Inactive

Amendment No. 1 to BAA FA8750-18-S-7006 The purpose of this amendment is to republish the original announcement, incorporating any previous modifications, pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing ... Amendment No. 1 to BAA FA8750-18-S-7006 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. Part I Overview Information-updated Type of Instruments that May be Awarded; •3. Section III.2: updated Foreign Participation/Access; •4. Section V.2.b.2.: updated the evaluation categories •5. Section VI.1: updated to reference the most recent version of the RI-Specific Proposal Preparation Instructions, dated Jun 2018 •6. Section VI.4: updated to revise and add new Administrative and National Policy Requirements; •7. Section VI.7: added paragraph (d) •8. 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 BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Enterprise Architecture Solutions Technology (EAST) BAA NUMBER: FA8750-18-S-7006 PART I - OVERVIEW INFORMATION This announcement is for an Open, 2 Step BAA which is open and effective until 30 Sep 2021. 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 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 30 Sep 2021, the following submission dates are suggested to best align with projected funding: FY18 by 01 May 2018 FY19 by 01 May 2019 FY20 by 01 May 2020 FY21 by 30 Apr 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 DESCRIPTION: Seeking innovative information sharing capabilities to enable access to data, knowledge-based information, and model-based reasoning. This BAA is complimentary to BAA AFRL-RIK-2015-0010 BAA ESTIMATED FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 36 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $500K to $3M per award. 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: Frank Gambino 525 Brooks Road Rome, NY 13441 (315) 330-2139 Frank.Gambino.1@us.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred): Amber Buckley Telephone (315) 330-3605 Email: Amber.Buckley@us.af.mil 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-7006 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 FBO reference to Beta SAM website; Part II, Full Text Announcement: Section I, adds IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING language; Section III.2.a, updates the foreign participation language; Section III.2.b.2, updates the DCSA website; Section IV.3.a, updates 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: Modification BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Enterprise Architecture Solutions Technology (EAST) BAA NUMBER: FA8750-18-S-7006 PART I – OVERVIEW INFORMATION This announcement is for an Open, 2 Step BAA which is open and effective until 30 Sep 2021. 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 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 30 Sep 2021, the following submission dates are suggested to best align with projected funding: FY18 by 01 May 2018 FY19 by 01 May 2019 FY20 by 01 May 2020 FY21 by 30 Apr 2021 Offerors should monitor the Contract Opportuities on the Beta SAM website at https://beta.SAM.gov in the event this announcement is amended. CONCISE SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION: Seeking innovative information sharing capabilities to enable access to data, knowledge-based information, and model-based reasoning. This BAA is complimentary to BAA AFRL-RIK-2015-0010 BAA ESTIMATED FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 36 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $500K to $3M per award. 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: Frank Gambino 525 Brooks Road Rome, NY 13441 (315) 330-2139 Frank.Gambino.1@us.af.mil Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the cognizant contracting officer, as specified below (email requests are preferred): Amber Buckley Telephone (315) 330-3605 Email: Amber.Buckley@us.af.mil 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: Enterprise Architecture Solutions Technology (EAST) BAA NUMBER: BAA FA8750-18-S-7006 CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) Number: 12.800 I. TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION: The Air Force Research Laboratory is soliciting white papers under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for research, development, integration, test and evaluation of technologies/techniques to provide segments of the Intelligence Community (IC) with information sharing capabilities to enable access to data, knowledge-based information, and model-based reasoning to meet their operational needs in the satisfaction of their mission objectives. Department of Defense (DoD) and non-DoD government agencies require the means to share information, software and services in order to effectively meet their mission needs. The opportunity exists to develop technology that will satisfy their mission needs for enterprise sharing in accordance with organizational overarching standards, such as the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise (DI2E) and others. The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) is the technical agent for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on the DI2E project and the technical agent for other government agencies in supporting the development of mission directed applications. The technical objectives of this BAA are to research innovative, disruptive technologies and methods to enable the sharing of information within the DoD-IC and other government agencies. Satisfying mission requirements for data sharing requires the development and application of frameworks that support the business processes, data access and correlation, autonomous data analysis and decision making, and all within the security of assured systems and respective cloud networks. The EAST BAA seeks significant advances to the DoD-IC and other government agency’s missions across the following sub-disciplines. The sub-disciplines of interest to this solicitation include: Security - Information Systems are developed for functionality in accomplishing the user’s main goal and oftentimes security and security interfaces are not considered, and too cumbersome to add at a future time. Security, as typically practiced in today’s systems, increases complexity of use of the system, as well as confusion and frustration. The main underpinning of this BAA is to determine ways to apply these various security practices transparent to the user, ensuring efficient system use with a high level of security. Advantages and/or implementation issues associated with higher levels of authentication, such as two-factor (2FA) and multi-factor (MFA), need to be investigated. Assured cloud computing use - The advent of cloud computing technologies presents numerous benefits as well as various security concerns. Information sharing and privacy issues are present in these technologies. As a cloud environment relies heavily on distributed assets, it is necessary to develop approaches to fulfill the 3 pillars of the CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, availability). Technologies such as data encryption for data at rest and in transit, authentication, and data redundancy are required. System integration to achieve optimal operations – Based upon mission requirements, integrated prototype systems that are composed of federated frameworks need to be optimized for information sharing of disparate and novel data sources. Technology to capture and represent business processes and workflows that are compatible with organizational framework standards are required. Content discovery and retrieval (CDR) applications and technologies, as well as data and service discovery applications need to be investigated. Mobile cloud framework – Mobile devices suffer from the lack of hardware resources and limitations of the on-board energy. What is required is a mobile-cloud framework that allows privacy-preserving transparent migration of mobile application components to cloud infrastructure while maximizing application performance and minimizing energy consumption. A