High-speed Photon-Number-Resolution Quanta Imaging Sensor Array - SBIR Topic OSW26BZ04-DV005

Funding Amount:

Est. $2,153,927

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

Demonstrate a Photon-Number-Resolution pixel array with high counting rates that remains scalable to megapixel size.

Description:

Single-photon counting and timing achieves light detection at the fundamental quantum limit, unlocking next generation capabilities in quantum imaging and environmental sensing. Many applications require counting/timing photons at very high rates (>GHz), leading to instantaneous photon bunching (“pileup”) that causes photons to be missed. The result is data loss, degraded statistics and nonlinearities.

Current detectors mitigate such deluges by breaking the flow of photons onto arrays of many small pixels, thereby reducing the count rate for each individual pixel and enabling reliable counting even for very impulsive signals. They also group counts into macropixels and time-bins to reduce analog-to-digital conversion limitations and off-chip data transfer bandwidth requirements.

However, quantum imaging often looks at time correlations between pairs of photons on femtosecond to picosecond time scales, which register as a single click on a Geiger detector. Photon Number Resolution (PNR) can enable measurement of simultaneous incident photons to provide insight into quantum and statistical properties of light.[1]

Scalable Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) with PNR provide near ideal performance, but will not be considered for this topic due to cryogenic temperature operation. Quanta Imaging Sensors (QIS) with jots or other CMOS compatible fabrication have demonstrated PNR at room temperature by achieving ultra-low read noise.[2],[3],[4]

A variety of physical processes have demonstrated GHz count rates,[5],[6],[7],[8],[9] and novel circuits have also been developed to advance single-photon detection technologies such as spiking neural network (SNN) neuromorphic readout integrated circuits (ROICs).[10],[11],[12]

The camera architecture must support time-of-flight (ToF) or equivalent depth-ranging modalities, and should be compatible with entangled or correlated photon sources.

This topic seeks an ultimate PNR sensor with the following performance:

Pixel-Level Performance:

• Photon Counting Rate: ≥120 MHz per pixel

• Photon Number Resolution ≥16

• External Quantum Efficiency (EQE): ≥60% between 450 – 550 nm, including fill factor losses

Array & Architecture Scalability:

• Array Size: Scalable up to Megapixels

• Monochromatic

Readout & On-Chip Processing:

• Frame Rate: ≥120 MHz operating in 10 µs duration bursts at up to a 16 kHz repetition rate (i.e. ≥1200 frames in 10 µs, repeated every 62.5 µs).

• Hardware-Level Compression: On-chip accumulation must be able to support the summing of up to a minimum of 500 burst sequences prior to readout, enabling significant compression of raw data volume without sacrificing the frame-to-frame temporal resolution.

Operating temperature between -40 °C to +45 °C.

Overall, the photon capacity of the sensor should be able to process bursts of ≥1016 photons per second; for example, 200 MHz x 32 PNR x 2 MPixels.

Simultaneously, the sensor should have a dark count rate low enough to be able to capture signals as weak as 10⁸ photons per second across the array, with high fidelity.

Initial proposals for this topic should document current state-of-the-art commercial single-photon detector performance for the listed parameters, identify the physical factors limiting current performance, propose developing new detection mechanisms and/or circuit architectures that could exceed current limitations to meet the requirements, and identify the challenges in implementing the proposed solution.

The proposer should make a convincing case that the design is scalable.

PHASE I:

The Phase I effort should demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concept and reduce risk in the identified implementation challenges.

Conduct detailed simulations of the proposed detector to validate the pixel-level performance.

Develop the schematic for the “3D” burst-frame storage logic and ROIC architecture.

Identify a specific foundry with a manufacturing pathway for eventual commercialization and outline your test-plan with available hardware to demonstrate a prototype’s performance.

This topic is accepting both Phase I and Direct to Phase II (DP2) proposals.

Proposers interested in submitting a DP2 proposal must provide documentation to substantiate that the scientific and technical merit and feasibility described above has been met and describe the potential commercial applications.

DP2 documentation may include:

• Technical reports describing results and conclusions of existing work

• Presentation materials and/or white papers

• Technical papers

• Test and measurement data

• Prototype designs/models

PHASE II:

Finalize the Graphic Database System II (GDSII) layout for a small array and submit it for fabrication as part of a Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) run at a foundry.

Through laboratory testing and modeling, demonstrate the prototype meets the performance requirements.

Demonstrate the logic for stacking/scaling the architecture and create a roadmap towards fabricating a Mpixel array.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

Phase III will scale the production to Mpixel arrays in a commercial foundry.

The camera technology is directly applicable to high resolution photon detection applications such as laser communications and high-rate quantum key distribution.

It is also well suited to extend the envelope of performance for high dynamic range sensing where an initial bright reflection from a laser pulse exponentially decays to photon starved detection such as fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) in biomedical imaging and environmental sensing LiDAR.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

High-Speed Nanophotonic Spatial Light Modulators - SBIR Topic OSW26BZ04-DV012

Funding Amount:

Est. $2,000,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

Objective:

The objective of this project is to develop a nanophotonic-enabled spatial light modulator array with modulation a few orders (>10X) faster than the state-of-the-art commercial technologies.

Description:

Adaptive optics (AO), with wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors based on spatial light modulators (SLMs) has been used for active laser beam control and propagation path compensation.

The liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is the most mature technology used for SLMs. But it suffers from a slow response time of tens to hundreds of milliseconds (~ kHz).

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)-based movable micromirrors, known as digital micromirror device (DMD) or deformable mirror (DM) technology, offer faster spatial light modulation typically at 10 kHz to low MHz.

However, the absence of compact and inexpensive SLMs that can freely modulate the wavefront of light at a high speed is hindering the widespread adoption of popular technologies such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging), free-space laser communications, quantum sensing, imaging, etc.

The advances in nanophotonics and integrated photonic technologies offer new opportunities to address these grand challenges in adaptive optics by providing compact, high-speed, and high-performance reconfigurable metasurfaces and SLMs with capabilities for amplitude and phase modulation.

PHASE I:

As this is a Direct-to-Phase II (D2P2) topic, no Phase I awards will be made as a result of this topic.

To qualify for this D2P2 topic, the Air Force expects the applicant to demonstrate the feasibility of the switching and modulation technology that is currently at an acceptable stage to Phase II.

For a proposer to demonstrate that their technology is at an appropriate level for a D2P2 award, the proposer should have experience developing numerical simulations and predictive calculations in similar device technology and the requisite experience and facilities to perform electrical and optical measurements for performance characterization.

Applicants interested in participating in this topic must include in their response to this topic Phase I feasibility documentation that substantiates the scientific and technical merit and “Phase I-type” effort.

