ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND NEXT GENERATION DISTRIBUTED COMMAND AND CONTROL

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: Initial announcement BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) TITLE: Artificial Intelligence and Next Generation Distributed Command and Control BAA NUMBER: FA8750-23-S-7006 PART I OVERVIEW INFORMATION This announcement is for an Open, 2 Step BAA which is open and effective until 30 AUG 2028. 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 1600 hours Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 30 AUG 2028, the following submission dates are suggested to best align with projected funding: FY24 by 13 SEP 2023 FY25 by 15 Mar 2024 FY26 by 15 Mar 2025 FY27 by 15 Mar 2026 FY28 by 15 Mar 2027 Offerors should monitor the Contract Opportunities on the SAM website at https://SAM.gov in the event this announcement is amended.

CONCISE SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT: Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great potential in transforming the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and Joint Force Command and Control (C2) capabilities across strategic, operational, and tactical levels by enabling decision makers to effectively assess the battlespace, rapidly explore, create, and select the best plan, and direct and monitor forces at pace and scale in a distributed setting. This BAA is interested in exploring new and advancing existing AI and distributed C2 concepts. By accelerating the research & development of novel AI-based and distributed capabilities to support Joint All Domain C2, the DAF can achieve a strategic decision advantage, where AI becomes a key and prevalent component to future C2 systems.

With the rise of AI-based applications also comes new challenges to include the ability to effectively manage, monitor, and adapt deployed AI capabilities and effective C2 in a distributed and contested environment. Distributed operations is a critical component of Next-Generation C2. Key to the DAF transitioning from a single monolithic C2 node to multiple distributed C2 nodes is the ability orchestrate operational processes, while optimizing for limited resources.

Through the development of distributed C2 capabilities the DAF can achieve an agile, fully mobile, distributed, and virtualized C2 operational capability. This BAA is interested in key areas for advancing C2 capability for the DAF to include but not limited to development and application of AI to C2, new concepts and techniques for the battle management and orchestration of AI at pace and scale, how the use of AI by adversaries can be considered in the C2 planning and execution process and distributed and collaborative C2 to enable C2 anywhere and anyplace.

BAA ESTIMATED FUNDING: Total funding for this BAA is approximately $99M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 48 months with dollar amounts normally ranging from $200K to $20M. 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. However, the Air Force reserves the right to award zero, one, or more Procurement Contracts, Other Transactions, or Assistance Instruments, for all, some, or none of the solicited effort based on the offeror's ability to perform desired work and funding fluctuations. There is no limit on the number of OTs that may be awarded to an individual offeror.

TYPE OF INSTRUMENTS THAT MAY BE AWARDED: FAR based Procurement contracts, DODGARS based grants and cooperative agreements or other transactions (OT) under 10 USC 4021, 10 USC 4022 and 10 USC 4023 (previously 10 USC 4002, 2371, 10 USC 4003, 2371b and 4004, 2373) 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 PROGRAM MANAGER: Gennady Staskevich AFRL/RISC 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Telephone: (315) 330-4889 Email: [email on the source notice] 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: [email on the source notice] 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.

SEE ATTACHMENT FOR FULL ANNOUNCEMENT DETAILS.