Funding Wizard

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Foundational Science Research Unit (FSRU) of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) solicits new proposals for its fiscal year 2024 program of basic research in behavioral science. It is issued under the provisions of paragraph 6.102(d) (2) and 35.016 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the acquisition of basic and applied research and that part of development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement through the competitive selection of proposals and 10 U.S.C. 4001, 10 U.S.C. 4021, and 10 U.S.C. 4022 To meet the operational objectives of the U.S. Army over the next two decades, the Army must improve its capability to acquire, develop, employ, and retain Soldiers and leaders who can individually and as part of a group: Adapt quickly to dynamic missions, unpredictable operational environments, and a wide spectrum of cultures; Effectively function autonomously and as part of larger systems in complex, information rich environments; Perform in extended, hybrid, and continuous operations; Interact and collaborate effectively in joint-service and multi-national operations. ARI requests proposals to conduct basic research that will provide a scientific foundation to support these broad capabilities. The Basic Research program employs four strategic focus areas for advancing science. Science of Measurement of Individuals and Collectives: Advanced psychometric theory for deriving valid measurements from complex assessments and continuous streams of data Understanding Multilevel and Organizational Dynamics: Multilevel theory and methods for understanding dynamic restructuring, coordination, and composition processes in complex organizations Formal/Informal Learning and Development: Holistic models of individual and collective learning across work settings and contexts throughout the career span Context of Behavior in Military Environments: Integrative theory specifying the interactive relationships between individual characteristics and contextual drivers in predicting human behavior To be eligible for an award under this announcement, a potential awardee must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources and responsibility, ability to comply with the performance schedule, past performance, integrity, experience, technical capabilities, operational controls, and facilities. In accordance with Federal statutes, regulations, and Department of Defense and Army policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin, or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from the Army. Response Dates (Submissions): White Paper submissions must be received by: 5:00 PM/1700 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on 31 March 2023 Proposal submissions must be received by: 5:00 PM/1700 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on 15 July 2023 2023 Response Dates (Questions): Questions regarding White Papers must be submitted in writing to Alexander.P.Wind.civ@army.mil by: 5:00 PM/1700 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on 15 March 2023 Questions regarding Proposals must be submitted in writing to Alexander.P.Wind.civ@army.mil by: 5:00 PM/1700 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on 1 July 2023

The Department of Defense (DoD) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), one element of the University Research Initiative (URI), is sponsored by the DoD research offices. Those offices include the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) (hereafter collectively referred to as "DoD agencies" or “DoD”). This publication constitutes a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) as contemplated in the Department of Defense Grants and Agreements regulations (DoDGARS) 32 CFR 22.315(a). The DoD agencies reserve the right to fund all, some, or none of the proposals received under this FOA. The DoD agencies provide no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Technical and budget proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this FOA will not be returned. It is the policy of the DoD agencies to treat all white papers and proposals submitted under this FOA as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Hyperlinks have been embedded within this document and appear as underlined, blue-colored words. The reader may “jump” to the linked section by clicking the hyperlink. A formal Request for Proposals (RFP), solicitation, and/or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued. DoD's MURI program addresses high-risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. The program was initiated over 25 years ago and it has regularly produced significant scientific breakthroughs with far reaching consequences to the fields of science, economic growth, and revolutionary new military technologies. Key to the program’s success is the close management of the MURI projects by Service program officers and their active role in providing research guidance. The DoD agencies involved in this program reserve the right to select for award all, some or none of the proposals submitted in response to this announcement. The DoD agencies provide no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Technical and cost proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this FOA will not be returned. It is the policy of the DoD agencies to treat all proposals as competition sensitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Awards will take the form of grants. FOR ARO SUBMISSIONS ONLY, awards will take the form of grants and/or cooperative agreements. Any assistance instrument awarded under this announcement will be governed by the award terms and conditions that conform to DoD’s implementation of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars applicable to financial assistance. Terms and conditions will reflect DoD implementation of OMB guidance in 2 CFR Part 200, “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards.”

The Department of Defense (DoD announces the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). DURIP is designed to improve the capabilities of accredited United States (U.S.) institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in areas important to national defense, by providing funds for the acquisition of research equipment or instrumentation. For-profit organizations are not eligible for DURIP funding. We refer to eligible institutions of higher education as universities in the rest of this announcement. DURIP is part of the University Research Initiative (URI).

