Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for DOD Lock Program RDTE

The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NFEXWC), through The DoD Lock Program, is soliciting pre-proposals for efforts related to the Research Need topics listed below. If invited, offerers will be asked to submit a full proposal. The DOD Lock Program conducts research, development, test and evaluation (RDTE) activities as part of improving security effectiveness and operations in support of wide ranging DOD Missions. The Lock Program conducts RDTE to transition technology protecting Arms, Ammunition and Explosives (AA&E) classified material, and special missions. The DOD Lock Program is soliciting pre-proposals for efforts related to the research table topic needs listed below. Topic 1: Advanced Materials Protecting Against Mechanical, Energetic and Ballistic Threats Research need: Research and testing of innovative materials used for protecting against physical security threats. Research can range from small-scale laboratory testing to inclusion into full-scale prototypes. Topic 2: Advanced Modelling and Simulation of Physical Security Systems Research need: Development of advanced finite element modeling to show proof of concept or test validation of different physical security systems. This can include both physical security systems as well as mechanical, energetic and ballistic threats. The DOD Lock Program is looking for academic and independent groups that can further develop the research topics above. This includes using existing technology to develop or optimize current designs, using novel material in an innovative way, or development of technology that meets any of the research topics. Offeror's submission must identify which Research Needs Topic is being proposed. The DoD Lock Program requests pre-proposal submittal outlining the expected costs associated with the Research Needs Topic. Specific instructions and data requests will be provided at a later date if selected for further consideration. SUBMISSION PROCESS: The pre-proposal submittal process is an email-based submission. Preproposals shall be submitted via email to: michael.d.kwast.civ@us.navy.mil and lynsey.d.reese.civ@us.navy.mil. There is no specific format required for the pre-proposal, however, the pre-proposal should be consolidated into one single file and not exceed 5 pages in length. All preproposal submissions must be received before the deadline. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: To be considered for funding in FY 2022 pre-proposals shall be received no later than 11:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time on 19 September 2021 with the table topic number and research need offerors are responding to. Respondents to this BAA will receive a confirmation email message within one business day acknowledging successful submission. It is the responsibility of responding parties to confirm receipt of their submission. If invited to submit a full proposal, these will be due 30 days after notification. EVALUATION PROCESS: Following an evaluation and selection process, successful pre-proposal offerors will receive an email inviting submission of a full proposal. Unsuccessful pre-proposal offerors will receive an email with a brief description of the reasons for preproposal rejection. Awards to nongovernment entities (academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, industry) will be in the form of contracts. The nominal duration of this work is expected to be several months of work spread over the course of 1-2 years. Applicants are strongly encouraged to use realism of cost for the proposed effort as their metric, as this will be a critical element in the review process. Otherwise, meritorious pre-proposals and full proposals will be rejected if cost does not accurately reflect the proposed scope of work. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The pre-proposals and full proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria, of approximately equal weight. TECHNICAL APPROACH: The scientific/technical merits and objectives in terms of meeting the stated need topic, as well as evidence that the science/technology is mature enough for applied research funding, and the performance criteria to measure success of the research effort. OFFEROR'S EXPERIENCE: For the pre-proposal phase, the offeror should clearly provide evidence showing experience related to the proposed solution. This includes the proposing organization's capabilities related to experience, techniques, or a unique combination of these that are integral factors in achieving the contractor's proposed objectives. This equates to past performance, and will be assessed based on both relevance and confidence. If invited to submit a full proposal, NAVFAC also requires the offeror to provide their EMR and DART ratings. Safety is an integral and important aspect in all NAVFAC work. If the offeror does not have an EMR/DART rating, they should state this and provide a narrative rationale. See NFAS 15.304. