JSOU GPT - AI Platform

Submissions Closed 31 July 2024 11:59 PM ET
U.S. Persons Only

Purpose
SOFWERX, in collaboration with USSOCOM Joint Special Operations University, will host a series of events to develop a custom Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) model tailored to the university's academic domain. 

Background/Synopsis
The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) seeks to develop a customized GPT model tailored to the university’s commercial “.edu” domain for the academic and administrative needs of students, faculty, and staff members. The GPT model will be trained on relevant datasets to enhance its understanding and generation capabilities in domains pertinent to the university's academic and administrative functions.

Objective
The primary objective of this project is to develop a GPT model that can assist students, faculty, and staff members in various academic and administrative tasks, including but not limited to research, writing, and tutoring.

1. Develop a customized GPT model architecture optimized for academic and administrative tasks.
2. Collect and preprocess relevant datasets including academic papers, administrative documents, and institutional knowledge.
3. Train the GPT model on the collected datasets to improve its understanding and generation capabilities.
4. Evaluate the performance of the trained model through rigorous testing and validation procedures.
5. Deploy the GPT model within the university's infrastructure for practical applications and integration with existing systems.

Why You Should Participate
USSOCOM seeks to enter into non-FAR or FAR-based agreements with Industry, Academic, and National Lab partners whose solutions are favorably evaluated by JSOU Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). As such, the follow-on Assessment Event (AE) is considered competitive and solutions will be evaluated independently of one another primarily for technical merit. This serves dually as notification of the intent to research the feasibility of an agreement under 10 U.S. Code, Section 4022 and/or Section 4022(f), and as notice of pre-solicitation activities IAW FAR 5.204.

Event Timeline
Completed Phase 1 - 01 July 2024 to 31 July 2024 Submissions to the Assessment Event (AE) Open: Interested respondents who could potentially provide solutions that meet the needs of USSOCOM are encouraged to submit their capability for USSOCOM review. To submit your technology for potential Phase 3 attendance, please review the assessment criteria and follow the submission instructions that are near the bottom of this webpage.

Completed Phase 1a - 23 July 2024 Q&A Telecon: Interested offerors may participate in a virtual Q&A session to better understand the Program Manager's specific technology objectives. The telecon will take place on 23 July from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET.

Completed Phase 2 - 01 August 2024 to 19 August 2024 Downselect: USSOCOM will downselect those respondents/submissions they feel have the highest potential to satisfy their technology needs. Favorably evaluated submissions will receive an invitation to attend the AE on/around 20 August.

Completed Phase 3 - 12 September 2024 to 13 September 2024 Assessment Event (AE): During the AE, selected participants will be allotted a one-on-one session with the USSOCOM evaluation panel to pitch, demonstrate, and/or discuss their solutions. The forum will include a Q&A portion and discussions may continue outside of the event. Solution brief presentation guidelines will be outlined in the event invitation and solutions will be assessed according to the criteria in the link provided below. If the USSOCOM evaluation panel favorably evaluates a solution brief, negotiations for Phase 4 may immediately begin.

This event will be held virtually with the option to come in person at SOFWERX. 

Phase 4 - Path Forward: Successfully negotiated awards may fall under any combination of these categories:

• Business to business research and development agreement as a sub-award through the SOFWERX Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) (15 U.S. Code Section 3715)
• OTA for research or prototype projects (10 U.S. Code Sections 4021, 4022)
  • An award under 10 U. S. Code, Section 4022 may result in the further award of a follow-on production agreement without additional competition based on successful prototype completion. The Government may make this follow-on production award based upon successful prototype criteria, which will be determined for each prototype project.
• Procurement for experimental purposes (10 U.S. Code Section 4023)
• Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (15 U.S. Code Section 3710a)
• Prizes for advanced technology achievements (10 U. S. Code Section 4025) and/or prize competitions (15 U.S. Code 3719)
• FAR-based procurement contract 

NOTE: Awardees may need to be compliant with NIST SP 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in Non-Federal Systems and Organizations