Documentation should include all relevant information, including, but not limited to:

• Technical reports

• Test data

• Prototype designs/models

• Performance goals/results for establishing the scientific and economic feasibility of the proposed work

Work submitted within the feasibility documentation must have been substantially performed by the offeror.

PHASE II:

Demonstrate a nanophotonic-enabled spatial light modulator with both amplitude and phase modulation capabilities at a speed greater than 1Gbps.

The proposal should provide demonstrations of platform technology for multiple use cases. These are to include:

1. SLMs at near infrared (NIR) wavelength for classical and quantum sensing.

2. SLMs at midwave infrared (MWIR) wavelength for classical and quantum imaging.

It is expected that a fully integrated prototype system—comprising all custom hardware, software, modifiable/changeable code, and at least 5 devices—will be delivered to, installed, and demonstrated in a representative laboratory environment at AFRL.

This operational milestone and the delivery of all associated source code and technical documentation related to operating the prototype shall be completed no later than one quarter (three months) prior to the conclusion of the Phase II period of performance.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

Phase III efforts are intended to transition technologies developed with further scaling of performance metrics for dual use applications into operational use and/or commercial markets, leveraging non-SBIR/STTR funding.

Phase III work may include productization, integration, certification, and large-scale deployment of the capability developed in Phases I and II.

By effectively executing Phase III effort and transitioning the technology into operational and commercial use, the project aims to maximize the impact and value of the SBIR/STTR-funded R&D efforts, ultimately contributing to national security, economic growth, and technological innovation.

A design for performance approach for defense system in partnership with a defense contractor and a design for cost for commercial applications will be planned.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Adaptive AI-Driven Waveform Design - SBIR Topic OSW26BZ04-DV009

Funding Amount:

Est. $314,363

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

Develop an AI/ML-controlled radar waveform generator that dynamically designs a waveform, including adjustments to frequency, modulation, or code in real time to optimize performance under changing conditions and to evade jamming.

Description:

Modern radar operations face unprecedented challenges in increasingly congested and contested environments. Traditional radar systems rely on fixed or pre-programmed waveform libraries, making their transmissions highly predictable and susceptible to sophisticated electronic attack (EA).

Near-peer adversaries now deploy advanced cognitive jammers and digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) systems that can rapidly analyze incoming radar pulses and generate deceptive or noise-based interference. Furthermore, the rapid proliferation of both commercial and military emitters introduces significant unattended Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) that further degrades system performance.

To maintain spectrum dominance and ensure reliable target detection, the next generation of radar systems must move beyond deterministic programming and embrace fully cognitive, AI-driven adaptability.

Adaptive waveform design leverages advanced machine learning techniques, particularly deep reinforcement learning (DRL), to autonomously select, synthesize, and optimize transmit waveforms on the fly.

By treating radar waveform design as a sequential decision-making process, a neural agent can continuously interact with the electromagnetic environment. The agent ingests real-time spectral observations—such as interference patterns and target returns—and actions it by adjusting key waveform parameters.

These parameters include:

• Pulse repetition frequency (PRF)

• Pulse width

• Bandwidth

• Modulation type (e.g., non-linear frequency modulation, polyphase coding)

• Frequency hopping schemes

Implementing this capability requires bridging the gap between high-level AI algorithms and low-latency, real-time hardware execution. The neural network inference must execute within microseconds to alter parameters on a pulse-to-pulse or coherent processing interval (CPI) basis.

Therefore, the developed models must be highly optimized for deployment on edge-computing architectures, such as software-defined radios (SDRs) backed by field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or specialized system-on-chip (SoC) processors, ensuring high performance without exceeding strict Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) constraints.

Phase I consists of researching algorithms (e.g. Deep Q-Network or policy gradient RL) that ingest real or simulated sensor data (e.g. jamming signatures, clutter maps) and output waveform properties/design (frequency, bandwidth, etc.). A prototype would show improved detection vs. fixed waveforms in a variety of simulated clutter and jamming environments.

In Phase II, the system would be implemented in small-SWaP radar hardware (leveraging SDR and FPGA capabilities) to adapt waveforms in real-time.

Phase III would integrate the adaptive waveform engine into Army radars (e.g. airborne or UAS platforms) to improve anti-jam resilience.

Because this capability could also benefit commercial radar or comms (e.g. automotive radar avoiding interference, dynamic spectrum sharing radios), it has dual-use potential.

PHASE I:

The objective of Phase I is to conduct a feasibility study to determine the scientific, technical, and commercial merit of applying AI/ML algorithms—specifically Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)—to dynamic radar waveform adaptation.

Offerors are expected to develop simulated RF environments that incorporate realistic adversarial jamming, unattended Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), and clutter.

Within these scenarios, performers will train neural models to autonomously design and select waveform parameters that maximize critical metrics, such as Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) and target detection probability.

The desired end product is a proof-of-concept software model and a small-scale prototype that successfully validates technical feasibility by demonstrating measurably improved detection performance against traditional fixed-waveform baselines.

PHASE II:

Offerors are expected to implement the AI/ML adaptive waveform controller onto edge-computing hardware, leveraging FPGA or DSP architectures integrated with a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) front-end.

A critical expectation is the rigorous optimization of the machine learning inference models to achieve the ultra-low latency required for pulse-to-pulse or coherent processing interval (CPI) adaptation.

The resulting system must be integrated with a radar prototype and subjected to comprehensive laboratory or relevant field testing against dynamic, realistic jamming sources and complex interference.

The minimum required deliverable is a fully integrated, physical prototype of the AI-driven waveform engine that demonstrates quantifiable improvements in target detection and anti-jam performance compared to traditional fixed-waveform systems.

This prototype must be sufficiently mature to establish a clear path toward commercial viability and subsequent integration into future DoD sensor platforms.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

In Phase III, the developed technology is expected to transition into operational military systems and viable commercial products, supported by non-SBIR/STTR funding.

For DoD and military applications, the adaptive waveform engine will be integrated into existing and future Army radar and systems to enable cognitive modes that dynamically adapt to contested spectrums and complex threat environments.

Specific military applications include:

• Enhancing UAS sensors

• Ground surveillance systems

• Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars with the capability to autonomously evade advanced jammers

In the commercial sector, this technology possesses strong dual-use potential for advanced automotive radars (e.g., autonomous vehicle navigation) and civil air-traffic control systems, allowing them to actively mitigate unattended interference in dense RF environments.

Additionally, the core capability can be leveraged for dynamic spectral coexistence, enabling commercial sensors and advanced telecommunications networks to share bandwidth efficiently without mutual degradation.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Tunable Nonlocal Metasurfaces for Edge Computing and Processing - SBIR Topic OSW26BZ04-DV011

Funding Amount:

$1,500,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

Objective:

Design, fabricate and characterize tunable nonlocal metasurfaces that perform light-based pre-processing and computing functions on the edge, including Fourier operations, de-noising and object recognition, directly in the optical path of mid-wave infrared thermal-imaging systems under partially coherent illumination.

