MODIFICATION
A -- CYBER ASSURANCE TECHNOLOGIES
- Notice Date
- 1/27/2014
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL/RIK - Rome, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, New York, 13441-4514, United States
- ZIP Code
- 13441-4514
- Solicitation Number
- BAA-11-01-RIKA
- Point of Contact
- Gail E. Marsh, Phone: 315-330-7518
- E-Mail Address
-
Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil
(Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The purpose of this modification is to republish the original announcement, incorporating all previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing eliminates the technical focus areas that have expired for ease of reading and makes some minor changes (i.e., Deleted "Polymorphic Networks and Machines" & added "Next Generation BIOS Security"). This republishing also includes the following changes: (a) Section II: Add sentence on funding availability; (b) Section III.1: Correct first sentence; (c) Section IV.1: Added new URL for BAA Guide to Industry; (d) Section IV.7: Add POC for compromise of classified info; (e) Section V.3: Paragraph added to address adequate price competition; (f) Section VI.3: Inserted Paragraph 3 on data rights; (g) Section VII: Add Ombudsman's email; and (h) Changed all "rl.af.mil" email addresses to "us.af.mil" to reflect new changes to the standard Air Force email addresses. No other changes have been made. NAICS CODE: 541712 FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514 TITLE: Cyber Assurance Technologies ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial announcement FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: BAA 11-01-RIKA CFDA Number: 12.800 I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION: This BAA is a contracting tool directly responsive to Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) cyber science & technology (S&T) strategic goals. Specifically, this BAA supports the AFRL cyber strategy to: 1) assure and empower the mission; 2) enhance agility and resilience; and 3) invent foundations of trust and assurance. To support each of these strategic goals, this BAA seeks to procure capabilities that strengthen the foundation of trusted systems, provide resiliency, and integrate the different aspects of cyber operations (attack, defense, and exploitation) as a force multiplier. As such, it supports work in the areas of trusted hardware, trusted software, trusted data, secure systems/architectures, embedded systems, maneuverability, mission awareness, mission assurance, in-situ, run-time survivability and recovery techniques, and effects-based, strategic cyber defense. Supported work should be consistent with the concept of an integrated mission framework for synchronized operations. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate is soliciting white papers in specific focus areas, including cyber agility, incorruptible data, codes, and executables, assured execution, survivability, self-regeneration, immune recovery and mission assurance. NOTE: The POC for each focus area is provided for QUESTIONS ONLY. See Section IV Paragraph 6 for submission details. The scope of this BAA is not limited to the aforementioned focus areas. Other applicable areas of technology include, but are not limited to, rapid computer/network forensics, attack attribution/geolocation, novel protocols, cloud architectures/security, mobile/embedded device security, secure computer/processor architectures, virtualization security, industrial control system security, cyber technology evaluation techniques, cyber modeling, simulation, metrics, and measurements, cyber data mining/understanding, next generation BIOS Security, and cyber visualization. SPECIFIC FOCUS AREA: CYBER AGILITY Background: Currently, adversaries can plan their attacks carefully over time by relying on the static nature of our networks, and launch their attacks at the times and places of their choosing. The DoD needs new tools and technologies to reverse the current asymmetry that favors our cyber adversaries, by forcing them to spend more, cope with greater levels of complexity and uncertainty, and accept greater risks of exposure and detection due to the significantly increased requirements for reconnaissance and intelligence collection of our networks. If we control the dynamics of our systems and networks, any deviation from these known dynamics can also provide an opportunity for increased discrimination of attacker activity and unexpected system states. AFRL will pursue Science & Technology for defensive cyber maneuver and agility to disrupt adversary cyberspace operations, including adversary attack planning and execution. Agility mechanisms must be incorporated in such a way that they are transparent to authorized users, and must introduce minimal functional and performance impacts. We wish to disrupt our adversaries and not ourselves. The security of such mechanisms is also paramount, so that their power is not co-opted by attackers against us for their own purposes. Objective: The objective is to avoid attacks by making it harder for a determined adversary to succeed by increasing agility, diversity, and redundancy, to disrupt attack planning and execution. Questions regarding this focus area can be directed to: Walt Tirenin (315) 330-4429 Walt.Tirenin@us.af.mil FOCUS AREA: CYBER MISSION ASSURANCE Background: This focus is on novel approaches to assure critical Air Force mission essential functions (MEF) in a contested cyber environment. Mission assurance seeks to codify a top-down approach for mapping MEF dependence on cyberspace across the information lifecycle (information generation, processing, storage, transmission, consumption and destruction), identifying cyber vulnerabilities, developing metrics to assess the risk from cyber vulnerabilities on MEF, and developing strategies to mitigate the vulnerabilities. We view mission assurance in the context of preventing and avoiding threats by deterring potential threats through increased costs and reduced benefits. We seek a scientific basis for mission assurance, including the development of mathematical models to represent MEF dependence on cyber, an exploration of the fractal nature of mission mapping, and the development of metrics for the cost of vulnerability mitigation in proportion to the increased cost to potential threats. These will in turn enable the development of more rigorous approaches to situational understanding as well as command and control. Research into cloud computing technologies could provide potential solutions to the mission assurance research area by increasing the availability and redundancy of continuous or contingency operations. We invite novel techniques for secure data storage, processing and communication practices within a cloud architecture. We seek solutions that utilize the dynamic characteristics of cloud computing technology to prevent and avoid threats. Under the establishment of an internal center of excellence in cloud computing, there is a need for further research within AFRL and the DoD community. The center of excellence should provide opportunities for this research