FY15 PROJECT ON ADVANCED SYSTEMS AND CONCEPTS FOR COUNTERING WMD (PASCC) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The FY15 Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD (PASCC) was a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) intended to draw in high-caliber researchers and scholars to tackle priority questions for the security studies community related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and weapons of mass effect (WME). The core purpose was knowledge-building that could strengthen national defense decision-making and, just as importantly, inform policy and international engagement aimed at preventing, countering, and responding to these threats. Rather than limiting the scope to one technical lane, the program framed countering WMD/WME as a broad security studies challenge and encouraged research that could connect empirical findings to real-world strategy, governance, and international relations.

The solicitation emphasized innovative research on counterproliferation, nonproliferation, and strategic issues, with work planned for the January 2015 through September 2016 performance window. It defined "security studies research" in an intentionally expansive way: investigations across disciplines, fields, and domains that contribute to national defense knowledge and could plausibly improve policy and international relationships for combating WMD/WME. The BAA explicitly welcomed multidisciplinary approaches, listing areas such as political science, sociology, history, biology, chemistry, economics, homeland defense, and public policy, while making clear that the list was not exhaustive. In practice, this meant proposals could range from technical or scientific perspectives that affect WMD/WME risk, to regional studies and policy analysis, to institutional and behavioral research on deterrence, compliance, and crisis dynamics.

PASCC anticipated funding multiple efforts across FY15 to FY16, including both research projects and "dialogues" (which typically refers to structured workshops, conferences, or expert exchanges designed to surface insights, test assumptions, and build shared understanding among practitioners and scholars). The number of awards was not fixed; it depended on available funds and on how many submissions were both high quality and clearly responsive to the BAA priorities. The funding mechanisms identified were grants and cooperative agreements, indicating that some awards could involve more active program engagement or coordination than a standard grant, depending on the project.

The research topics were grouped into five broad categories. First, the program sought work on the proliferation of WMD (specifically nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons) as well as WME, defined as other high-casualty or high-disruption weapons capable of producing strategic effects. Second, it encouraged studies of WMD/WME delivery systems, explicitly calling out missiles, aircraft, ships, submarines, and unconventional delivery modes, which opens the door to analyses of emerging pathways, operational concepts, and risk vectors beyond traditional strategic forces. Third, the BAA highlighted management and prevention mechanisms and regimes, pointing to interest in governance structures, treaties, export controls, verification approaches, international institutions, enforcement tools, and other frameworks that shape state and non-state behavior. Fourth, it prioritized WMD/WME issues in less studied regions, defined as areas outside Europe/Russia and China, signaling a desire to broaden analytical coverage to regions that may receive less sustained attention but could still present major proliferation or WME risks. Fifth, it included multi-domain threats to strategic stability, reflecting concern that strategic stability is influenced not only by traditional military balances but also by interactions across domains (for example, combinations of conventional forces, cyber effects, space considerations, and unconventional tools) that can complicate deterrence, escalation control, and crisis management.

Administratively, the opportunity was listed under Funding Opportunity Number NPS BAA 14-003 and associated with CFDA 12.300 (Basic and Applied Scientific Research). It was categorized as discretionary funding and aligned to science and technology and other research and development activities. The posting date was May 7, 2014, with an application closing date of March 31, 2015, and an archive date of April 30, 2015. There was no cost sharing or matching requirement, reducing barriers for applicants who might otherwise need to secure institutional or third-party funds to participate.

Eligibility was relatively open to "all responsible sources" from U.S. academia, U.S. research institutions, laboratories outside the U.S. Federal Government, and accredited foreign universities, which is notable because it explicitly allowed accredited foreign universities to submit. At the same time, it excluded several major categories of government-adjacent research performers from receiving awards: Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), including Department of Energy National Laboratories, were not eligible; U.S. Government schools of higher education, Navy laboratories and warfare centers, and other Department of Defense and civilian agency laboratories were also not eligible to submit white papers or full proposals directly. University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) could apply unless their specific Department of Defense UARC contract prohibited it. For ineligible government organizations that still wanted to participate in the research space described, the announcement directed them to contact the technical points of contact to discuss pathways consistent with the solicitation rules.

The agency name tied to the announcement was Naval Supply Systems Command, and the announcement provided points of contact for both technical and contracting/grants support, including an email route through the Naval Postgraduate School PASCC contacts for organizations needing clarification or seeking appropriate coordination. Overall, the opportunity was designed as a broad, interdisciplinary call for ideas that could produce actionable insight on WMD/WME risks, how such capabilities spread, how they might be delivered, how international and domestic regimes can prevent or manage them, and how evolving multi-domain dynamics affect strategic stability.

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