Cognition and Neuroergonomics (CAN) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Cognition and Neuroergonomics (CAN) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) opportunity is a U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) program run through the U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center (RTP Contracting Division) under Final Program Announcement W911NF 08 R 0014. The Army is seeking proposals to stand up a new, long-term research consortium that combines government, industry, and academia to improve Soldier and Soldier-system performance in demanding tactical environments. In practical terms, the program is about understanding how people think, decide, and perform under real operational stressors, and then using that understanding to build technologies and design principles that make human-machine systems work better in the field.

The central technical aim is the development and demonstration of "fundamental translational principles." That phrase is important because it signals the Army is not only funding basic neuroscience or psychology in isolation, but specifically research that can be translated from lab-based findings into complex operational settings. The Alliance is expected to generate foundational science while also producing actionable methods, models, and tools that can be demonstrated, evaluated, and ultimately transitioned into Army-relevant applications. The focus areas described include optimizing information transfer between systems and Soldiers (so displays, decision aids, alerts, and interfaces align with human attention and workload limits), identifying mental processes and individual differences that affect mission-relevant decision-making (so systems can anticipate or accommodate variability across operators), and developing technologies that allow individualized analysis of neurally based processing in operational environments (so measurement and assessment can move beyond the lab and into realistic conditions).

Methodologically, the CTA is expected to link neuroscience-based research across multiple levels and connect it through computational modeling. That implies an integrated approach where data from different kinds of studies (for example, behavioral performance, cognitive workload measures, neurophysiological signals, and system interaction metrics) feed into models that explain and predict performance in realistic tasks. The Army also calls out the expectation that the Alliance will build research demonstrators suitable for Warfighter experimentation, meaning prototypes or experimental systems that can be tested with Soldiers or in representative scenarios, not just publications or isolated algorithms.

Structurally, this announcement is notable because it anticipates two different award instruments serving two complementary components of the program. First, the Fundamental Research Component is supported through a cooperative agreement (under 31 U.S.C. 6305), awarded to a consortium led by a designated Lead organization with additional member institutions as needed. Second, the Technology Transition Component is supported through a procurement contract (under 31 U.S.C. 6303) awarded to the Consortium Lead. The idea is that foundational research occurs under the cooperative agreement, and when specific results show promise for transition, individual tasks are then issued under the procurement contract to mature, adapt, and move those results toward Army use.

There are explicit participation and funding distribution expectations for the Fundamental Research Component. At least 70 percent of those funds must go to academic institutions, and at least 10 percent of the total funding provided to academic institutions must flow to HBCU/MI members (Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Institutions). The Consortium Lead can be either an academic institution or an industrial organization, but regardless of who leads, the funding structure is designed to ensure substantial academic engagement and meaningful inclusion of HBCU/MI partners.

From a funding and schedule standpoint, the opportunity anticipates selecting one consortium (Expected Awards: 1) with an estimated total funding level up to $130,000,000 (with an award ceiling listed at $130,000,000 and no stated floor). The Army expects to support the consortium for five years with an option to extend for an additional five years, contingent on funding availability and program needs. The listing indicates no cost sharing or matching requirement. The activity category is science and technology and other research and development, and the CFDA number referenced is 12.630 (Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering).

Administrative details in the source listing include a posted date of February 2, 2009, and a closing date that moved from March 2, 2009 to March 13, 2009. Full details were made available through Grants.gov and the ARL CAN CTA website referenced in the announcement, and an Army procurement analyst contact (Ernest Dixon) is provided for access issues. Overall, the CAN CTA is designed as a large, multi-institution effort that couples foundational cognition and neuroscience research with deliberate pathways to prototype, demonstrate, and transition capabilities that improve human performance and human-system integration in operational Army settings.

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