Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) Authoring Grand Challenge

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT W911NF-17-S-0003 SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE REQUEST FOR WHITE PAPERS BAA TOPIC CCE-HS-3(i): Training: Intelligent and Adaptive Tutoring Systems Introduction Applications to the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) "Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) Authoring Grand Challenge" are being solicited by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Advanced Training and Simulation Division (ATSD). The Execution Management Agent for this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) / funding opportunity is the Army Research Laboratory Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL-HRED). Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) W911NF-17-S-0003 was publicized on Federal Business Opportunities and Grants.gov on 10 October 2017. This Sources Sought Notice calls for White Paper submissions in reference to the research within the BAA is topic CCE-HS-3(i): Training: Intelligent and Adaptive Tutoring Systems. The United States ARL BAA W911NF-17-S-0003, issued under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 6.102(d)(2), provides for the competitive selection of proposals. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984," and subsequent amendments. Funding of research and development (R&D) within ARL areas of interest will be determined by funding constraints and priorities set during each budget cycle. Awards related to the submission of White Papers requested by this Notice are subject to funds availability and priorities. ARL may choose not to select any new awards due to unavailability of funds or other factors. The sequence of steps leading to award is: (1) Request for White Paper initiated by ARL, (2) Submission, via email, of a timely White Paper no more than five (5) pages in length to the ARL Points of Contact (POC) Robert Sottilare (contact@example.gov) and cc the U.S Army Contracting Command contact@example.gov, (3) Written or telephonic feedback provided to the Offeror regarding the White Paper's scientific merit and potential contributions to the Army mission as per established criteria presented in Section II, (4) Request of a formal proposal(s) submission initiated by ARL POC, if the White Paper merits a proposal request, (5) Submission of a timely, formal proposal(s), (6) Evaluation of the formal proposal as per established criteria presented in Section II, and (7) Contract or grant award for selected proposal(s) based on availability of funds or other factors. This sequence allows earliest determination of the potential for funding and minimizes the labor and additional costs associated with submission of full proposals that have minimal probability of being selected for funding. BAA W911NF-17-S-0003 allows several potential instrument types (e.g., contract, grant, cooperative agreement) to result from a successful proposal. For this Notice, the intention of the Government is to award a BAA contract. Note that interested Offerors must submit a White Paper electronically in order to be eligible to submit a formal proposal under this Notice. See Part IV, Deadlines, for additional details. THOSE SUBMITTING WHITE PAPERS/PROPOSALS ARE CAUTIONED THAT ONLY A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING OR GRANTS OFFICER CAN OBLIGATE THE GOVERNMENT TO ANY AGREEMENT INVOLVING EXPENDITURE OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS. This Sources Sought Notice for White Papers consists of six parts as follows: - Background and Introduction - Part I: Research and Development Objectives of the Requested White Paper - Part II: Preparation, Submission, and Evaluation Criteria - Part III: Feedback - Part IV: Deadlines - Part V: Inquiries - Part VI: References Technical POC: Robert Sottilare, PhD, Associate Director for Training Technology 12423 Research Parkway Orlando, FL 32826 contact@example.gov (email contact preferred). Contracts POC: Ms. Briann L. Solomon, Lead Contract Specialist U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground-Research Triangle Park (ACC-APG-RTP), Orlando Branch 12423 Research Parkway Orlando, FL 32826 contact@example.gov I. BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES One of the challenges to making Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) practical for use by the masses is the amount of skill and time required to author/develop ITSs. To illustrate the usability of the GIFT authoring tools, ARL has developed an authoring grand challenge. The challenge is to use GIFT and its authoring tools to construct an ITS course which provides a minimum of one hour of adaptive instruction for an expert individual learner in any of the five domains listed below. Novice and journeyman learners will generally take longer to reach proficiency in the same domain and content. Complete tutors must include all four quadrants of Merrill's (1983) Component Display Theory (rules, examples, recall, and practice). - Task #1 - Reporting Intelligence Information (Army, U.S., 2004): develop a tutor for use on a PC to guide the learning, assessment, and practice of multiple scenarios in which the learner reports intelligence information under the conditions and standards noted below: o Conditions: You have observed enemy activity, significant terrain, and weather features and must immediately report the activity to your chain of command via radio, wire, cable, or messenger. o Standards: Able to submit observations in a spot report, using the SALUTE format, to their chain of command, within five minutes of observing enemy activity. Able to correctly identify six out of six SALUTE items with respect to observed enemy. SALUTE = size, activity, location, unit, time, and equipment. - Task #2 - Use Visual Signaling Techniques (Army, U.S., 1987): develop a tutor for use on a PC to guide the learning, assessment, and practice of using visual signaling techniques under the conditions and standards noted below: o Conditions: Given a requirement to use visual signals while mounted. o Standards: Able to give the proper signals for each required action. - Task #3 - Navigating from One Point on the Ground to Another Point While Dismounted (Army, U.S., ): develop a tutor for use on a PC to guide the learning, assessment, and practice of dismounted land navigation techniques under the conditions and standards noted below: o Conditions: Given a standard topographic map of an area (scale 1:50,000), a coordinate scale and protractor, a compass, and writing materials. o Standards: Able to plan an optimal route from one point on the ground to another given a variety of terrain features. - Task #4 - Statistics and Measurements in Research: develop a tutor for use on a PC to guide the learning, assessment, and practice of concepts in descriptive statistics, sampling statistics, hypothesis testing, and statistical reliability under the conditions and standards noted below: o Conditions: Given a set of problems in descriptive statistics, sampling statistics, hypothesis testing, and statistical reliability. o Standards: Able to solve problems in each statistical category. The content for each tutor developed must be provided by the Offeror. ARL will not provide any content. The content should be open source or government owned so the tutors produced can be distributed freely as a public tutor as part of GIFT. No licensed products should be used in the construction of these tutors. The tutors developed must include all four (4) quadrants of Merrill's component display theory (rules, examples, recall, and