) Qualifications of the principal investigator, other key staff and consultants, if any, and adequacy of available or obtainable instrumentation and facilities; (2) Management: Adequacy of management planning and controls; and (3) Cost: The proposals will be evaluated for reasonableness and realism with regard to the proposed technical approach. Cost proposals will also be used to develop the government's estimate of the cost of completing the grant using the technical and management approaches proposed. Total evaluated probable cost consists of the government's estimate of the realistic cost of completing the offerors' proposals, to include the government's assessment of program risk, and additional costs to the government such as government-furnished property, government-furnished information, transportation, and other cost-related factors. See Numbered Note 5: C. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -- (1) This BAA constitutes the solicitation and no formal Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued. The first call for proposals must be received by 1700 hours (EST), 7 March 2001. Proposals received during the first call will be considered for funds available in Fiscal Year 2001. Offerors may submit separate proposals on any or all the specified areas of research. NIMA intends to award all available FY01 money with the first call of proposals. (2) NIMA will continue to accept and evaluate proposals under this announcement until 17 EST on 15 August 2001. However, because NIMA intends to award all available FY01 money with the first call for proposals, interested parties are strongly encouraged to submit completed proposals by 1700 EST on 7 March 2001. Awards may be made at any time based on formal evaluation of the proposal and availability of money to fund it. (3) Proposals received during the first call will not be evaluated until after 7 March 2001. Proposal evaluation is expected to take a minimum of thirty days beyond that. (4) For planning purposes, grants are not expected to exceed $50,000 per year per grant. Period of performance is anticipated to range from twelve months to twenty-four months. The Government anticipates that the resultant grants will be awarded during the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2001. (5) Offerors shall submit a combined technical and management proposal limited to 30 pages (8-1/2 x 11 double spaced, 12-pt font), including a one-page, single-spaced executive summary of the technical and management proposal. The technical and management proposal should include full discussion of the scope, nature, and objectives of the proposed research effort; rationale for the technical contribution to NIMA goals; schedule of milestones; related research efforts performed in the past; a description of and statement of availability of facilities and instrumentation required for performance; a description of management planning and control systems; identification of limited-rights data or computer software, if any; and resumes of key personnel (excluded from page limitations, 2 page limit per resume). (6) Offeror's cost proposal has no page limit and shall be submitted as a separate document together with supporting detailed cost data, including any subcontractor data. The cost proposal include a summary of all costs at the cost element level (i.e., total direct labor, overhead, general and administrative, etc.). The summary should include a funding profile by fiscal year. Proposal offers shall remain open for acceptance by the government for a period of 180 days. (7) The proposal shall also include a cover page signed by an official authorized to complete the certifications identified in paragraph 14, below. Proposals shall also contain FAR certification at 52.226-2 as required in paragraph 15, below. (8) Proposals shall be submitted by e-mail electronically and simultaneously to verdont@nima.mil and to BergR@nima.mil. Files too large for e-mail may be sent using file transfer protocol to ftp://164.214.2.65/pub/contracts/hbcu. Offerors shall also provide e-mail notification to the e-mail addresses above if files are sent via FTP. All files sent by the closing time will receive an acknowledgement reply via return e-mail. The proposals shall be submitted as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files only. Both technical and cost proposals shall reference BAA Number NMA201-01-BAA-2005. Hard copy proposals will not be accepted. (9) This effort is a total set-aside for HBCU/MIs, which includes Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, and Other Minority Institutions. The following DoD FAR (DFAR) Supplement Clause is applicable: 252.226-7000, NOTICE OF HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY AND MINORITY INSTITUTION SET-ASIDE (APR 1994). (a) Definitions. Historically black colleges and universities, as used in this clause, mean institutions determined by the Secretary of Education to meet the requirements of 34 CFR 608.2. The term also means any nonprofit research institution that was an integral part of such a college or university before November 14, 1986. Minority institutions, as used in this clause, means institutions meeting the requirements of section 1046(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1135d-5(3)). The term also includes Hispanic-serving institutions as defined in section 316(b)(1) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)(1)). (b) General. (1) Offers are solicited only from historically black colleges or universities and minority institutions. (2) Any award resulting from this solicitation will be made only to an offeror which is a historically black college or university or a minority institution at the time of submission of its initial offer including price. (c) Agreements. The offeror will: (1) Perform at least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel with its own employees; and (2) Upon request by the Contracting Officer, provide evidence prior to award that the Secretary of Education has determined the offeror to be a historically black college or university or minority institution. (End of Clause). (10) NIMA provision entitled "Unauthorized Use of NIMA Name, Seal, and Initials", will