Solicitations
IARPA Wide Broad Agency Announcement
IARPA-BAA-09-04 Questions and Answers
BAA Release Date: March 6, 2009
Proposal Due Date: August 31, 2009
FedBizOpps Reference
| # | Question | Answer | Date Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Can abstracts or proposals to the IARPA Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) be submitted by e-mail? | All abstracts and proposals must be submitted by mail as instructed in Section 4.B.2. of the BAA. No exceptions. | April 1, 2009 |
| 002 | Will IARPA review and provide feedback to materials other than abstracts or proposals submitted in response to the IARPA Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)? | IARPA will only accept abstracts or proposals in response to this BAA. IARPA will not respond to videos, reports, Power Point presentations or other types of documents submitted to this BAA. If an offeror has an idea/concept that they would like IARPA to consider for a program, they are strongly encouraged to submit an abstract of the idea/concept using the guidelines outlined in Section 4 of the BAA. | April 1, 2009 |
| 003 | Will abstracts and proposals be evaluated as they are received or will evaluations take place after the closing date of the BAA (31 August 2009). | Abstracts and proposals will generally be evaluated as they are received. | April 27, 2009 |
| 004 | Is there a funding level that proposals should be targeting? | There is no arbitrary funding cap for proposals submitted against the IARPA Wide BAA. It should be noted that, per BAA Section 5.A.5, "cost realism" is an evaluation criteria for proposals and awards are contingent on availability of funds. | April 27, 2009 |
| 005 | Will the abstract/proposal submission address listed in the IARPA Wide BAA accept deliveries via regular mail from the United States Postal Service? | No. As stated in Section 4.B.2. of the BAA, deliveries must be made using either United States Postal Service Priority Mail or one of the following commercial delivery services: UPS, FedEx or DHL. | April 27, 2009 |
| 006 | If one submits an abstract for consideration, is there a projected deadline for abstract submission for review to allow sufficient time for full proposal preparation given the August 31, 2009 deadline for full submission? | As stated in Section 4.B.1. of the BAA, abstracts or proposals may be submitted at any time up to 5:00 p.m. EST, 31 August 2009. Abstracts or proposals will not be accepted after this date with the exception of proposals that result from an abstract submitted near but prior to the deadline. | May 6, 2009 |
| 007 | Can IARPA provide additional information on program requirements associated with the research areas of interest listed in the IARPA Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)? | This BAA is not associated with any specific program. Rather, it is intended to be an open solicitation for new research topics not addressed by ongoing IARPA programs. This BAA is primarily, but not solely, intended for early stage research that may lead to larger, focused programs in the future. | May 6, 2009 |
| 008 | Can bibliographies be included with Abstract submissions? If so, will they count against the Abstract 5 page limit? | Bibliographies can be submitted along with Abstracts. They will not be counted as part of the 5 page Abstract limit. | May 18, 2009 |
| 009 | What do we do if demonstrating our "seedling" idea requires the use of a unique capability or facility at another government agency or FFRDC/UARC? | If your idea requires the use of a unique capability that resides in another government agency (OGA) or FFRDC/UARC, you should describe the capability that you want to use and how you intend to use it, the name of the organization where it resides and a POC, and why it is unique (i.e., not otherwise available from the private sector). If, upon review of your proposal, IARPA determines that the identified capability is not unique, the proposal will not be favorably reviewed. (In other words, it is incumbent upon the offeror to do due diligence in assuring that the capability does not exist in the private sector.) If IARPA decides to select your proposal for negotiation of award, IARPA will work a binding arrangement directly with the OGA or FFRDC/UARC. Award will be contingent upon IARPA's ability to reach agreement with the OGA/FFRDC/UARC. NOTE: This Q&A applies only to the IARPA Wide BAA (IARPA-BAA-09-04). |
May 22, 2009 |
| 010 | For abstract submissions to the BAA, should one copy be submitted or should 3 copies be submitted similar to the instructions for a full proposal submission? | When submitting abstracts, offerors must submit 3 copies of their submission; one original hard copy with original signatures, one hard copy with original or copied signatures and one electronic copy on a CD-ROM. | May 28, 2009 |
| 011 | Can you provide additional details on the "official transmittal letter" referenced in Section 4.A.2., page 11 of the Broad Agency Announcement? What goes into the letter or who should the letter come from? | It is within the proposing organization's discretion to determine who generates the "official transmittal letter." However, they are typically generated by the entity within an organization that is responsible for submitting abstracts or proposals on behalf of their organization. There is no required format or template for the official transmittal letter. | June 19, 2009 |
| 012 | Is there a schedule or timeline that proposers can expect to receive a response back with regards to their abstract or proposal submissions? | Abstracts and proposals will generally be evaluated as they are received. Generally speaking, IARPA will strive to get notifications back to the proposer within 60 days of receipt of the abstract or proposal. | June 19, 2009 |
