SP8000-22-R-BAA1

NATIONAL DEFENSE STOCKPILE (NDS) RESEARCH

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Broad Agency Announcement

National Defense Stockpile Research

DLA STRATEGIC MATERIALS

SP8000-22-R-BAA1
SP8000-22-R-BAA1

NATIONAL DEFENSE STOCKPILE (NDS) RESEARCH

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 3

2. AREAS OF INTEREST ................................................................................................................ 4

3. CORRESPONDENCE................................................................................................................... 6

4. DUE DATES ................................................................................................................................. 6

5. GENERAL WHITE PAPER AND PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION..................... 6

6. WHITE PAPER PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS ................................ 7

7. EVALUATION AND DISPOSITION OF WHITE PAPERS....................................................... 8

8. SMALL BUSINESS/SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN 8

9. TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS ................................................................................... 8

10. PROPOSAL FORMAT (FOR FULL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS).................... 9

11. EVALUATION FACTORS....................................................................................................... 12

12. EVALUATION RATINGS ....................................................................................................... 14

13. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION................................................................................... 14

EXHIBIT A: NDS STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MATERIALS LIST ...................................... 15

EXHIBIT B: SAMPLE FORMAT OF PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT........................ 16

EXHIBIT C: SAMPLE PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT ............................................... 17

EXHIBIT D: PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCES ................................................................. 20
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BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) FOR

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY (DLA)

STRATEGIC MATERIALS NDS RESEARCH

POINT OF CONTACT (POC):

Matthew Fox, Contract Specialist

DCSO-F2

Andrew T. McNamara Building

8725 John J. Kingman Road

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

DCSO-F2Contracting@dla.mil

SP8000-22-R-BAA1

Notice Type: Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) FY2022 and FY2023 Research

Requirements. The Government may not pay the full-proposed cost or the Government may pay a

percentage of the proposed cost for any future acquisitions under Broad Agency Announcement (NDS)

Research. This BAA remains open during the period beginning on the date it was originally posted

on the Systems for Award Management website (https://sam.gov) until September 30, 2023.

1. BACKGROUND

DLA Strategic Materials is charged with maintaining cognizance of worldwide strategic and

critical materials supply chain conditions from the source to final assembly, evaluating the

capability of these supply chains to support national defense and essential civilian industries and

developing mitigation solutions when access to materials are insufficient to provide support for

national defense and emergency response. DLA defines its annual research requirements in the

National Defense Stockpile (NDS) Annual Materials Plan (AMP) (Title 50 U.S.C. 98 et seq.

Section 11(b) (1)) and obtains funding from the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund.

These planned requirements produce a robust logistics research process addressing areas such as

geographic locations of deposits and reserves, global mining and refining capabilities, worldwide

consumption patterns and the impact of those factors on supply chains that support defense and

essential civilian industries. The large number of materials and derivatives that are used in these

applications require vast and dynamic research efforts with substantial flexibility to expand,

contract and change direction.

DLA Strategic Materials’ need for this BAA stems from emerging and rapidly expanding

requirements to restore and stabilize strategic and critical materials supply chains that have been

compromised by decreased or abandoned domestic mining and refining activities or lack of

domestic reserves within the United States. Most of these requirements are in the form of

research of materials and alloys and development of solutions including stockpiling, substitution,

and/or conservation. Other emergent requirements come from Military Services, Office of the

Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Congressional requests for information on the availability of

specific materials. These requirements can address virtually any critical or strategic materials

topic and each year generally presents a mixture of new projects and different materials.
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This BAA is issued under the provisions of Parts 35.016 and 6.102(d)(2) (i) and (ii) of the Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the competitive selection of proposals

submitted in response to this announcement. Accordingly, proposals selected for award are

considered to be the result of full and open competition and fully compliant with PL 98-369,

entitled "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984."

This BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to make an

award or pay proposal preparation prices generated in response to this announcement. The price

of proposal preparation for response to a BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to

any resultant contract or any other contract.

No contract award will be made unless funds are available. Prospective Offerors are reminded

that only a duly warranted Contracting Officer may obligate the Government to an agreement

involving expenditure of Government funds. Only the information provided in this notice is

available. No formal solicitation will be issued. The contract type, whether Firm Fixed Price

(FFP), Cost Reimbursement, or a hybrid with both cost and FFP CLINs will be determined on a

case-by-case basis after receipt of proposals. No award is expected to exceed $250,000. The

Government may not pay the full-proposed cost or the Government may pay a percentage of the

proposed cost for any future acquisitions under an Broad Agency Announcement (NDS)

Research.

