Agile Services and Products (ASAP)

***Exception for Fair Opportunity Justification (EFOJ) has been signed/approved 8/15/2018*** Intelligence Systems & Processing Division Sources Sought (SS) "Agile Services and Products (ASAP)" Disclaimer This is a Sources Sought (SS) under the Technical Information Engineering Services (TIES) Multiple Award Task Order Contract. This is NOT a request for Quotations or Proposals. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. This SS is issued to gain insight into capabilities available in the market and for planning purposes; this does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.202 (e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government will not reimburse costs incurred by respondents in response to this SS, or for participating in information exchange regarding details of the SS. Only U.S. citizens and U.S. owned firms can respond to this SS. Area of Interest (AOI) Background: African Command Identity Operations (AFRICOM ID-Ops), Machine-learning (MAVEN), and Fusion Analytics (FUSION) in Identity Dominance: The Identity Intelligence Branch (I2) has been supporting and executing numerous fielded solutions and Biometric efforts to support I2WD's customers. The I2 Branch is responding to the evolving requirements of the AFRICOM identity mission set including requests for the improvement of the existing capabilities of software systems, processes, and tools in the areas of Identity Dominance (Identity Resolution, Identity Management, and Identity Intelligence), Human Language Technologies and Machine Language Translations, and Document & Media Forensics for enhancing the Biometrics capability. Proponent organizations for these enhancement requests include Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency (DFBA), Program Executive Office (PEO) for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (IEW&S), United States Army G2, United States Army G38, National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), the Africa Command (AFRICOM), and Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO). These requirements are originated from the needs of improving the effectiveness & efficiency of the operational capabilities for executing mission sets. The three critical new capabilities encompass the following areas of focus: African Command Identity Operations (AFRICOM ID-Ops), Machine-learning (MAVEN) and Fusion Analytics (FUSION). The new capabilities play a pivotal role in addressing a critical need to field an advanced biometrics identification and exploitation for capability enabling force protection activities, to include supporting machine learning and advanced fusion analytics for ease of use. These capabilities provide critical force protection capabilities to our Outside the contiguous United States (OCONUS) deployed forces throughout the AFRICOM Area of Responsibility (AOR). African Command Identity Operations (AFRICOM ID-Ops): The extended support for the Identity Operations effort encompasses software enhancement and operational support to the requirement holder and ongoing needs from soldiers. The Contractor shall support rapid software product upgrades via leveraging Government Off the Shelf (GOTS) / Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) items, technology design and integration, and sustainment / transition of solutions. The Contractor shall perform works to enhance the automated multi-modal biometric capabilities, and the exploitation capabilities for meeting Document and Media Exploitation (DOMEX) requirements, which support the expanded identity profile. This enhanced software system will provide commanders with enhanced situational awareness and understanding, exploitation, and analysis capabilities to support the identification of individuals using more diverse data points. The contractor shall perform Cyber Security and Information Assurance Support such as the Risk Management Framework (RMF) certification / accreditation for the designated systems including completion of Risk Management Framework (RMF) package and obtainment of an approved Authority to Operate (ATO) of the current AFRICOM ID-Ops software systems. The Operations team of the Contractor will physically move to the AFRICOM Area of Responsibility (AOR) in the October 2018 timeframe, to conduct training of the capability, perform onsite integration with existing capabilities, and gather feedback and additional requirements from users. The Contractor shall perform work associated with the transition, maintenance, sustainment, and operation of the designated software systems. The Contractor shall support and deliver comprehensive services to accommodate capabilities that are being fielded, centralizing the effort and reducing cost and risk to government sponsor. The Contractor shall support the deployment of the designated capabilities, software, and services to the field users from the Multinational and other Mission Partner (MNMP). The Contractor shall provide training to users / soldiers to demonstrate military utility and to interact with the users to gain understanding of their needs from obtaining the feedback for ongoing software enhancement. The Contractor