Quantum computing (QC) has the potential to transcend classical limits of computing in applications of interest to the Intelligence Community (IC) and the DoD. Qubits—the indivisible units or “bits” of quantum information within a quantum computer—exhibit quantum coherence[1] and entanglement[2],[3] properties but are also subject to noise and couplings to the environment, all of which weaken coherence and lead to the loss of quantum information during computation and thus produce computational errors. Fortunately, qubits may be organized into computational units called logical qubits (LQs) that work to preserve quantum information and coherence by detecting errors within their boundaries, identifying corrections, and admitting repairs, all while maintaining fault tolerance.1,2 Theoretical and experimental advances in quantum error correction2 (QEC) have led to several demonstrations of fault-tolerant (FT) logical qubits in recent years across different hardware platforms. A further step towards universal, fault-tolerant quantum computing2 (UFTQC), however, comes by engaging separate LQs into entanglement, all while sustaining coherence and the protections of fault tolerance. Entangled Logical Qubits (ELQ) is a four-year foundational research program directed at generating high-fidelity entanglement between two error-corrected LQs in a fully FT manner, and utilizing it to achieve logical state teleportation with high success. These accomplishments will lay the cornerstone for realizing the full potential of QC and make a profound advance on the path to UFTQC. The program is divided into four (4) phases, outlined in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 4, and described in detail in Section A.3. Proposals covering all four Phases are being solicited under this BAA; proposals covering fewer may not receive full consideration. Broadly, ELQ seeks to develop and demonstrate schemes that preserve FT properties throughout an operational sequence that incorporates LQ entanglement. Importantly, the schemes must also exhibit modularity, where the entangled ensemble is built from, and separable into, decoupled, independently-operable LQs residing on the same physical platform. Modularity is also reinforced by the Program’s structure, with LQs being established separately during the first through third years of the Program before proceeding with entangling operations. We define modularity in Section A.2.1.2 and Box A in connection with architectural requirements. While limited theoretical work exists, FT logical entanglement from the engagement of separate LQs is a frontier topic providing new ground for theory and practice to meet, cooperate, and evolve toward an objective critical to UFTQC. Achieving high-fidelity, maximally-entangled logical states, as evidenced, for example, by teleportation3 success rates of 95% or higher, is an ambitious yet attainable target in consideration of continuing advances in state-of-the-art performance of quantum hardware and related controls. The challenges—spanning developments of hardware, software, QEC protocols, benchmarking protocols—awaiting this deeper excursion into QC will be considerable. Successful teams will be interdisciplinary, adept at working at the interfaces between the disciplines involved, and capable of executing ground-breaking results.

The purpose of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 35 and Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200.204 (henceforth referred to as “BAA”) is to solicit research proposals for submission to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Analysis Center (DAC) for funding consideration. The DAC is the Army's foundation for data-driven analytical decisions across the lifecycle to ensure overmatch for a lethal Army. DAC’s mission is to: Inform Army modernization and readiness decisions with objective Analysis enabled through Tool development and Data curation. DAC partners across the national security enterprise to deliver fundamentally advantageous change that is rooted in the creation and exploitation of scientific knowledge. DAC accomplishes this mission by funding the areas of applied research (budget activity 6.2), as defined by 32 CFR 22.105, advanced technology development (budget activity 6.3), and advanced component development and prototypes (budget activity 6.4). Whitepapers for initial concept reviews and full proposals are sought from institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, foreign organizations, foreign public entities, and for-profit organizations (i.e. large and small businesses) for scientific research that supports the DAC mission. The DAC BAA generally conforms to the portfolio structured around research area based mission execution. Whitepapers and full proposals are expected to be for cutting-edge innovative research that could produce discoveries with a significant impact to enable new and improved Army technologies and related operational capabilities and related technologies. In an effort to provide DAC's research topics and related information in an easy to digest format, DAC has published the following public website listing all current DAC research topics: https://www.army.mil/article/261533, hereafter referenced as the DAC BAA topics website. DAC focuses on executing in-house research programs but supplements our efforts with support from the broader technology base and Academia. DAC funds a modest amount of extramural research in certain specific areas, and those areas are described on the DAC BAA topics website. Changes to these topics will be made using this website on an as needed basis. A change to the DAC BAA topics website is not an amendment to this BAA and will not be posted on https://www.grants.gov/ and https://sam.gov/. A change to this document, the BAA itself, is an amendment and will be posted on https://www.grants.gov/ and https://sam.gov/. DAC will maintain a daily static snapshot of the DAC BAA topics website to ensure submissions are aligned with listed research topics on the day of submission. Interested parties are encouraged to continually browse the DAC BAA topics website for white paper and proposal topics that DAC desires to explore. These specific research topics should be viewed as suggestive, rather than limiting. DAC is always interested in considering other innovative research concepts of relevance to the Army if those concepts align with DAC's mission. Please see Section II, Detailed Information about the Funding Opportunity, for more information on the DAC research topics advertised through this BAA. Interested parties should also review https://www.grants.gov/ and https://sam.gov/ to obtain the latest version of the BAA for whitepaper and proposal submission requirements.