Description:

Current thermal-imaging systems rely heavily on digital post-processing to perform feature extraction and image processing, increasing latency, power consumption and system complexity.

Recent advances in nonlocal metasurfaces have demonstrated analog optical operations including spatial differentiation, edge detection and image filtering by engineering the optical response in momentum space. However, most prior demonstrations have been limited to coherent illumination in controlled laboratory environments and do not sufficiently address realistic partially coherent mid-wave infrared (MWIR) thermal-imaging conditions.

Novel devices are sought to operate directly in the optical path of thermal-imaging systems to perform front-end analog image processing and reduce the computational burden on downstream electronics.

Devices should be based on patterned metasurfaces using practical MWIR-compatible materials, including silicon, gallium arsenide or other high-index transparent dielectrics, suitable for scalable fabrication.

Offerors must address the effect of partial coherence on device performance and develop predictive design rules linking source coherence, transfer function, contrast, throughput, signal-to-noise ratio, and numerical-aperture compatibility.

Preference will be given to approaches providing broadband MWIR operation, low SWaP burden, and clear paths to integration in deployable sensing architectures.

Approaches enabling tunability at electro-optical speeds are of particular interest.

The successful team will design and demonstrate proof-of-concept devices under realistic illumination conditions.

PHASE I:

As this is a Direct-to-Phase-II (D2P2) topic, no Phase I awards will be made as a result of this topic.

To qualify, the Government expects the applicant(s) to demonstrate feasibility by means of a prior "Phase I-type" effort that does not constitute work undertaken as part of a prior or ongoing SBIR/STTR funding agreement.

In this effort, the applicant shall have designed and characterized nonlocal metasurface structures capable of at least one analog image-processing function, such as edge detection or spatial differentiation, at relevant infrared wavelengths, with simulation or experimental evidence linking unit-cell geometry to momentum-space transfer function.

Fabricated and bench-characterized prototype devices are strongly preferred.

A D2P2 award is requested because prior work has established the scientific basis and initial feasibility of nonlocal metasurfaces for analog image processing.

Prototype nonlocal metasurface devices have been successfully demonstrated to perform analog edge-detection functions at relevant wavelengths, with a defined transfer function and measurable contrast enhancement under controlled imaging conditions.

Awarding a Phase II SBIR would enable maturation of these concepts to tunable operation, MWIR-compatible materials, and system-relevant prototype demonstrations aligned with Air Force sensing and edge-computing needs.

PHASE II:

Awardee(s) will develop, fabricate, and test prototype MWIR nonlocal metasurfaces for analog image processing, refining system requirements in coordination with the topic's principal investigator.

The effort will encompass:

• Development of a predictive simulation framework for partially coherent MWIR illumination.

• Design of metasurface layouts compatible with relevant numerical apertures, bandwidth, and signal-to-noise requirements.

• Fabrication using practical MWIR-compatible materials.

• Experimental characterization benchmarked against modeled transfer functions.

Key metrics include:

• Throughput.

• Signal-to-noise ratio.

• Bandwidth.

• Isotropy or controlled anisotropy.

• Numerical-aperture compatibility.

• Robustness to partial coherence.

Tunable or multifunctional operation may be pursued as a secondary objective when consistent with timely delivery of a primary prototype.

It is expected that a fully integrated prototype system—comprising all custom hardware, software, modifiable/changeable code, and at least 5 devices—will be delivered to, installed, and demonstrated in a representative laboratory environment at AFRL.

This operational milestone and the delivery of all associated source code and technical documentation related to operating the prototype shall be completed no later than one quarter (three months) prior to the conclusion of the Phase II period of performance.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

Energy-directing and image-processing devices of this type have broad defense and commercial applications.

Military uses include:

• Compact thermal-imaging systems.

• Onboard edge preprocessing.

• Low-latency feature extraction for airborne, spaceborne, and deployable platforms where SWaP-C reduction is critical.

Commercial applications include:

• Thermal cameras.

• Industrial inspection.

• Machine vision.

• Advanced infrared imaging modules.

Devices meeting the desired criteria would provide a considerable improvement over existing solutions and find widespread application in these areas.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Survivable & Affordable Lens Technology (SALT) - SBIR Topic OSW26BZ04-NV010

Funding Amount:

Est. $250,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

The objective of this effort is to obtain low cost infrared optics for attritable unmanned drone vehicles. The scope of this topic is to investigate whether alkali-halide optical materials can be used as cost-effective alternatives to the more traditional materials used in military-grade uncooled infrared sensors. A preferred use-case encompasses an uncooled infrared sensor such as the Odd Systems Kurbas-640, which has a focal plane containing 640 × 512 detector elements with a 12 micron pitch spacing, and which is combined with an imaging lens having an 18 mm focal length operating at F#/1.1 and with a transmission exceeding 70%.

Description:

Modern warfare has increased the demand for low-cost, attritable unmanned drone vehicles. Examples of such platforms used worldwide are the Shahed 136 and the LUCAS. Thermal cameras give these platforms the ability to operate at night and under adverse weather conditions.

Uncooled thermal infrared focal plane detectors, operating in the 7.5 - 12.0 micron spectrum, are often the most cost effective for this purpose. Each camera requires a lens to focus the radiation from the scene onto the detector.

Traditional military optical lens materials which are transmissive in this spectral region include Ge, ZnSe, ZnS, as well as various chalcogenide glasses which typically contain elements such as Ge, Ar, Se, S, or Te in various ratios. All of these infrared optical materials are significantly more expensive than the optical glasses used for visible-spectrum optical devices such as binoculars and telescopes.

In many cases, the optics cost may exceed the cost of the detector assembly, resulting in the night vision sensor subsystem accounting for ⅓ or more of the total cost of the whole drone system.

However, there exists a family of significantly lower cost optical materials known as "alkali-halides" which include compounds such as NaCl, CsBr, and KBr. These "salt" materials provide exceptional spectral transmission over the infrared bands, and are widely used for laboratory spectrometers in the scientific instrument markets.

The military has traditionally not made use of the alkali-halide optical materials in the past, however, because they are all very susceptible to damage when exposed to water and moisture. Moisture resistance is important for both field use as well as long-term storage.

PHASE I:

The Phase I task shall include optical design exercises to evaluate the utility of alkali-halide materials as lens elements for the objective infrared camera system.

Analysis shall be conducted regarding the following major criteria:

• Optical image quality relative to the diffraction limit.

• Durability of the lens coatings per MIL-PRF-13830B to include humidity, adhesion, and moderate abrasion.

• High-volume manufacturability of the optimal design forms.

• Projected shelf-life limits for long term storage.

• A projected cost comparison versus a lens assembly using traditional infrared materials.