2. AREAS OF INTEREST

The requirements that are the subject of this BAA are the following functions as they apply to

the materials listed on Exhibit A:

(1) Mining:

(a) Analyses of the origin of materials tapped and untapped with respect to geographic

proximity, proximity to refiners/processors and geopolitical control in the source regions.

(b) Surveys and assessments of the character and condition of existing mines, including level

of sophistication, age, efficiency, output and ownership/controls.

(b) Analyses of the quantities of materials remaining to be recovered from active mines.

(c) Surveys and assessments of existing mines that are played out or that have ceased

operation for economic or environmental reasons.

(e) Assessments of regions that have known deposits where new mining operations could

be established; include consideration of economic and geopolitical conditions.

(2) Refining and Processing:

(a) Surveys and assessments of international and domestic refining and processing facilities;

including plant locations, size, normal and maximum production capacity, proximity to
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mines, storage capabilities, access to transportation hubs, and types of transportation

resources most commonly used.

(b) Survey and assessments of the character of existing refining and processing operations

including ownership, product line diversity, age and efficiency of plant and equipment,

availability of skilled staff resources, financial stability, and/or probability that the

company will continue to produce assessed materials.

(c) Research, assess and evaluate emerging processes to enhance the quality of materials,

improve efficiency of production processes, or mitigate recurring problems.

(d) Research, assess and evaluate causes, impacts and solutions to external “bottlenecks” in

raw material supply chains addressing materials that have been delayed, duration of the

shortages, effect on production lead times, prices and impact on delivery of finished

products.

(e) Research, assess and evaluate causes, impacts and solutions to internal “bottlenecks” in

materials refining processes related to converting feedstock into sellable product

considering issues such as incorrect or inferior feedstock, equipment failures, lack of

skilled work forces, etc.

(3) Recycling, Conservation and Substitution Options:

(a) Identify and evaluate material substitutes in active use by domestic and international

processors and manufacturers; include limitations and common issues associated with

use of the substitute material.

(b) Identify and evaluate ongoing research to develop or qualify materials as acceptable

substitutes including use of existing and emerging products.

(c) Identify and evaluate active and potential recycling opportunities, including industrial

infrastructure and logistical perceived limitations.

(d) Identify and evaluate existing and potential conservation opportunities with impacts on

materials mining, refining, processing and consumption.

(4) Permanent Magnet Recycling:

(a) Identify domestic and international processor that can successfully prove the recycling

methods for neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets or recovery of rare earths or its

alloys. The specifications should include the total rare earth metals (TREM) present in

the recycled magnets.

(b) Identify the energy magnetic density of the recycled magnets and its application areas for

defense or essential civilian. Also, packaging and storage conditions for the recycled

magnets or rare earth alloys should be clearly known and specified.
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(c) Identify the existing and future capacity for recycling of permanent magnets or

recovering of rare earths or its alloys from the permanent magnets. Any existing supply

chain for the source of permanent magnets should also be assessed.

(d) Identify any current and previous efforts on permanent magnet recycling for DoD

performed with any domestic or international collaborators/partners as well as any prior

grants from federal or state agencies.

(e) Identify any intellectual property (IP), patents received or in the process for the

permanent magnet recycling technology related with defense or essential civilian items

such as fighter jets, automobiles, or medical equipment.

3. CORRESPONDENCE

All correspondence and questions on this BAA, including requests for information on how to

submit a white paper or proposal as well as submission of the white paper and the proposal,

should be directed to the DLA Strategic Materials Contracting Office by electronic mail(email)

to DCSO-F2Contracting@dla.mil. Please reference BAA number SP8000-22-R-BAA1 in all

correspondence and communications.

4. DUE DATES

This BAA remains open from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2023. White papers may be 

submitted from the date of opening through March 30, 2023, and will be reviewed and evaluated as 

received. White papers submitted after March 30, 2023 are “late” and will not be considered. After 

review of white papers, DLA Strategic Materials may request parties to submit proposals. All 

evaluations of white papers or proposals shall cease July 31, 2023. Any accepted white papers 

and/or proposals not awarded by the BAA end date of September 30, 2023 must be resubmitted by 

the Contractor under the newly issued BAA for evaluation and possible award. Each proposal 

request will include the date the proposal is due.