The purpose of this combined Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 35 and Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200.204 (henceforth referred to as “BAA”) is to solicit research proposals for submission to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) for funding consideration. Prior to this announcement, ARL announced two separate BAAs to support the mission: 1) W911NF-17-S-0002 titled “Army Research Laboratory Army Research Office Broad Agency Announcement for Fundamental Research”; and 2) W911NF-17-S-0003 titled “Army Research Laboratory Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research”. This announcement succeeds BAA W911NF-17-S-0002 and BAA W911NF-17-S-0003 combining the opportunities into a single announcement. ARL’s mission as the Army’s foundational research laboratory is to Operationalize Science to ensure overmatch in any future conflict. ARL’s foundational research mission spans basic research (budget activity 6.1) and applied research (budget activity 6.2) as defined by 32 CFR 22.105 but may include advanced technology development (budget activity 6.3) and advanced component development and prototypes (budget activity 6.4) when opportunities arise to directly or indirectly help achieve ARL’s mission. ARL partners across the national security enterprise to deliver fundamentally advantageous change that is rooted in the creation and exploitation of scientific knowledge. This publication constitutes a BAA for awards as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2) and 35.016 as well as a merit-based, competitive procedure in accordance with the Department of Defense Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDGARS) at 32 CFR 22.315(a) and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Other Transaction Guide version 1.0 dated November, 2018. This BAA document, and the online list of research topics found on the ARL BAA topics website at https://www.arl.army.mil/opportunities/arl-baa/, sets forth ARL’s research topics of interest for whitepapers and proposals. This BAA is issued under FAR 6.102(d)(2), which provides for the competitive selection of basic and applied research proposals, and 10 U.S.C. 4001, 10 U.S.C. 4021, and 10 U.S.C. 4022, which provide the authorities for issuing awards under this announcement for basic and applied research. The definitions of basic and applied research may be found at 32 CFR 22.105. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provision of Public Law 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984” and subsequent amendments.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) aims to (a) enhance research programs and capabilities in scientific and engineering disciplines critical to the national security functions of DoD; (b) enhance the capacity of HBCU/MI to participate in DoD research programs and activities; and (c) increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) important to the defense mission.Projects proposed for funding under this FOA must be for basic research. As defined by DoD, “basic research” is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, life sciences, and information sciences related to long-term national security needs.PIs are encouraged to consider innovative approaches for their research projects with a view toward enhancing the ability of their institution to develop stronger science and engineering programs that will enable the institution to participate more competitively in a variety of defense research programs, attract and retain good students by exposing them to state-of-the art research, and encourage them to pursue careers in STEM disciplines.Methods through which these goals can be achieved are varied. Factors such as research capabilities, facilities, and equipment are unique to each institution. Therefore, DoD will not prescribe the approach for a research project; instead, it expects applications to reflect the unique needs and capabilities of the applicant institution.

