Information Assurance For The US Intelligence Community BAA The following is a brief detail of this BAA. For full detail on requirement and proposal instructions, please see http://www.nbc.gov/infoassurance.cfm. I. INTRODUCTION: The Department of Interior, National Business Center, Acquisition Services Division, Southwest Branch, Fort Huachuca, AZ, acting as the contracting agent for the Intelligence Community's Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA), invites the submission of research proposals that provide novel and innovative approaches, breakthrough technologies, and/or leap-ahead technologies for difficult information assurance problems that exist within the US Intelligence Community (IC) information infrastructure. Appendix A provides more background information on ARDA. This Broad Area Announcement (BAA) seeks focused research efforts that advance the state-of-the-art in the following four information assurance (IA) areas: 1. Countering Malicious Insider Threats; 2. Attack Attribution; 3. High Assurance for IC Information Infrastructure; and 4. New Defensive Concepts For this BAA, each of the above IA areas is subdivided into general and specific research areas of interest. For further details, see the Proposal Information Pamphlet at http://www.nbc.gov/infoassurance.cfm. ARDA anticipates the award of multiple proposals, but not all acceptable proposals will be awarded. Awards will be determined by availability of funding. II. GENERAL INFORMATION An individual proposal may address only one of the four research areas identified above. However, multiple proposals may be submitted by a single offeror. The research area of primary interest should be clearly identified in the proposal. Proposals must also clearly identifythe subtopic(s) within the main research area that the proposal is addressing. Multiple subtopics within a research area may be addressed within a single proposal. However, where multiple research subtopics are addressed, separate technical, cost and deliverable information must be provided for the work proposed. Teaming between industry, independent research centers and academia is encouraged, and commercial technology may be leveraged wherever possible. According to DFARS 235.017-1, certain Federal Labs may submit proposals. For eligible Federal Labs, partnering with a university or private company is not required. From DFARS 235.017-1: "DoD-sponsored FFRDC's that function primarily as research laboratories (C3I Laboratory operated by the Institute for Defense Analysis, Lincoln Laboratory operated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Software Engineering Institute) may respond to solicitations and announcements for programs which promote research, development, demonstration, or transfer of technology (Section 217, Pub.L.103-337)." DoD- and DOE-sponsored FFRDCs may also respond to this BAA. The full list of DoD-and DOE-sponsored FFRDCs is maintained by the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03308/start.htm). The government shall have unlimited rights to all technical data and software that directly result from this research. The Government may, at its sole discretion, require that research results be documented in a paper suitable for publication in a national and/or international peer-reviewed journal or professional journal. Period of Performance: Phase 1 shall be a basic period of 18 months after contract award and incrementally funded in FY03 and FY04. Phase 2 shall be for a period of 12 months and be exercised as an option in FY05. Total Program Funding: Funding for the base efforts (FY03/FY04- Phase 1) is anticipated to be $11,000,000 and for the Option efforts (FY05- Phase 2) is anticipated to be $5,000,000. Multiple awards are anticipated. It is anticipated that subsequent rounds of this BAA will also have a similar phase 1 and 2 approach i.e., 18 month followed by a 12 month option . Individual Awards: Phase 1 (FY03/FY04) awards are expected to be in the range of $750K with possible option year awards bringing the total to in excess of 1 million dollars. The amount of the award will vary according to the type of effort undertaken. These figures are estimates only. This BAA will remain open for 3 years after the publishing date. The initial round deadline is 8 Jun 2003. Information in this BAA is supplemented by a Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) that provides further information on the eligibility, support, research areas, multidisciplinary approaches, preparation and submission of proposals, and selection criteria. It is available at http://www.nbc.gov/infoassurance.cfm. This pamphlet may also be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or official mail. Send requests for PIP to the Department of Interior, Fort Huachuca by email to
[email protected] or call 520-533-1213. This Broad Agency Announcement constitutes the entire solicitation for this effort. No additional information is available, nor will a formal request for proposal or other solicitation regarding this notice be issued, requests for the same will be disregarded. III. PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: See the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) which provides preparation and submission instructions for proposals. It is available on the web site listed above. IV. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: Proposals are due on or before 4:00 PM, Mountain Standard Time, 8 Jun 2003, to the Department of the Interior, National Business Center, Acquisition Support Division, Southwest Branch, Post Office Box 12924, ATTN: BAA (G. Golden), Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 85670-2924. See the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) which provides detailed instructions on proposal submission procedures. It is available on the web site listed above. V. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION. Proposals will be selected through a technical/scientific/business decision process using the following criteria in descending order of importance: (1) Overall scientific and/or technical merit, including technical feasibility, degree of innovation, understanding of the technical and operational approach, and experimental approach. If a proposal lacks overall scientific and/or technical merit, it will not be further considered for award. (2) The effort's potential contributions to the Intelligence Community's Information Assurance efforts. (3) Cost reasonableness and realism. (4) The offeror's capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques, or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving proposal objectives (5) Qualifications, capabilities, and experience of key personnel (6) The offeror's record of present and past performance Awards under this BAA will be made to responsible offerors on the basis of the evaluation criteria above and a BEST VALUE approach to the Government. Awards will be subject to the availability of funds. Awards may take the form of a procurement contract.. The Government reserves the right to 1) select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received, and 2) incrementally fund any award instrument. The Government also reserves the right to fund all or any part of a proposal evaluated to be eligible for award. Awards are subject to the availability of Government funds.