The Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate will not issue paper copies of this announcement. DHS S&T reserves the right to select for award and fund all, some, or none of the Full Proposals received in response to this solicitation. No funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs will be allowed. White Papers in Project Proposal Form format, Technical and Cost Proposals, or any other material, submitted in response to this BAA will not be returned. However, depending on the markings on the proposal, DHS S&T will adhere to FAR policy on handling source selection information and proprietary proposals. It is the policy of DHS S&T to treat all proposals as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Offerors are to provide unclassified proposals. Documents containing sensitive information that are not suitable for uncontrolled public dissemination should be marked For Official Use Only. When transmitted electronically, FOUO proposals should be sent with password protection. Awards may take the form of contracts or other transactions agreements. In the event an Offeror or subcontractor is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, Department of Energy National Laboratory, or other Federally funded entity, DHS S&T will work with the appropriate sponsoring agency to issue an interagency agreement pursuant to the Economy Act (31 U.S.C. 1535) or other appropriate authority. Depending on the nature of the Full Proposals received, DHS S&T will also consider awarding a grant or cooperative agreement. Therefore, the applicable laws and regulations governing the legal vehicle used for award will depend on the legal vehicle chosen by DHS S&T. In this regard, Offerors should propose a preferred vehicle type for DHS S&T to consider for award. A two-phased proposal selection process will be used for this solicitation to minimize the cost and effort for prospective offerors. Phase 1 will consist of the solicitation, receipt, and evaluation of White Papers using standardized DHS Chemical Forensics Program Project Proposal Form format from potential performers. Entries in the various sections of the Project Proposal Forms White Papers should be concise and conform to the specified formatting and word count limitations. No formal transmittal letter is required for the Phase 1 responses. A down selection process will be conducted by the DHS and those Phase 1 white paper Project Proposal Form proposals selected will be invited to participate in Phase 2, which will consist of the solicitation, receipt, and evaluation of a Full Proposal, limited to 20 pages, excluding the Formal Transmittal Letter, Cover Page, Phase 2 Summary of Costs and Related Information, Table of Contents and resumes/biographical information for proposed performers.