Data Readiness Services for Artificial Intelligence

Description: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). This is a RFI, as defined in FAR 15.201(e), to provide data for planning purposes ONLY. This RFI DOES NOT constitute a request for proposal, request for quote or invitation for bid, nor does its issuance in any way restrict the Government as to its ultimate acquisition approach. The Government is not obligated to and WILL NOT pay for information received as a result of this announcement. Purpose: The purpose of this RFI is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities and qualifications of both small and large businesses to provide development services to meet the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Readiness needs of the Government. The Government is requesting information regarding the feasibility to perform the efforts described herein. Information received as a result of this sources sought RFI will be used solely for market research purposes only. The Government shall use this market research in determining the best method of procurement, which is part of the acquisition planning process. Prior Government contract work is not required for submitting a response under the sources sought RFI. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement as a set-aside based upon responses to this notice and other market research is solely within the discretion of the Government. Technical Characteristics Data Readiness covers a very broad set of topics, which are outlined below. It is not necessary to respond to each topic in the list, the Government is interested only in those where a strong capability is possessed. Services to be performed may include, but are not limited to, the following: Project Management and Documentation Software Configuration Data Ingestion and Data Ingestion Pipelines Data Ingestion Services Data Ingestion Pipelines Streaming Transformation Data Storage Metrics and Documentation Enterprise Information Management and Governance Cataloging Data Making Data Visible Metadata Integration Data Integration Data Architecture and Preparation Data Quality Data Security Automated Data Collection Data Labeling Synthetic Data Data Anonymization Data Wrangling Data Availability Data Ethics Feature Engineering NLP and Text Processing Transfer Learning and Algorithm Management Standardized Data Science and AI Pipelines Data Science and AI Outreach and Innovative Development Mechanisms Responses: The Government seeks capabilities statements and information from prospective Contractors to determine if the Contractors have the ability to perform. In order to be considered responsive to this RFI, interested parties may identify their interest, capabilities and recommendations by submitting a capability statement that includes the following: 1) The interested Contractor's name, address, phone number, DUNS number and Cage Code; 2) Completed technical characteristics table (see attached). 3) Please describe the Contractor's capabilities and PAST EXPERIENCE in use cases or projects that show the execution of Development Services to create innovative and customized solutions for applicable specific Technical Characteristics and areas of organizational expertise using the following structure: A. Contractor's organizational background and overview [0.5 pages] B. Assessment of Government Data Readiness for AI applications: Provide a brief assessment on, in your view, how ready Government data is for AI, the scope of the problem the Government is facing, and any insights from experience on addressing Data Readiness. [0.5 pages] C. Suggested technical solutions to achieve Data Readiness for AI applications: Provide a description of the combination of the technical solutions and services needed to solve the Government's AI Readiness problem. [2 pages] D. Required Government Platform Needed for Standardized Data Performance: Describe, in your opinion, how the Department of Defense (DoD) can maximize utilization of the Joint Common Foundation for the AI data readiness tasks in this RFI using the existing infrastructure and tools that have been designed for that environment, and address use cases where services will need to be integrated into a DoD provisioned cloud (appropriately hardened and approved for use on unclassified and classified networks). [1 page] E. Description of the Contractor's areas of innovation or expertise in execution: Highlight tools and innovations within the suggested solution set where the Contractor provides specific innovative capabilities. [2 pages] F. Description of Contractor's policies, practices, processes, tools, documentation, and standards to address the DoD AI Ethical Principles and more broadly Responsible AI and data governance processes. [1 page] G. Contractor's summary of capabilities. [0.5 pages] H. PAST EXPERIENCE: Provide a maximum of three (3) project examples that demonstrate like and/or very similar scope of work that has taken place in the past five years from the date of release of this RFI. For prior Government work, provide an addendum with the contract number, period of performance, contract scope explanation, and the contract point of contact information (e.g., Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer Representative, and Client Agency Name and contact information (including phone, email, name, title, and organization name)) for each PAST EXPERIENCE example provided. For prior non-government work please provide an addendum with the period of performance, contract scope explanation (the contract point of contact information for each PAST EXPERIENCE example provided). The narrative shall draw direct correlations and relate directly to the requirement described herein, and shall directly demonstrate the interested Contractor's capabilities to perform the effort herein through the examples of past experience provided. [2 pages] 4) Considering the Technical Characteristics, list of any omissions along with a brief description and why it should be included as a Technical Characteristic (i.e. - What did we forget, and why is it important?). 5) The Government seeks input from industry to identify the NAICS codes suitable for this requirement. In your submission, please include which NAICS code(s) is most appropriate and/or provide a NAICS code that may have been excluded from the following list: NAICS 518210 - Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services NAICS 519190 - All Other Information Services NAICS 541511 - Custom Computer Programming Services NAICS 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541519 - Other Computer Related Services NAICS 541715 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) Responses must be submitted via email no later than 4:00 PM CDT on October 9, 2020. Submit response and information via email to contact@example.gov with a carbon copy to both contact@example.gov and contact@example.gov. All prospective offerors are responsible for monitoring this site for the release of all other information pertaining to the RFI and future solicitation. Please note: Prime Contractors doing business with the Federal Government must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at www.sam.gov. Primary Point of Contact: Terri Marshall contact@example.gov Contracting Office Address: 819 Taylor St., 13A33 Fort Worth, Texas 76102 United States