5. GENERAL WHITE PAPER AND PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

DLA Strategic Materials requests interested parties to submit an initial synopsis, commonly

referred to as a "white paper." DLA Strategic Materials is seeking unclassified, white papers

and proposals that do not contain proprietary information. Offerors are requested to submit white

papers prior to the submission of a complete, more detailed proposal. The purpose of white

papers is to minimize the labor and price associated with the production of detailed proposals

that have very little chance of being selected for funding. White papers may be based on

fundamental research; concept formulation; assessment of processes, products and associated

requirements; development, analysis and evaluation of concepts; development of associated

industrial capabilities, support techniques and processes; development of associated mining or

refining techniques and processes. An interested party must submit a white paper in order to be

eligible for further consideration. After review of white papers DLA Strategic Materials may

request certain parties to submit a full technical and price proposal; such a request does not

guarantee contract award. Proposals submitted without the prior submission of a white paper
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will not be considered. All proposals submitted in response to this BAA will be considered

based upon the evaluation criteria in this BAA. The Government reserves the right to make one,

more than one, or no contract awards from this BAA.

Any responsible source capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a whit e paper,

which shall be considered by DLA Strategic Materials. Historically Black Colleges and

Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit white papers and

join others in submitting white papers; however, no portion of this BAA shall be set aside for

HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or several areas of

research in this science. Foreign-owned firms’ participation is subject to foreign disclosure

review procedures. Affected firms should immediately contact the contracting focal point for

information if they contemplate responding.

PROSPECTIVE AWARDEE(S) SHALL BE REGISTERED IN THE SYSTEM FOR AWARD

MANAGEMENT (SAM) PRIOR TO AWARD, DURING CONTRACT PERFORMANCE,

AND THROUGH FINAL PAYMENT OF ANY AWARD RESULTING FROM THIS

ANNOUNCEMENT. INFORMATION ON SAM REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE AT

HTTPS://WWW.SAM.GOV/.

6. WHITE PAPER PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

(1) Offerorsshould submit white papers via email directly to the following email address

DCSO- F2Contracting@dla.mil

Point of Contact: DCSO-F2Contracting@dla.mil,

Matthew.Fox@dla.mil

(a) White papers must be in the following format but do not require any special forms:

• Single PDF formatted file as an email attachment

• Page Size: 8 1⁄2 x 11 Inches

• Margins – 1 Inch

• Spacing– Single

• Font– Times New Roman, 12 point

• Area of Interest and Number

(2) The white paper shall not exceed five (5) pages plus one (1) cover page and one (1) single

page addendum as discussed below. The white paper shall include the following:

• Title,

• BAA number,

• Offeror Contact Information (primary investigator’s name, phone number, email

address, and company address),

• Areas of Interest,

• Technical Description of the Effort,

• Identification of Risks,

• Project Duration,
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• Preliminary Schedule, and

• Not-to-Exceed Price.

A brief abstract with information explicitly pertinent to the proposed work must be provided in

the white paper. No Government furnished information, equipment, property or data will be

provided.

(3) As an addendum to the white paper, include biographical sketches (one page) of the key

personnel who will perform the research, highlighting their qualifications and experience.

(4) The price portion of the white paper shall contain a “not-to-exceed” price amount of the

proposed project to be completed.

7. EVALUATION AND DISPOSITION OF WHITE PAPERS

(1) Evaluation Process: Offerors are advised that invitations for complete proposals may be

made on the initial white paper submission and the availability of funding. As stated above,

the white paper will be evaluated for the areas of interest, technical description of the effort,

identification of risks, project duration, preliminary schedule, and not-to- exceed price.

White papers evaluated to have significant merit may be invited to submit a complete

detailed proposal.

(2) Disposition Process: After completion of evaluation, the Offeror will be notified in writing

of the results (via email). The Government may select white papers that are most promising

for further consideration. Debriefings for white paper evaluations will not be provided.

8. SMALL BUSINESS/SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING

PLAN

Large Business concerns may be required to submit a Small Business/Small Disadvantaged

Business Subcontracting Plan if their white paper is selected for further consideration. The

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541715 - Research and

Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and

Biotechnology). The size standard for Small Business is fewer than 1,000 employees.

9. TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS

The Government reserves the right to request full technical and price proposals from any, all,

part of, or none of the Offerors submitting white papers. Any such request for full technical

and priced proposals does not guarantee award. Decisions to select and fund certain proposals

will be based on funds availability and the merits of the proposals. Additionally, to be eligible

for a potential award of a contract, all prospective Offerors must meet certain minimum

standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with performance schedules, prior

record of past performance, integrity, organizational structure, experience, operational

controls, technical skills, facilities and equipment in accordance with FAR Part 9. Every effort

will be made to protect the confidentiality of the proposal and any evaluations. The Offeror

must mark the proposal with a protective legend in accordance with FAR 52.215-1(e),

Instructions to Offerors – Competitive Acquisition (Jan 2017). NOTE: DLA Strategic Materials

intendsto award a Fixed Price contract as a result of any proposalselected for award.
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10. PROPOSAL FORMAT (FOR FULL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS)

PROPOSALS THAT DO NOT COMPLY WITH EACH AND EVERY FORMATTING

AND PAGE LENGTH REQUIREMENT OUTLINED BELOW WILL BE REJECTED,

WILL NOT BE EVALUATED, AND WILL BE RATED AS UNACCEPTABLE.

Technical proposals are limited to twenty (20) single-sided pages. There is no page limit for

the price proposal. Submission of proposals shall be in the following format and provide the

content requested within the "Areas of Interest" section of this BAA. Offerors' proposals

MUST be submitted in accordance with the instructions listed below.

Offerors shall submit one (1) electronic version (via e-mail) of the proposal in the following

format: (1) Microsoft Word format; (2) 8.5" x 11" paper; (3) headers on each page to identify

page content; and (4) type font shall be 12 point Times New Roman with 1 inch margins around

the page. Any project Gantt charts may be submitted on larger (e.g., legal paper), as required

to be readable. If less than 20 pages is required there is no penalty for submitting shorter

proposals, as long as the Offeror covers all the required material. Proposals longer than 20

pages will be rejected, will not be evaluated, and will be rated as unacceptable.

The proposal should be clear and concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective

evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims in the proposal. Offerors shall

propose recognizing that the Government has no prior knowledge of Offeror’s facilities and

experience, and will base its evaluation exclusively on the merits and content of the information

presented in the proposal. The only exception is that the Government reserves the right to

evaluate relevant past performance not included in the technical proposal.

The proposal must be submitted in two volumes: Technical (Volume I) and Price (Volume II).

The volumes shall be separate and complete so that evaluation of each may be accomplished

independently. The volumes shall be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be

evaluated without cross-referencing. A separate technical and price proposal is required for

any separate option proposed by Offerors.

• Two separate volumes consisting of:

O Volume I – Technical Proposal

O Volume II – Price Proposal

• Volume I, Technical Proposal (20 page limit)

O Shall consist of the Proposed Project and address the Evaluation Factors as

contained within this BAA.

• Volume II, Price Proposal (no page limit)

O Shall contain price and pricing information in support of Volume I technical

project.

O The price proposalshall include all of the price information cited in Volume

II Section 5 related to the Project Task.
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VOLUME I – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Technical proposals are limited to twenty (20) single-sided pages. No pricing information other

than the summary of project price required in Section I of the Technical Proposal shall be contained

within the technical proposal. Technical proposals shall contain the following sections:

Table of Contents: The table of contents shall specify, by page number, the location of

information requested in these instructions. The Table of Contents does not count toward

the 20-page limit.

(1) Section I – Cover Page: The Cover Page shall provide the following information: (1) BAA

number; (2) Area of Interest; (3) Proposal Title; (4) Target Implementation; (5) Point of

Contact, including name, telephone number, e-mail address, and mailing address (no post office

box); (6) Cage Code; (7) Contractor's business type selected among the following categories:

Large Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Other Small Business, HBCU, MI,

Other Educational, or Other Nonprofit; and (8) Summary of the Prices. The information

contained in Section I shall be limited to one page. The Cover Page counts towards the 20-

page limit and shall be labeled as Page One.

(2) Section II – Executive Summary: An Executive Summary of the Offeror's proposed project

is required. This summary shall be used to gain an understanding of the overall proposal

contents. It should identify and highlight significant features, summarize innovative claims and

unique contribution(s) of the proposal, and include the salient points of the proposed project,

including target system applications and the expected outcome improvement associated with

the project. The information contained in Section II shall be limited to one page. The

Executive Summary page(s) count towards the 20-page limit and shall be labeled as Page

Two (and Page Three if appropriate).

