The purpose of this modification is to republish the original announcement, incorporating any previous amendments, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c).

This republishing also includes the following changes:

1. Update to Contracting Focal Point throughout;
2. Updates the NAICS code from 541712 to 541715
3. Section III.2: updated Foreign Participation/Access;
4. Section IV.4., added paragraph f;
5. Section V.2.b.2.: updated the evaluation categories and removed language regarding Adequate Price Competition;
6. Section VI.1: updated to reference the most recent version of the RI-Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions, dated Jun 2018;
7. Section VI.3.b, updated the Non-SBIR rights language;
8. Section VI.4: updated to revise and add new Administrative and National Policy Requirements;
9. Section VI.5: added paragraph (d)
10. Section VII: updated the Alternate OMBUDSMAN.

No other changes have been made.
________________________________________

NAICS CODE: 541715

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

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Distributed Operations (DistrO)

BAA ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Modification

BAA NUMBER: BAA-AFRL-RIK-2016-0003

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) Number: 12.800

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION:

The Air Force Research Laboratory/Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) is soliciting white papers under this Broad Area Announcement (BAA) for research, design, development, test, evaluation, and experimentation of innovative and enabling capabilities that allow operators at forward nodes the ability to conduct state-driven assessment of Air Force operations and distributed adaptive planning, and to perform these capabilities during periods of reduced communications with operational level nodes in accordance with distributed operations concepts.

The Air Force is seeking capabilities in the form of software components that autonomously assess the progress of their operations, identify deviations from expected activities and outcomes, and recommend adjustments (re-plan) to enable continuous operations at forward nodes in anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) environments.

The DistrO Program will meet the distributed operations goal by filling technology gaps for dynamic planning, execution, and assessment; and tailor those capabilities for use at the operational level and at the tactical level within a distributed architecture to provide a resilient "push forward" and "push outward" capability to implement the distributed operations concept. For the purpose of this research, offerors may consider elements of the Theater Air Control System (TACS) and Theater Air Ground System (TAGS) as nominal candidates representing operational environments for target technologies.

By developing these capabilities and achieving this goal, AFRL expects an order of magnitude improvement in the duration of maintaining continuity of air, space, and cyber operations at a forward node subject to contested communications; however, the focus of this effort is on the air domain with a desire not to preclude an approach that integrates all three domains. Additionally, efforts under this program are expected to provide the USAF and mission partners with a capability to conduct combat planning with its associated targeting and assessment forward in theater.

The DistrO Program has been organized into two projects, (1) Planning and Assessment Technology Development and (2) Distributed Integration and Experimentation, each with defined focus areas for the FY16 acquisition cycle.

The compartmentalization of the focus areas reflects project funding and thrusts. Offerors are invited to submit white papers for one or more of the focus areas/projects.

a. Project 1: Planning and Assessment Technology Development:

The objective of this project is to advance the state of the art in C2 technologies in order to tightly couple traditionally distinct planning and assessment activities in light-weight software services that can be employed to enable forward entities during times of isolation from the centralized Air Operations Center (AOC). Target software solutions should be compatible with smaller-footprint environments such as those found in the TACS/TAGS.

Research and development must be conducted to assist operators with the planning of Air Force operations, assessment of progress while identifying deviations from expected activities and outcomes, and recommending adjustments (re-plan). Assessment mechanisms will explicitly expose the immediate and projected problems from plan divergence. Adaptive planning mechanisms will be capable of both plan repair (for the current tasking cycle), and plan creation of future tasking cycles. Both the assessment and planning capabilities will operate as distributed replicated services across a federation of representative environments.

The following describes the Project 1, FY 16 Focus Area:

Coupled State-Driven Assessment and Distributed Adaptive Planning: The Coupled State-Driven Assessment and Distributed Adaptive Planning focus area objective is to research and demonstrate a fundamentally coupled planning and assessment methodology in an environment representing the operational challenges described above. The goal is to providing C2 capabilities at forward entities during times of isolation from the AOC. Current operations utilize centralized planning and assessment activities at the AOC, and distribute orders in the form of the Air Tasking Order (ATO) directing forward entities to perform missions aligned with the Commander's intent. In order to perform C2 activities forward in theater, research and development must be conducted to advance planning and assessment activities which allow these entities to act with the best information available, while meeting the intent of the Commander. This will require reasoning over the various attributes comprising the context of the situation, to include intent, assessments, existing plan, etc. Assuming that communications with higher echelons will be lost, research must be done to identify and document the right artifacts which must be pushed forward prior to loss of communications, to include Commander's Intent, Air Operations Directive, and Joint Integrated Prioritized Target List, to name a few.