PHASE II:

The most promising design form(s) from Phase I shall be selected, refined, and manufactured into hardware demonstration units.

Witness samples with the appropriate moisture-resistant coatings shall be validated per MIL-PRF-13830B Section C.3.8.

Means of passive athermalization, accounting for both lens and housing material properties, shall be investigated and implemented.

Image performance shall be verified via laboratory testing as well as by imagery captured with an uncooled camera focal plane placed behind the lens.

Manufacturing data and cost projections shall be updated and refined.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

A Phase III effort may involve working with a commercial uncooled camera supplier to provide new low-cost lens assemblies based upon alkali-halide materials.

Alkali-halide optical materials are already used in the scientific instrument markets which may also benefit from the improvements developed under this topic.

Commercialization, as defined in 15 USC §638 (e)(10), may include either military or consumer market devices.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

High-speed Photon-Number-Resolution Quanta Imaging Sensor Array - STTR Topic OSW26TZ04-DV002

Funding Amount:

Est. $323,090 for Phase I and $2,153,927 for Direct to Phase II

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

Demonstrate a Photon-Number-Resolution pixel array with high counting rates that remains scalable to megapixel size.

Description:

Single-photon counting and timing achieves light detection at the fundamental quantum limit, unlocking next generation capabilities in quantum imaging and environmental sensing. Many applications require counting/timing photons at very high rates (>GHz), leading to instantaneous photon bunching (“pileup”) that causes photons to be missed. The result is data loss, degraded statistics and nonlinearities.

Current detectors mitigate such deluges by breaking the flow of photons onto arrays of many small pixels, thereby reducing the count rate for each individual pixel and enabling reliable counting even for very impulsive signals. They also group counts into macropixels and time-bins to reduce analog-to-digital conversion limitations and off-chip data transfer bandwidth requirements.

However, quantum imaging often looks at time correlations between pairs of photons on femtosecond to picosecond time scales, which register as a single click on a Geiger detector. Photon Number Resolution (PNR) can enable measurement of simultaneous incident photons to provide insight into quantum and statistical properties of light.[1]

Scalable Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) with PNR provide near ideal performance, but will not be considered for this topic due to cryogenic temperature operation. Quanta Imaging Sensors (QIS) with jots or other CMOS compatible fabrication have demonstrated PNR at room temperature by achieving ultra-low read noise.[2],[3],[4] A variety of physical processes have demonstrated GHz count rates,[5],[6],[7],[8],[9] and novel circuits have also been developed to advance single-photon detection technologies such as spiking neural network (SNN) neuromorphic readout integrated circuits (ROICs).[10],[11],[12]

The camera architecture must support time-of-flight (ToF) or equivalent depth-ranging modalities, and should be compatible with entangled or correlated photon sources.

This topic seeks an ultimate PNR sensor with the following performance:

Pixel-Level Performance:

• Photon Counting Rate: ≥120 MHz per pixel

• Photon Number Resolution ≥16

• External Quantum Efficiency (EQE): ≥60% between 450 – 550 nm, including fill factor losses

Array & Architecture Scalability:

• Array Size: Scalable up to Megapixels

• Monochromatic

Readout & On-Chip Processing:

• Frame Rate: ≥120 MHz operating in 10 µs duration bursts at up to a 16 kHz repetition rate (i.e. ≥1200 frames in 10 µs, repeated every 62.5 µs).

• Hardware-Level Compression: On-chip accumulation must be able to support the summing of up to a minimum of 500 burst sequences prior to readout, enabling significant compression of raw data volume without sacrificing the frame-to-frame temporal resolution.

Operating temperature between -40 °C to +45 °C.

Overall, the photon capacity of the sensor should be able to process bursts of ≥10¹⁶ photons per second; for example, 200 MHz x 32 PNR x 2 MPixels. Simultaneously, the sensor should have a dark count rate low enough to be able to capture signals as weak as 10⁸ photons per second across the array, with high fidelity.

Initial proposals for this topic should document current state-of-the-art commercial single-photon detector performance for the listed parameters, identify the physical factors limiting current performance, propose developing new detection mechanisms and/or circuit architectures that could exceed current limitations to meet the requirements, and identify the challenges in implementing the proposed solution. The proposer should make a convincing case that the design is scalable.

PHASE I:

The Phase I effort should demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concept and reduce risk in the identified implementation challenges. Conduct detailed simulations of the proposed detector to validate the pixel-level performance. Develop the schematic for the “3D” burst-frame storage logic and ROIC architecture. Identify a specific foundry with a manufacturing pathway for eventual commercialization and outline your test-plan with available hardware to demonstrate a prototype’s performance.

This topic accepting both Phase I and Direct to Phase II (DP2) proposals. Proposers interested in submitting a DP2 proposal must provide documentation to substantiate that the scientific and technical merit and feasibility described above has been met and describe the potential commercial applications.

DP2 documentation may include:

• Technical reports describing results and conclusions of existing work

• Presentation materials and/or white papers

• Technical papers

• Test and measurement data

• Prototype designs/models

PHASE II:

Finalize the Graphic Database System II (GDSII) layout for a small array and submit it for fabrication as part of a Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) run at a foundry. Through laboratory testing and modeling, demonstrate the prototype meets the performance requirements. Demonstrate the logic for stacking/scaling the architecture and create a roadmap towards fabricating a Mpixel array.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

Phase III will scale the production to Mpixel arrays in a commercial foundry.

The camera technology is directly applicable to high resolution photon detection applications such as laser communications and high-rate quantum key distribution. It is also well suited to extend the envelope of performance for high dynamic range sensing where an initial bright reflection from a laser pulse exponentially decays to photon starved detection such as fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) in biomedical imaging and environmental sensing LiDAR.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Collaborative Aided Target Recognition Using Next-Generation Foundation Models for Multi-Domain Unmanned Systems - STTR Topic OSW26TZ04-NV001

Funding Amount:

Est. $314,363

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

Develop and demonstrate a collaborative Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) capability for multi-domain unmanned systems (UAS, UGV, USV) that leverages next-generation pre-trained foundation models—including Vision-Language Models (VLMs), Vision-Language-Action models (VLAs), and/or modern State-Space Models (e.g., S4, S5, Mamba, Mamba-2)—to achieve robust, accurate, and predictive multi-platform, multi-modal target disambiguation in cluttered, contested, and partially observed operational environments.

Description:

Modern military operations across air, land, and sea domains increasingly rely on heterogeneous teams of unmanned platforms tasked with detecting, identifying, and disambiguating targets at long range, often under appearance ambiguity, viewpoint and scale variation, sensor heterogeneity, and degraded Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT).

Today, reconciling observations across platforms is largely a manual, communication-intensive process that is slow, cognitively demanding, and error-prone. Single-platform AiTR cannot resolve perceptual aliasing (e.g., identical vehicle classes in coordinated formations) or fragmented observations caused by occlusion and partial visibility.