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS AND KEY MEMBERS RELATED EXPERIENCE: For the pre-proposal phase, the offeror should provide the name, highest degree earned, organization/affiliation, location, and years of experience for the Principal Investigator and key personnel who are critical in achieving the objectives of the proposal. Principal Investigators and key personnel should be identified in the pre-proposal as such. If invited to submit a full proposal, the offeror will need to submit CVs for the Principal Investigator and key personnel. COST/PRICE: The cost relative to the proposed scientific/technical approach. For the pre-proposal phase, this information may be limited to a total cost estimate by calendar year (Jan 1 - December 31). If invited to submit a full proposal, additional guidance on cost/price information will be provided. PROJECT BENEFITS: Expected benefits of the proposed work, key issues the proposed solution addresses, potential application of the results, and advantages over current approaches. PRODUCT IMPLEMENTATION: Describe the intended product(s) and all associated deliverables, the requirements for implementing the proposed products of this effort, and the potential technical risks that may pose a challenge to successful implementation. All offerors are required to be U.S. Citizens and U.S. owned companies. Contractors shall be able to view, store and handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). NOTES: An eligible pre-proposal or full proposal does not guarantee a contract. Multiple contracts may result. An offeror is required to register with the system for award management (SAM). No contract award will be made to any offeror that is not registered. Registration may take up to three weeks. SAM may be accessed at https://www.sam.gov. Registration is not required for proposal submission, but must be completed prior to initiation of award negotiation. To avoid delays in the award process, applicants are encouraged to initiate SAM registration early in the submission and review process. Non-government awardees will also need to provide a DUNS (Dunn & Bradstreet) number (http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.doc) and CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity) code (http://govwin.com/knowledge/ccrregistration) before an award can be made. The preceding data should be sufficient for completing a pre-proposal. There are no solicitation documents applying to this BAA. Request for a solicitation package will not be acknowledged. Those interested in participating in the BAA must follow the instructions to submit a pre-proposal. There is no commitment by the Navy either to make any contract awards or to be responsible for any money expended by the contractor before a contract award. Funding has been reserved in advance for this contract. Some Federal Government activities may employ civilian contractors to determine the applicability of an offered technology to specific projects. Technical and cost pre-proposals and full proposals submitted under this BAA will be protected from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 3.104-4 and 15.207. The cognizant Program Manager and other scientific experts will perform the evaluation of technical proposals. Restrictive notices notwithstanding, one or more support contractors may be utilized as subject-matter-expert technical consultants in accordance with FAR 37.204. However, pre-proposal and full proposal selection and award decisions are solely the responsibility of Government personnel. Each support contractor's employee having access to technical and cost pre-proposals and full proposals submitted in response to this BAA will be required to sign a non-disclosure statement prior to receipt of any pre-proposal or full proposal submissions. An offeror may require the nongovernment personnel to execute a supplemental non-disclosure agreement by including a copy of their institutional NDA with their proposal. However, note that a failure to come to an agreement may impact the ability to make an award. Please review FAR 37.204 and NFAS 15.303(d)(4). Eligibility notification will be sent to all contractors who have submitted a pre-proposal, after the Review Committee reviewed all pre-proposals submitted by the solicitation cut-off date. For questions regarding this BAA, contact NAVFAC EXWC at (805) 982-1567 (or via this email address: michael.d.kwast.civ@us.navy.mil and lynsey.d.reese.civ@us.navy.mil ). Correspondents are advised not to include Personally Identifiable Information (PII), business proprietary or competition-sensitive information via email. Offerors will receive an automated email message acknowledging successful submission. If the contractor does not receive a notification of pre-proposal receipt, the contractor should call or e-mail NEXWC by using the phone number or e-mail address provided in this section. Historically Black Colleges/Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) will be recognized according to DFARS 226.3. All responsible sources from academia and industry may submit proposals. No portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation, due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable items of this research for exclusive competition among the entities. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) including Department of Energy National Laboratories, are not eligible to receive awards under this BAA. However, teaming arrangements between FFRDCs and eligible principal bidders are allowed so long as they are permitted under the sponsoring agreement between the Government and the specific FFRDC. DFARS 235.017-1 allows DOD FFRDCs which function primarily as research laboratories to apply. Naval laboratories and Warfare Centers as well as other DOD and civilian agency laboratories are not eligible to receive awards under this BAA and should not directly submit proposals in response to this BAA. If any such organization is interested in one or more of these program areas, they should contact the NEXWC program office to discuss its interest. As with the FFRDCs, these organizations may team with other responsible sources from industry and academia that are submitting proposals under the BAA. University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC) are eligible to submit proposals under this BAA unless precluded from doing so by their DOD UARC contract or an organizational conflict of interest. Do not call the Contracting Office for verification. The pre-proposal is not received by the Contracting Office. Please refer to the attached document for the full BAA details.