Notice of Intent to Sole Source - Automated Interview Development

The United States Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), Contracting and Procurement Office (CPO) proposes to enter into a contract on a basis of other than full and open competition with the University of South Carolina (USC) on behalf of the DCSA Office of Research and Innovation (ORI). The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-3 Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services. Contracting Activity: DCSA CPO - 27130 Telegraph Road, Quantico, VA, 22314 Requesting Activity: DCSA ORI - 1300 12th Street, Suite F, Cayce, SC, 29033 DCSA's Office of Research and Innovation leads the nation in delivering premier credibility assessment (CA) capabilities to strengthen and improve national security, law enforcement and intelligence functions. ORI is focused on providing America's Gatekeepers with the technology, methodology, and capability to defend our national defense information, intellectual property and academic advances. The Human-Data interface is the new battlefield and ORI is working to support DCSA's mission owners in replacing antiquated capabilities to modernize defenses. Under the proposed contract, USC will provide research and engineering in the field of contactless blood pressure quantification for applications in CA, along with the integration of natural language processing (NLP) and physiological data collection systems. These data streams will be integrated to develop new information that scientists and computer engineers may use for algorithm development for an automated interview system. The theoretical and computational foundations surrounding the use of these new NLP technologies as an aid to CA will also be explored by experts in artificial intelligence (AI), language graphs, and large language models. Overall, ORI seeks to enhance credibility assessment functions and capabilities within the Federal Government to identify threats to national security, particularly when coupled with state-of-the-art physiological sensors and contactless imaging, such as those that capture aspects of the interviewee's cardiovascular activity, during credibility assessment interviews. Relevant cardiovascular data channels include the BP cuff used in traditional polygraph testing, as well as promising new measures including pulse transit time, left ventricular ejection time, and heart rate variability. Various aspects of an interviewee's speech, including sentiment (negative, positive, and neutral), emotion (happy, sad, anger, disgust etc.), intent (question, acknowledgement, opinion, referral etc.) will be recognized and classified. These features will be combined in productive ways using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, along with engineering and development of software capable of converting examiner and examinee speech into a written transcript and identifying deceptive utterances. USC has an Artificial Intelligence Institute which has performed similar research on the implications of thermal image system, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and AI creation. USC's College of Engineering and Computing is experienced in thermal technology for the advancement of interview management, and is already in possession of the specialized equipment and laboratory space necessary to further design, engineer, and test non-contact thermal sensors on human subjects. The College of Engineering and Computing at USC has significant prior research experience with the Thermal Interview Management System, based on their existing efforts with other Federal Agencies. These existing efforts have enabled USC to conduct field testing and collect never before tested data on thermal interview management, including performance of sensors. Futhermore, USC has title to the necessary unique equipment needed to perform the research and engineering required by this effort. USC was competitively awarded this equipment through the Office of Naval Research- Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). The equipment is specifically designed for VOC identification capture and can separate the VOCs for further analysis. It also includes a controllable environmental system that protects human subjects from external environmental parameters like adverse temperatures. ONR's DURIP serves to support the purchase of major equipment to augment current and develop new research capabilities relevant to the Department of Defense. DCSA intends to leverage the existing DoD investment and maintain the essential research efforts being conducted at USC to further enhance DoD's CA capabilities. This will also save time in the ordering, integration, and operator training for the use of the equipment. The unique advantage of this equipment is that it provides immediate access and facilities for sensor and thermal research. The Period of Performance shall be for twenty-four (24) months. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources interested may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 5:00 PM EST on 26 July 2024. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to Mr. Jibril Cox at Jibril.h.cox.civ@mail.mil, and Ms. Kelsie Kautz at kelsie.kautz.civ@mail.mil. No telephone requests will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future. Each response should include the following business information: a. Contractor Name and Address, b. Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and Email Address, c. Contractor UEID, d. Contractor Business Classification (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, HUBZone, veteran owned, etc.) as validated in System for Award Management (SAM); and, e. Capability Statement