Integrated Information Intelligence (I3P)

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE / REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) and an INDUSTRY DAY announcement on behalf of the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC), PMM-173 Marine Corps Cyber Operations (PM MCCO) Program Office. This notice is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and. This is Market Research Only in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 10. This is not a solicitation. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NOTICE ONLY. This RFI is for informational and planning purposes only and it does not constitute a does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposals (RFP), or Request for Quotations (RFQ) or a promise to issue a bid, RFQ, or RFP in the future. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government for any actual procurement of materials, machinery, or services. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI are solely at the responding parties' expense. Respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any proprietary information or trade secrets contained within their response. The Government will not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly marked and clearly identified. Proprietary information received in response to this source sought will be safeguarded and handled in accordance with the Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. 1905). No determination as to the viability of this potential requirement has been made at this point and there is currently no solicitation for this effort. By responding to this market research, you provide the Government permission to share your submitted capabilities and contract information with other Government organizations in relationship to similar requirements for market research purposes. Background, Purpose and Objective PM MCCO provides direct acquisition support to the Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command (MFCC) and acts as liaison to MFCC on behalf of the Commander, MCSC. In this role, PM MCCO assisted with the procurement of an OSINT tool designed to provide a capability for real-time analytics on diverse, rich, global, multi-language publicly available information (PAI) acquired through a managed attribution framework. Data sources were derived from across the social media spectrum and a number of commercial threat intelligence vendors. The current OSINT capability, named the Integrated Intelligence Platform (IIP), intended to enable an OSINT/Cyber Common Operating Picture with geographical and counterintelligence rendering, bolstered by modern artificial intelligence technologies (such as natural language processing, machine translation, etc.) intended to speed the OSINT Analyst's ability to rapidly survey data, identify hidden trends, and produce actionable intelligence. Concurrently, but separately, the Capabilities Development Directorate (CDD) within Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) Deputy Commandant (DC) for Combat Development and Integration and the Information Maneuver Division (IMD) within DC for Information had been working to identify requirements within the Marine Corps Information Environment Enterprise (MCIEE) for PAI and OSINT analytics capabilities. IMD and CDD found that existing, individually procured solutions do not answer all requirements for any of the various members of the MCIEE. They further found that these existing disjointed efforts were precluding development of enterprise PAI and OSINT solutions. In coordination with PM MCCO, IMD and CDD initiated outreach across the DoD, CYBERCOM, MCIEE, and MFCC to capture existing requirements for a service/enterprise PAI & OSINT Capability Needs Statement (CNS) which will provide needed capabilities for MCIEE communities such as COMSTRAT, Cyber, MCIA, MCIOC, etc. This CNS is intended to allow entry into a sustained Program of Record utilizing the DoD's Software Acquisition Pathway. To ensure this CNS, and subsequently delivered capability, is fully informed by its intended user, CDD has released a calling message for a combined Operational Planning Team (OPT), staffed by PAI and OSINT stakeholders from across HQMC, the Fleet Marine Force, and MFCC. In addition to capturing requirements for a PAI and OSINT analytics capability, this OPT will clarify the differing missions and authorities which would drive and govern use of such a capability. An industry day, supported by this RFI, is a part of ensuring a fully informed CNS. The primary goal of this RFI are: 1) ensure the validated requirement document for a Joint/USMC enterprise PAI and OSINT analytics capability is informed by state of the art industry solutions; 2) identify companies that might be able to provide desired services; and 3) discover existing contracts and partnerships which might streamline delivery of capability. Currently, draft desired capabilities include requirement for managed attribution, persistent managed attribution, edge analytics, commercial threat intelligence, geospatial selector discovery, link analysis and graph analytics, dark web monitoring, social/media analytics, open source dashboard, master data model, data lake/storage, intelligence orchestration and dissemination, cross domain data transfer and aggregation, international video/news data, PAI data mining and battlespace awareness, operations to inform and/or influence engagements (ex. sentiment analysis, narrative/summary generation, etc.), deployable functionality. This list is not fully inclusive, under development, and to be informed by briefs/discussion at the upcoming OPT. As the lead program management office for this effort, PM MCCO is conducting market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 in advance of a potential solicitation to identify market presence and availability of companies who can provide the required Information Technology Non-Personal Support Services to PM MCCO, as described in this RFI. Contractor services for Integrated Intelligence Platform (IIP) are currently provided under a delivery order awarded against NASA SEWP GWAC: NNG15SD26B - M67854-19-F-4600 ThunderCat Technology, LLC The period of performance on this delivery order is scheduled to end on September 29, 2021 and contains additional options that may or may not be exercised in order to allow for additional time while a follow-on effort is put in place. Information Sought and Instructions for Responding Respondents having proven capability of satisfying the stated requirements should provide a detailed response. Generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective assessment of a respondents capacity and capability to perform the specific work as required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and/or ability to satisfy the requirement and include the specific information and format described herein. Information provided in response to this Sources Sought Notice shall include 1) a cover letter, 2) capabilities, and 3) understanding of the requirement. Responses to the information