SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- TRUST in Integrated Circuits (TIC)
- Notice Date
- 3/7/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- BAA07-24
- Response Due
- 4/23/2007
- Archive Date
- 3/7/2008
- Description
- PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Largely because of global economic pressures, the development and fabrication of advanced ICs is migrating offshore. In addition, commercial, rather then military, demand is increasingly driving business models. Dedicated facilities (National Security Agency [NSA], Sandia, Honeywell, etc.) cannot provide the performance, variety, and volume of ICs at the cost the Department of Defense (DoD) needs. These trends have raised concerns regarding U.S. weapons systems reliance on high-performance ICs and the potential vulnerabilities of these systems caused by malicious manipulation of hardware and software processes that could render them inoperable at some future time. This situation is true for some ICs currently in use, such as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), and for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) configurable parts, such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). Furthermore, protecting intellectual property and military secrets is problematic because these are often embedded in the design of ICs, and the manufacturer in the fabrication process often needs the details of the designs. This new DARPA initiative is tailored to address the above issues and others identified in the Defense Science Board (DSB) study on High-Performance Microchip Supply (http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2005-02-HPMS_Report_Final.pdf). The report addresses design, use of advanced design tools, fabrication, packaging, testing, and monitoring of high-performance ICs. TRUST in ICs addresses the fundamental problem of determining whether a microchip manufactured through a process that is inherently (untrusted) (i.e., not under our control) can be (trusted) to perform operations only as specified by the design, and no more. To be clear, DARPA is only interested in issues related to TRUSTed ICs and is not interested in proposals pertaining to issues concerning printed circuit boards or malicious software in general. The trustworthiness of ICs used in the DoD and intelligence community is a long-standing and recognized issue, dating back to before the migration of fabrication processes to foreign foundries became so prevalent. The DoD (Trusted Foundry Program), which regulates and maintains U.S.-owned and operated fabrication facilities, was created to address these concerns. However, as highlighted in the DSB report referenced above, the Trusted Foundry Program is viewed as a partial solution to a problem of growing concern. Although the Trusted Foundry Program is an important and useful program, the DARPA TRUST Program is intended to develop technologies that can provide trust in the absence of a trusted foundry. This DARPA effort is not intended to supplant the Trusted Foundry Program or improve its processes or capabilities. It will only consider technical efforts that address fabrication of ASICs via non-trusted foundries and software implementation of configurable hardware, such as FPGAs. In addition to benefiting the DoD by ensuring the trust of ICs manufactured offshore, this program will benefit high-security commercial interests by developing technologies that offer rigorous validation of IC hardware and its design regardless of where the design or manufacturing processes take place. PERIOD OF SOLICITATION/DUE DATES This BAA will remain open from 7 March 2007 through 7 March 2008. For consideration during the initial round of selections, proposers are required to submit proposals by 23 April 2007. However, proposals received after this deadline may be evaluated up to 1 year from date of posting. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION Proposals shall be submitted electronically using the following submission method: DARPA/MTO will employ an electronic upload process, the Technical Financial Information Management System (T-FIMS) Proposal Submission System, for proposal submissions to this BAA. Electronic proposals should be in Microsoft Word format or PDF and submitted via a web site interface: Web Site: https://www.tfims.darpa.mil/baa. Organizations planning to submit proposals must register at http://www.tfims.darpa.mil/baa. Only the lead or prime organization should register. One registration per proposal should be submitted. This means that an organization wishing to submit to multiple technical topic areas should complete a single registration for each proposal. By registering, the Proposer has made no commitment to submit. The deadline for T-FIMS registration is 9 April 2007. Please note: if the registration date is missed, the offeror may not be able to upload their proposal by the published proposal submission due date. Proposals may not be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded. DARPA encourages use of the WWW for retrieving the Proposer Information Pamphlet and any other related information that may subsequently be provided. GENERAL INFORMATION Proposers must obtain a pamphlet entitled "BAA 07-24,TRUST in Integrated Circuits (TIC), Proposer Information Pamphlet, which provides further information on technical areas of interest to DARPA as well as detailed proposal preparation/submission instructions. This pamphlet may be obtained from the FedBizOpps website: http://www.fedbizopps.gov/, World Wide Web (WWW) at URL http://www.darpa.mil/ or by fax, electronic mail, or mail request to the administrative contact address given below. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. Please pay attention for an announcement of an upcoming bidders conference in support of BAA 07-24. This notice, in conjunction with the BAA 07-24 Proposer Information Pamphlet, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for the same will be disregarded. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received and to make awards without discussion. In the event that DARPA desires to award only portions of a proposal, negotiations will be opened with that offeror. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal which shall be considered by DARPA. Input on technical aspects of the proposals may be solicited by DARPA from non-Government consultants /experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. Non-Government technical consultants/experts will not have access to proposals that are labeled by their offerors as "Government Only". Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Institutions (MIs), and Small and Small Disadvantaged Businesses are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals; however, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for these organizations' participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of research in Trusted Integrated Circuits. DARPA/MTO anticipates proposals submitted under this BAA may be classified. Instructions regarding such submissions are provided in the associated BAA PIP. Any questions regarding the TRUST in Integrated Circuits (TIC) BAA, BAA07-24, please send them to the BAA e-mail address, BAA07-24@darpa.mil. Answers to all frequently asked questions and any questions seeking technical clarification will be posted on the MTO Solicitations webpage, http://www.darpa.mil/mto/solicitations, under the BAA07-24 section. EVALUATION CRITERIA Evaluation of proposal white papers and full proposals will be accomplished through a technical review of each proposal using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: (l) overall scientific and technical merit, (2) potential contribution and relevance to DARPA mission, (3) plans and capability to accomplish technology transition, (4) offeror's capabilities, related experience, and relevant past experience, (5) schedule reaslism, and (6) cost realism. Cost/price reasonableness will be made prior to award. Proposals identified for funding may result in a procurement contract or other transaction depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of interaction between parties, and other factors. If warranted, portions of resulting awards may be segregated into pre-priced options. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: (703) 351-8616 (Addressed to: DARPA/MTO, BAA 07-24), Electronic Mail: BAA07-24@darpa.mil Mail: DARPA/MTO, ATTN: BAA 07-24 3701 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203-1714 This announcement and the Proposer Information Pamphlet may be retrieved via the WWW at URL http://www.darpa.mil/ in the solicitations area. Point of Contact Dean R. Collins, Deputy Director-MTO, Phone 571-218-4650, Fax 703-696-2206, Email dean.collins@darpa.mil.
- Record
- SN01246079-W 20070309/070307221804 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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