The near-term goal of this focus-area is to support the continued operations of forward entities (such as TACS/TAGS) for days beyond the current capability. The spirit of the longer-term research goal involves enabling continued operations through a "Living Plan" capability, where missions are planned far beyond the current time horizon, with plan branches, sequels, and adaptations are continually happening on a rolling basis, based on new world state information and assessments of on-going and future operations.

Providing an assessment of how a campaign is unfolding is extremely difficult, even if all co-located AOC operators have perfect and unambiguous situation awareness. It is even more difficult to conduct accurate and timely assessments at forward nodes within contested environments and uncertain world state. Meeting this challenge requires prepositioning commander's guidance at lower echelons and interfacing with local data sources and those in the cloud which may be accessible to conduct assessments, techniques to improve context formulation, trigger change notifications when plans deviate and recommend re-plan options.

Technologies are required to support the move from the current centralized, military planning paradigm to a distributed planning environment. Enabling continued operations through a "Living Plan" capability at forward nodes is paramount to success in anticipated anti-access/area-denial A2/AD environment. The complexities of this challenge lie in Disrupted, Disconnected, Intermittent and Limited (DDIL) bandwidth connectivity of distributed planning nodes. Distributed planning, assessment, and plan adaptation tasks need to be flexible to support traditional top-down planning paradigms, while enabling the complex synchronization of Air Force activities in a distributed, asynchronous manner during periods of DDIL connectivity. To address this focus area, the development of automated adaptive planning and assessment algorithms, as software services, are required to be capable of recommending new and revised missions based on assessments and world state information.

b. Project 2: Distributed Integration and Experimentation

The two objectives of this project are to 1) integrate software components produced in Project 1 into a robust information cloud and 2) conduct tests/experiments to assess system-level efficacy of these combined technologies and determine amount of improvement.

The following describes the Project 2 FY 16 Focus Area:

Integration, Demonstration, Test and Evaluation: As part of any research and development, the software shall be integrated, tested and evaluated to ensure the software satisfies measure of performance parameters. Offerors are encouraged to utilize concise metrics for measuring performance of proposed technical solutions. Metrics should be identified, tracked, and available for analysis during integrated evaluation and testing events. This research will develop and implement an overarching test and evaluation methodology that assesses both quantitative and qualitative metrics. This will also be comprised of developing sample end-user scenarios with varying degrees of simulated communication degradation and data that are mission-focused and relevant to the research and development emphasis of this BAA.

Also see the Supplemental Information Attachment.

II. AWARD INFORMATION:

1. FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $9.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows:

FY16 - $1.8M
FY17 - $2.9M
FY18 - $4.5M
FY19 - tiny_mce_marker.7M

Individual awards will not normally exceed 36 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $300K to $2.0M. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value.

The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential Offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

2. FORM: Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or other transactions depending upon the nature of the work proposed.

3. BAA TYPE: This is a two-step open broad agency announcement. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation.

As STEP ONE - The Government is only soliciting white papers at this time. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal, see Section VI of this announcement for further details regarding the proposal.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

1. ELIGIBILITY: All qualified offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply.

2. FOREIGN PARTICIPATION/ACCESS:

a. This BAA is closed to foreign participation. This includes both foreign ownership and foreign nationals as employees or subcontractors.
b. Exceptions.
1. Fundamental Research. If the work to be performed is unclassified, fundamental research, this must be clearly identified in the white paper and/or proposal. See Part II, Section I for more details regarding Fundamental Research. Offerors should still identify any performance by foreign nationals at any level (prime contractor or subcontractor) in their proposals. Please specify the nationals' country of origin, the type of visa or work permit under which they are performing and an explanation of their anticipated level of involvement. You may be asked to provide additional information during negotiations in order to verify the foreign citizen's eligibility to participate on any contract or assistance agreement issued as a result of this announcement
2. Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) companies who have mitigation plans/paperwork in place. Proof of approved mitigation documentation must be provided to the contracting office focal point, Amber Buckley, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-3605, or e-mail [email protected] prior to submitting a white paper and/or a proposal. For information on FOCI mitigation, contact the Defense Security Service. Additional details can be found at: https://www.dss.mil/ma/ctp/isia/bams/foci/foci_mitigation/
3. Foreign Nationals as Employees or Subcontractors. Applicable to any effort not considered Fundamental Research. Offerors are responsible for ensuring that all employees and/or subcontractors who will work on a resulting contract are eligible to do so. Any employee who is not a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident will be restricted from working on any resultant contract unless prior approval of the Department of State or the Department of Commerce is obtained via a technical assistance agreement or an export license. Violations of these regulations can result in criminal or civil penalties.
c. Information Regarding Non-US Citizens Assigned to this Project

