Decentralized Classification and Coordination with Non-Permissive Communications

Amendment No. 1 to BAA FA8750-18-S-7007 The purpose of this amendment is to republish the original announcement, incorporating any previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing also includes the following changes: - 1. Update to Contracting Focal Point throughout; - 2. Section I: Technology Requirements-added a new focus area; updates the TPOC for TA2 - 3. Section II.1: Revised potential funding for FY19-21 and added potential funding for FY22; - 4. Section III.2: Foreign Participation/Access is updated; - 5. Section IV.1: Revised end date of the BAA and added a suggested submission date for FY22 - 6. Section V.2.b.2.: updates the evaluation categories - 7. Section VI.1: updated to reference the most recent version of the RI-Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions, dated Jun 2018 - 8. Section VI.4: updated to revise and add new Administrative and National Policy Requirements; - 9. Section VI.7: added paragraph (d) - 10. Section VII: updated the Alternate OMBUDSMAN. No other changes have been made. NAICS CODE: 541715 FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514 BAA ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Modification/Amendment BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Decentralized Classification and Coordination with Non-Permissive Communications BAA NUMBER: FA8750-18-S-7007 PART I - OVERVIEW INFORMATION This announcement is for an Open, 2 Step BAA which is open and effective until 30 Sep 2022. Only white papers will be accepted as initial submissions; formal proposals will be accepted by invitation only. While white papers will be considered if received prior to 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 30 Sep 2022, the following submission dates are suggested to best align with projected funding: FY18 by 23 Feb 2018 FY19 by 29 Jun 2018 FY20 by 28 Jun 2019 FY21 by 30 Jun 2020 FY22 by 30 JUN 2021 Offerors should monitor the Federal Business Opportunities website at http://www.fbo.gov in the event this announcement is amended. CONCISE SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT: The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate is seeking innovative solutions to research, develop, and evaluate technologies/techniques to enable multiple systems to coordinate and identify entities of interest when communications are constrained. BAA ESTIMATED FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $200K to $2M. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value as long as the value does not exceed the available BAA ceiling amount. ANTICIPATED INDIVIDUAL AWARDS: Multiple Awards are anticipated. TYPE OF INSTRUMENTS THAT MAY BE AWARDED: Procurement contract, grant, cooperative agreement or other transactions AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION: All white paper submissions and any questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) as specified below (unless otherwise specified in the technical area): BAA MANAGER: George Tadda AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov TPOC: Dr. Jeffrey (Jeff) Hudack AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred): Amber Buckley Telephone +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov Emails must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition. Pre-Proposal Communication between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged. Technical and contracting questions can be resolved in writing or through open discussions. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. Offerors are cautioned that evaluation ratings may be lowered and/or proposal rejected if proposal preparation (Proposal format, content, etc.) and/or submittal instructions are not followed. Amendment No. 2 to BAA FA8750-18-S-7007 The purpose of this amendment is to republish the original announcement, incorporating any previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing also includes the following changes: Part I: Overview Information, updates the FY20 and FY21 white paper due dates and the FBO reference to Beta SAM website; Updates the Type of Instruments that may be awarded language; Part II: Section I, Technology Requirements, updates the FY20, FY21 and FY22 Government expectation paragraph Section III.2.b.2, updates to show the DCSA website; Section IV.1, updates the FY20 and FY20 white paper due dates; Section IV.3.a, updates to show the DCSA website; Section IV.3.c, updates the mailing instructions; Section IV.4.e, updated the link to reference the Beta SAM website; Section VI.1, updates the RI Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions date and Beta SAM link; Section VII: updated the OMBUDSMAN. No other changes have been made. NAICS CODE: 541715 FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate, 26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514 BAA ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial announcement BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Decentralized Classification and Coordination with Non-Permissive Communications BAA NUMBER: FA8750-18-S-7007 PART I - OVERVIEW INFORMATION This announcement is for an Open, 2 Step BAA which is open and effective until 30 Sep 2022. Only white papers will be accepted as initial submissions; formal proposals will be accepted by invitation only. While white papers will be considered if received prior to 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 30 Sep 2022, the following submission dates are suggested to best align with projected funding: FY18 by 23 Feb 2018 FY19 by 29 Jun 2018 FY20 by 28 Jun 2019 FY21 by 30 Apr 2020 FY22 by 30 Apr 2021 Offerors should monitor the Contract Opportunities on the Beta SAM website at https://beta.SAM.gov in the event this announcement is amended. CONCISE SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT: The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate is seeking innovative solutions to research, develop, and evaluate technologies/techniques to enable multiple systems to coordinate and identify entities of interest when communications are constrained. BAA ESTIMATED FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $200K to $2M. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value as long as the value does not exceed the available BAA ceiling amount. ANTICIPATED INDIVIDUAL AWARDS: Multiple Awards are anticipated. TYPE OF INSTRUMENTS THAT MAY BE AWARDED: Procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or other transactions (OT) depending upon the nature of the work proposed. In the event that an Other Transaction for Prototype agreement is awarded as a result of this competitive BAA, and the prototype project is successfully completed, there is the potential for a prototype project to transition to award of a follow-on production contract or transaction. The Other Transaction for Prototype agreement itself will also contain a similar notice of a potential follow-on production contract or agreement. AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION: All white paper submissions and any questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) as specified below (unless otherwise specified in the technical area): BAA MANAGER: George Tadda AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov TPOC: Dr. Jeffrey (Jeff) Hudack AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred): Amber Buckley Email: contact@example.gov Emails must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition. Pre-Proposal Communication between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged. Technical and contracting questions can be resolved in writing or through open discussions. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. Offerors are cautioned that evaluation ratings may be lowered and/or proposal rejected if proposal preparation (Proposal format, content, etc.) and/or submittal instructions are not followed. PART II - FULL TEXT ANNOUNCEMENT BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Decentralized Classification and Coordination with Non-Permissive Communications BAA NUMBER: BAA FA8750-18-S-7007 CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) Number: 12.800 & 12.900 I. TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS: The Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory is soliciting white papers under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for research, development, and evaluation of technologies/techniques to enable multiple systems to coordinate and identify entities of interest when communications are constrained. Specifically, the technical focus will be on performing decentralized multi-sensor classification and multi-agent coordination under variable communications conditions. There is an increasing demand for unmanned systems to perform a wide range of Air Force missions. This demand is evidenced by the rapid development of small-unmanned air systems (SUAS) that are intended to reduce acquisitions cost and provide an affordance for the loss of aircraft during missions. While these new platforms provide the potential for revolutionary capability, relatively limited research has been done on how these SUAS will autonomously and collaboratively conduct a wide range of missions without careful engineering for a single purpose. The use of SUAS for autonomous operations introduces new technical challenges that are not evident on the majority of existing platforms with permissive reach-back communications that the Government uses to conduct today's missions. With reduced size comes more restrictive payload weights, limiting the number and diversity of sensors that can be located on a single platform. As a result, platforms must coordinate to share and leverage multi-sensor data over limited communications channels. Additionally, the SUAS must coordinate their actions and scale appropriately to the number and diversity of tasks that are necessary to complete a mission. Efforts are categorized into four technical areas (TAs), each focusing on a different aspect of collecting information and classifying entities under non-permissive communications. Offerors may submit offers on any technical area individually or any combination of technical areas. Offerors who include multiple technical areas in their proposal should describe the work for each technical area separately and clearly identify the applicable TAs. The three technical areas are as follows: TA1: Decentralized, On-Device Classification TA2: Multi-Agent Planning for Self-Orchestrating Collectives TA3: Dynamic Network Management TA4: Scalable Simulation The Government expects FY18 will focus on TA1 and TA2 independently, but encourages proposals that address the interaction between these components. The Government expects TA3 proposals starting in FY19, leveraging the capabilities provided by the other TAs. In FY20, FY21 and FY22 the Government seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of the Technical Areas for transition as operational prototypes. Offerors are highly encouraged to submit proposals focused on 1) analytical characterization of the integrated Technical Areas to communicate swarm capability, or 2) demonstration via surrogate platforms and integration simulation. TA1: Decentralized, On-Device Classification This technical area (TA) seeks new algorithmic and processing methods for improved Detection, Classification, and Identification (DCI) of targets and entities in dynamic environments with constrained communications. The methods must address the joint utilization of sensor data from a collection of distributed, heterogeneous sensing platforms (e.g. sensor swarm). It is imagined that communications between sensors exists as well as some organic embedded computing capability aboard