DARPA Grant: Integrated Micro Primary Atomic Clock Technology (IMPACT)

Section III. Detailed Proposal Information

A. {5} Statement of Work (SOW) – In plain English, clearly define the technical tasks/subtasks to be performed, their durations, and dependencies among them. The page length for the SOW will be dependant on the amount of the effort. For each task/subtask, provide:
• A general description of the objective (for each defined task/activity);
• A detailed description of the approach to be taken to accomplish each defined task/activity);
• Identification of the primary organization responsible for task execution (prime, sub, team member, by name, etc.);
• The exit criteria for each task/activity – a product, event or milestone that defines its completion.
• Define all deliverables (reporting, data, reports, software, etc.) to be provided to the Government in support of the proposed research tasks/activities.
Note: It is recommended that the SOW should be developed so that each Phase of the program is separately defined. Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW.
B. {3} Description of the results, products, transferable technology, and expected technology transfer path enhancing that of Section II. B. See also VI (B)(2) “Intellectual Property.”
C. {7} Detailed technical rationale & approach enhancing that of Section II. A concise section outlining the scientific and technical challenges, unique approaches, and potential anticipated technical solutions to the challenges that will be addressed. This statement should demonstrate that the proposer has a clear understanding of the state-of-the-art; and should provide sufficient technical details so as to permit complete evaluation of the feasibility of the idea.
D. {7} Program plan & risk assessment enhancing that of Section II. A narrative explaining the explicit timelines, milestone achievements, and quantitative metrics by which progress toward the goals can be evaluated. This plan should include a specific and detailed test plan detailing how performance of milestones will be measured. The proposed period of performance of the overall program should be clearly stated. Milestones must be associated with demonstrable, quantitative measures of performance, and should be summarized in a single table. Proposals should clearly explain the technical approach(es) that will be employed to meet or exceed each program metric and provide ample justification as to why the approach(es) is/are feasible. This section should also identify major technical risk elements specific to the proposed approach, estimate the risk magnitude for each such element, and describe specific plans to mitigate risk. All Table 1 program metrics should be described in detail so reviewers can asses risks associated with meeting them. The milestones must not include proprietary information. Note: any formal teaming agreements which are required to execute the proposed program should be provided as part of Volume II (Cost Proposal).
E. {3} Comparison with other ongoing research indicating advantages and disadvantages of the proposed effort.
F. {2} Discussion of proposer’s previous accomplishments and work in closely related research areas.
G. {4} Description of the facilities that would be used for the proposed effort. MEMS Exchange (MX) (http://www.mems-exchange.org) is a DARPA supported distributed foundry service to enable nationwide micro and nano fabrication. The capability allows proposers with good ideas but without microfabrication expertise or facilities to develop strong proposals. The proposers are strongly encouraged to describe a work and cost plan on how they plan to use MEMS Exchange capabilities. If the team does not plan to use MEMS Exchange, justification of using other facilities should be given.
H. {2} Cost schedules and milestones (payable and/or technical) for the proposed research, including estimates of cost for each task in each year of the effort delineated by the primes and major subcontractors, total cost, and any company cost share. Note: Measurable critical milestones should occur at the end of every phase. These technical milestones should enable and support a go/no go decision for the next part of the effort. Additional interim non-critical management milestones are also highly encouraged at regular intervals. Where the effort consists of multiple portions which could reasonably be partitioned for purposes of funding, these should be identified as options with separate cost estimates for each.

Original Solicitation Notice Below.

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of integrated micro primary atomic clock technology. DARPA seeks innovative proposals in developing Integrated Micro Primary Atomic Clock Technology (IMPACT) to ultimately realize a primary atomic clock with drastically reduced size, weight, and power (SWAP) over state-of-the-art primary clocks. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.