be incorporated into the resultant grant: UNAUTHORIZED USE OF NIMA NAME, SEAL, AND INITIALS. (a) As provided in 10 U.S.C., 2422, no person may, except with the written permission of the Director, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, knowingly use the words "National Imagery and Mapping Agency" or "Defense Mapping Agency", the initials "NIMA" or "DMA", the seal of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency or the Defense Mapping Agency, or any colorable imitation of such words, initials, or seal in connection with any merchandise, retail product, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such use is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Director, NIMA. (b) Whenever it appears to the Director, NIMA that any person is engaged or about to engage in an act or practice which constitutes or will constitute conduct prohibited by paragraph (a), the Attorney General may initiate a civil proceeding in a district court of the United States to enjoin such act or practice. Such court shall proceed as soon as practicable to hearing and determination of such action and may, at any time before such final determination, enter such restraining orders or prohibitions, or take such other action as is warranted, to prevent injury to the United States, or to any person or class of persons for whose protection the action is brought. (End of clause). (11) NIMA provision entitled "Public Disclosure of Scientific and Technical Information", will be incorporated into the resultant grant: PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION. (a) The Recipient may make formal public disclosure of the scientific and technical information from this grant work (e.g., release articles for appropriate professional publications or present papers at scientific meetings or symposia) and will take the following steps; 1. A copy of the article, paper, report, etc., shall be provided to the Government at the time of its submission for publication. 2. Disclosure of the sponsorship of the grant work may be made. Normally, it will not be necessary even to refer to sponsorship of this contract work by the Government; however, if there is a reasonable requirement to do so, reference shall be limited to the Department of Defense, or as may otherwise be prescribed by the Grants Officer. (b) The Recipient may utilize the scientific and technical information resulting from this contract work in consulting or discussing this and related information with other qualified individuals or groups of individuals, where appropriate, for furthering this research and/or development effort. The provision of (a)(2) shall apply to such exchanges of information. (c) Under certain circumstances, the Recipient may reveal NIMA's interest in the contract. These circumstances shall be as follows: 1. The inquiring person or organization is a member of the academic community or is an appropriate state official who oversees the financial matters of the (input name of University). 2. The inquirer is not seeking the information for an interest other than that of the academic community or state office, and 3. The inquirer has actually sought the information on sponsorship. (12) NIMA provision entitled "Sponsorship by an Agency Within the Intelligence Community", will be incorporated into the resultant grant: SPONSORSHIP BY AN AGENCY WITHIN THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. This grant is sponsored by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, an Agency within the Intelligence Committee. To ensure compliance with Executive Order 12333, dated 4 December 1981, the individual signing this instrument on behalf of the academic institution is authorized by the institution to contract with an Agency within the Intelligence Community. (13) Proposals selected will be awarded by an appropriate grant agreement to be signed by the offeror and a government Grants Officer. Any negotiations that may be necessary will be conducted between the offeror and the government Grants Officer. (14) By signing and submitting any proposal under this BAA, the offeror is providing the following certifications: 1. Certification at Appendix A to 32 CFR Part 25 regarding debarment, suspension, and other responsibility matters; 2. Certification at Appendix C to 32 CFR Part 25 regarding drug-free workplace requirements; and 3. Certification at Appendix A to 32 CFR Part 28 regarding lobbying. These certifications are located in Parts 25 and 28 of the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulation (DoDGARs), DoD 3210.6-R. This document is available electronically, under the heading "publications", at the following internet site: http://web7.whs.osd.mil/corres.htm. (15) Proposals shall include the following Federal Acquisition (FAR) certification: 52.226-2 HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY AND MINORITY INSTITUTION REPRESENTATION (MAY 1997). (a) Definitions. As used in this provision: Historically Black College or University means an institution determined by the Secretary of Education to meet the requirements of 34CFR 608.2. For the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Coast Guard, the term also includes any nonprofit research institution that was an integral part of such a college or university before November 14, 1986. Minority Institution means an institution of higher education meeting the requirements of Section 1046(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1135d5(3)) which, for the purpose of this provision, includes a Hispanic-serving institution of higher education as defined in Section 316(b)(1) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)(1)). (b) Representation. The offeror represents that it [ ] is [ ] is not a Historically Black College or University; [ ] is [ ] is not a Minority Institution. (End of provision). NIMA Points of Contact: Technical POC: Richard Berg, (301) 227-7498, bergr@nima.mil. Gratns Office: Tamara J. Verdon, (301) 227-7829, verdont@nima.mil. See Number Note 5.

Web Link

Click here to access a copy of the HBCU/MI Broad Agency (http://164.214.2.59/poc/contracts/baa.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001219/ASOL003.HTM (W-350 SN5089U4)