each sensing platform. The DCI methods must operate in a distributed fashion, across the sensor swarm with no predetermined system exerting control over the others (e.g. non-centralized). Sensor types of interest include traditional Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) modality types such as Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR), passive Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Full Motion Video (FMV), as well as various bands of imagery sensors, electromagnetic, acoustic, seismic, etc. Methods are sought that fuse a heterogeneous collection of these types of sensors for improved target DCI in degraded environments. The Government seeks new methods for optimizing information fusion algorithms for distributed sensors on mobile platforms, accounting for limited availability of communications between the platforms. It is expected that the offeror will demonstrate the robustness and resiliency of developed fusion algorithms under various conditions of sensor placement and communications degradation between platforms; starting with a benchmark of un-degraded communications and perfect sensor topology for optimal fusion. Computer simulation demonstrations early on are acceptable in the first 1 to 2 years of the proposed effort. Following this period, demonstration experiments with multiple networked systems would demonstrate the ability of the developed fusion approach to operate in a distributed fashion. Later program demonstrations would be expected to be carried out using physical systems, such as SUAS, carrying heterogeneous sensor payloads. For technical question regarding TA1, please contact: Dr. Peter Zulch AFRL/RIGC 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov, please include - TA1 in the subject. TA2: Multi-Agent Planning for Self-Orchestrating Collectives The goal is to develop multi-agent planning algorithms that are capable of executing in dynamic and non-permissive environments, maximizing a specified objective function. Both centralized and decentralized solutions are prone to disruption when communications are constrained or unavailable. These constraints may be derived from adversary activity, contention for communications resources, minimization of broadcast to maintain low observability, or throttling of communication to allow for other mission-critical information to be passed. Loss or restriction of communications may be intermittent or permanent, requiring methods that can respond to changing conditions during plan execution. The Government seeks new approaches for multi-agent planning, which may include but are not restricted to: methods for constructing reactive policies that minimize communication, hybrid centralized/decentralized algorithms that are reactive to communications conditions, and machine learning for encoding reactive policies for heterogeneous agents. Solutions should be domain-agnostic, avoiding encoding of domain information prior to presentation of the mission and objective function. For example, the same algorithm would be used for route planning in physical space and scheduling of cyber resources on a network. Specifically, the following execution conditions should be considered: Unknown number of agents prior or during execution Loss of agents during execution Loss or degradation of communications prior or during execution Dynamic tasking or removal of tasks during execution Spatial-temporal constraints that may require explicit ordering of tasks Year 1 and 2 efforts that use simple point-based tasks in a simulated environment will be considered. Year 3, 4 and 5 efforts should support more complex tasks requiring specific geometry, based on realistic sensor and actuator constraints. Demonstration on physical platforms in real-time are highly encouraged. For technical questions regarding TA2, please contact: Jeffrey (Jeff) Hudack AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov, please include - TA2 in the subject. TA3: Dynamic Network Management For algorithms that rely on communication to share information between platforms, the capability and limitations of the communications hardware and protocols has significant effects on how the algorithms perform. Conversely, the communications may request the platform reposition itself to improve the quality of the connections between SUAS platforms, creating an interdependence with complex relationships between algorithm performance and completion of mission objectives. The Government seeks new methods for defining the interface between the communications infrastructure and the fusion and planning algorithms. This includes methods for reporting communications status to the component systems, as well as providing notifications to the communications system of incoming demand in order to determine feasibility. For technical questions regarding TA3, please contact: Dr. Scott Pudlewski AFRL/RITF 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov, please include - TA3 in the subject. TA4: Scalable Simulation Rapid prototyping and evaluation of algorithms requires a standardized environment that enables algorithms to be implemented and executed against a range of parameterized scenarios. Such an environment will need to scale up to hundreds of entities and run faster than real-time to allow for statistical analysis of performance across a specified range of problem instance and parameters. We seek new methods for simulation and evaluation of decentralized fusion and coordination algorithms that can approximate sensor input and communication. Scalability is of significant interest, and may include methods that can be implemented on a cloud infrastructure to allow for on-demand scaling, or new methods for sampling behaviors to generate mean performance expectations. Solutions must also provide approximations for sensor input and communications that can yield predictable performance when implemented on physical platforms operating in real-world conditions. For technical questions regarding TA4, please contact: Dr. Jeffrey (Jeff) Hudack AFRL/RIED 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: +1 (555) 000-0000 Email: contact@example.gov, please include - TA4 in the subject. II. AWARD INFORMATION: 1. FUNDING: Total initial funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. This funding is anticipated to be obligated under this BAA, broken out by fiscal year, as follows: FY18 - $7.2M FY19 - $8.2M FY20 - $9.5M FY21 - $11.9M FY22 - $13.1M Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar values normally ranging from $200K to $2M. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value as long as the value does not exceed the available BAA ceiling amount. The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential Offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice. 2. FORM. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions depending upon the nature of the work proposed. 3. BAA TYPE: This is a two-step open broad agency announcement. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. As STEP ONE - The Government is only soliciting white papers at this time. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. See Section VI of this announcement for further details regarding the proposal. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: 1. ELIGIBILITY: All qualified offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply. 2. FOREIGN PARTICIPATION/ACCESS: This BAA is closed to foreign participation. This includes both foreign ownership and foreign nationals as employees or subcontractors. Exceptions. Fundamental Research. If the work to be performed is unclassified, fundamental research, this must be clearly identified in the white paper and/or proposal. See Part II, Section I for more details regarding Fundamental Research. Offerors should still identify any performance by foreign nationals at any level (prime contractor or subcontractor) in their proposals. Please specify the nationals country of origin, the type of visa or work permit under which they are performing and an explanation of their anticipated level of involvement. You may be asked to provide additional information during negotiations in order to verify the foreign citizen's eligibility to participate on any contract or assistance agreement issued as a result of this announcement. Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) companies who have mitigation plans/paperwork in place. Proof of approved mitigation documentation must be provided to the contracting office focal point, Amber Buckley, Contracting Officer, telephone +1 (555) 000-0000, or e-mail contact@example.gov prior to submitting a white paper and/or a proposal. For information on FOCI mitigation, contact the contact the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). Additional details can be found at: https://www.dcsa.mil/mc/ctp/foci/ Foreign Nationals as Employees or Subcontractors. Applicable to any effort not considered Fundamental Research. Offerors are responsible for ensuring that all employees and/or subcontractors who will work on a resulting contract are eligible to do so. Any employee who is not a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident will be restricted from working on any resultant contract unless prior approval of the Department of State or the Department of Commerce is obtained via a technical assistance agreement or an export license. Violations of these regulations can result in criminal or civil penalties. Information Regarding Non-US Citizens Assigned to this Project Contractor employees requiring access to USAF bases, AFRL facilities, and/or access to U.S. Government Information Technology (IT) networks in connection with the work on contracts, assistance instruments or other transactions awarded under this BAA must be U.S. citizens. For the purpose of base and network access, possession of a permanent resident card ("Green Card") does not equate to U.S. citizenship. This requirement does not apply to foreign nationals approved by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. State Department under international personnel exchange agreements with foreign governments. It also does not apply to dual citizens who possess US citizenship, to include Naturalized citizens. Any waivers to this requirement must be granted in writing by the Contracting Officer prior to providing access. Specific format for waiver request will be provided upon request to the Contracting Officer. The above requirements are in addition to any other contract requirements related to obtaining a Common Access Card (CAC). For the purposes of Paragraph 1, it an IT network/system does not require AFRL to endorse a contractor's application to said network/system in order to gain access, the organization operating the IT network/system is responsible for controlling access to its system. If an IT network/system requires a U.S. Government sponsor to endorse the application in order for access to the IT network/system, AFRL will only endorse the following types of applications, consistent with the requirements above: Contractor employees who are U.S. citizens performing work under contracts, assistance instruments or other transactions awarded under this BAA. Contractor employees who are non-U.S. citizens and who have been granted a waiver. Any additional access restrictions established by the IT network/system owner apply. 3. FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES: Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and Government entities (e.g., Government/National laboratories, military educational institutions, etc.) are subject to applicable direct competition limitations and cannot propose to this BAA in any capacity unless they meet the following conditions: FFRDCs: FFRDCs must clearly demonstrate that the proposed work is not otherwise available from the private sector; and FFRDCs must provide a letter on official letterhead from their sponsoring organization citing the specific authority establishing their eligibility to propose to Government solicitations and compete with industry, and their compliance with the associated FFRDC sponsor agreement's terms and conditions. This information is required for FFRDCs proposing to be prime contractors or sub-awardees. Government Entities: Government entities must clearly demonstrate that the work is not otherwise available from the private sector and provide written documentation citing the specific statutory authority and contractual authority, if relevant, establishing their ability to propose to Government solicitations. While 10 U.S.C. 2539b may be the appropriate statutory starting point for some entities, specific supporting regulatory guidance, together with evidence of agency approval, will still be required to fully establish eligibility. FFRDC and Government entity eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis; however, the burden to prove eligibility for all team members rests solely with the proposer. Government agencies interested in performing work related to this announcement should contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC). If resulting discussions reveal a mutual interest, cooperation may be pursued via other vehicles. IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION: All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) listed in SECTION VII. DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer. 1. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY18 by 23 Feb 2018 FY19 by 29 Jun 2018 FY20 by 28 Jun 2019 FY21 by 30 Apr 2020 FY22 by 30 Apr 2021 White papers will be accepted until 3:00 PM EST on 30 Sep 2022, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. This BAA will close on 30 Sep 2022. All offerors submitting white papers will receive notification of their evaluation results within 45 days of submission. Offerors should email the TPOC and the Contracting Officer listed in Section VII, for status of their white paper(s) after 45 days, if no such correspondence has been received. 2. CONTENT AND FORMAT: Offerors are required to submit three (3) copies of a 4 to 6 page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. 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. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone and email) (this section is NOT included in the page count); Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables. All white papers shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 point. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code, their unique entity identifier and electronic funds transfer (EFT) indicator (if applicable), an e-mail address and reference BAA FA8750-18-S-7007 with their submission. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). 3. HANDLING AND MAILING INSTRUCTIONS: a. CLASSIFICATION GUIDANCE. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006, and incorporating Change 2, dated May 18, 2016, as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) Site for the NISPOM is: http://www.dcsa.mil/. In the event of a possible or actual compromise of classified information in the submission of your white paper or proposal, immediately but no later than 24 hours, bring this to the attention of your cognizant security authority and AFRL Rome Research Site Information Protection Office (IPO): Information Protection Office (contact only if a security compromise has occurred) Monday-Friday (0730-1630): Call +1 (555) 000-0000 or Email: contact@example.gov Evenings and Weekends: Call +1 (555) 000-0000 b. CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS. AFRL/RIED will accept classified responses to this BAA when the classification is mandated by classification guidance provided by an Original Classification Authority of the U.S. Government, or when the offeror believes the work, if successful, would merit classification. Security classification guidance in the form of a DD Form 254 (DoD Contract Security Classification Specification) will not be provided at this time since AFRL is soliciting ideas only. Offerors that intend to include classified information or data in their white paper submission or who are unsure about the appropriate classification of their white papers should contact the technical point of contact listed in Section VII for guidance and direction in advance of preparation. MAILING INSTRUCTIONS. Email Unclassified electronic submission to the TPOC identified in Section VII will also be accepted. Encrypt or password-protect all proprietary information prior to sending. Offerors are responsible to confirm receipt with the TPOC. AFRL is not responsible for undelivered documents. Electronic submission to the TPOC identified in Section VII via the DoD Safe Access File Exchange (SAFE) Web Application, https://safe.apps.mil/, will also be accepted. If electronic submission is used, only one copy of the documentation is required. Any mailed responses, unclassified/classified, to this announcement must be sent U.S. Postal Service, registered mail or similar service and addressed to AFRL/RIED, 525 Brooks Road, Rome NY 13441-4505, and reference BAA FA8750-18-S-7007. When mailing follow the directions regarding the number of copies required. Questions can be directed to the TPOC listed in Section VII. 4. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS/CONSIDERATIONS: a. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement. Cost sharing may be proposed and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. b. SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database to receive a contract award, and remain registered during performance and through final payment of any contract or agreement. Processing time for registration in SAM, w...