United States - Request For Information: Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA),

Description

Added: Jul 09, 2019 1:33 pm

**All responses are to be submitted to camilo.b.asuncion.civ@mail.mil**

Notice Type:
Special Notice

1. Contracting Office Address:
Department of the Army, US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Research Triangle Park (RTP) Division, Durham, NC.

2. General Information:
The ACC-APG, RTP Division, on behalf of the Combat Capabilities Development Command's U.S. Army Research Laboratory (CCDC/ARL), is exploring the possibility of entering into a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA), under the authority of 15 U.S.C. 3715, with a Partnership Intermediary to provide services for ARL to increase the likelihood of success in the conduct of cooperative or joint activities with small business firms, institutions of higher education as defined in 20 USC 1141(a) , or educational institutions as defined in 10 USC 2194. This is a Request for Information (RFI) from eligible applicants who can provide the capabilities sought by ARL as described in this RFI.
Eligibility: In accordance with 15 U.S.C. 3715, eligibility to receive a PIA is limited to an agency of a State or local government, or a nonprofit entity owned in whole or in part by, chartered by, funded in whole or in part by, or operated in whole or in part by or on behalf of a State or local government, that assists, counsels, advises, evaluates, or otherwise cooperates with small business firms, institutions of higher education as defined in section 1141(a) of title 20, or educational institutions within the meaning of section 2194 of title 10, that need or can make demonstrably productive use of technology-related assistance from a Federal laboratory, including State programs receiving funds under cooperative agreements entered into under section 5121(b) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 278l).

[1] Section 1141(a) of title 20, referred to in subsects. (a)(1) and (c), was repealed by Pub. L. 105-244, § 3, title I, § 101(b), title VII, § 702,Oct. 7, 1998, 112 Stat. 1585, 1616, 1803, effective Oct. 1, 1998. However, the term "institution of higher education" is defined in section 1001 of Title 20, Education.

Objectives:
ARL is interested in creating a more efficient and effective defense laboratory that can be adaptive and responsive to the challenges of 21st century national security. It is widely acknowledged that innovation depends on bringing multiple disciplines together to engage in collaborative projects that often yield unpredictable, but highly productive results. Formal and informal interactions among scientists lead to knowledge-building and research breakthroughs. By bringing together academia, industry and government, the Army can enhance its performance through collocated R&D collaboration. ARL is exploring the establishment of a PIA partner to serve as an intermediary to assist ARL to accomplish the following:

• Outreach - Facilitate creation and execution of partnerships to enable the transition of knowledge and technology
• Facilitation of Collaborative Research - Assist ARL in facilitating access to leading research facilities and researchers and expand research programs to include fluid collaboration venues (physical and virtual). Research areas of interest to ARL can be found in its posted Broad Agency Announcement located at https://www.arl.army.mil/www/pages/8/SUMMARYOFCHANGES-W911NF-17-S-0003-Amendment07.pdf and on the website https://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=2512
• Business development - Develop and maintaining synergistic relationships with the entrepreneur community
• Technology Assessments - Assess the merit of technology concepts both from ARL and external sources
• Research and Technology Forecasting - Forecast future technology directions, disruptive innovations, and other opportunities for technologies to meet future Army needs

Content of Responses:
The Partnership Intermediary is expected to:

• Be currently or become well versed in the ARL technology portfolio, Army Modernization Plan, Army Cross Functional Teams as well as technology portfolios of proposed partners to facilitate match-making services that leverage the complementary capabilities and expertise of ARL and each partner.
• Be or become knowledgeable on technology transfer processes between ARL, academia, industry, other government agencies, and entrepreneurs.
• Work closely with current ARL locations at Adelphi, MD; Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD; Research Triangle Park, NC; White Sands Missile Range, NM; ARL West located in Playa Vista, CA; ARL South located in Austin, TX; ARL Central located in Chicago, IL; and ARL Northeast located in Boston, MA.
• Respondents need not respond to all of objectives 1-5 below in order to be considered, but must respond to objective 6. Respondents may only be considered for those objectives addressed in their submission to this announcement.

