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

A -- COLLABORATION, VISUALIZATION, AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (CVIM) TECHNOLOGY SOL BAA97-09 DUE 022697 POC Dr. Ronald Larsen, DARPA/ITO, FAX: (703) 522-7161. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for research and technology development to (1) enhance the ability of teams to collaborate through shared artifacts and information spaces supporting multiple views, and (2) advance capabilities of networked systems to manage multi-media and multi-mode information. The focus of this BAA is on the integration of humans and networked information systems to improve collaboration and information utility. This solicitation builds on and extends ongoing efforts to build collaboration middleware and digital library technology. 1) INTELLIGENT COLLABORATION AND VISUALIZATION (IC&V) Dr. Kevin Mills. The IC&V goal is to develop generation-after-next collaboration middleware and tools that enable the military to: 1) gather problem solvers together across time and space, 2) marshal task-oriented information resources, and 3) enhance collaboration effectiveness. This component of the program aims to develop: 1) Tools for Sharing Meaning, and 2) Tools for Sharing Views. Innovative proposals that fall outside these specific areas may be of interest. 1.1 TOOLS FOR SHARING MEANING: Collaborating users and their agents need a shared model of information artifacts and spaces. Innovative techniques and tools are sought to construct and represent shared models. Areas to be addressed include: metadata for self-describing objects, processes, and resources, organizing and managing personal and shared information spaces, mapping semantic concepts between domains and across languages, indexing, synopsizing, archiving and reviewing collaborative sessions, enabling collaborating teams to evolve and evaluate process rules and constraints, and real-time discovery of relevant collaborators and information. 1.2 TOOLS FOR SHARING VIEWS: Current systems support shared whiteboards and briefing slides. Collaboration requirements go well beyond this. A commander might, for example, designate an area on a shared map, while a logistics officer views stores distribution and an intelligence officer interprets aerial imagery. The three plan an operation while each views information relevant to his expertise and shares information of mutual interest. Innovative techniques and tools are sought to adapt views based on role and task, to manipulate advanced visualizations across groups, to represent views of information spaces, and to support multimedia annotations. Areas to be addressed include techniques, tools, protocols, and software: for visualizing and manipulating shareable information spaces, artifacts and processes, for enhancing visualizations with multimedia annotations, for seeing independent views of mutually related information and sharing elements within the context of a collaborative task, and for interactively controlling shared animation models. 2. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (IM) Dr. Ronald Larsen. The IM program seeks advances in technology for acquiring, organizing, and using networked information. The program seeks the development of scalable, interoperable middleware for 1) managing exponentially growing information resources, 2) identifying materials relevant to a specific task, considering context, and 3) organizing information for rapid exploitation. The objective is to provide a superior ability to evaluate all aspects of a given situation to inform rapid decision processes. The program seeks development of technology in 2 areas: Analysis Environments and Information Repositories. 2.1 ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTS: Powerful user-centered information analysis environments supporting correlation and manipulation of multimedia and complex information resources across disciplinary and linguistic barriers are sought. Areas to be addressed include: acquisition, organization, manipulation and use of passive and active information resources and services based on semantic content, visualizing complex and abstract information spaces, value-based filtering, and search, retrieval, and manipulation of multimedia and complex documents across a language barrier. 2.2 INTEROPERABLE REPOSITORIES: Scalable, secure, interoperable information repositories supporting a wide range of information resources and services are sought. Areas to be addressed include: registration & security of information resources and services, access controls, and rights management, automatic classification & federation techniques, distributed service assurance facilities to match user interaction styles and needs to system performance capabilities, and exploration of opportunities for dramatic improvements in user effectiveness afforded by high bandwidth. 3. CVIM INTEGRATION TESTBED Dr. Ronald Larsen. The IC&V and IM programs bridge the gap between research and DoD evaluation through a modestly sized integration testbed, where promising technologies will be integrated into an experimental CVIM environment in which new technologies will be evaluated in Defense applications. Innovative means are sought to evaluate the utility, performance, and scalability of promising research results in an integrated, interoperable system. Of particular interest are analysis and collaboration exercises in areas such as air campaign planning, command and control, and intelligence analysis. Also of interest are areas such as software, network engineering, and the design of complex systems. Specific scenarios of interest include: collaboration team members disconnected for substantial periods, joint service activities across fixed and mobile sites, multi-team collaboration, and analysis tasks requiring context-sensitive identification and use of diverse, distributed multimedia information resources. PROGRAM SCOPE: Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Research should result in prototype hardware and software demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches on Defense-relevant applications. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or hardware solution. Integrated solution sets embodying significant technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined research endeavors. Partnering arrangements among academic, industrial, and non-profit research organizations are strongly encouraged. GENERAL INFORMATION: A briefing for DARPA BAA 97-09 will be held from 3-5 PM Monday, November 18, 1996 at the Sheraton National Hotel, Crystal City, Arlington, VA. Registration information may be obtained from the administrative contact below. The intent of the briefing is to provide information regarding the BAA and to answer clarifying questions. Clarifying questions can be submitted in advance to the administrative address provided below. Remarks and explanations provided at this meeting shall not qualify the terms of the BAA. The terms and specifications of the BAA remain unchanged unless the BAA is amended in writing by DARPA. A copy of the briefing slides, summarized questions and answers from the meeting, and an attendee list will be available after the briefing at http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations or by contacting the administrative contact. In order to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review, proposers are strongly encouraged to submit brief proposal abstracts in advance of full proposals. An original and eight copies of the proposal abstract must be submitted to DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 97-09, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, on or before 4:00 PM (ET), Monday, December 23, 1996, to guarantee review. After evaluation of the proposal abstracts, DARPA will provide offerors with an indication of the relevance and acceptability of the technical ideas proposed. Proposers must submit an original and eight copies of full proposals by 4:00 PM (ET), Wednesday, February 26, 1997, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain a pamphlet, BAA 97-09 Proposer Information, which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, proposal abstracts, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or mail request to the administrative contact address given below, as well as at URL address http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This Commerce Business Daily notice, in conjunction with the pamphlet BAA 97-09 Proposer Information, 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 (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) 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 information security 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, (2) potential contribution and relevance to DARPA mission, (3) offeror's capabilities and related experience, (4) plans and capability to accomplish technology transition, and (5) cost realism. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, must be directed to one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM, February 19, 1997, e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 97-09. Proposals and proposal abstracts may not be submitted by fax, any so sent will be disregarded. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-7161 Addressed to: DARPA/ITO, BAA 97-09, Electronic Mail: baa9709@darpa.mil, Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations.html, Mail: DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 97-09, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. (0306)

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