a. Contractor employees requiring access to USAF bases, AFRL facilities, and/or access to U.S. Government Information Technology (IT) networks in connection with the work on contracts, assistance instruments or other transactions awarded under this BAA must be U.S. citizens. For the purpose of base and network access, possession of a permanent resident card ("Green Card") does not equate to U.S. citizenship. This requirement does not apply to foreign nationals approved by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. State Department under international personnel exchange agreements with foreign governments. It also does not apply to dual citizens who possess US citizenship, to include Naturalized citizens. Any waivers to this requirement must be granted in writing by the Contracting Officer prior to providing access. Specific format for waiver request will be provided upon request to the Contracting Officer. The above requirements are in addition to any other contract requirements related to obtaining a Common Access Card (CAC).
b. For the purposes of Paragraph 1, it an IT network/system does not require AFRL to endorse a contractor's application to said network/system in order to gain access, the organization operating the IT network/system is responsible for controlling access to its system. If an IT network/system requires a U.S. Government sponsor to endorse the application in order for access to the IT network/system, AFRL will only endorse the following types of applications, consistent with the requirements above:

a) Contractor employees who are U.S. citizens performing work under contracts, assistance instruments or other transactions awarded under this BAA.
b) Contractor employees who are non-U.S. citizens and who have been granted a waiver.

Any additional access restrictions established by the IT network/system owner apply.

3. FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES: Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and Government entities (e.g., Government/National laboratories, military educational institutions, etc.) are subject to applicable direct competition limitations and cannot propose to this BAA in any capacity unless they meet the following conditions:

a. FFRDCs: FFRDCs must clearly demonstrate that the proposed work is not otherwise available from the private sector; and FFRDCs must provide a letter on official letterhead from their sponsoring organization citing the specific authority establishing their eligibility to propose to Government solicitations and compete with industry, and their compliance with the associated FFRDC sponsor agreement's terms and conditions. This information is required for FFRDCs proposing to be prime contractors or sub-awardees.

b. Government Entities: Government entities must clearly demonstrate that the work is not otherwise available from the private sector and provide written documentation citing the specific statutory authority and contractual authority, if relevant, establishing their ability to propose to Government solicitations. While 10 U.S.C.§ 2539b may be the appropriate statutory starting point for some entities, specific supporting regulatory guidance, together with evidence of agency approval, will still be required to fully establish eligibility.

FFRDC and Government entity eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis; however, the burden to prove eligibility for all team members rests solely with the proposer.

Government agencies interested in performing work related to this announcement should contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC). If resulting discussions reveal a mutual interest, cooperation may be pursued via other vehicles.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the Technical point of contact (TPOC) listed in SECTION VII. DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer.

1. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award:

FY16 by 12 Feb 2016
FY17 by 15 Jul 2016
FY18 by 14 Jul 2017
FY19 by 13 Jul 2018

White papers will be accepted until 2 PM Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2019, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. This BAA will close on 30 Sep 2019.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the TPOC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the TPOC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after submission.

2. CONTENT AND FORMAT: Offerors are required to submit 3 copies of a 3 to 5 page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. 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.
The white paper will be formatted as follows:

a. Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count);
b. Section B: Task Objective; and
c. Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables.

All white papers shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 point. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA-AFRL-RIK-2016-0003 with their submission.

Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b).

3. HANDLING AND MAILING INSTRUCTIONS:

a. CLASSIFICATION GUIDANCE. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 and incorporating Change 2, dated May 18, 2016, as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Security Service (DSS) Site for the NISPOM is: http://www.dss.mil/.

In the event of a possible or actual compromise of classified information in the submission of your white paper or proposal, immediately but no later than 24 hours, bring this to the attention of your cognizant security authority and AFRL Rome Research Site Information Protection Office (IPO):

Vincent Guza
315-330-4048 0730-1630 Monday-Friday
315-330-2961 Evenings and Weekends
Email: [email protected]

b. CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS. AFRL/RISB will accept classified responses to this BAA when the classification is mandated by classification guidance provided by an Original Classification Authority of the U.S. Government, or when the offeror believes the work, if successful, would merit classification. Security classification guidance in the form of a DD Form 254 (DoD Contract Security Classification Specification) will not be provided at this time since AFRL is soliciting ideas only. Offerors that intend to include classified information or data in their white paper submission or who are unsure about the appropriate classification of their white papers should contact the TPOC listed in Section VII for guidance and direction in advance of preparation.