TACTICAL BEHAVIORS FOR AUTONOMOUS MANEUVER COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM (TBAM-CRP)Future Army forces will be called upon to operate and maneuver in multi-domainoperations (MDO), against a modern and capable peer adversary. The battlefield of the futuremay impose additional constraints on maneuver forces such as disruption in communication aswell as positioning services. To field a highly capable fighting force in this future battlefield,novel tactics and doctrines leveraging nascent technologies in robotics and autonomous systems(RAS) will need to be developed. Teams of RAS will serve an increasingly critical role in thefuture force to deliver situational awareness, defend key locations or positions, or take point indynamic and hazardous situations. Resilience to disruptions, failures, or unexpected scenarios, isa key quality for teams of RAS to operate alongside other future Army forces. The US ArmyCombat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) isfocused on developing fundamental understanding and informing the art-of-the-possible forwarfighter concepts through research to greatly improve the scope of mission capabilities ofteams of RAS, develop robust and resilient approaches to plan under extreme conditions ofuncertainty, to learn coordinated strategies for groups of agents to achieve a common objective,all within a complex maneuver environment including adversaries. The Tactical Behaviors forAutonomous Maneuver Collaborative Research Program (TBAM-CRP) is focused on developingand experimentally evaluating coordinated and individual behaviors for small groups ofautonomous agents to learn doctrinal as well as novel tactics for maneuvering in military relevantenvironments. The TBAM-CRP will leverage developments in other internal and extramuralprograms as well as identify new research directions to find novel solutions to these maneuverproblems in analogical simulations representing complex realistic terrain.The Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver Collaborative Research Program (TBAM-CRP) willconsist of a series of sprint efforts executed with annual program reviews. Each topic will be focused onaddressing a different set of scientific areas which will support the research aims of an associated ARLresearcher from a related internal essential research program (ERP) or mission-funded program.The TBAM-CRP has been developed in coordination with other related ARL-funded collaborative efforts(see descriptions of ARL collaborative alliances at https://www.arl.army.mil/business/collaborativealliances/)and shares a common vision of highly collaborative academia-industry-governmentpartnerships; however, it will be executed with a program model adapted from the Scalable, Adaptive,and Resilient Autonomy (SARA), which established a new paradigm for collaborative research. Somekey properties of this new approach are described below:• TBAM-CRP sprint topics will be offered on a two-year cycle. Proposals will be solicited for apossible two-year period structured as a first-year pilot followed by a second-year option wherethe option may be awarded based upon progress assessed at an annual review. The FOA will beamended annually to identify a specific problem statement and scope for that specific cycle. Thetopics for each cycle will be chosen to address the long-term program goal.• Five new topics (Cycles 1-5) are expected in FY22, 24, 26, 28, 30. Each topic will be carefullychosen based on the previous accomplishments in the prior cycle(s), the development of newtechnologies and capabilities in the broader research and development communities, and theArmy’s evolving needs for future capabilities.• For each topic, funding will be provided to those Recipients selected under a cooperativeagreement (CA).• Enhanced Research Program funding from ARL or Other Government Agencies (OGAs) maybecome available during a cycle which provides a mechanism for growth and enhancement withinthe TBAM-CRP. A proposal should not include any discussion of the Enhanced ResearchProgram. Recipients receiving a CA will be notified and provided details if the opportunity forEnhanced Research Program funding becomes available during their award period ofperformance.• There is no limitation on the place of performance, although on-site collaboration at ARLfacilities and with ARL researchers as well as with other Recipients are encouraged. Researchoutcomes in this program must, at the very least, be demonstrated in sophisticated simulations ofrelevant environments. Together with ARL collaborators, these results may be adapted for higherTRL experimentation on surrogate platforms at ARL test facilities such as the Robotics ResearchCollaboration Campus (R2C2) at Graces Quarters, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.• Recipients will be furnished with access to the ARL Autonomy Stack software suite as well as allrelevant simulation tools and multi-agent learning support.• Recipients will be provided with information about the current state of the Autonomous SystemsEnterprise (ASE) with an overview of developments in the associated collaborative researchalliances including Distributed and Collaborative Intelligent Systems and Technology (DCIST),Scalable, Adaptive, and Resilient Autonomy (SARA), as well as internal ARL essential researchprograms including the AI for Maneuver and Mobility (AIMM), Emerging OvermatchTechnologies (EOT), and Versatile Tactical Power and Propulsion (VICTOR). Capabilitiesdemonstrated in simulation should reflect significant appropriate developments. This midpointreview is expected to take place as a mini symposium where Recipients can share results withone another along with the ARL community to foster further collaboration.• At the end of the second year, a capstone demonstration will be executed by those Recipientsreceiving an option to their award in a set of simulated relevant environments, either thoseenvironment scenarios provided by the Government and other program performers, or optionallyof a specific environment developed by the Recipient to exhibit their developed capability. Anysystem level capability demonstration that can be made with the internal ARL collaborator ordescription of capability development and program contribution can also be made at this time.These system demonstrations are expected to coincide to foster further integration and adoptionwith related internal research programs as well as partner organizations from within theDEVCOM, other Army and DoD service branches and agencies, in addition to other governmentagencies.Proposals that follow the requirements of the FOA will be evaluated in accordance with merit-based,competitive procedures. These procedures will include evaluation factors and an adjectival and colorrating system. A review team, consisting of a qualified group of Government scientists and managerswill evaluate the compliant proposals and provide the results of that evaluation to the decision-maker forthe Government. Relevant internal research program materials approved for public release and contactinformation will be provided to potential proposers during introductory presentations to help facilitateidentification of collaboration between proposers and individual ARL researchers or internal researchprograms. Additional connections to ARL programs can be identified during the proposal review process.Eligible applicants under this FOA include institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, andfor-profit organizations (i.e., large and small businesses) for scientific research in the knowledge domainsoutlined throughout this Funding Opportunity. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers(FFRDC) may propose as well, with effort as allowed by their sponsoring agency and in accordance withtheir sponsoring agency policy.

