DSO Office wide BAA | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The DSO Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), identified as DARPA BAA 15-39, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) funding opportunity aimed at generating and supporting high-risk, high-reward research with the potential to be genuinely revolutionary. Rather than focusing on a single narrowly defined program, this office-wide BAA functions as an open solicitation channel for new ideas that align with the DSO mission and could lead to breakthrough capabilities relevant to national defense. The announcement explicitly invites a range of submission types, including executive summaries, abstracts, and full proposals, which signals that DARPA is interested both in early-stage concept pitches and in more mature, fully scoped research plans.

From a funding and contracting standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary and supports multiple award instruments: grants, cooperative agreements, other procurement contracts, and procurement contracts. This mix is typical of DARPA and matters because it gives the government flexibility to choose the most appropriate mechanism based on the nature of the work and the desired level of government involvement. For example, a grant may be used when the performer has substantial autonomy in the technical approach, while a cooperative agreement may be selected when DARPA expects to be substantially involved in the project. Contracting instruments can be used when the government is acquiring specific research and development deliverables under procurement rules. The activity category is science and technology and other research and development, and the listed CFDA number is 12.910 (Research and Technology Development), placing it squarely in the defense R&D assistance landscape.

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning the BAA is open to a broad spectrum of applicants, subject to any details in the full text of the announcement. In practical terms, DARPA BAAs commonly attract proposals from universities, nonprofit research institutes, small businesses and startups, large defense contractors, and other organizations capable of advanced R&D. The notice indicates there is no cost sharing or matching requirement, which reduces an important barrier to entry for academic teams and smaller entities that may not be able to provide significant cost share.

The timeline information in the posting shows the opportunity was posted on July 2, 2015, with an original closing date of July 2, 2016, and a current closing date of June 30, 2016. The archive date is August 2, 2016, which means the announcement is no longer active as a live competition, but it remains relevant as a reference point for how DARPA structures DSO-wide solicitations and what kinds of concepts may be suitable for later or related BAAs. Because DARPA often runs office-wide BAAs periodically, the content and submission expectations from this announcement can still be helpful for understanding the process and the kind of “revolutionary research” framing DARPA prefers.

The summary description emphasizes that proposals should be applicable to the DSO mission, and it directs interested parties to the attached full BAA (DARPA BAA 15-39) for the authoritative scope, topic areas, and instructions. Office-wide BAAs typically do not limit applicants to a small list of predefined research topics; instead, they encourage performers to propose novel technical approaches that could create new capabilities or disrupt existing assumptions. In general, successful DARPA submissions under this style of announcement tend to articulate a clear technical vision, explain why the idea is a meaningful departure from the state of the art, identify specific and measurable research objectives, and lay out a credible plan to validate feasibility (often through aggressive milestones, rigorous experimentation, and measurable demonstrations).

For access and administrative support, the contact listed is a BAA Coordinator, with the note that if an applicant has difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, they should contact the coordinator. That detail underscores that the primary, controlling guidance is in the full BAA attachment, including proposal formatting, submission portals or methods, evaluation criteria, security considerations (if any), and any additional eligibility or compliance requirements that would govern whether and how an applicant can be considered for award.

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