Recent advances in foundation models offer transformative potential. Vision-Language Models (e.g., CLIP, LLaVA, Florence-2, Qwen-VL) provide view-invariant semantic representations; Vision-Language-Action models (e.g., RT-2, OpenVLA) couple perception with embodied decision-making; and State-Space Models (S4, S5, Mamba, Mamba-2) enable efficient long-sequence spatiotemporal reasoning with linear complexity—well-suited to multi-platform sensor fusion.

However, these models are not yet adapted for collaborative, multi-platform military AiTR under realistic battlefield constraints.

Offerors are encouraged to propose innovative technology-agnostic approaches built around next-generation foundation models (no legacy CNN-only solutions).

Development should address:

• Collaborative Multi-Platform Target Disambiguation (foundation-model-based representations enabling cross-platform target correspondence under appearance ambiguity, viewpoint, scale variation, and clutter)

• Geometry-Consistent Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion (heterogeneous modalities such as EO/IR, SAR, LiDAR, RF across platforms with diverse resolution, FoV, and noise characteristics)

• Spatiotemporal World Modeling for Predictive AiTR (collective world models that maintain persistent target identity and forecast scene evolution under asynchronous, partial, intermittent data)

• Friend-Foe-Neutral (Gray) Classification (robust discrimination among blue, red, and gray entities)

• Resilient Operation in Degraded Environments (desirable capability to operate in GPS/PNT-denied, comms-degraded conditions)

• An Agentic Autonomy Stack (a foundation-model-based framework orchestrating perception, reasoning, and tasking across heterogeneous platforms)

Tri-Service Relevance:

Army applications include multi-domain operations with ground/aerial scout teams; Navy/USMC applications include distributed maritime operations and expeditionary littoral reconnaissance; Air Force/Space Force applications include collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) and ISR drone swarms of varying size classes.

Special Considerations:

Cybersecurity (model integrity, adversarial robustness against evasion/poisoning), supply-chain provenance of pre-training data, and explainability of model outputs shall be addressed.

PHASE I:

Develop the conceptual design and demonstrate technical feasibility of a collaborative AiTR system based on next-generation foundation models.

Phase I shall include:

1. Selection and justification of foundation model architecture(s) (VLM/VLA/SSM or hybrid).

2. Preliminary algorithmic design for multi-platform target disambiguation, sensor fusion, and predictive world modeling.

3. Feasibility demonstration using simulated or limited real-world multi-platform datasets.

4. Initial assessment of computational requirements and PNT-denied operation.

5. A Phase II development plan with measurable milestones.

Phase I deliverables: feasibility study report, preliminary software prototype, and Phase II proposal.

PHASE II:

Develop, integrate, and validate a fully functional prototype across at least three (3) heterogeneous unmanned platforms representing multiple domains (air/ground/sea).

Conduct field demonstrations in operationally relevant environments.

Phase II deliverables: integrated software prototype with documented APIs; comprehensive technical report including architecture, training data provenance, and limitations; demonstration in relevant operational environment (TRL 6); and a transition plan addressing at least two of the three services.

Desired Key Performance Parameters (KPPs):

• Multi-platform target disambiguation precision/recall/F1 > 0.85 across >= 3 collaborating platforms

• Cross-platform correspondence accuracy > 90% under viewpoint variation >= 60 degrees

• Friend-foe-neutral classification accuracy > 95% (friend) and > 90% (foe)

• Predictive AiTR horizon >= 30 seconds with <= 2 m positional error

• Latency for collaborative inference (per platform) < 500 ms end-to-end

• Communication bandwidth requirement < 1 Mbps per inter-platform link

• Desirable operation under PNT-denied conditions with < 10% degradation

• Demonstrable model adaptability to new sensor modalities within 30 days of integration

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

Defense:

• Multi-domain ISR

• Collaborative combat aircraft (CCA)

• Distributed maritime operations

• Ground reconnaissance swarms

Commercial:

• Autonomous vehicle fleets (cross-vehicle perception sharing)

• Search-and-rescue

• Wildfire monitoring with cooperative UAS

• Precision agriculture

• Port and border security

• Infrastructure inspection

Phase III refers to work that derives from, extends, or completes an effort made under prior SBIR/STTR funding agreements, but is funded by sources other than the SBIR/STTR Program.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Replanning for Evasive Autonomy to Counter Threats (REACT) - SBIR Topic SOC26BZ04-DV005

Funding Amount:

Est. $2,600,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

The objective of this topic is to develop applied research toward an innovative capability that generates and executes game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (swarm) and Red (adversary) forces. The contractor will co-develop realistic operational scenarios with the Government, encode Commander’s Intent into a formal utility function, and iteratively refine the autonomy using simulation environments integrated with a Tactical Assault Kit or another system. The final capability will enable a 200-agent UAS swarm to operate in degraded environments—such as those with EW interference, kinetic threats, or weather events—while achieving mission objectives in alignment with AFSOC’s provided Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) vision for tiered ISR.

Description:

As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable system design options with respective specifications. This capability will integrate AI-enabled multi-agent planning and adversarial reasoning into a software system that supports resilient, decentralized UAS swarm coordination. The autonomy system must produce and execute game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (UAS swarm) and Red (adversarial threat) forces, accounting for the interdependence of their strategies. Blue’s optimal COA depends on Red’s, and vice versa.

The Government seeks scalable autonomy software that produces AI-generated, game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (UAS swarm) and Red (adversary threat) forces in contested environments. The capability must be developed using a government-approved modeling framework (e.g. Markov decision process application programming interface) and demonstrated in a simulation environment chosen by the contractor.

The final solution will:

• Incorporate the provided Commander's Intent into a mission utility function.

• Support realistic operational scenarios aligned with AFSOC's Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) and the FANTOM Futures line of effort.

• Scale to control no fewer than 200 UAS simultaneously.

• Function in degraded conditions, including EW interference, kinetic threats, and adverse weather.

• Include decentralized decision-making, communication-aware planning, and peer-to-peer fallback behaviors for denied environments.

• Be suitable for integration into a maritime Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, assess (F2T2EA) demonstration >100 NM offshore against targets defended by notional integrated air defense systems.

PHASE I:

As a requirement of this Direct to Phase II (DPII) proposers must include a feasibility study that assess what is in the art of the possible that satisfies the requirements specified in the above paragraphs entitled "Objective" and "Description."

The objective is to document the results of a thorough feasibility study ("Technology Readiness Level 3") to investigate what is in the art of the possible within the given trade space that will satisfy a needed technology. The feasibility study should investigate all options that meet or exceed the minimum performance parameters specified in this writeup. It should also address the risks and potential payoffs of the innovative technology options that are investigated and recommend the option that best achieves the objective of this technology pursuit.

