TCTO Office Wide BAA | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The TCTO Office Wide BAA (DARPA BAA 10-61) was a broad agency announcement from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), specifically tied to its Transformational Convergence Technology Office (TCTO). The core purpose of the opportunity was to attract research proposals that aim for genuinely disruptive, high-risk/high-reward breakthroughs rather than incremental upgrades. In practical terms, DARPA was looking for ideas that could create revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems, meaning proposals needed to go beyond refining existing approaches and instead introduce new concepts, architectures, or capabilities with the potential to change what is considered possible.

The research scope was intentionally wide and office-wide, which typically signals that the agency is not limiting submissions to a single narrowly defined topic area. Instead, applicants were invited to submit innovative concepts aligned with TCTO interests, so long as the work fit DARPA's preference for transformational outcomes. A key boundary condition was explicit: work that primarily produces evolutionary improvements to the current state of the art was excluded. That exclusion matters because it tells proposers that marginal performance gains, routine engineering optimization, or straightforward extensions of established methods would not be competitive or even considered responsive if the primary contribution is incremental. Proposals were expected to articulate a compelling vision for a step-change capability and explain why the proposed approach could unlock that leap.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, this was a discretionary funding opportunity in the science and technology / research and development category. DARPA indicated multiple possible award instruments, including cooperative agreements, grants, other transaction-style mechanisms (listed as "Other"), and procurement contracts. That mix suggests flexibility in how DARPA could structure an award depending on the nature of the work, the level of government involvement anticipated, and the contracting pathway most appropriate for the performer and technical risk. The listing showed no cost sharing or matching requirement, which generally means proposers were not required to contribute non-federal funds as a condition of eligibility, though applicants still typically need to justify budgets and show they can execute the proposed effort effectively.

Eligibility was described as unrestricted, meaning the opportunity was open to any type of applicant entity, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications that might have been included in the full announcement. In similar DARPA BAAs, this usually encompasses universities, nonprofit research organizations, small and large businesses, and potentially individuals or teams, provided they can meet the administrative and security requirements associated with defense-related research. The CFDA number associated with the program was 12.910, which corresponds to Research and Technology Development.

In terms of timing, the opportunity was posted on May 7, 2010, with an original and current closing date of May 6, 2011, and it was archived on June 5, 2011. The listing noted "Expected Awards: 0," which often appears in broad agency announcements where DARPA does not commit to a specific number of awards in advance and may fund none, one, or many proposals depending on quality, relevance, and available funding.

For administrative help accessing the full announcement, the point of contact listed was the BAA Coordinator, Norman Whitaker, reachable via the email address DARPA_BAA_10_61@darpa.mil.

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