http://www.darpa.mil/leaving.asp?url=http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.as… The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) often selects its research efforts through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) process. The BAA will be posted directly to FedBizOpps.gov, the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. The following information is for those wishing to respond to the Broad Agency Announcement. The DARPA Information Technology Processing Office (IPTO) is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of information technology for a new class of cognitive systems that can be characterized simply as follows: a cognitive system is one that, among other things, Ø can reason in a variety of ways, using substantial amounts of appropriately represented knowledge; Ø can learn from its experiences so that its performance improves as it accumulates knowledge and experience; Ø can explain itself and can accept direction; Ø can be aware of its own behavior and reflect on its own capabilities; and Ø can respond in a robust manner to surprises. Architecturally, a cognitive information processing system is likely to comprise three types of processes: reactive processes, where system responses are provided with low latency in direct response to inputs; deliberative processes, where planning and other reasoning processes are carried out, including those that deal thoughtfully with natural language and other forms of communication; and reflective processes that operate based on observations made about the system itself. Complete and capable cognitive information processing systems and their underlying processes are likely to be implemented in some combination of novel software and hardware, and are further likely to be augmented with memories of various sorts (long-term, short-term, etc.) and with associated modules for perception and taking action, as appropriate for the end application. Given their abilities to process knowledge and to reflect on their own behavior, cognitive systems might be best characterized as systems that know what they are doing. .... The abstract (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) must be submitted to DARPA/IPTO, ATTN: BAA 02-21, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, in time to reach DARPA by 12:00 NOON (EST) Friday, April 4, 2003.