Draft Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) Data Readiness Artificial Intelligence Development (DRAID) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA)

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) strives to have the Data Readiness Artificial Intelligence Development (DRAID) Acquisition Vehicle meet the needs of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the innovative companies supplying their expertise and services to the DoD through this vehicle.  The questions on the Request For Proposal (RFP) submitted by industry were carefully reviewed by the JAIC and Army Contracting Command - Rock Island (ACC-RI).  After analyzing the trends and any concerns raised through the questions, the JAIC and ACC-RI have revised the DRAID documentation.  Below you will find a summary of the key points, as well as detailed responses to each question.  We also wish to highlight a few key changes that were made in direct response to these questions.  Specifically, we relaxed the experience requirements on positions to allow newer non-traditional vendors to compete; we enabled teaming in areas that aided small and non-traditional vendors to execute on requirements; we clearly noted our desire to accept non-government experience in responses.  We greatly value the collaboration from industry.  These changes demonstrate that the JAIC and ACC-RI are responsive to industry insight and that the time you invested in these questions has resulted in direct changes to make the vehicle more accessible and successful.  Thank you for your questions, and we look forward to continuing this process to ensure the DoD can prepare its data for AI applications.

This announcement update includes the Government responses to Attachment 0004 – JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix and additional information for the upcoming JAIC DRAID RFP release. All industry questions and recommendations received before 12pm on 15 January 2021 are incorporated in the Questions Matrix.

The Government has updated the acquisition vehicle from a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA).

The TENTATIVE release for the final JAIC DRAID BOA is end of March.

Additional information on the contents of the final RFP will not be disclosed until the release of the final RFP.

Only Attachment 0004 - JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix has been updated on this announcement. The remaining attachments on the original announcement have not been updated. The updated versions of the remaining attachments will not be disclosed until the release of the final RFP.

The most common industry questions and recommendations are included below. For more information, see Attachment 0004 – JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix - FINAL.

1. Small Business / Competition – The JAIC DRAID BOA competition remains as full and open with the potential to award an unlimited number of BOAs. Small business set asides will be determined by the Ordering Activity at the call order level.
2. Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs) / Subcontractors – Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into a CTA. CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. Subcontracting will be allowed at the call order level, as determined by the Ordering Activity.
3. CTA Support Documentation – The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and support documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration.
4. Pools – The Questionnaire and Instructions & Evaluations attachments have been updated to reflect the creation of only one pool.
5. Clearances – Facility and Security Clearances will be determined at the call order level by the Ordering Activity, not at the BOA level.
6. PM – The PM requirement has been updated to include considerations from industry feedback.
7. Labor Categories (LCATs) – LCATs have been updated to include considerations from industry feedback. At the call order level, the Ordering Activity can add LCATS based on the needs of the individual requirement.
8. Page limits – The support documentation page limit is 12 pages in total.
9. Tasks – Detailed information regarding individual tasks will be defined at the call order level by the Ordering Activity.