Broad Agency Announcement for the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Navy and Marine Corps FY2017 Basic Research Challenge (BRC) Program | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), under the U.S. Department of Defense, released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Navy and Marine Corps FY2017 Basic Research Challenge (BRC) Program. This opportunity solicits proposals for fundamental, early-stage scientific research that can expand the underlying knowledge base relevant to future naval and marine capabilities. The emphasis is on basic research rather than near-term product development, with ONR looking for high-quality, science-driven ideas that can open new directions or resolve foundational barriers in selected technical areas.

The announcement is identified as Funding Opportunity Number N00014-16-S-BA10 and is categorized as a discretionary opportunity. ONR indicates it may use multiple funding instruments depending on the nature of the proposed effort and government needs, including cooperative agreements, grants, and procurement contracts. The funding activity falls under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and it is associated with CFDA number 12.300. The posting date and creation date are both April 21, 2016, and the closing date for submissions is August 12, 2016 (with the original and current closing dates matching). The synopsis does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, which typically means applicants need to consult the full announcement for any topic-specific funding ranges, anticipated project durations, and portfolio size expectations.

Research topics span seven challenge areas, each framed as a basic research problem where new theory, new measurements, or new computational and analytical tools could significantly advance understanding. Topic 1, "Establishing a Multiscale Theory for Cavitation in Complex Soft Materials," focuses on the physics of void formation and collapse (cavitation) in soft, complex materials across multiple length and time scales. This could include linking microscopic material behavior to macroscopic failure or performance, with implications for polymers, gels, biological or bio-inspired materials, and other soft systems relevant to naval environments. Topic 2, "Understanding the Phase-Resolved Bottom-Side IONosphere (BSION)," targets improved scientific understanding of the lower ionosphere, particularly with phase-resolved characterization. Better insight into ionospheric structure and dynamics can matter for communications, navigation, and sensing systems that interact with or propagate through this region.

Topic 3, "Decentralized Perception in Data-Rich Dynamic Environments," calls for foundational work on how distributed systems can perceive and interpret complex, rapidly changing environments when data streams are abundant and decision-making must be shared or decentralized. This can connect to autonomy, sensor fusion, distributed learning, and robust inference under uncertainty and limited communications. Topic 4, "A Scientific Basis for Enhanced Manufacturability with Electrical Currents," seeks basic scientific principles that explain and enable manufacturing improvements using electrical currents, which may include electrically assisted forming, joining, additive processes, microstructure control, or defect mitigation. The key signal here is that ONR is not asking for an incremental manufacturing demonstration alone, but for the underlying science that explains why and how electrical currents can change manufacturability and material outcomes.

Topic 5, "Distributed Sensing, Actuation and Control in Soft Materials for Flexible Appendages," centers on soft, flexible structures that can sense, actuate, and control motion through distributed functionality embedded in the material itself. This area aligns with soft robotics and biologically inspired systems, where compliant appendages could adapt to complex interactions with fluids or terrain, and where sensing and control are not centralized but spread throughout the structure. Topic 6, "Predictive and Causal Modeling - Bridging the Gap," emphasizes advances that move beyond pattern recognition toward models that are both predictive and causal, meaning they can forecast outcomes and also capture cause-and-effect relationships. In practice, this often implies integrating mechanistic understanding with data-driven approaches, improving interpretability, robustness, and transfer across conditions, which is especially important for decision-making in operational environments. Topic 7, "New Opportunities to Transform Wall-bounded Turbulence Understanding," seeks breakthroughs in the theory, measurement, and simulation of turbulence near walls, a long-standing challenge affecting drag, noise, heat transfer, and overall hydrodynamic and aerodynamic performance. The intent is to enable transformative understanding rather than incremental tuning of existing models.

Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with a note that applicants must consult the section titled "Additional Information on Eligibility" in the full announcement for the controlling details. In many ONR BAAs, eligibility can include universities, nonprofits, for-profits, and sometimes specific restrictions related to foreign ownership, place of performance, or export-controlled research, but the exact boundaries for this BRC call are contained in the full text rather than the synopsis. Applicants are directed to access the complete announcement on Grants.gov by opening the synopsis page and selecting the "FULL ANNOUNCEMENT" link at the top of the page (the one highlighted by a dotted-line box). That full document is where ONR typically provides the topic-specific technical scope, proposal formatting and page limits, evaluation criteria, submission instructions, points of contact, and any compliance requirements unique to the program.

Overall, this BAA is best read as an invitation to propose rigorous basic research aligned to one of seven targeted challenge topics. It is designed for investigators who can articulate a clear scientific problem, explain why it is foundational, propose a credible research approach, and show how the resulting knowledge could eventually matter for Navy and Marine Corps needs, even if the payoff is longer-term.

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