(3) Section III – Performance Work Statement (PWS): The Offeror is required to submit a

proposed PWS that accurately describes the work to be performed, is enforceable, and void of

inconsistencies. If, in the Government’s opinion, the Offeror’s PWS does not reflect these

requirements, the Government will prepare a PWS using information available in the Offeror’s

proposal; this process may delay the award. The PWS must be a separate and distinct part of

the proposal. The proposed PWS must contain a summary description of the technical

methodology as well as the task description, but not in so much detail as to make the PWS

inflexible. The PWS page(s) counts towards the 20-page limit. The PWS should include the

following sections: 1.0 Objective, 2.0 Scope, 3.0 Background and 4.0 Task/Technical

Requirements. See exhibit B for sample formatting of PWS and exhibit C for a sample PWS.
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(4) Section IV – Detailed Proposal Information:

Offerors shall submit a comprehensive and complete technical proposal that demonstrates its

ability to perform the area of interest. The technical proposal is expected to contain written and

visual material. It must be succinct, well written and presented in a clear straightforward

manner. Proposals that merely restate or rephrase the white paper may be considered

technically unacceptable and may not be considered further. The technical proposal shall

specifically address the six evaluation areas: (1) scientific and technical merits; (2) potential

relevance and contributions to the area of interest; (3) new and creative solutions, technical data

and computer software; (4) qualifications, capabilities, related experience, facilities, or

techniques; and (5) past performance.

(5) Section V – Deliverables and Schedule

Offerors shall submit a list of deliverables that will be provided to the Government and a

schedule for project performance and submittal of deliverables. Note that payment will be

commensurate with receipt and approval of deliverable(s).

(6) Section VI – Past Performance References

Offerors shall submit a list of up to three (3) past performance references (may include

performance still in progress) that will be provided to the Government. The past performance

submission should have a minimum of one (1) year performance history and be no more than

three (3) years old from the date of proposalsubmission. See exhibit D for sample information.

(7) Section VII – Resumes

Offerors shall include resumes of key personnel. Resumes do not count towards the 20-page

limit.

VOLUME II – PRICE PROPOSAL

Price proposals have no page limitation. Offerors shall submit at a minimum the information listed

below relating to price.

Table of Contents: The table of contents shall specify, by page number, the location of

information requested in these instructions.

(1) Section 1 – Proposal Type and Value: The following information must be provided:

type of proposal, brief work effort description, performance period, and total value.

(2) Section 2 – Work Breakdown: The prices proposal shall include a work breakdown

structure and price data in sufficient detail to support evaluation of reasonableness (e.g.,

direct labor by categories, indirect labor, indirect prices, travel, subcontract, services,

materials, equipment, etc.).
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(3) Section 3 – Project Task: The price proposal shall include at a minimum all of the price

information listed below.

(a) Direct Labor: Individual labor categories or assigned persons with associated labor

hours and unburdened direct labor rates.

(b) Indirect Prices: Fringe Benefit, Overhead, G&A, Cost of Money, etc. (base amount

and rate).

(c) Travel: Number of trips, destinations, durations, purpose of each trip, number

of personnel traveling for each each, and labor category of each traveler, etc.

(d) Material: Equipment, facilities, etc.

(e) Profit dollars and percentage rate.

(4) Section 4 – Other Direct Prices: All other prices associated with the project should be

itemized.

(5) Section 5 – Payment Plan Schedule: Provide a proposed monthly invoice payment plan in

accordance with the items listed in Section V – Deliverables and Schedule, in the Technical

Proposal.

The Contracting Officer plans to award without discussions. Unsuccessful Offerors may submit

a written request to the Contracting point of contact for a debriefing in accordance with FAR

15.506

11. EVALUATION FACTORS

Proposals received as a result of the BAA will be evaluated in accordance with evaluation

criteria specified herein through a peer or scientific review process. Written evaluation reports

on individual proposals will not be evaluated against each other since they are not submitted

in accordance with a common work statement and each proposal stands on its own merit.

These criteria are listed in descending order of importance, and the non-price factors, when

taken together, are significantly more important than price.