trusted mobile-cloud environment requires an access control mechanism that specifies access restrictions and enforces it during application execution and code offloading. With the advent of increased mobile cloud access and use, traffic shaping technologies and their implementation issues need to be investigated. Application Service Technologies - In a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) environment there will be common services used so as to not replicate code across services. These include everything from semantic search capabilities to data analytics and mediation services, content management, and verifying quality. Mission Service Technologies - The final layer in a SOA environment are the actual tools to be utilized, which are primarily analytical and processing tools specific for the intelligence community. Since users will have the capability to query all relevant data, applied analytics visualization is necessary to drive analyst’s insights into processes at every level. Technologies in the area of Big Data visualization and virtual reality data modeling are necessary in support of field mission users. Organizational Compliancy – Various organizational standards and security measures often hinder the software development and transition process. Being able to deploy open systems architectures in a secure manner within a controlled government information system (IS) is critical. The innovative EAST technologies supporting the sub-disciplines above may require the planning and conducting of field tests to demonstrate the advancement in the specific technology. This includes preparing test plans; acquiring, transporting, deploying, and operating all equipment; operating and measuring ground truth sources; evaluating and monitoring test execution; and documenting all test results. The EAST BAA will investigate assured computing architectures and associated technologies that will address the mission shortfalls of the DoD and non-DoD information communities. The goal of interfacing with enterprise frameworks and standards is to maximize the re-use of components while providing a more cohesive and complete situational awareness and assessment of enemy activities for on-going U.S. missions. Automated knowledge-based tools, business processes, and decision aids will provide a more effective use of intelligence data for improved Situational Awareness. The development of mission directed infrastructures, tools and techniques that equip the analyst in providing timely and highly accurate characterization of signals, objects and events leading to threat analysis are increasingly critical to the warfighter. IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING: FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH. It is DoD policy that the publication of products of fundamental research will remain unrestricted to the maximum extent possible. National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189 defines fundamental research as follows: ‘Fundamental research’ means basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary research and from industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons. As of the date of publication of this BAA, the Government cannot identify whether work proposed under this BAA may be considered fundamental research and may award both fundamental and non-fundamental research. Proposers should indicate in their proposal whether they believe the scope of the research included in their proposal is fundamental or not. While proposers should clearly explain the intended results of their research, the Government shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with selectees. Appropriate clauses will be included in resultant awards for non-fundamental research to prescribe publication requirements and other restrictions, as appropriate. For certain research projects, it may be possible that although the research being performed by the awardee is restricted research, a sub-awardee may be conducting fundamental research. In those cases, it is the awardee’s responsibility to explain in their proposal why its sub-awardee’s effort is fundamental research. CLOUD COMPUTING. In accordance with DFARS Clause 252.239-7010, if the development proposed requires storage of Government, or Government-related data on the cloud, offerors need to ensure that the cloud service provider proposed has been granted Provisional Authorization by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) at the level appropriate to the requirement. II. AWARD INFORMATION: 1. FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $49.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY18 - $13.9M FY19 - $12.0M FY20 - $12.0M FY21 - $12.0M Individual awards will not normally exceed 36 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $500K to $3M. 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 (315) 330-3605, or e-mail Amber.Buckley@us.af.mil 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 (POC) 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 2 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY18 by 01 May 2018 FY19 by 01 May 2019 FY20 by 01 May 2020 FY21 by 30 Apr 2021 White papers will be accepted until 2 PM Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2021 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 2021. All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after submission. 2. CONTENT AND FORMAT: Offerors are required to submit three copies of a 3 to 5 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-7006 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 315-330-4048 or Email: vincent.guza@us.af.mil Evenings and Weekends: Call 315-330-2961 b. CLASSIFIED SUBMISSIONS. AFRL/RIGD 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. c. MAILING INSTRUCTIONS. Email Unclassified electronic submission to the TPOC identified in Section VII. 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. If electronic submission is used, only one copy of the documentation is required. Questions can be directed to the technical POC listed in Section VII. 4. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS/CONSIDERATIONS: a. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement. 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, which normally takes forty-eight hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration before submitting a proposal. The provision at FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Oct 2016) applies. c. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND FIRST-TIER SUBCONTRACT/ SUBRECIPIENT AWARDS: Any contract award resulting from this announcement may contain the clause at FAR 52.204-10 - Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2016). Any grant or agreement award resulting from this announcement may contain the award term set forth in 2 CFR, Appendix A to Part 25 which can be viewed at: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/textidx?c=ecfr&sid=c55a4687d6faa13b137a26d0eb436edb&rgn=div5&view=text&node=2:1.1.1.41&idno=2#2:1.1.1.4.1.2.1.1 d. ALLOWABLE CHARGES: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY are regulated by 2 CFR part 200.458, Pre-Award Costs. e. GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: An offeror must have a government approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined based upon an audit performed by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). IMPORTANT: If you do not have a DCAA approved accounting system access the following link for instructions: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/e628c811fafe041accdddf55fb8539bf/view?keywords=AFRL-BAA-Guide&sort=-relevance&index=&is_active=true&page=1 f. HUMAN USE: All research involving human subjects, to include the use of human biological specimens and human data, selected for funding must comply with Federal regulations for human subject protection. Further, research involving human subjects that is conducted or supported by the DoD must comply with 32 CFR 219, “Protection of Human Subjects” found at: http://ww...