Securing Artificial Intelligence for Battlefield Effective Robustness (SABER)

The subject effort meets the criteria for a cost-reimbursement contract type as set forth in FAR 16.306(b)(i). The effort involves significant research uncertainties, which preclude estimating costs with sufficient accuracy to use any firm-fixed-price contract. The services to be performed are for non-commercial research in advanced (beyond the current state of the art) technology. Limited or no historical data exist on which to base a level-of-effort estimate.

CMO Procedure 20-01 dated January 15, 2020, approves the use of cost reimbursement-type contracts for all DARPA R&D contracts (in lieu of executing a separate memo for each new contract) if the contractor has an adequate accounting system. CMO Procedure 20-01 includes the blanket memorandum signed by the Director of CMO (Head of the Contracting Activity). The memo has been uploaded under the "preaward" tab of CMO's electronic file management system, eTriever.

The justification and supporting documentation for use of a cost-reimbursement type contract may be found in the CMO Procedure 20-01 and CMO Procedure 20-01 MFR filed in DARPA E-Systems: Filer1 and e-Triever. The contractor, BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc. (CAGE 6A684), has a DCAA-approved cost accounting system per records located in the Contract Business Analysis Repository (CBAR). Therefore, the accounting system of BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc. is approved or found acceptable in accordance with DFARS 252.242-7006.