requested below shall not exceed 12 pages, single-spaced. Cover Letter - maximum 1 page At a minimum, the cover letter shall include the company name, address, point of contact's information, Data Universal Number System (DUNS) Number, proposed North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code(s) and company associated size designation (large business, small business, and small disadvantaged business, etc.), and applicable designators (service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, woman-owned, etc.). Include experience doing primary or first tier subcontract work under General Services Administration (GSA)/Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), and other federal contract ordering vehicles as applicable. Section I: Capabilities - maximum 3 pages Please identify your capabilities and experience in providing the support services described above. In doing so, please provide the following specific information: What is your company's experience with the type of capability described in this RFI? Example 1 (1500 characters or less) Example 2 (1500 characters or less) Example 3 (1500 characters or less) Provide a retrospective about the above mentioned example project(s) focusing on how it satisfied or exceeded the client's needs (1500 characters or less). How many years of experience does your company have in providing the required services (500 characters or less)? For any advertised artificial intelligence (AI) capability, please also describe the following: What is your company's experience with developing, testing, and maintaining systems enhanced with AI? Where is AI used in your product? Which decisions are supported by AI? What information is enhanced by AI? What algorithms/architectures are used? Why? What source datasets are used as a basis for training? What are the characteristics of those datasets (size, variance, quality, source, time frame, etc.)? What target datasets have your algorithms been used against? What real world performance has been achieved? Ex. provide current accuracy, false positive rates, false negative rates, and other relevant metrics and how they were determined during validation, testing, and use. What limitations have been identified for the AI components of your product? How is bias avoided or mitigated? Section II: Understanding of the Requirement - maximum 8 pages Describe your company's understanding of PM MCCO's requirements under this notice (1500 characters or less). Provide suggestions on a draft PWS that would allow your company to submit a successful proposal when advertised. (1500 characters or less). Describe your organizations experience with DoD and service directives, instructions, manuals, and policy for PAI and OSINT (1500 characters or less). Describe the length of time your organization would require transitioning these services from the incumbent (1500 characters or less). What are the most significant risks involved with the requirement? How will the risks for the proposed solution be mitigated? What possible constraints or boundaries, if any, do you envision in performing this requirement? (3000 characters or less) Given the information in this RFI about PM MCCO's objectives and scope, provide any suggestions you might have on a procurement strategy. At a minimum, provide comments on the following information: The use of Firm Fixed Priced or Cost reimbursable CLINs Key Personnel requirements Appropriate NAICs for this requirement The use of Performance-Based Contracting The use of existing schedules versus full and open The use of a IDIQ / Blanket Purchase Agreement Any industry specific terms and conditions that should be considered (for example security related provisions, financial restrictions etc. Information Submission Instructions All information sent in response to this RFI shall be in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and shall be submitted electronically (via email) to Michael D. Jackson at michael.d.jackson1@usmc.mil by 2:00PM EST on February 19, 2021. TELEPHONE INQUIRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Industry Day In support of CDD's OPT, PM MCCO will host a Vendor Industry Day. This will take place on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST on or around Marine Corps Base Quantico. Due to space limitations and COVID, the final physical location of this industry day is TBD. The final location will be provided via email to those who registered for the event. No more than one (1) representative from each company may attend in person. Secure Video Teleconference (SVTC) options are planned. Personnel submitting this registration MUST be cleared at the TS/SCI Level. There are no exceptions. If SVTC is used, the clearance is still required at the TS/SCI Level. Please RSVP to Michael D. Jackson, (michael.d.jackson1@usmc.mil by 2:00PM EST February 19, 2021. All persons planning to participate MUST submit the Industry Day Registration provided in this RFI. If a registration sheet is not submitted within the time frame listed in the RFI the participant will not be allowed in the Industry Day event. To allow for security processing, plan to arrive 45 minutes in advance. Vendors interested in attending are asked to identify any gaps in information that may be useful that was not presented with this RFI and submit any comments and questions to michael.d.jackson1@usmc.mil by February 15, 2021. Early submission of questions will allow the government team time to prepare responses that are more detailed. Questions and comments will be allowed and are still expected during the general briefing and the one-on-one sessions. Questions and answers will be posted on Beta.Sam for all interested parties to view (duplicative Q&A may be removed from the posting). Additional Information Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract, nor do they affect a potential offeror's ability to respond to any future synopsis/solicitation, which may or may not follow or restrict the U.S. Government's eventual acquisition approach. Any information submitted in response to this RFI is voluntary. The Government will not pay or otherwise reimburse respondents for information submitted. There is no commitment by the Government to be responsible for any monies expended by any interested parties in support of any effort in response to this RFI. All documentation shall become the property of the Government. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. This RFI is for information/planning purposes. There is no commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation, to make an award(s), to procure any services related to this notice or be responsible for any monies expended by any interested parties in support of any effort in response to this RFI. The collection of this data does not obligate the U.S. Government to the incorporation of the solicited comments in any future procurement action. Proprietary information should not be included in the responses. Unless otherwise stated herein, no additional information is available and any request for additional information will be disregarded.