The scope for the PIA shall include engaging in objectives such as, but not limited to the following objectives:

1. Outreach - Identify potential partners who have or desire to develop solutions to Army technology problems. A Partnership Intermediary is expected to:
a. Identify external partners to facilitate the use of ARL Intellectual Property (IP) and facilities with partners through vehicles such as Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), Cooperative Agreements (CAs), and Patent License agreements (PLAs).
b. Develop strategies to create and incubate small business startup opportunities in technology areas of importance to the Army
c. Access markets, extract pertinent technologies, and exploit opportunities to integrate existing technologies into the Army with a particular focus on potential dual use technologies
d. Create and maintain relationships with key partners across the country for hosting events, engaging with potential concept reviewers, potential transition partners, venture capitalists, personnel exchanges, visiting researchers, etc.
e. Create and maintain relationships with academia to:
• Identify opportunities for the ARL workforce to expand education opportunities and earn advanced degrees at partner universities
• Shape or develop nontraditional curriculums to develop the next generation of engineers and scientists based on emerging research areas and Army requirements.
f. Conduct regular and ad hoc outreach events on behalf of ARL to provide opportunities to expand ARL's technology ecosystem to bring a wide range of Army problem holders together with a wide range potential problem solvers. Examples:
• Information exchanges with commercial industry of all sizes, academia, enabling ARL to network with potential partners
• Hackathons, workshops, roundtable discussions, prize programs, pitch competitions, etc. to explore novel models of collaboration
• Engagements with local incubators and accelerators around the country
• Events to communicate Army needs and interests
2. Facilitation of Collaborative Research - Develop and grow a network or ecosystem of collaborative research partners to engage in collaborative problem solving.
a. Increase the presence of ARL researchers performing collaborative research in partner research facilities.
b. Increase the presence of partners performing collaborative research in ARL and other AFC research facilities.
c. Collaboration - Develop and grow a network of partners or an ecosystem to engage in collaborative research to stimulate critical, early stage R&D by:
• Facilitating partnerships that leverage the complementary or multiplier expertise of ARL and partner researchers
• Increasing the Army's visibility to national and global research communities
• Facilitating collaboration through the exchange of personnel, students, licensing of intellectual property, and sharing existing facilities and development of new research facilities
d. Identifying and recruiting promising students and faculty from academic institutions to work with ARL and partner researchers
e. Supporting ARL to work with partners to mature their concepts or products by facilitating technical support, user evaluations, capability assessments, human factors analysis, etc.
3. Technology Assessment - Develop and manage a network of partners or an ecosystem to perform rapid assessments of technologies.
a. Identify and maintain a current database of experts in the range of fields identified in the ARL BAA and manage mechanisms to engage teams of experts on short notice to perform technology evaluations.
b. Support ARL to engage experts to assess research and technology whitepapers, proposals, and concepts.
c. Support ARL to manage information flow:
• From academia and industry regarding their capabilities and concepts into technology assessment processes
• Assessments from widely dispersed reviewers
• Archive received information and make it available to Army elements
4. Business development - Develop and grow a network or ecosystem of partners to help mature technologies and exploit commercial investments in technologies.
a. Develop and foster a collaborative and innovative working environment at ARL to engage a variety of traditional and non-traditional technology sources to accomplish Army objectives.
b. Facilitate engagements of Army and small business or non-traditional company collaborations with venture capital and other external funding sources.
c. Develop strategies and campaigns to:
i. Assist in transferring commercial technologies to meet Army needs.
ii. Assist in transferring Army technologies to industry for commercialization.
iii. Ensure legal and proper assignment of rights pertaining to the technologies developed in the course of research and development.
5. Research and Technology Forecasting - Develop and grow a network of partners or ecosystem to perform research technology forecasts and assessments and technology impacts on the future Army.
a. Conduct market research and track academic advancements to identify a range of technologies that may address Army capability gaps and report on the findings
b. Access markets, identify ground breaking research, identify pertinent technologies, and exploit opportunities to identify and transition relevant emerging R&D into the Army
c. Develop, maintain and update technology roadmaps based on technology trends and directions with organic expertise and by identifying and engaging external experts.
6. Administration - Administer the PIA in a manner that ensures the highest level of integrity and minimizes any perception of conflict of interest on the part of potential partners. Respondents must address how they will:
a. Develop and implement safeguards that prevent any member of the PIA partner team from gaining any advantage with regard to actions from DoD.
b. Protect any information from the Government or third parties that they access.
c. Minimize the appearance of conflict of interest as perceived by potential partners.
Excluded activities: PIA partners will not engage in the following types of activities under this PIA:
1. Performing research on behalf of the Government
2. Funding other organizations to perform research
3. Financial planning of Government research programs
4. Planning or decision making about Government policies or procurements