Factor 1: Technical Acceptability

Subfactor 1: Overall Scientific and Technical Merits of the Proposed Effort: The

proposal will be evaluated for the degree to which the scientific and technical merits of the

proposed effort improves Strategic Materials’ supply chain sustainment. For scientific merits,

the proposal will be evaluated on the clarity, correctness, and logicality of concept(s). For

technical merits, the proposal will evaluate the maturity and availability of the proposed

technology. As well as the possibility of success of the proposal objectives and their impact on

the material supply chain. If the proposal does not meet the scientific and technical merits the
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proposal will be determined unacceptable.

Subfactor 2: Potential Relevance and Contributions to the Area of Interest: The proposal

will be evaluated based on the degree to which proposed studies and processes apply to the

areas of interest as listed in Section 2 of this BAA and whether it meets short and long term

needs of the United States defense and essential civilian industrial base and provide a significant

benefit to those industries. If the proposed study fails to fall under the listed areas of interest,

the proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Subfactor 3: New and Creative Solutions, Technical Data and Computer Software: Will

be evaluated based on the degree of creativity of idea(s), foundation in science and technology,

feasibility to solutions, and the technical data and computer software of the proposed studies. If

the proposed study does not meet the creative aspect, is not a feasible solution, or is a duplicative

effort the proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Subfactor 4: Qualifications, Capabilities, Related Experience, Facilities, or Techniques:

The proposal will be evaluated based on the degree to which the capabilities, related

experience, techniques or unique combinations of these that are integral factors for achieving

the proposed objective will successfully accomplish the area of interest. Will also be evaluated

based on the degree the proposed principal researcher/scientist/engineer, team leader or other

key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposed objectives will successfully

accomplish the area of interest. The Government will evaluate the proposed labor and skill mix

to determine if it represents an effective and efficient mix of skills for successful contract

performance. The combination of the capabilities from different types of organizations, such

as academia and industry, are encouraged and acceptable. If the offeror has not clearly

demonstrated adequate personnel, time, and/or resources to complete the proposed task, the

proposal will be determined unacceptable under this subfactor.

Proposal Factor 2: Past Performance: The Government will evaluate the offeror’s submitted

past performance, to include questionnaires, on current and past contracts (within three years)

based on relevancy and how well the contractor performed on projects of similar scope, dollar

value, and complexity. Evaluations of past performance will be conducted in accordance with

FAR Part 9 and FAR Part 15.305(a)(2). The Offeror will be assigned an adjectival rating of

acceptable or unacceptable based on the degree to which current and previous efforts indicate

the probability of the Offeror successfully accomplishing the contract requirements and

providing timely delivery. Additionally, the Government may review any other sources of

information for evaluating past performance. Other sources may include, but are not limited to,

past performance information retrieved through the Contractor’s Performance Assessment

Reporting System (CPARS) using all CAGE/DUNS numbers of team members (partnership,

joint venture, teaming arrangement, or parent company/subsidiary/affiliate) identified in the

offeror’s proposal, the System for Award Management (SAM), inquiries of owner

representative(s), and any other known sources not provided by the offeror. While the

Government may elect to consider data from other sources, the burden of providing detailed,

current, accurate and complete past performance information rests with the Offeror. If the

Offeror’s past performance is determined unacceptable, they will be considered ineligible for

award. In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom

information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past
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performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or

unfavorably on past performance. Therefore, the Offeror shall be determined to have unknown

past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be

considered “acceptable.”

The references provided will be contacted and provided a questionnaire via email to complete

and return. Please ensure that the contact information provided is accurate and the reference is

aware that they will be contacted. The questionnaire will include the following questions:

A. Contractor Name,

B. Contract Number

C. Period of Performance

D. Total Contract Amount

E. Describe service performed

F. Point of Contact if Government requires clarification of information provided. Include

evaluator’s name, title, and organization.

G. Evaluator’s experience with this contractor (evaluator is the person filling out the

questionnaire). Include evaluator’s name, title, and organization.

Proposal Factor 3: Price: Will be evaluated based on the overall realism and reasonableness

of the proposal and availability of funds.

NOTE: Proposals submitted in response to this BAA shall be evaluated through a peer or

scientific review process, as they are received. The Contracting Officer has discretion to

request proposals after the closing date if the white paper was received prior to the closing date.

