Inactive

1. Description In an effort to reduce theft or loss of AFRL Research & Development (R&D) activities to foreign adversaries, Headquarters Air Force Research Laboratory, Systems Engineering and Program ... 1. Description In an effort to reduce theft or loss of AFRL Research & Development (R&D) activities to foreign adversaries, Headquarters Air Force Research Laboratory, Systems Engineering and Program Management Division (HQ AFRL/ENS) and Directorate of Staff Information Protection (HQ AFRL/DSI) are tasked with finding AFRL-wide technology solutions that can perform a risk assessment of current and potential performers and their affiliations. 2. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any service whatsoever. Further, the Air Force is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. 3. Background AFRL conducts and funds R&D activities for both USAF and USSF that span the entire spectrum from basic research and the exploration of fundamental principles to advanced technical demonstrations applied to relevant air and space military missions. For these R&D activities, AFRL collaborates with all types of companies and institutions and awards contracts to companies of all sizes, from sole proprietors to some of the largest companies in the world. AFRL’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program targets small businesses and provides thousands of contract awards annually. AFRL also awards hundreds of grants to academia and other institutions every year. In total, AFRL R&D activities are spread throughout thousands of companies, academia, government and other institutions involving millions of people. Most of these people and institutions are working in the best interest of AFRL and the U.S. Government; however, recent incidents indicate that some are also working in the interest of adversarial foreign governments. When R&D ends up in the hands of adversaries, it diminishes any advantage the U.S. had in that subject area and allows the adversary to significantly benefit from U.S.-funded R&D for little or no cost. While there are many methods, some adversarial governments have state-sponsored programs specifically designed to recruit AFRL-sponsored researchers, whether knowingly or unknowingly, in order to capture AFRL-sponsored R&D information. In some cases, they use complicated networks of state-owned and other businesses to mask their relationships to entities performing U.S.-sponsored R&D making it difficult to identify a risk. In order to limit the risk of U.S.-sponsored research being acquired by state actors, DoDI 5000.83 Technology and Program Protection to Maintain Technological Advantage establishes policy, assigns responsibilities and provides procedures for protection of “DoD-sponsored research and technology that is in the interest of national security,” which includes AFRL-led R&D activities. Section 3.3 (b.) (4) specifically states that S&T managers should “review research performers for workload conflicts and conflicts of interest, as part of the contract, grant, or other instrument award process.” Additionally, conflicts of commitment should also be examined. Additionally, Presidential Memorandum on United States Government-Support Research and Development National Security Policy (NSPM-33) supports the Government collecting the following information from certain participants who participate in Government-funded research: Organizational affiliations and employment Other support, contractual or otherwise, direct and indirect, including current and pending private and public sources of funding or income, both foreign and domestic. Current or pending participation in, or applications to, programs sponsored by foreign governments, instrumentalities, or entities, including foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment programs; and Positions and appointments, both domestic and foreign, including affiliations with foreign entities or governments. This includes titled academic, professional, or institutional appointments whether or not remuneration is received, and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary (including adjunct, visiting, or honorary). Note the following definitions: Conflict of Commitment (CoC). A conflict of commitment is a situation in which an individual accepts or incurs conflicting obligations between or among multiple employers or other entities. Many institutional policies define conflicts of commitment as conflicting commitments of time and effort, including obligations to dedicate time in excess of institutional or funding agency policies or commitments. Other types of conflicting obligations, including obligations to improperly share information with, or withhold information from, an employer or funding agency, can also threaten research security and integrity, and are an element of a broader concept of conflicts of commitment. Conflict of Interest (CoI). A conflict of interest is a situation in which an individual, or the individual's spouse or dependent children, has a financial interest or financial relationship that could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, reporting, or funding of research. 