Written Submissions:
• All responses must conform to the outline shown in Attachment 1.
• Submission Deadline: Responses to this announcement must be received no later than 5:00PM PST on 8 August 2019.
• Responses shall be submitted to the following email address:
camilo.b.asuncion.civ@mail.mil
• Responses sent by any other means (e.g. submitted to other email addresses, hand-carried, postal service mail, commercial carrier or fax) will NOT be considered or read.
• If a late submittal is received, acceptance of such will be at the discretion of the Government if it's determined to be in the Government's best interest.
Oral Presentations:
• Based on the review of submitted responses meeting the requirements of this notice, ARL may elect to invite some respondents to make an oral presentation to evaluators.
• Any oral presentations will not exceed two hours total to include questions from the evaluators.
• Any oral presentations will be made at the Adelphi Laboratory Center located at:
2800 Powder Mill Rd, Adelphi, MD 20783
Evaluation Process:
Documents submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned. ARL is under no obligation to provide feedback with respect to any information submitted by an eligible applicant under this RFI. There is no guarantee that any submission in response to this RFI will result in the establishment of a PIA with an eligible applicant. Any information submitted by an eligible applicant in response to this RFI may be used to help ARL further define its PIA needs. ARL may select a Partnership Intermediary based solely on an RFI submission.
ARL will evaluate all responses meeting the requirements of this announcement and may down select to a smaller number of respondents who may be invited to make an oral presentation of their concept. Following any oral presentations, ARL may elect to engage with one or more respondents to form a PIA in accordance with 15 U.S.C. 3715.
ARL reserves the right to select all, some, or none of the submissions received in response to this announcement. Submissions will not be evaluated against each other. Any Awards will be selected based on the merits of the respondent's approach, level of innovation, past experience with similar instruments and past experience with the Army.

Awards:
Responses to this announcement may result in an offer by the Government to award a PIA for up to 5 years, from date of award. The Government reserves the right to enter into one, multiple or no agreements pursuant to this announcement.

Notes:
1. NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN ANY RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
2. Funding: No funds of either Party will be in any way committed or obligated for any purposes whatsoever by virtue of responding this RFI or entering into a PIA. Entering into an agreement will not guarantee funding for any submission, nor shall it be construed as a guarantee of future funding.
3. The Government reserves the right to initiate clarification of responses and other material submitted in response to this announcement with respondents when deemed necessary.
4. Responses submitted in response to the announcement should not contain proprietary information. If proprietary information is clearly identified, ARL will protect the identified information. However, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements, such information (or portions thereof) may potentially be subject to release. If protection is desired for proprietary or confidential information, the respondent must mark the response and/or submission with a protective legend found in FAR 52.215-1(e), Instructions to respondents - Competitive Acquisition, (modified to permit release to outside non-government evaluators and support contractors retained by ARL). It is the respondent's responsibility to notify ARL of responses containing proprietary information and to identify the relevant portions of its papers that require protection. The entire response (or portions thereof) without protective markings or otherwise identified as requiring protection will be considered to be furnished voluntarily to ARL without restriction and will be treated as such for all purposes.
 
Attachment 1
Response Format
Responses should conform to the following format:
• File format: Microsoft Word
• Pages: Not to exceed 15 pages
• Page size: 8½ x 11 inches, single sided
• Margins: 1 inch, sides, top bottom
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 point
• Total file size: Not to exceed 2.0 Megabytes
• The respondent is free to allocate space to each section of the outline in any way they choose as long as the file meets the criteria above.
• Responses should briefly summarize any information that the respondent deems most appropriate to describe in detail during any potential oral presentation.
• Responses should be organized with the following format and numbering:
1) Organization information
a) Company name
b) Company address
c) Technical POC (include phone number & email address)
d) Other POCs (include phone number & email address)
e) Written evidence of status as a partnership intermediary as defined by the statute. Acceptable evidence can include an organizational charter or by laws.
f) Include any partner contact information (as needed)
2) Technical Approach
a) Outreach
b) Collaborative Research
c) Business development
d) Technology assessments
e) Research and Technology Forecasting
f) Administration
3) Experience & Facilities

Opportunity closing date

08 August 2019

Value of contract

to be confirmed