Proposals lacking technical merit or relevance to DLA Strategic Materials’ needs, or those

proposals that may fall in areas wherein funds are not expected to be available, may be rejected

without further action. Proposals stand on their own merit and will not be evaluated against

other proposals. The proposal must be determined acceptable in all subfactors to meet the

acceptability of Factor 1. If one subfactor is determined unacceptable, the Offeror is determined

unacceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability.

12. EVALUATION RATINGS

The evaluation team will classify the technical proposals into one of the following categories:

Category I: The Offeror is determined acceptable under all subfactors and therefore is

acceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability. The proposal is well conceived,

scientifically and technically sound, pertinent to the program goals and objectives, and offered

by a responsible contractor with the competent scientific and technical staff and supporting

resources needed to ensure satisfactory program results. The proposals in Category I are

recommended for acceptance (subject to availability of funds) and normally are displaced only

by other Category I proposals.

Category II: The Offeror is determined acceptable under all subfactors and therefore is

acceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability. Proposal is scientifically or technically

sound, requiring further development and is recommended for acceptance, but at a lower
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priority than Category I.

Category III: The Offeror is determined unacceptable under one or more subfactors and

therefore is determined unacceptable under Factor 1 – Technical Acceptability. Proposal is not

technically sound or does not meet agency needs.

13. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION

(1) Responsibility Determination: To be eligible for award of a contract, all prospective

Offerors must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to

comply with performance schedules, have a satisfactory performance record, integrity,

organizational structure, experience, accounting and operational controls, technical skills,

facilities and equipment and be otherwise qualified. For additional information concerning

standards of responsibility for prospective contractors, please refer to FAR Subpart 9.1.

(2) System for Award Management (SAM): Successful Offerors not already registered in

SAM will be required to register prior to award of any contract. Information on SAM

registration is available at https://www.sam.gov/

(3) Representations and Certifications: The Offeror shall complete and submit

Representations and Certifications via SAM at https://www.sam.gov/
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Aluminum Oxide, Fused Crude

Aluminum-Lithium Alloys

Antimony

Beryl Ore

Beryllium Metal

Beryllium-Copper Master Alloy (BCMA)

Bismuth

Boron

Cerium

Chromium Metal

Cobalt

Dysprosium

Erbium

Europium

Ferrochrome

Ferromanganese

Fluorspar, Acid Grade

Fluorspar, Metallurgical Grade

Gadolinium

Gallium

Germanium

Graphite

Holmium

Indium

Iridium

Lanthanum

Lead

Lithium

Lutetium

Magnesium

Manganese Metal, Electrolytic

Manganese Ore, Chemical and Metallurgical

Grade

Neodymium

Nickel

Niobium (Columbium)

Palladium

Platinum

Praseodymium

Quartz Crystal, Synthetic

Rhenium

Samarium

Scandium

Silicon Carbide

Strontium

Tantalum

Tellurium

Exhibit A: NDS Strategic and Critical Materials List
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EXHIBIT B: SAMPLE FORMAT OF PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

The following is offered as the format for the PWS.

(1) 1.0 - Objective: This section is intended to give a brief overview of the specialty area

and should describe why it is being pursued, and what you are trying to accomplish.

(2) 2.0 - Scope: This section includes a statement of what the PWS covers. This should

include the technology area to be investigated, objectives/goals, and major milestones for the effort.

(3) 3.0 - Background: The offeror shall identify appropriate documents that are applicable

to the effort to be performed. This section includes any information, explanations, or constraints

that are necessary in order to understand the requirements. It may include relationship to previous,

current and future operations. It may also include techniques previously tried and found ineffective.

(4) 4.0 - Technical Requirements:

(a) This section contains the detailed description of tasks, which represent the work to be

performed which are contractually binding. Thus, this portion of PWS should be developed in an

orderly progression and in enough detail to establish the feasibility of accomplishing the overall

program goals. The work effort should be segregated into major tasks and identified in separately

numbered paragraphs according to the decimal system above. Each numbered major task should

delineate, by subtask, the work to be performed. The PWS must contain every task to be

accomplished.

(b) The tasks must be definite, realistic, and clearly stated. Use “shall” whenever the

work statement expresses a provision that is binding. Use “should” or “may” whenever it is

necessary to express a declaration of purpose. Use “will” in cases where no Offeror requirement is

involved; e.g., power will be supplied by the Government. Use active voice in describing work to

be performed.