shall support AFRICOMs identity and biometrics mission during the roll-out of the new critical capability enhancements. This contractor support shall be required from 30 September 2018 through 30 March 2019. Additionally, these personnel will be required to possess a TS/SCI security clearance for the entire Period of Performance (PoP). Maven: Maven is an effort with the Joint Forces to apply machine-learning and computer-vision technology against currently-fielded video sensors in the battlespace and make those technologies accessible at both the garrison and tactical level. The Contractor shall perform technology insertion, system integration, assess the current Maven system, and design & implementation of an initial integration approach with the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) baseline. The goal of the program is to leverage cutting edge analytics trained by the best commercial vendors using unclassified and operationally representative data sets. These analytics are hosted within the Maven system but are output in a format that can be viewed within the DCGS-A video display as well as other capabilities leveraging data feeds, such as Video Identification, Collection and Exploitation (VICE) system. This contractor support shall be required from 30 September 2018 through 30 March 2019. Additionally, these personnel will be required to possess a TS/SCI security clearance for the entire Period of Performance (PoP). Fusion Analytics (FUSION): The Contractor shall survey the emerging technologies, methods, tools, practices, CONOP / use cases and user requirements, technology feasibility studies, data /system analyses, and military utility assessment associated with the designated systems. The Contractor shall assess and recommend commercial and open source fusion analytic capabilities to shape future intelligence processing functions across all domains (Human Domain, Imagery, and Video) with focus areas in entity extraction and correlation, entity graph refinement, pattern recognition, detection and analysis, general data analysis, course of action development and pedigree development. The software applications provide capabilities for analysts to develop and publish actionable intelligence while reducing their workload of manually reviewing all messages and tagging the entities. The Contractor shall identify and resolve issues in properly processing video of the early release Maven box. The Contractor shall vet the identified issues with the Maven video output and work with the video solution owner to modify the video interface to accept the new Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) 0903 data that was embedded in the video stream, thus allowing native overlays directly on top of the video. The Contractor shall evaluate and integrate Maven Appliance (MAPP) with components of the DCGS-A baseline. The Polaris Alpha's Development and Integration (PALADIN) lab is critical in hosting the physical Maven Appliance (MAPP) and connecting it to the Virtual private network (VPN) system to allow remote access to remote contractors for support. PALADIN serves as the hosting solution for the current Distributed Common Ground Systems-Army (DCGS-A) baseline to provide the PM with live demonstrations of the prototype integrated solution. The Contractor shall support exercises, and capability demonstrations to key users and decision makers. The contractor shall perform work associated with the operations, and maintenance of the designated laboratories, software / hardware systems and network infrastructure. This contractor support shall be required from 30 September 2018 through 30 March 2019. Additionally, these personnel will be required to possess a TS/SCI security clearance for the entire Period of Performance (PoP). Response: Interested parties are requested to respond to this SS with a white paper and/or currently available existing support documentation. The responses shall include, but not be limited to: (a) description of the notional cost and schedule necessary to complete the task, and (b) references to any related publications, reports, and technical data analyses that further support the technical portion of the response. The Government will review the submitted responses and may schedule further discussions with responding vendors individually. Only U.S. citizens are authorized to respond to this SS. All emailed questions and SS responses shall contain the subject line: ID-Ops/MAVEN/FUSION SS. Responses shall be in electronic format, either ".docx" or ".pdf". White paper submissions shall be limited to ten (10) pages in length; there will be no limit on the submission of currently available materials. The Offerors must define terms, explain any technical/Army-specific jargon, and spell out acronyms on first use. All responses must be submitted to usarmy.apg.rdecom-cerdec.mbx.i2wd-c3po-SS@mail.mil no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) 18 July 2018. - Questions and requests for clarification of information must be submitted to: nicolas.a.martin2.civ@mail.mil - Please note: Submission Materials will not be returned - Please mark any included proprietary information appropriately