IARPA - Solicitations - Office of Incisive Analysis, SHO Program

Solicitations - Office of Incisive Analysis

SHO Program - BAA Questions

IARPA-BAA-11-06
Proposers' Day Date: June 2, 2011
BAA Release Date: July 1, 2011

# Question Answer Date Posted
001 May an offeror submit a white paper or abstract to describe to IARPA what they want to propose and receive feedback on their approach? No. This BAA does not request white papers. See FAQ B11 at http://www.dni.ic.gov/dni/iarpa/faq.html 07/25/11
002 May potential offerors to a BAA meet with an IARPA Program Manager to present ideas, discuss an approach, or obtain guidance, etc? No. Section 4 of the BAA notes: "This notice constitutes the total BAA and contains all information required to submit a proposal. No additional forms, kits, or other materials are required." See FAQ P5 at http://www.dni.ic.gov/dni/iarpa/faq.html 07/25/11
003 Some tasks, particularly those associated with leap-ahead technology, do not neatly break into 12-month periods of performance. Please advise how to handle those overlaps. Section 4.B.1. of the BAA allows discretion to offerors in proposing a schedule suited to their proposed approach. 07/28/11
004 The solicitation directs, “Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW.” Our offeror-generated SOW will necessarily reflect our recommended technical approach, unique from other offerors’ approaches, and will therefore be proprietary, as we suspect all offerors’ SOW submission will be. We recommend the solicitation be updated removing that direction to ensure sufficient information can be provided to allow USG evaluation of all offers’ proposals. Paragraph A, Statement of Work (SOW) in Section 3 describes the elements to be included in the SOW. It is not necessary to include proprietary information in the Statement of Work. 07/28/11
005 The directed engineering milestones and waypoints significantly constrain the leap-ahead objective and offerors’ ability to reflect the results of precontract, and early-contract analysis and design efforts. May offerors’ propose alternative milestones and waypoints to better reflect their findings and approach? See BAA Section 1.B. Program Milestones and Metrics: "In addition to the minimum required waypoints and evaluations in Table 3, proposals should identify additional waypoints and evaluations that will provide the Government insight into the development of all key aspects of the research." 07/28/11
006 Please describe the nature and quantity of prototypes to be delivered to the Government team in month 33. Please see BAA Amendment 01, which provides additional information relating to the prototypes. 07/28/11
007 How many prototypes are to be delivered at month 46? One. 07/28/11
008 Are all three option years currently funded? Section 2 of the BAA specifies that "Funding for the Optional Periods will depend upon performance during the preceding Period(s) as well as program priorities, the availability of funding, and IARPA priorities." 07/28/11
009 Do the ‘ all performer ’ program reviews specified in table 4, subsequently described as workshops in paragraph 6.B.4.a, mean all members of a single team, or will all primes be jointly reviewed ? Such sessions could involve significant proprietary information from among competitors for subsequent option award and thus constrained may not meet USG intent. The agenda for each workshop, to be determined at a later date, will ensure interaction between performers that contributes to Program goals while respecting proprietary information. 07/28/11
010 In many places the solicitation uses the phrase “Offerors…requesting a procurement contract to be issued under the FAR…” Does IARPA contemplate other contractual authority than FAR, and if so, what are they? IARPA's contracting agent uses FAR, Department of Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) and agency-specific regulations. 07/28/11
011 Is it the USG’s intent to select system-level integrator(s), component/module developers, or a combination of both for the Base Period? Each performer on the SHO Program will develop and integrate components and modules to produce prototypes in all periods of the program. See BAA Section 1.A.1, "The SHO Program requires innovation in component technologies and their integration to produce synthetic holographic light-fields, and a deep understanding of the human visual system. Proposals are sought to develop and integrate component technologies into prototypes that meet or exceed the SHO Program goals described in Table 1." 07/28/11
012 Does the interactivity specified in Table 1 and paragraph 1.A.5 mean roaming through a single, static data base? The interactivity is not limited to roaming (see BAA Section 1.A.5), or to a single static data set (see BAA Sections 1.A.5 and 1.A.7 for minimum data set expectations). 08/01/11
013 Will offerors be permitted to update proposals for Option Periods 1, 2, and 3 to reflect findings in preceding phases prior to award? Offerors are expected to provide priced options for all option periods in their proposal. If the work for the option remains unchanged, contractors will not be permitted to update proposals. However, if the Government determines that the statement of work under the option needs to be revised, the option could be adjusted to restructure the effort within the scope of the contract. 08/01/11
014 We are responding to the BAA and would like to clarify the time with timezone that the BAA is due. The solicitation states September 2, 2011. See BAA Section 4.C.1. Due Dates: "Proposals must be received by or before 5:00 p.m. local time on September 2, 2011, in order to be considered during the initial round of selections." Local time means Eastern. 08/08/11
015 Can the 18 month and 21 month minimum hogel display size demonstrations be monochrome demonstrations or must they be 3-color? The BAA does not specify color requirements for months 18 and 21. 08/08/11