A -- FAULT TOLERANT NETWORKS

Notice Date

December 21, 2000

Contracting Office

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

ZIP Code

22203-1714

Solicitation Number

BAA 01-22

Response Due

February 5, 2001

Point of Contact

Dr. Douglas Maughan, DARPA/ITO FAX: (703) 522-7161

E-Mail Address

click here to submit questions (baa01-22@darpa.mil)

Description

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 of the Global Information Grid (GIG) that will support operations envisioned in Joint Vision 2010 (JV2010) and Joint Vision 2020 (JV2020). The Defense Department's Joint Vision 2010 and 2020 call for information dominance in a high-tempo, tightly integrated multi-national environment. In order to gain dominant battlespace awareness, JV2010 and JV2020 stress 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. 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 future networks must be achieved through system and network-level technologies involving approaches such as layered complementary mechanisms that will be cost-effective and scalable within three to five years. Proposed approaches must demonstrate the ability to support the advanced functionality of future networks while maintaining a high level of confidence in the protection of these networks. The suite of programs in the DARPA Information Technology Office (ITO) Information Assurance & Survivability (IA&S) thrust consists of a closely coordinated group of technology programs. These include: the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program, the Composable High Assurance Trusted Systems (CHATS) program, the Fault Tolerant Networks (FTN) program, and the Dynamic Coalitions (DC) program. The programs will be coordinated by focusing on a joint research vision, joint experimentation, sharing of laboratory facilities for experimentation, and joint principal investigator meetings (where appropriate). This solicitation is for the Fault Tolerant Networks (FTN) program. Additional solicitations will be forthcoming for the other programs within the DARPA/ITO IA&S program suite. PROGRAM OBJECTIVE: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) computer systems and networks are constantly under attack. Such attacks might 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 commercial off the shelf (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. Technologies envisioned include those for strengthening networks by ensuring trust-based access to and allocation of network resources; technologies for defending against and responding to distributed attacks in order to establish attribution for these attacks; and tools and techniques for automated network recovery and reconstitution. This BAA solicits proposals in the following technical topic areas of the Fault Tolerant Networks program: (1) Trust-based Resource Allocation Protocols (TRAP); (2) Distributed Denial of Service (DOS) Defenses (D3), including active response techniques; (3) Network Recovery and Reconstitution Tools and Techniques (NR2T2), and (4) other innovative topics related to fault tolerant and survivable networks. Further information can be found in the Proposer 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. FTN awards have been made previously under BAA 99-10 (Inherent Information Survivability) and BAA 00-01 (Fault Tolerant Networks). Proposals for this BAA should be limited to between 24 and 36 months of base funding with the possibility of additional options. Multiple awards worth approximately $20 million over three years are expected to be made from this BAA. 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: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Information Technology Office (DARPA/ITO) requires completion of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Cover Sheet Submission for each Proposal, by accessing the URL below: http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.asp?BAAid=01-22. 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. 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 8 electronic copies (i.e., 8 separate disks) of the full proposal (in Microsoft Word '97 for IBM-compatible, PDF, Postscript, or ASCII format on one 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA 01-22, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and Copy ___ of 8). 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) Friday, February 5 2001, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain the BAA 01-22 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 (CBD) notice, in conjunction with the BAA 01-22 PIP and all references, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP 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 (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs) 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 objectives. The 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 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 received at one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM (ET) Friday, February 2, 2001; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 01-22. Proposals MUST NOT be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded: The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-7161 Addressed to: DARPA/ITO, BAA 01-22 Electronic Mail: baa01-22@darpa.mil, Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html; Mail to: DARPA/ITO ATTN: BAA 01-22, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

Web Link

click here to obtain a copy of the PIP (http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001226/ASOL002.HTM (W-356 SN5094V7)