through collaboration and related internships. Objectives: • Create a scientific basis for mission assurance. • Provide novel techniques for secure data storage, processing and communication practices within a cloud architecture. • Construct appropriate research opportunities within the DoD community. • Support other S&T initiatives in the areas of situational understanding and command and control Questions regarding this focus area can be directed to: Dr. Sarah Muccio (315) 330-4016 Sarah.Muccio@us.af.mil FOCUS AREA: FIGHT THROUGH & SURVIVE WITH MISSION ASSURANCE Background: The DoD has a critical need for information systems that adapt and/or gracefully degrade when unexpected events occur. These systems are subjected to constant change such as overload, component failure, cyber attacks, evolving operational requirements, and/or a dynamic operational environment. A system should adapt to these changes by reconfiguring its resources to provide a different, though acceptable, level of service and security to assure mission essential functions. Without adaptation many important activities receive fewer resources than needed while less important activities waste resources by receiving more resources than necessary. Most existing systems either do not adapt or have ad hoc hardwired mechanisms to accommodate only a small, predefined, set of changes. There are no standard methodologies or common tools to assist application developers in managing this sort of dynamic adaptation. Objective: The vision for this focus area is "survive with mission assurance". This focus area is concerned with runtime assessment and management of resources/assets to ensure mission essential functions and conveying trustworthiness. Research Concentration Areas: The "Fight Through & Survive with Mission Assurance" focus area explores the research challenges below, but other approaches that achieve the stated objectives will be considered: (1) Cyber Defense Metrics - Identify low-level observable properties and measurable quantities that contribute to the mission based assessment. (2) Mission Aware Adaptive Tradeoffs - Integration of QoS (Functionality) and QoIA (Security) management. There is a need to understand tradeoff policy and de-confliction of QoS and QoIA based on the mission. There is a need to develop fine-grained tunable IA mechanisms and controls. (3) Survivability Architecture- Compose a survivability architecture that supports and enforces service delivery and information assurance requirements based on mission priorities. Questions regarding this focus area can be directed to: Anthony Macera (315) 330-4480, anthony.macera.1@us.af.mil FOCUS AREA: SELF-REGENERATIVE INCORRUPTIBLE ENTERPRISE THAT DYNAMICALLY RECOVERS WITH IMMUNITY Background: Existing approaches to information system security and survivability consist of preventing, detecting and containing unintentional errors and/or cyber attacks. The problem with this approach is that regardless of how well systems are protected or how well they tolerate errors and/or attacks; they will eventually fail over time unless they have the ability to self-regenerate. Once a successful cyber attack is discovered the adversary can quickly use the same attack over and over again to cause the same negative effect on our mission. Existing systems are currently taken offline and out of the fight for hours to days to be repaired and there is no guarantee that the repair is immune to the attack or variants of the attack. What are needed are information systems that are able to dynamically recover with immunity in mission time without human intervention in response to unforeseen errors and/or previously unknown cyber attacks. Objective: The vision for this focus area is "recover with immunity". This focus area is concerned with recovering with immunity from errors and/or cyber attacks to ensure mission critical systems stay in the fight. Research Concentration Areas: The "Self Regenerative, Incorruptible Enterprise" focus area explores the research challenges below, but other approaches that achieve the stated objectives will be considered: (1) Persistent applications (data & state) - The goal of this technology area is to make applications hard to corrupt, disable or remove (like malware). When an attack is successful these applications find a way to keep performing the mission. (2) Machine Generated Reconstitution - The goal of this technology area is to automatically machine-generate repairs to recover with immunity from errors/cyber attacks. (3) Reconstitution of Data and State - The goal of this technology area is mission continuation by automatically repairing corrupted data & state to remove residue from errors/cyber attacks. (4) Understanding Synthetic Diversity or other technology used to recover with immunity - There is a need to better understand the use of synthetic diversity or other technology used to ensure complete attack space coverage and/or understand the effectiveness against various classes of cyber attack. Questions regarding this focus area can be directed to: Anthony Macera (315) 330-4480, anthony.macera.1@us.af.mil II. AWARD INFORMATION: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY11 - $4M; FY12 - $12M; FY13- $12M; FY14 - $12M; FY15 - $9M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 36 months with dollar amounts ranging between $100K and $1M per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value. 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 proposed work. 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. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: 1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply. All foreign allied participation is excluded at the prime contractor level. 2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement. 3. System for Award Management (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database prior to submitting an invoice. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes five business days, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration at least two weeks prior to invoicing. 4. Executive Compensation and First-Tier Sub-contract/Sub-recipient 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. Any grant or agreement award resulting from this announcement may contain the award term set forth in 2 CFR, Appendix A to Part 25 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=c55a4687d6faa13b137a26d0eb436edb&rgn=div5&view= text&node=2:1.1.1.41&idno=2#2:1.1.1.4.1.2.1.1 IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION: 1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. 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. For additional information, a copy of the AFRL "Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Guide for Industry," May 2012, may be accessed at: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=e68f832abb3a7341bb7328547c0e19c0&tab= core&_cview=0 2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit 1 hard copy of a 4-5 page white paper AND 1 electronic copy on a CD summarizing their proposed approach/solution. All whitepaper/proposals shall be submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format, double spaced, double sided, and have a font no smaller than 12 pitch with any figures, tables and charts easily legible. 