4. Scope In order to reduce the risk of losing any R&D to adversaries, AFRL is interested in a technology solution that can provide the user with a risk assessment of doing business with specific persons and/or entities (e.g., companies, associations, academic institutions, etc.). The risk assessment should consider all of the information provided by the user (e.g., SF424), as well as information from public and private sources. A risk assessment will be performed multiple times during the lifecycle of all AFRL-funded R&D efforts (grants, contracts, etc.): pre-award for each competitor, and then annually on the performer until effort completion. The amount of information available from the user may vary from use to use. The technology solution should support multiple methods of input, including, but not limited to: Direct entry by a Government user for a quick, ad-hoc query File upload, e.g.: Completed SF424 Excel spreadsheet – it is envisioned that the information disclosed with respect to Presidential Memorandum on United States Government-Support Research and Development National Security Policy (NSPM-33) as outlined above would be entered into the technology via SF424 or custom Excel-based questionnaire (yet to be developed). Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resume in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.docx) format Users of this technology will be DoD personnel outside of the Intelligence career field. 5. Characteristics The output should include a quantitative assessment of potential risk based on the individual and/or the entity identified. AFRL does not have a pre-determined vision of the output, i.e., risk analysis. However, the output should include a score or rating (relative or absolute) and some explanation as to why a person or entity has an above normal risk level. The output should be of sufficient quality and brevity to enable DoD personnel who are outside of the Intelligence career field to make an informed decision regarding the risk(s) identified. The assessments should include potential risk-based, user-selectable criteria including, but not limited to, criminal or civil legal matters; significant foreign ownership or control; foreign citizenship of key participants; and known foreign associations or relations. Additionally, for individuals’ names provided as inputs by the user, the risk assessment should include conflicts of commitment, conflicts of interest, and workload conflicts. And, for entities provided as inputs by the user, the risk assessment should include analysis of organizational relationships to foreign governments, e.g., if any division, department or subsidiary of the entity has any relationship with an adversarial foreign government-owned entity or any of its subsidiaries. The underlying, original data relied upon to make assessments should be captured and available for use. The technology solution should enable customizable searches of people and entities. Desired customizable features may include an opportunity for the user to select the database(s) or the source(s) to search against; or a “deep dive” versus quick check. 6. Requested Information AFRL is interested in innovative solutions for performing risk assessments of current and potential AFRL performers in order to protect its R&D activities as outlined above. Submit capabilities based on the above mentioned information. In the response, please also address these questions: Is your product or technology COTS? What development will be required to meet AFRL’s needs? Do you have a similar product already deployed at a Government entity? To what extent is the tool/technology customizable? What databases are accessed? Are they unclassified/classified? Would you be interested in sending additional information outside of this response via classified channels? What licensing structures would be available? Enterprise, individual, other combinations? What is the ROM for the different licensing structures? Can searches (including both outputs and inputs) be archived, tabulated and recalled by different users within the DoD community in order to reduce search times and/or cost? Can your tool provide different levels of search capability? For example, a quick check (on the order of 5 minutes) vs. an extensive deep dive. What supporting processes, models and/or requirements for implementation are needed? Would you be interested in providing a demo of your capability? To assist in pricing, USAF estimates the following annual use: 250 users 10,000 “quick check” 1,000 “deep dive” 7. Responses Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI by submitting a white paper limited to 6 pages or less. ONLY prime contractors shall complete the above referenced form; however, prime contractors are able to include information provided by their subcontractors in their response. Responses will be accepted only via email or DoD Safe (https://safe.apps.mil/). Preferred response method is email to Erik Kvalheim, erik.kvalheim@us.af.mil. If DoD Safe is needed, please use same contact info for coordinating the DoD Safe drop. Responses will be accepted until 20 Sep 21. Use “Distribution Statement C. Distribution authorized to US Government agencies and their contractors (ADMINISTATIVE USE)” on each page submitted. Alternatively for any page with proprietary information, please mark those pages with “Distribution Statement B. Distribution authorized to US Government agencies (PROPRIETARY INFORMATION).” Proprietary information, if any, should be MINIMIZED and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 8. Questions Questions regarding this RFI shall be submitted in writing by email to James Leighty, james .leighty.1@us.af.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered through email. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 20 Sep 21 will be answered. 9. Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide technology solutions for risk assessment of losing R&D activities to foreign adversaries based on current or potential awarded performers and their affiliations. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Air Force has not made a commitment to procure any of the services discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.