PHASE II:

Develop, install, and demonstrate a prototype autonomy system based on the most feasible solution identified in Phase I feasibility study. The prototype will support game-theoretic COA generation and execution for a 200-agent UAS swarm and will include decentralized planning, adversarial optimization, and real-time threat response under limited communication.

During the first year, the prototype will be tested in simulation using relevant threat scenarios (e.g., IADS, GPS denial, weather) to validate performance.

The second year will involve iterative improvement and preparation for integration into the A2E FANTOM Futures VANGUARD demonstration, targeting contested maritime operations beyond 100 NM.

The prototype shall meet TRL 6 by end of effort. The contractor shall deliver interim test reports, scenario replay visualizations, and a final demonstration summary outlining performance outcomes and transition path.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

This system has broad applicability across both military and commercial domains.

Militarily, it supports any mission set requiring coordinated action by multiple drones against a thinking, adaptive adversary—such as contested ISR, electronic attack, perimeter security, and dynamic targeting in denied environments. The decentralized, threat-aware autonomy can be transitioned to other DoD UAS programs across AFSOC, SOCOM, AFRL, DARPA, and Navy/Marine Corps distributed operations.

In commercial sectors, the same autonomy principles can be adapted for drone swarms used in logistics, infrastructure inspection, search-and-rescue, and disaster response.

For example, delivery drone fleets could benefit from decentralized planning and threat response capabilities when navigating adverse weather or deconflicting airspace shared with competing autonomous delivery services.

The system’s ability to adapt and replan in real time makes it highly valuable for industries operating fleets of autonomous aerial systems in dynamic or competitive environments.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

Advanced Stand-Off Detection of Concealed Materials (ASDCM) - SBIR Topic SOC26BZ04-DV004

Funding Amount:

Est. $5,800,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

The objective of this topic is to develop applied research toward an innovative capability to detect and identify high-risk materials (radiological, chemical, biological, energetic, or threat-associated components) without requiring physical access, line-of-sight, or direct contact with the target. The solution must enable special operations forces to characterize concealed threats in denied, cluttered, or operationally constrained environments using a stand-off, passive detection modality. Solutions already validated in commercial settings that can be transitioned to Special Operation Forces (SOF) use with minimal development are especially encouraged.

Description:

USSOCOM seeks a field-deployable capability to enable detection, discrimination, and triangulation of dangerous or restricted materials without direct sampling, physical breach, or active signal emission. As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable overall system design options with respective specifications to provide SOF elements with real-time awareness of concealed threats, explosives, advanced weapon systems (e.g., Man-portable Air-defense system (MANPADS), optical targeting systems), or radiological materials across mission sets including:

• Over-the-beach reconnaissance and interdiction

• Maritime boarding operations and cargo search

• Route clearance and sniper overwatch detection

• Counter-air asset protection through early threat detection

• Expeditionary medical diagnostics (e.g., cancer, infection, contamination)

• Environmental and infrastructure monitoring for hazardous agents

Key capability attributes include:

• Passive and non-emitting (non-radiative) operation, Low Probability of Interception/Low Probability of Detection (LPI/LPD) or off common frequency acceptable.

• Detection of materials through shielding, barriers, or enclosures.

• Miniaturization for man-portable or unmanned system deployment.

• Ability to support triangulation or multi-sensor cueing.

• Operability in low-light, GPS-denied, and high-interference environments.

• Compatibility with austere, tactical, or maritime conditions.

This topic specifically invites novel sensor modalities or approaches that extend beyond traditional radiation or vapor detection (e.g., those based on material resonance, atomic signature recognition, or other non-contact methodologies). Solutions that identify the presence of a threat based on what it is made of rather than what it emits are of particular interest.

Offerors should propose a research effort to validate the technical feasibility of such an approach, including a clear path toward miniaturization, field ruggedization, and tactical integration.

PHASE I (FEASIBILITY STUDY):

As a requirement of this Direct to Phase II (DPII), proposers must include a feasibility study that assess what is in the art of the possible that satisfies the requirements specified in the above paragraphs entitled "Objective" and "Description."

The objective is to document the results of a thorough feasibility study ("Technology Readiness Level 3") to investigate what is in the art of the possible within the given trade space that will satisfy a needed technology. The feasibility study should investigate all options that meet or exceed the minimum performance parameters specified in this writeup. It should also address the risks and potential payoffs of the innovative technology options that are investigated and recommend the option that best achieves the objective of this technology pursuit.

PHASE II:

Develop, install, and demonstrate a prototype system determined to be the most feasible solution during the Phase I feasibility study. The prototype(s) should be suitable for use in at least one SOF-relevant scenario and provide verifiable detection of concealed or containerized target materials at tactically relevant distances.

The intent is to evolve a commercially-validated baseline into a ruggedized, SOF-ready capability suitable for operational deployment.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

This system could be used in a broad range of military applications where this capability is expected to transition to SOF operational units for use in counter-threat identification, special reconnaissance, and sensitive site exploitation missions.

Civilian applications include:

• Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): cargo/container screening, border security, port interdiction.

• Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): radiological material monitoring and nuclear safety enforcement.

• First responders: hazmat detection, bomb squad support, CBRN response.

• Law enforcement: counter-narcotics and weapons detection in vehicles or facilities.

• Public venues: stadium security, transportation hubs, high-traffic event screening.

• Industrial and environmental: non-invasive detection of contamination or hazardous materials at critical infrastructure sites.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

Request to talk with a member of our team by completing the form below:

DARPA | RF Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR)

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

Application Deadline: August 24, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

DARPA is seeking proposals for the Radiofrequency Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR) program to develop next-generation radiofrequency (RF) system architectures that use optical timing technologies to improve performance on compact mobile defense platforms. The program focuses on vibration-hardened photonic microwave oscillators, supporting analog and mixed-signal components, and RF system architectures that can maintain ultra-low phase noise and timing precision in demanding military environments.

DARPA anticipates investing $58,000,000 through three to five Other Transaction (OT) for Prototype Agreements under 10 U.S.C. 4022. The program is structured as a 42-month effort consisting of a 24-month component development phase followed by an 18-month system integration and demonstration phase.

This opportunity is intended for organizations capable of developing breakthrough RF and photonic technologies rather than incremental improvements. DARPA specifically excludes research that advances non-optical methods of microwave generation or produces only evolutionary improvements to existing technologies.

Companies interested in applying should begin preparing immediately. Before submitting a full proposal, applicants must complete several required pre-proposal steps, including requesting the Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Addendum, submitting a required abstract, and providing a Notification of Intent to Propose.

Key dates include:

• CUI Addendum Request Deadline: July 6, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Required Abstract Due Date: July 13, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.

• Notification of Intent to Propose: August 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Question and Answer Deadline: August 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Proposal Due Date: August 24, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.