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: • Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email), and target technology area (e.g., Rapid Forensics) - (this section is NOT included in the page count); • Section B: Task Objective • Section C: Innovative Claims (How will this effort enhance or replace the state-of-the-art?); • Section D: Technical Approach (Why is this approach superior to alternatives or current practice?); • Section E: Biggest Technical Challenge (What are the major technical challenges in the approach? How will those challenges be mitigated?); • Section F: Schedule and Proposed Deliverables. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, a fax number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA 11-01-RIKA with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to Jeff DeMatteis (Technical POC), as discussed in paragraph seven of this section. 3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY11 should be submitted by 15 March 2011; FY12 by 1 December 2011; FY13 by 1 December 2012; FY14 by 1 December 2013; and FY15 by 1 Dec 2014. White papers will be accepted anytime during the period that this BAA remains open, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. This BAA is open and effective until 2pm EST on 28 Sep 2015 unless cancelled at an earlier date. 4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: 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). 5. CLASSIFICATION GUIDANCE FOR WHITEPAPER SUBMISSIONS: AFRL/RIGA 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 proposer 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. Proposers 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 technical point of contact listed in Section VII for guidance and direction in advance of preparation. 6. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 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/ 7. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer. All unclassified responses to this announcement will be sent via U.S. Postal Service registered mail and addressed to AFRL/RIGA, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505, and reference BAA-11-01-RIKA. Electronic submission is not authorized unless expressly permitted by the technical POC listed in Section VII. Questions can be directed to the technical POC listed in Section VII. CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT TO AFRL/RIGA SEPARATELY FROM UNCLASSIFIED PAPERS AS PER THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. Use classification and marking guidance provided by previously issued security classification guides, the Information Security Regulation (DoD 5200.1-R), and the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (DoD 5220.22-M) when marking and transmitting information previously classified by another original classification authority. Classified information at the Confidential and Secret level may be mailed via U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Registered Mail. For proposals of higher classification levels or for alternate submission mechanisms please contact the technical POC listed in Section VII. When mailing, ensure the response is appropriately marked, sealed, and mailed in accordance with the classified material handling procedures. The classified mailing address is: Ref: BAA-11-01-RIKA AFRL/RIGA 525 Brooks Road Rome NY 13441-4505 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): Bob Kane 315-330-2324 0730-1630 Monday-Friday 315-330-2961 Evenings and Weekends Email: Robert.Kane.7@us.af.mil V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION: 1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, 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: (1) Overall scientific and/or technical merit including technical feasibility, degree of innovation, and understanding of the technical and operational approach for employment of the technology; (2) The effort's potential contribution and relevance to the U. S. Air Force's mission assurance objectives; (3) The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge, which may include testing of prototype capabilities and assessment against Information Assurance requirements; and (4) The reasonableness and realism of proposed costs, and fees (if any). No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. 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, or 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. 3. ADEQUATE PRICE COMPETITION: The Government may simultaneously evaluate proposals received under this BAA from multiple offerors. In this case, the Government may make award based on adequate price competition, and offerors must be aware that there is a possibility of non-selection due to a proposal of similar but higher-priced technical approach as compared to another offeror. VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION: 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. All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after proposal submission. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS: CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS: AFRL/RIGA 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 proposer 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. After reviewing incoming proposals, if a determination is made that contract award may result in access to classified information a DD Form 254 will be issued upon contract award. Proposers that intend to include classified information or data in their submission or who are unsure about the appropriate classification of their white papers should contact the technical point of contact listed in Section VII for guidance and direction in advance of preparation. Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a SECRET or TOP SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET or TOP SECRET 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. This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/ and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-3572. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your Proposal. 3. DATA 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. 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. 4. REPORTING: Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports. VII. AGENCY CONTACTS: Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below: TPOC Name: Jeff DeMatteis Telephone: (315) 330-7132 Email: jeffrey.dematteis@us.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below: Gail E. Marsh Telephone (315) 330-7518 Email: gail.marsh@us.af.mil The email 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 (Apr 2010) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows: Ms. Barbara Gehrs AFRL/PK 1864 4th Street Building 15, Room 225 Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7130 FAX: (937) 656-7321; Comm: (937) 904-4407 Email: barbara.gehrs@us.af.mil All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.
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