MAILING INSTRUCTIONS.

All mailed responses, unclassified/classified, to this announcement must be sent U.S. Postal Service, registered mail and addressed to AFRL/RISB, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505, and reference BAA AFRL-RIK-2016-0003. When mailing follow the directions regarding the number of copies required.

Unclassified electronic submission will also be accepted by the TPOC-see email address listed in Section VII. Encrypt or password-protect all proprietary information prior to sending. Offerors are responsible to confirm receipt with the technical POC listed in Section VII. AFRL is not responsible for undelivered documents.

If electronic submission is used, only one copy of the documentation is required.

Questions can be directed to the TPOC listed in Section VII.
4. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS/CONSIDERATIONS:

a. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

b. SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM): Offerors must be registered in the SAM database to receive a contract award, and remain registered during performance and through final payment of any contract or agreement. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes forty-eight hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration before submitting a proposal. The provision at FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Oct 2016) applies.

c. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND FIRST-TIER SUBCONTRACT/ SUBRECIPIENT
AWARDS: Any contract award resulting from this announcement may contain the clause at FAR 52.204-10 - Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2016). Any grant or agreement award resulting from this announcement may contain the award term set forth in 2 CFR, Appendix A to Part 25 which can be viewed at: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr25_main_02.tpl

d. ALLOWABLE CHARGES: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS).

e. GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: An offeror must have a government approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined based upon an audit performed by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). IMPORTANT: If you do not have a DCAA approved accounting system access the following link for instructions: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1cffad228f48b58057072a6c9113799d&tab=core&_cview=1

f. HUMAN USE: All research involving human subjects, to include the use of human biological specimens and human data, selected for funding must comply with Federal regulations for human subject protection. Further, research involving human subjects that is conducted or supported by the DoD must comply with 32 CFR 219, "Protection of Human Subjects" found at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_07/32cfr219_07.html, and DoD Instruction 3216.02, "Protection of Human Subjects and Adherence to Ethical Standards in DoD-Supported Research" found at: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/321602p.pdf.

1. Institutions awarded funding for research involving human subjects must provide documentation of a current Assurance of Compliance with Federal regulations for human subject protection, for example a Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Research Protection Federal Wide Assurance found at: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp.

2. All institutions engaged in human subject research, to include subcontractors, must have a valid assurance. In addition, personnel involved in human subject research must document the completion of appropriate training for the protection of human subjects.

3. For all research that will involve human subjects in the first year or phase of the project, the institution must submit evidence of a plan for review by an institutional review board (IRB) as part of the proposal. The IRB conducting the review must be the IRB identified on the institution's Assurance of Compliance. The protocol, separate from the proposal, must include a detailed description of the research plan, study population, risks and benefits of study participation, recruitment and consent process, data collection, and data analysis. The designated IRB should be consulted for guidance on writing the protocol. The informed consent document must comply with 32 CFR 219.116. A valid Assurance of Compliance and evidence of appropriate training by all investigators should accompany the protocol for review by the IRB.

4. In addition to a local IRB approval, An AFRL-level human subject regulatory review and approval is required for all research conducted or supported by the DoD. The Air Force office responsible for managing the award can provide guidance and information about the AFRL-level review process. Confirmation of a current Assurance of Compliance and appropriate human subjects protection training is required before AFRL-level approval can be issued.

5. The time required to complete the IRB review/approval process will vary depending on the complexity of the research and/or the level of risk to study participants; ample time should be allotted to complete the approval process. The IRB approval process can last between 1 to 3 months, followed by a DoD review that could last 3 to 6 months. No funding may be used toward human subject research until all approvals are granted. Therefore, in their cost proposals offerors should separate human use into a separate option.

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION:

1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in equal importance and will be used to determine whether white papers and proposals submitted, are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government:

a. Overall Scientific and Technical Merit - The soundness of approach for the development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology,

b. Related Experience - The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge,

c. Openness, Maturity and Assurance of Solution - The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology, and

d. Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any).

No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received.