• Estimated Period of Performance Start: December 1, 2026.

How much funding would I receive?

DARPA anticipates providing:

• Total anticipated funding: $58,000,000

• Anticipated number of awards: Three to five individual awards

• Award instrument: Other Transaction (OT) for Prototype Agreements under 10 U.S.C. 4022

The solicitation does not specify:

• Individual award sizes

• Minimum or maximum award amounts

• Expected funding by performer

• Funding allocations by technical area

Because DARPA expects only three to five awards across the full program budget, award values are expected to vary based on each selected proposal's scope of work and negotiated budget. The solicitation does not provide additional detail.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding is intended to support the development of RF system architectures that use an optical timing backbone to improve RF performance on compact mobile defense platforms.

DARPA is seeking work in several areas, including:

Develop vibration-hardened photonic microwave oscillators

Projects may focus on technologies capable of maintaining ultra-low phase noise and precise timing under challenging environmental conditions encountered by mobile military platforms.

Target component metrics include:

• Phase noise less than -120 dBc/Hz at 100 Hz offset

• Phase noise less than -150 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset

• Relative timing error less than 1 picosecond for 1–100 second intervals

• Oscillator volume less than 300 cc

Develop supporting RF components

Funding may support development of vibration-hardened ancillary analog and mixed-signal components needed to preserve optical timing performance throughout an RF system, including examples such as:

• RF mixers

• Amplifiers

• Digitizers

Design complete RF architectures

DARPA is seeking architectures that use optical technologies throughout the RF system rather than simply replacing an oscillator.

Potential capabilities include:

• Optical timing backbones

• Low-noise frequency synthesis

• Stable clock distribution

• Time and frequency synchronization

• High-bandwidth optical data transfer

• Digital signal processing architectures that exploit optical timing and data movement

Demonstrate defense-relevant use cases

Proposers are expected to identify defense applications for their architectures. The solicitation identifies examples including:

• Radar

• Signal direction finding

• Communications

• Electronic warfare (EW)

Build and demonstrate integrated prototypes

The program concludes with integration of developed technologies into a brassboard prototype for testing under relevant environmental conditions on a Government-furnished airborne platform.

DARPA states that proposals should pursue revolutionary advances rather than incremental improvements to current RF technologies. Research that advances non-optical microwave generation methods or produces only evolutionary improvements is specifically excluded.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

In addition to potential funding, selected performers may receive several forms of Government support during the program.

Government technical support

DARPA anticipates support from:

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

• NIST's Precision Photonic Synthesis Group within the Time and Frequency Division

The Government expects to provide information, analysis, and support related to vibration-hardened optical reference cavities and photonic microwave generation techniques.

Government-furnished information

By Month 6, DARPA anticipates providing performers with:

• A Government reference design for a vibration-hardened chip-scale optical reference cavity

• Associated design details

• Test data

Government-furnished testing

At the end of Phase 2:

• Final noise-performance testing will occur at a Government test facility.

• Testing will use a Government-furnished airborne platform.

• The Government will coordinate and execute the testing.

• The Government will collect and post-process test data.

Potential follow-on opportunities

The solicitation states that:

• Follow-on production contracts or transactions may be awarded pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

• During the transition between Phase 1 and Phase 2, DARPA intends to finalize technology application areas and notes there is potential for additional work based on architectural designs developed during Phase 1.

The solicitation does not guarantee any follow-on funding or production awards.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Key dates include:

• CUI Addendum Request Deadline: July 6, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Required Abstract Due Date: July 13, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.

• Notification of Intent to Propose: August 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Question and Answer Deadline: August 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

• Proposal Due Date: August 24, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.

• Estimated Period of Performance Start: December 1, 2026.

The solicitation states that the RAAPTR program is planned as a 42-month effort, consisting of:

Phase 1 (24 months)

• Component development

• RF architecture design

• Breadboard prototype development

• Environmental testing

Phase 2 (18 months)

• Brassboard integration

• Environmental testing

• Flight testing on a Government-furnished airborne platform

The solicitation does not specify exactly when individual award agreements will be executed or when awardees will receive funding. It states only that the Estimated Period of Performance Start is December 1, 2026.

Proposal Deadline: August 24, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Where does this funding come from?

This funding opportunity is offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the Multi X Office (MXO).

The program is titled Radiofrequency Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR) and is intended to advance radiofrequency (RF) system architectures that employ optical timing technologies for defense applications.

DARPA plans to award funding through Other Transaction (OT) for Prototype Agreements under 10 U.S.C. 4022.

According to the solicitation, the program is intended to support technologies that contribute to DARPA's mission of making "pivotal early technology investments that create or prevent technological surprise." Proposed efforts are evaluated in part on their potential contribution to the national security technology base.

Who is eligible to apply?

DARPA states that all responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit proposals.

Eligible applicants include:

• U.S. organizations

• Non-U.S. organizations

• U.S. and non-U.S. individuals, provided they comply with applicable security regulations, export control laws, nondisclosure agreements, and other governing statutes

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

• Small Businesses

• Small Disadvantaged Businesses

• Minority Institutions

Foreign participants must comply with:

• International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), if applicable

• Export Administration Regulations (EAR), if applicable

To be eligible for consideration, organizations must also satisfy several solicitation-specific requirements.

Applicants must:

• Request and receive the RAAPTR Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Addendum using the procedures described in the solicitation.

• Submit a timely, compliant required abstract.

• Submit a proposal under the same organization identified by a unique CAGE code.

• Meet the required Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 (Self-Assessment) requirements before award eligibility.

• Submit proposals through DARPA's Broad Agency Announcement Tool (BAAT).

Submission of the required abstract is mandatory. The solicitation states that only organizations that submit a timely, compliant abstract will be eligible to submit a full proposal.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The solicitation identifies several organizations and situations that are not eligible.

Organizations that are not eligible

The following organizations are not eligible to propose:

• Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)

• University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs)

• Government Entities, including National Laboratories

Organizations that will not be considered

DARPA states that proposals will not be considered if the organization:

• Did not request and receive the RAAPTR CUI Addendum.

• Did not submit a timely, compliant required abstract.

• Does not meet the required CMMC Level 2 eligibility requirements before award.

• Submits through a different CAGE code than the one authorized for the CUI Addendum.

Contractor conflicts

DARPA also states that contractors or performers are prohibited from concurrently:

• Providing Systems Engineering Technical Assistance (SETA),

• Providing Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS), or

• Providing similar support services to DARPA,

while also serving as a technical performer on the program, unless a written waiver is granted by the DARPA Deputy Director.