The Department of Defense seeks innovative applications to cooperatively partner with eligible entities in the implementation and execution of its Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Program. The Department intends to award ONE (1) cooperative agreement award, with a maximum award of up to $450M over a five-year period of performance.SMART is a highly competitive STEM-focused scholarship-for-service program, empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study in 21 academic disciplines that the Department has identified as critical to national security and DoD’s future. Established by Congress in 2006, the program has awarded more than 3,700 scholarships, and aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories and facilities.“We are very proud of all the 416 recipients of this prestigious scholarship,” said Mr. Louie Lopez, DoD STEM Director. “I look to forward to seeing these next generation of STEM leaders’ contributions to the Department and the Nation.”The DOD develops STEM talent through its K-20 STEM education and talent development efforts called DoD STEM. DoD STEM aims to inspire, cultivate, and develop talent to address the Nation’s technological challenges, now and into the future.The largest program under DoD STEM is the National Defense Education Program (NDEP). It fosters and enhances the DoD’s ability to develop and access high-quality STEM talent vital to national defense.NDEP activities support the DoD STEM effort in providing authentic learning experiences through a variety of education and outreach initiatives in the form of scholarships, internships, enrichment activities, competitions, and mentorships by leveraging partners from industry, academia, and other government organizations with a shared STEM mission. One of the main NDEP efforts in addressing talent development and recruitment is through the SMART Program.SMART is empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study in 21 academic disciplines critical to national security and DoD’s future. Upon graduation, students move directly into employment at DoD facilities. Awards can be made during any phase of a scholar’s education and vary in length from a minimum of one to a maximum of five years. The service commitment is one year of DoD employment for each academic year of SMART funding.The funding announcement will be available in early January 2022 on Grants.gov (www.grants.gov), SAM.GOV (https://sam.gov/) and the U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory website.The SMART Program will also hold a virtual Opportunity Day on 09 February 2022 from 1300 to 1600 Eastern Standard Time (EST). To register, email osd.smart@mail.mil. More details will be provided prior to the event. To learn more about the SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program and the participating DoD sponsoring facilities, visit www.smartscholarship.org.

Purpose: Future Army forces will need to conduct cross-domain maneuver (CDM) and at times, operate semi-independently, disbursed, and while communications and infrastructure such as Global Positioning System (GPS) are disrupted or denied. Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) will play a key role in expanding the operational reach, situational awareness, and effectiveness of maneuver forces in CDM. The Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is focused on developing fundamental understanding and informing the art-of-the-possible for warfighter concepts through research to greatly improve air and ground based autonomous vehicle perception, learning, reasoning, communication, navigation, and physical capabilities to augment and increase the freedom of maneuver in complex and contested environments. The Scalable, Adaptive, and Resilient Autonomy (SARA) program is focused on developing and experimentally accelerating emerging research in autonomous mobility and maneuverability, scalable heterogeneous and collaborative behaviors, and human agent teaming to realize adaptive and resilient Intelligent Systems that can reason about the environment, work in distributed and collaborative heterogeneous teams, and make op-tempo decisions to enable Autonomous Maneuver in complex and contested environments. In order to achieve this vision, advancements are needed in following: Novel methods for all-terrain ground and aerial maneuver to interact with and move through complex environments. Methods for scalable and heterogeneous collaborative behaviors in support of collaborative air and ground manned-unmanned teaming operations. Techniques for improved perception, decision-making, and adaptive behaviors for fully autonomous maneuver in contested environments. Methods, metrics, and tools to facilitate, simulate, and enable testing and evaluation of emerging approaches for intelligent and autonomous systems under Army relevant constraints and environments Experimental testbeds to develop and refine knowledge products to inform and transition technology to Army stakeholders.