practice). Any environments developed for practice must be open source and fully integrated with GIFT and be delivered with the final tutor. The four winning Offerors will be expected to detail their design and authoring process in a technical report which will also be presented at the next GIFT Users Symposium. References: Army, U. S. (1987). Field Manual (FM 21-60): Visual Signals. Washington, DC, 30 September 1987. Army, U.S. (2004). Field Manual (FM 2-0): Intelligence. Washington, DC, 17 May 2004. Army, U.S. (2006). Field Manual (FM 3-25.26): Map Reading and Land Navigation. Washington, DC, 30 August 2006 (Change 1). Sottilare, R., & Ososky, S. (2017, July). Defining Complexity in the Authoring Process for Adaptive Instruction. In International Conference on Augmented Cognition (pp. 237-249). Springer, Cham. Plan of Execution The process of execution begins with White Paper evaluation and a down-selection process. A separate whitepaper (of no more than 5 pages) should be submitted for each of the four task domains described above. Whitepapers should summarize the planned authoring processes and methods for developing learning objectives, measures of performance, types of adaptations envisioned, and learning environment contexts (e.g., game-based, didactic, etc.). From among the whitepapers submitted, the Government will notify the Offeror if their White Paper is selected, and formally request a full proposal. One proposal will be requested for each of the four task domains, dependent on availability of funding. The full proposals undergo a full scientific review and programmatic review prior to being funded. The period of performance of will be finalized prior to the request of a formal proposal. The Government's intent is to fund each tutor at $60,000.00 and each tutor must be presented and demonstrated at ARL Orlando six months after contract award. Note that funding is not guaranteed in either option year. Only one award is expected. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION FOR THIS EFFORT. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. II. PREPARATION, SUBMISSION, AND EVALUATION CRITERIA a) Preparation: White Papers shall not exceed five (5) pages of computerized text at 12 pitch (excluding resumes). Contractor format is acceptable. b) Evaluation Criteria White Papers will be evaluated by a technical review board using the following criteria listed in descending order of importance: 1. Overall scientific and/or technical merits of the proposed research: The Offeror must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the research problem and articulate a clear approach to addressing the fulfillment of requirements outlined for each tutor above. The proposed approach must be based on feasible and realistic scientific methods and provide the Government with a high level of confidence of successful completion. The technical merit evaluation will also include the complexity of each ITS proposed. The complexity of each ITS has dependencies on the number of learning objectives, knowledge components, course objects, adaptations, and content provided (Sottilare & Ososky, 2017), and more complex tutors will be considered of higher value. 2. The potential contributions of the effort to the Army mission and the extent to which the research effort will contribute to balancing the overall ARL research program: In addition, to showing how the proposed research aligns with the solicited topic, the Offeror must also specify how the proposed research will contribute to or advance the current U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Human Sciences campaign and Accelerated Learning Essential Research Area. 3. The Offeror's capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combination of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposed research objectives: The Offeror must demonstrate relevant organizational capabilities (e.g., experience, facilities, techniques) beyond individual capability to ensure the proposed research objectives can be achieved by the organization as a whole. 4. The qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed Principal Investigator, team leader, and other key personnel who are critical to the achievement of the proposed objectives: The Offeror must demonstrate that the key personnel have the education and experience necessary to successfully complete the research objectives. Personnel capabilities need to be aligned with the expertise needed to achieve the required tasks. 5. The Offeror's record of past performance: Past performance information obtained from the Offeror's White Paper submittal, centralized past performance databases, and other sources will be used to evaluate past performance on projects of similar size, scope, and complexity to determine timely compliance with Government specifications. For Offerors with no relevant past performance, the Government may take into account information regarding the past performance of predecessor companies, subcontractors, or proposed personnel that will perform key aspects of the proposed research. Upon completion of White Paper evaluations, Offerors will be notified whether or not their White Paper was favorably received. Favorable review of a White Paper does not constitute selection of the proposed effort for contract award and will not establish a binding commitment for the Government to fund the effort in whole or in part. Upon notification, the Government will issue a request for proposal letter to the qualified Offeror(s), who best meet the program objectives. If proposals are solicited, proposals are due no later than 31 January 2018, 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The requirements for proposal preparation and submission can be found at http://www.arl.army.mil/www/pages/8/Mod2_ARL_BAA_revsept13.pdf . This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to reimburse any proposal preparation cost for responding. The cost of proposal preparation in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect costs as specified in FAR 31.205-18, Independent Research and Development and Bid and Proposal Costs. Any request for White Paper or submission of a full proposal does not guarantee award. The Government reserves the right to cancel this requirement at any time and shall not be liable for any cost of proposal preparation or submission. This announcement constitutes the Government's solicitation for this effort. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published. III. FEEDBACK Written or telephonic feedback will be provided to the Offeror regarding the White Paper's scientific merit and potential contributions to the Army mission. If the Government decides to request a full proposal, a written request will be sent to the Offeror. The request may also include feedback intended to improve the proposal. IV. DEADLINES White Paper submissions, no more than five (5) pages in length, are encouraged to be submitted as early as possible but must be received, via email, by Robert Sottilare, contact@example.gov and cc the U.S. Army Contracting Command contact@example.gov, no later than 31 January 2018, 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST). No extensions will be granted. Only unclassified White Papers will be accepted. The White Papers will be reviewed to determine that the proposed effort is within the scope and interest of this solicitation. A proposal will only be solicited from White Papers deemed the best to meet program objectives. ? V. INQUIRIES Inquiries for additional information should be made with the ARL POC, Dr. Sottilare, whose contact information is listed above.