(c) Do not use acronyms or abbreviations without spelling-out acronyms and

abbreviations at the first use; place the abbreviation in parenthesis immediately following a spelledout phrase. This provides the definition for each subsequent reuse. As an option, a glossary may

contain definitions of acronyms and abbreviations.

(d) If presentations/meetings are identified in your schedule, include the following

paragraph in your PWS:

“Conduct presentations/meetings at times and places specified in the contract schedule.”
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EXHIBIT C: SAMPLE PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

1.0 OBJECTIVE:

1.1 The objective of this effort is to investigate: (a) techniques for generating code for High

Performance Computers (HPCs); (b) technology that connects transformed variants of programs,

crucial to debugging and performance analysis; and (c) exploitation of HPCs by software

environments.

2.0 SCOPE:

2.1 The scope of this effort is to develop technology for building integrated computational

environments for high performance systems and distributing a set of advanced computational

software tools based on this technology that demonstrates the ability to achieve improved

performance on current HPC computers.

3.0 BACKGROUND:

3.1 High performance computing and computer communications networks are increasingly

important to scientific advancement, economic computation, and national security. The technology

is reaching the point of having a transforming effect on our society, industries, national defense,

and educational institutions. The goal of the High Performance Computer and Communication

(HPCC) program is to accelerate significantly the commercial availability and utilization of the next

generation of high performance computers and software.

3.1 The key is by aggressively pursuing research in parallel compilers, object parallel computing,

and intelligent performance optimization to deliver revolutionary advances in computational

software tools. An ideal computational software environment will ultimately depend on a pervasive

understanding of the relationship between parallel programming methodology, parallel compiler

transformations, parallel object implementation, and system performance characteristics.

4.0 TASKS/TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

4.1 The contractor shall accomplish the following:

4.1.1 Design and implement a Code Generator (CG) for a high performance computer. The CG

shall include the design of initial data structures.
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4.1.2 Develop an execution analysis infrastructure to debug and study the performance of compiled

programs without having to understand the transformations caused upon the program by the

compiler, which includes:

4.1.2.1 Implementation of connections between existing front-ends and intermediate

representation.

4.1.2.2 Implementation of connections from serial profile data to intermediate representation.

4.1.3 Develop technology to utilize the power of HPC on the computational tasks to develop a

general HPC design environment, which includes:

4.1.3.1 Tools for serial machines to be automatically scheduled on nodes of an HPC;

4.1.3.2 Interfaces for automatic scheduling of tools that are specifically designed to be executed

on HPCs; and

4.1.3.3 Integrating the CG from paragraph 4.1.1.

4.1.4 Identify HPC community members with relevant applications to experiment with the

ALPHA version of the CG from paragraph 4.1.1 and the general HPC design environment from

paragraph 4.1.3.

4.1.5 Reporting.

4.1.5.1 Continually determine the status of the effort and report progress toward accomplishment

of contract requirements. (See CDRL, A001)*

4.1.5.2 Continually determine the status of funding required for contract performance. (See

CDRL, A002)**

4.1.5.3 Document all technical work accomplished and information gained during the performance

of this acquisition. This shall include all pertinent observations, nature of problems, positive as

well as negative results, and design criteria established, where applicable; also, procedures

followed, processes developed, "Lesson Learned", etc. The details of all technical work shall be

documented to permit full understanding of the techniques and procedures used in evolving

technology or processes developed. Separate design, engineering, or process specifications

delivered during this acquisition shall be cross-referenced to permit a full understanding of the

total acquisition. (See CDRL, A003)*
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EXHIBIT D: PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCES

Please identify three companies/Government agencies that you have worked with in the prior three

years. DLA Strategic Materials will contact these companies/agencies to obtain a reference for

your company.

1. PROJECT 1:

a. Work Performed: 

b. Name of Company/Agency:

c. Dollar Value: 

d. Point of Contact: 

e. Telephone Number: 

f. E-Mail Address: 

2. PROJECT 2:

a. Work Performed:

b. Name of Company/Agency: 

c. Dollar Value: 

d. Point of Contact: 

e. Telephone Number:

f. E-Mail Address:

3. PROJECT 3:

a. Work Performed: 

b. Name of Company/Agency:

c. Dollar Value: 

d. Point of Contact: 

e. Telephone Number: 

f. E-Mail Address: 
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END OF BAA