Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contract Management Directorate (CMD), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- AUTONOMOUS NEGOTIATING TEAMS (ANT) SOL BAA00-24 DUE 021000 POC J. Sztipanovits, DARPA/ITO, FAX: (703) 522-7161 AUTONOMOUS NEGOTIATING TEAMS (ANT), SOL BAA 00-24, DUE 02/10/00, POC DR. JANOS SZTIPANOVITS, DARPA/ITO, FAX: (703) 522-7161. The Autonomous Negotiating Teams (ANT) program solicits research to contribute to the theoretical foundation and to the technical solutions for a new class of real-time, distributed resource management systems. The goal of DARPA's Autonomous Negotiating Teams (ANT) program is to advance technology for the autonomous negotiation of assignment and efficient usage of resources, such as weapons to tasks, with moving targets. The technology will enable designers to build resource management systems that operate in highly decentralized environments, making maximum use of local information, providing solutions that are both good enough, and soon enough in a rapidly changing, dynamic environment. These systems will have components that communicate effectively with local peers, and also with information and organizational structure at proper levels of abstraction of the dynamic situations. ANT systems will scale to much larger problem sizes by making maximum use of localized, rather than global information, and by explicitly making decision theoretic trade-offs in run time. Distinguishing characteristics of ANT negotiations include the explicit time-bounds on estimation of the resource required and expected performance of actions. This new technology will enable us to build systems that are designed to utilize, at the application level, all the distributed, networked computational resources (hardware, operating systems, and communication) that have been developed over the past two decades. Limited funds are available for additional research complementing the negotiation-based resource allocation approaches pursued by the program. Of particular interest to this solicitation are the following technical topic areas: (1) Control of Computational Cost: A central issue in resource management is to find resource assignments satisfying complex sets of constraints. Unfortunately, constraint satisfaction is one of the problems that can easily lead to computationally intractable problem instances. The presence of time bounds on solving resource allocation problems mandates that such problem instances must be avoided. Innovative approaches are sought to control the computational cost via dynamic problem reformulation. (2)Dynamic Behavior of ANT: In a typical ANT resource allocation scenario, resources are continuously allocated and re-allocated as a result of ongoing interaction among large number of agents with limited information about the status of tasks and resources. Computation delay, network latency and unreliable information may result in complex dynamics and instability that must be understood and controlled. Negotiation strategies need to be evaluated with respect to the overall system dynamics they induce. Innovative approaches are sought to model and analyze global properties of ANT systems. PROGRAM SCOPE: Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Proposals are not limited to the specific strategies listed above and alternative visions will be considered. However, proposals should be for research that substantially contributes towards the goals stated. Research should result in prototype software demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or solution. Integrated solution sets embodying significant technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined research endeavors. Proposals may involve other research groups or industrial cooperation and cost sharing. GENERAL INFORMATION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Information Technology Office (DARPA/ITO) requires completion of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Cover Sheet Submission for each proposed Proposal, by accessing the URL below: http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.asp?BAAid=0024. After finalizing the BAA Cover Sheet Submission, the proposer must submit the BAA Confirmation Sheet that will automatically appear on the web page. Each proposer is responsible for printing the BAA Confirmation Sheet and submitting it attached to the "original" and each designated number of copies. In doing so, the Confirmation Sheet should be the first page of your Proposal. Failure to comply with these submission procedures may result in the submission not being evaluated. Detailed information and instructions are outlined within the Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP). Proposers must submit an original and 4 copies of the full proposal and 8 electronic copies (i.e., 8 separate disks) of the full proposal (in Microsoft Word '97 for IBM-compatible, PDF, or ASCII format on one 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA 00-24, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and Copy ___ of 8. The full proposal (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) must be submitted in time to reach DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET), Thursday, February 10, 2000, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain the BAA 00-24 Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, mail request to the administrative contact address given below, or at URL address http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This Commerce Business Daily notice, in conjunction with the BAA 00-24 Proposer Information Pamphlet and all references, 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 this 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: The overall scientific and technical merit must be clearly identifiable. The technical concept should be clearly defined and developed. Emphasis should be placed on the technical value of the development and experimentation approach. (2) Innovative Technical Solution to the Problem: Proposed efforts should apply new or existing technology in a new way such as is advantageous to the ANT objectives. Plan on how offeror intends to get developed technology and information to the user community should be considered. (3) Potential Contribution and Relevance to DARPA Mission: The offeror must clearly address how the proposed effort will meet the goals of the ANT undertaking. The relevance is further indicated by the offeror's understanding of the operating environment of the capability to be developed. (4) Offeror's Capabilities and Related Experience: The qualifications, capabilities, and demonstrated achievements of the proposed principals and other key personnel for the primary and subcontractor organizations must be clearly shown. (5) Plans and Capability to Accomplish Technology Transition: The offeror should provide a clear explanation of how the technologies to be developed will be transitioned to capabilities for military forces. Technology transition should be a major consideration in the design of experiments, particularly considering the potential for involving potential transition organizations in the experimentation process. (6) Cost Realism: The overall estimated cost to accomplish the effort should be clearly shown as well as the substantiation of the costs for the technical complexity described. Evaluation will consider the value to Government of the research and the extent to which the proposed management plan will effectively allocate resources to achieve the capabilities proposed. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal to this BAA, must be received at one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM (ET), Thursday, February 3, 2000; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 00-24. Proposals 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 00-24, Electronic Mail: baa00-24@darpa.mil. Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html. Mail to: DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 00-24, 3701 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. Posted 12/10/99 (W-SN407732). (0344)

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