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will evaluate the white papers/proposals for selection. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate has contracted for various business and staff support services, some of which require contractors to obtain administrative access to proprietary information submitted by other contractors. Administrative access is defined as "handling or having physical control over information for the sole purpose of accomplishing the administrative functions specified in the administrative support contract, which do not require the review, reading, and comprehension of the content of the information on the part of non-technical professionals assigned to accomplish the specified administrative tasks." These contractors have signed general non-disclosure agreements and organizational conflict of interest statements. The required administrative access will be granted to non-technical professionals. Examples of the administrative tasks performed include: a. Assembling and organizing information for R&D case files; b. Accessing library files for use by government personnel; and c. Handling and administration of proposals, contracts, contract funding and queries. Any objection to administrative access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection.

a. WHITE PAPER/PROPOSAL REVIEW PROCESS:

1. FIRST STEP - White Paper Reviews: The Government will review White Papers to determine which of them have the potential to best meet the Air Force's needs based on the criteria listed above. If white papers are of interest and funding is available, AFRL/RI will request a formal technical and cost proposal from offeror. If white papers are not of interest or there is not funding available, a letter will be sent to the offeror indicating the reason not selected.

2. SECOND STEP - Proposal Review and Selection Process

a) Categories: Based on the evaluation, proposals will be categorized as Selectable or Not Selectable (see definitions below). The selection of one or more offerors for award will be based on the evaluation, as well as importance to agency programs and funding availability.

1. Selectable: Proposals are recommended for acceptance, if sufficient funding* is available.
2. Not Selectable: Even if sufficient funding existed, the proposal should not be funded.

* Selectable proposals will be designated as funded or unfunded. Letters will be sent to the unfunded offerors. These proposals may be funded at a later date without reevaluation, if funding becomes available.

b) The Government reserves the right to award some, all, or none of the proposals. When the Government elects to award only a part of a proposal, the selected part may be categorized as Selectable, though the proposal as a whole may not merit such a categorization.

c) Proposal Risk Assessment: Proposals' technical, cost, and schedule risk will be assessed as part of the above evaluation criteria's application. Proposal risk relates to the identification and assessment of the risks associated with an offeror's proposed approach as it relates to accomplishing the proposed effort. Tradeoffs of the assessed risk will be weighed against the potential scientific benefit. Proposal risk for schedule relates to an assessment of the risks associated with the offeror's proposed number of hours, labor categories, materials, or other cost elements as it relates to meeting the proposed period of performance.

d) Prior to award of a potentially successful offer, the Contracting Officer will make a determination regarding price reasonableness and realism.

3. FEDERAL AWARDEE PERFORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION SYSTEM (FAPIIS)
PUBLIC ACCESS: The Government is required to review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the FAPIIS before making any award in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold (currently $250,000) over the period of performance. An applicant may review and comment on any information about itself that a federal awarding agency previously entered. The Government will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to other information in FAPIIS in making a judgment about the applicant's integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in 2 CFR § 200.205 Federal Awarding Agency Review of Risk Posed by Applicants and per FAR 9.104-6 FAPIIS.

VI. STEP TWO INFORMATION - REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL & AWARD:

1. AWARD NOTICES: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Notification by email or letter will be sent by the technical POC. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

For additional information, a copy of the AFRL "Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Guide for Industry," Mar 2015, and RI-Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions, Jun 2018, which may be accessed at: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1cffad228f48b58057072a6c9113799d&tab=core&_cview=1. Always reference the newest versions of these documents.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS:

a. FACILITY CLEARANCE. Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a TOP SECRET/SCI facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to TOP SECRET/SCI information at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to, a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under this BAA.

b. EXPORT CONTROL LAWS. Awards under this solicitation may require access to, or generation of, data subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dla.mil/HQ/InformationOperations/LogisticsInformationServices.aspx or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-2255 (24/7). You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your white paper/proposal.

c. SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION. The Government encourages the best sources from the scientific and industrial communities to propose, including small business concerns, large businesses, academia and non-profit entities. Non-small businesses are encouraged to team with small business concerns to come up with the best technical solutions and obtain the best mix of cost, performance and schedule.

d. ACTIONS FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, CONTROLLED INFORMATION, KEY PERSONNEL AND CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES. Offerors who are requested to submit a proposal under this solicitation of grants, cooperative agreements, Technology Investment Agreements, and other non-procurement transactions only shall submit specific information for all key personnel, whether or not the individuals' efforts under the project are to be funded by the DoD. Specific requirements will be detailed in the Request for Proposal (RFP) letter. The information shall be included in the Research and Related/Key Person Profile (Expanded) form (https://www.grants.gov/forms/r-r-family.html). This collection only applies to persons identified as key personnel. This information shall not be included in the overall proposal page limits. Failure to submit this information may cause the proposal to be returned without further review, and the DoD reserves the right to request further details before making a final determination on funding an effort. This information will be used to support protection of intellectual property, controlled information, key personnel, and information about critical technologies relevant to national security. Additionally, this information will be used to limit undue influence, including foreign talent programs, by countries that desire to exploit United States' technology within the DoD research, science and technology, and innovation enterprise.

