A -- JOINT BATTLESPACE INFOSPHERE (JBI) EXPERIMENTAL PROTOTYPE (Y-JBI) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Notice Date

November 20, 2000

Contracting Office

Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL -- Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514

ZIP Code

13441-4514

Solicitation Number

Reference-Number-PRDA-01-02-IFKPA

Point of Contact

Joetta Bernhard, Contracting Officer, Phone (315) 330-2308, Fax (315) 330-7790, Email bernhard@rl.af.mil

E-Mail Address

Joetta Bernhard (bernhard@rl.af.mil)

Description

PRDA 01-02-IFKPA PROGRAM RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCEMENT (PRDA) Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) Experimental Prototype (Y-JBI) Research and Development. Capt Jason Quigley, Program Manager, (315) 330-2070, email: Jason.Quigley@rl.af.mil.; Joetta A. Bernhard,Contracting Officer, (315) 330-2308, email: Joetta.Bernhard@rl.af.mil. The Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is soliciting proposals for new concepts, mechanisms and tools to explore the "design space" of JBI Platform Core Services: Publish, Subscribe, Query, Transform and Control; as envisioned by the USAF Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and described in their 1998 report "Information Management to Support the Warrior", and further defined by the SAB's 1999 report on "Building the Joint Battlespace Infosphere", SAB-TR-99-02. These reports are available at: http://www.sab.hq.af.mil/Archives/index.htm. PRDA Scope: This announcement seeks to acquire the technologies necessary to prototype JBI platform core services, and produce demonstrable results within the context of notional C2ISR mission threads. An example candidate mission thread is Time Critical Targeting (TCT) as presented in the JFACC Radar Scope scenario JFACCRS.ppt. For the purposes of this PRDA, the Y-JBI platform must include following services, which are listed in descending priority: 1. Information Exchange via Publish & Subscribe; 2. Query Brokering. The submissions are expected to address the following kinds of research questions: 1. How well will the proposed solution scale to 200 clients? 2. What mechanisms are provided for Information Assurance and Survivability? 3. What is the ability of the solution to handle a wide variety of information objects? 4. What level of effort is required to add new clients? 5. What is the Total Cost of Ownership? 6. What would be the estimated cost to deploy 50 clients? (Cost Model) 7. How does one Measure the Performance of the Y-JBI?(e.g. Publication Rate, Subscription Rate) JBI Characteristics: At the foundation of the JBI is a JBI Platform (JBIP) of protocols, processes, and common core functions that permit participating applications and organizations to share and exchange critical mission information in a timely manner. It provides uniform mechanisms for publishing new and updated objects into the JBI, and promptly alerts any JBI clients that are subscribing to such objects. These properties enable dynamic information flows among client programs of the JBI, serving to integrate the clients to conduct a single mission. The operation of the JBI depends on the proper flow of information via dynamic publish/subscribe linkages. If some aspect of this automated information flow is not working properly, the Joint Force Commander (JFC) Information Management Staff will need to diagnose and fix the problem quickly. Perhaps a JBI client has failed and is no longer subscribing to and processing its inputs. To monitor and repair the JBI, the Information Management Staff will need to be familiar with the information structure represented in the JBI, and will need tools to inspect objects and clients that participate in the structure. AFRL requires innovative, yet demonstrable and usable solutions to meet the needs of this PRDA. Technical solutions should emphasize the use of open systems that accommodate distributed, modular, and extensible approaches. Deliverables will be technical reports, robust software prototypes, test results and demonstrations. Principal funding of the PRDA and the anticipated award of efforts as a result of this PRDA will start in 2Q FY01, and will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions depending on the nature of the work proposed. Individual awards will not normally exceed six (6) months in duration with dollar amounts normally ranging between $25K to $200K. Total funding for exploratory development and demonstration under this PRDA is anticipated at $1.0M. Offerors are encouraged to submit one or more white papers that address exploratory development with demonstrable results. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Offerors are required to submit (5) copies of a 5 page (or less) white paper with a cover letter. Small Business only should send one (1) copy of the cover letter only (1st Class Mail, Unclassified Only) to ATTN: Ms Janis Norelli, Director of Small Business, AFRL/IFB, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4514. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title. Period of Performance, Cost, Name of Company; Section B: Effort objective; and Section C: Technical Summary. Offerors must mark their white papers/proposals with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. 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. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of the PRDA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Complete instructions for proposal preparation will be forwarded with the invitation for proposal submission. Evaluation of proposals and white papers will be performed using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: 1) Overall scientific and technical merit, including the approach for the development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology and its evaluation. 2) Related Experience _ the extent to which the offeror demonstrates technology and domain knowledge. 3) The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology in terms of reliability and robustness. 4) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any). 5) The extent the proposal adheres to the SAB vision as stated in the 1999 report on "Building the Joint Battlespace Infosphere". All responses to this announcement must be addressed to ATTN: Capt Jason M. Quigley, Reference PRDA-01-02-IFKPA, AFRL/IFTD, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505. Options are discouraged and unpriced options will not be considered for award. The cost of preparing proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract. It is, however, an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is excluded at the prime contract level. The cutoff date for submission of white papers is thirty (30) days from the Publication date of this announcement. This PRDA is open and effective until 30 Sep 01. Additional information may be found at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/prda/prda-main.html. An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear significant concerns from offerors or potential offerors for this announcement. Routine questions are not considered to be "significant concerns" and should be communicated directly to the Contracting Officer, Joetta A. Bernhard, (315) 330-2308. The purpose of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the Contracting Officer or Program Manager, but to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreement and recommendations to the appropriate Government personnel. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Ralph M. Lentz, Lt Col, Chief, AFRL/IFK at (315) 330-7746. When requested the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The Ombudsman should only be contacted with issues or problems that have been previously brought to the attention of the contracting officer and could not be satisfactorily resolved at that level. To receive a copy of the AFRL/IFK "BAA & PRDA: A Guide for Industry," Sep 1996 (Rev), write ATTN: Carol Furgol, AFRL/IFK, 26 Electronics Parkway, Rome NY 13441-4515, or fax her at FAX 315-330-4728, or the guide may be accessed at: http://www.if.afrl.af.mil/div/IFK/bp-guide.html. All responsible firms may submit a white paper, which shall be considered. Respondents are asked to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number with their submission as well as a fax number, and an e-mail address, and reference PRDA-01-02-IFKPA. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

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Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001122/ASOL009.HTM (D-325 SN5070Z8)