| 013 | If selected to submit a full proposal upon review of abstract, would the deadline for submittal still be August 31st? | Proposals that are requested by IARPA after review of abstracts will be due by August 31st. As stated in Section 4.B.1. of the BAA, abstracts or proposals will not be accepted after this date with the exception of proposals that result from an abstract submitted near but prior to the deadline. A new deadline will be provided to the proposer in this situation. | June 19, 2009 |
| 014 | Can I propose a multi-year effort to the IARPA-wide BAA? | As stated in Section 1 of the IARPA Wide BAA, "This BAA is primarily, but not solely, intended for early stage research that may lead to larger, focused programs in the future. (IARPA commonly refers to these early stage research efforts as "seedlings".)". IARPA anticipates that seedlings will last 9-12 months, as they are intended to flesh out an idea (often by means of an in-depth simulation or analysis, or carefully designed experiment) to determine whether a full program is warranted. Seedlings are not intended to be stand-alone individual efforts that do not have the potential to develop into a full program, and seedlings lasting longer than 12 months in duration will be very rare. | July 10, 2009 |
| 015 | What does the 20% participation figure in the Detailed Management Plan (page 16) of the BAA apply to? | The 20% participation figure applies to employees and consultants of the offeror and subcontractor teammates who are considered to be "key personnel or significant contributors" to the proposed effort. | July 24, 2009 |
| 016 | What cost information is required in an abstract submission? | Page 13, Section C of the BAA outlines the cost information expected for an abstract submission. | July 24, 2009 |
| 017 | Is the BAA intended for large proposals from offerors with multiple teams members or can small single performer proposals be submitted? | There are no restrictions on the size of the proposing organization or team. | July 30, 2009 |
| 018 | Section 4.A.1. of the BAA states that "it is anticipated that proposed periods of performance will not exceed 12 months". Can longer performance periods be proposed? | See Answer to Question #14 above. | July 30, 2009 |
| 019 | Section 1 of the IARPA Wide BAA indicates that results from the BAA may lead to larger, focused programs in the future. Will the larger, focused programs be a continuation of the early stage research or will a new solicitation be issued? | Successful results from the BAA may lead to a follow-on program, which would likely be solicited via a separate program-specific BAA. | July 30, 2009 |
| 020 | If there are no OCI issues with a proposal submission, is an OCI Waiver or Certification letter still required with the submission? | If there are no OCI issues associated with the proposal submission, the offeror should enter "No" in Section 10 of the "Volume I" coversheet and submit certification that neither they nor their subcontractor teammates have any potential conflicts of interest, real or perceived. The "certification" is simply a letter signed by an official within the organization that states that there are no OCI issues involved with the proposal submission. A waiver or certification is not required to submit an abstract. | August 3, 2009 |
| 021 | Will IARPA provide feedback on abstracts that were not recommended for follow-on proposals? | No. | August 5, 2009 |
| 022 | Do all PIs and co-PIs need to charge at least 20% of their salaries to the program since the BAA states "Participation by key personnel and significant contributors is expected to exceed 20% of their time". | It would be expected that PIs and co-PIs charge at least 20% of their salaries to the program since they are normally the significant contributors to the program. If PIs or co-PIs are working on the program under a cost sharing arrangement, this arrangement must be clearly detailed in the proposal. | August 5, 2009 |
| 023 | Can draft abstracts be submitted for review for format and content requirements prior to submission to IARPA. | No, IARPA will not review draft abstracts for format and content requirements. | August 5, 2009 |
| 024 | Is the 31 August deadline to submit proposals the same deadline for the submission of abstracts? | As stated in Section 4.B.1. of the BAA, "Abstracts or proposals may be submitted at any time up to 5:00 p.m. EST, 31 August 2009. Abstracts or proposals will not be accepted after this date with the exception of proposals that result from an abstract submitted near but prior to the deadline. A new deadline will be provided to the offeror in this situation." | August 5, 2009 |
| 025 | What types of organizations can submit abstracts or proposals to the IARPA BAA? | See Section 3.A Eligible Applicants | August 12, 2009 |
| 026 | Will prototype or proof of concept type deliverables be acceptable for the BAA? | Yes but the BAA is not limited to these types of deliverables. See also Answer #14 regarding "seedling" efforts. | August 12, 2009 |
| 027 | Are H1B visa holders eligible to apply to the BAA? | As stated in Section 3.A. of the BAA, "Foreign participants and/or individuals may participate to the extent that such participants comply with any necessary Non-Disclosure Agreements, Security Regulations, Export Control Laws and other governing statutes applicable under the circumstances." | August 12, 2009 |
| 028 | Is it anticipated that the BAA will be reissued after the current August 30th deadline? If so, when would the deadline for the reissued BAA likely be? | IARPA cannot comment on future solicitations. Please check IARPA's website periodically to obtain the latest solicitation information. | August 12, 2009 |
| 029 | Will "Basic Research" monies be used for funding grants/contracts awarded pursuant to IARPA-BAA-09-04? | All IARPA Research is categorized as Applied Research. | August 12, 2009 |