e. BURDEN REDUCTION. With the exception of paragraph d. above, in order to reduce grant recipient reporting burden, effective 1 JAN 2019, use of the SF-424B is optional. Also, effective 1 JAN 2020, the SAM will become the central repository for common government-wide certifications and representations required of Federal grants recipients. As registration in SAM is required for eligibility for a Federal award and registration must be updated annually, Federal agencies will use SAM information to comply with award requirements and avoid increased burden and costs of separate requests for such information, unless the recipient fails to meet a Federal award requirement, or there is a need to make updates to their SAM registration for other purposes. (OMB Memorandum M 18-24).

3. DATA RIGHTS:

a. SBIR RIGHTS. The potential for inclusion of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or data rights other than unlimited on awards is recognized. In accordance with (IAW) the Small Business Administration (SBA) SBIR Policy Directive, Section 8(b), SBIR data rights clauses are non-negotiable and must not be the subject of negotiations pertaining to an award, or diminished or removed during award administration. Issuance of an award will not be made conditional based on forfeit of data rights. If the SBIR awardee wishes to transfer its SBIR data rights to the Air Force or to a third party, it must do so
in writing under a separate agreement. A decision by the awardee to relinquish, transfer, or modify in any way its SBIR data rights must be made without pressure or coercion by the agency or any other party.

b. NON-SBIR RIGHTS.
1. Non-SBIR data rights less than unlimited will be evaluated and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Government Purpose Rights are anticipated for data developed with DoD-reimbursed Independent Research and Development (IR&D) funding.
2. The Air Force Research Laboratory is engaged in the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace forces. As such, rights in technical data and noncommercial computer software (NCS) developed or delivered under this contract are of significant concern to the Government. The Government will therefore carefully consider any restrictions on the use of technical data, NCS, and NCS documentation which could result in transition difficulty or less-than full and open competition for subsequent development of this technology.
3. Third Party Software. DFARS 252.227-7014(d) describes requirements for incorporation of third party computer software. Any third party software (commercial and noncommercial) to be incorporated into a deliverable must be clearly identified in the proposal. Prior to delivery of any third party software, the contractor will obtain an appropriate license for the Government, and the written approval of the contracting officer.

4. REPORTING:
a. Contract Applicable: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports.
b. FAPIIS Applicable: As required by 2 CFR 200 Appendix XII of the Uniform Guidance and FAR 9.104-6, non-federal entities (NFEs) are required to disclose in FAPIIS any information about criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings, and/or affirm that there is no new information to provide. This applies to NFEs that receive federal awards (currently active grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts) greater than $10,000,000 for any period of time during the period of performance of an award/project.

5. NOTICE: The following provisions* apply:
a. FAR 52.209-11, Representation by Corporations Regarding Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction under any Federal Law
b. DFARS 252.239-7017, Notice of Supply Chain Risk
c. DFARS 252.204-7008, Compliance with Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls
d. DFARS 252.215-7013, Supplies and Services Provided by Nontraditional Defense Contractors

* Please note that the current versions or deviations of the related clauses will be included in any resulting contract.

6. GRANT AWARDS ONLY: For efforts proposed as grant awards, offerors must provide an abstract in their proposal (not to exceed one page) that is publically releasable and that describes - in terms the public may understand - the project or program supported by the grant. If the proposal is selected for award, the DoD will publically post the abstract to comply with Section 8123 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235).

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS:

All white paper and proposal submissions and any questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant TPOC as specified below (unless otherwise specified in the technical area):

Ryan Reed
AFRL/RISB
525 Brooks Road
Rome New York 13441-4505
315-330-4896
[email protected]

Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred):

Amber Buckley
Telephone (315) 330-3605
Email: [email protected]

Emails must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition.

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Jun 2016) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA.

The AFRL Ombudsman and AFRL Alternate Ombudsman are as follows:

Ombudsman: Ms Lisette K. LeDuc,
1864 Fourth St.
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130
937-904-4407
[email protected]

Alternate Ombudsman: Mr. Steven Ewers
AFRL/PK
1864 4th Street
Building 15, Room 225
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130
(937) 255-5235
[email protected]