The solicitation does not identify any additional eligibility exclusions.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

DARPA evaluates proposals using three criteria, listed in descending order of importance:

1. Overall Scientific and Technical Merit

2. Potential Contribution and Relevance to the DARPA Mission

3. Budget and Price

Based on these evaluation criteria, the strongest proposals are likely to:

Offer innovative technical approaches

DARPA states the proposed approach should be:

• Innovative

• Feasible

• Achievable

• Complete

Address the full technical challenge

Competitive projects will present a logical technical plan with clearly defined tasks, deliverables, milestones, and risk mitigation strategies.

Demonstrate strong technical teams

DARPA expects teams to possess the expertise and experience needed to complete the proposed work and to have clearly defined management structures, responsibilities, communication pathways, and decision-making authority.

Support DARPA's mission

Projects should demonstrate how they strengthen the national security technology base and create capabilities relevant to future defense systems.

Enable technology transition

DARPA will evaluate whether proposed intellectual property restrictions could significantly affect the Government's ability to transition the resulting technology.

Present realistic budgets

Budgets should:

• Reflect the proposed technical approach.

• Demonstrate an appropriate level of effort.

• Align milestone payments with the solicitation's milestone schedule.

For projects with commercial application, the solicitation states that appropriate direct cost sharing may be a positive factor in the evaluation.

The solicitation also states that DARPA is seeking revolutionary advances in photonic RF technologies and specifically excludes research that advances non-optical microwave generation methods or results only in evolutionary improvements to the current state of practice.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

The solicitation does not specify an expected number of proposals or anticipated success rate.

However, several factors indicate that this opportunity is likely to be highly competitive.

DARPA anticipates:

• $58,000,000 in total funding.

• Three to five individual awards.

The program also includes multiple mandatory pre-proposal requirements, including:

• Requesting the RAAPTR CUI Addendum.

• Submitting a required abstract.

• Submitting a Notification of Intent to Propose.

• Participating in oral presentations if invited.

Additionally, proposals are evaluated on scientific merit, relevance to DARPA's mission, and budget, with technical merit receiving the greatest weight.

The solicitation also requires applicants to demonstrate capabilities across multiple disciplines, including photonic technologies, RF systems, analog and mixed-signal components, digital architectures, system integration, environmental hardening, and platform demonstration.

The solicitation does not provide historical award rates, anticipated proposal volume, or estimated funding rate.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Yes. This solicitation includes several technical, security, submission, and eligibility requirements that applicants should understand before investing time in preparing a proposal.

Certain research is specifically excluded

DARPA states that the following work is not responsive to this solicitation:

• Research that advances non-optical methods of microwave generation

• Research that results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice

The program is intended to support revolutionary advances in photonic RF technologies.

Submission of an abstract is mandatory

Organizations must submit a timely, compliant abstract to be eligible to submit a full proposal.

The required abstract is due:

July 13, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Organizations that do not submit a compliant abstract will not be considered.

Organizations must receive the RAAPTR CUI Addendum

Only organizations that:

• Request the RAAPTR CUI Addendum, and

• Are provided access to it

may submit proposals.

The CUI Addendum request deadline is:

July 6, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Organizations that do not receive the CUI Addendum will not be considered.

CMMC requirements apply

The required cybersecurity level is:

CMMC Level 2 (Self-Assessment) – Broad Protection of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

To be eligible for award, the proposer's CAGE code must have:

• A valid, unexpired Final Level 2 CMMC status recorded in SPRS.

• A current annual CMMC affirmation recorded in SPRS.

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)

The program operates under Controlled Unclassified Information requirements.

Applicants handling CUI must comply with:

• DoD Instruction 5200.48

• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2

The solicitation also notes that portions of the program may involve classified information, although classified proposals are not required.

AI disclosure requirement

DARPA asks proposers to disclose whether artificial intelligence tools were used to prepare Volume 1 of the proposal.

If AI tools were used:

• The proposal must identify the tools used.

• AI-generated or AI-assisted technical content must include citations describing the tool, the content, and the purpose.

The solicitation states that this information will not be used for evaluation purposes.

Proposal submission restrictions

Applicants must:

• Submit proposals through the DARPA Broad Agency Announcement Tool (BAAT).

• Submit before the deadline.

• Email submissions will not be accepted.

• Late submissions will not be accepted.

DARPA encourages applicants to submit at least 48 hours before the deadline.

Other restrictions

Additional restrictions include:

• Pre-recorded oral presentations are not permitted.

• Contractors performing SETA, Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS), or similar support services to DARPA may not simultaneously serve as technical performers without a written waiver.

• Some awards may include publication restrictions depending on whether the research is determined to be fundamental or non-fundamental research.

• The Government requires no less than Government Purpose Rights (GPR) to data developed under the program. Proposers must identify any pre-existing intellectual property restrictions that could affect technology transition.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

Applicants should plan for a substantial proposal preparation effort.

The solicitation requires several activities before a full proposal can be submitted, including:

• Requesting access to the RAAPTR CUI Addendum.

• Preparing and submitting a required abstract.

• Submitting a Notification of Intent to Propose.

• Preparing a full technical proposal using multiple required templates and attachments.

• Preparing pricing documentation.

• Completing milestone schedules.

• Preparing for a potential oral presentation.

The solicitation also requires applicants to submit:

• Proposal Summary Slide

• Technical and Management Volume

• Price Volume

• DARPA Price Summary Spreadsheet

• Other Transaction Certification

• Task Description Document

• Schedule of Milestones and Payments

Organizations must also satisfy applicable cybersecurity, CUI handling, and security screening requirements.

Because of these requirements, along with the technical complexity of the RAAPTR program, applicants should allow significant time to coordinate technical contributors, subcontractors, budgets, compliance documentation, and proposal development.

The solicitation does not specify how long proposal preparation is expected to take.

How can BW&CO help?

Applying to DARPA programs requires more than writing a compelling technical narrative. Successful proposals also require a compliant submission, a clear commercialization and transition strategy where applicable, disciplined program management, and careful coordination across technical teams.

BW&CO can support applicants by:

• Determining whether the RAAPTR program aligns with your technology and business objectives.

• Developing a compliant proposal package aligned with DARPA's solicitation requirements.

• Coordinating technical writing across multiple contributors.

• Preparing milestone-based project plans and budgets.

• Reviewing proposal compliance before submission.

• Helping position your technical approach around the evaluation criteria described in the solicitation.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

Zero Trust Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Roadmap AOI 26-A006

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic Rapid Capabilities Office is seeking commercial technologies that can help the Department of the Navy automate its transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). This effort focuses on discovering, inventorying, and continuously monitoring cryptographic assets across Navy and Marine Corps networks to generate automated Cryptographic Bills of Materials (CBOMs) that support enterprise-wide risk management and PQC migration.

This is an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) prototype opportunity intended for commercial technologies that can rapidly deploy, integrate across enterprise and tactical environments, and demonstrate mature capabilities. Companies selected for Phase 2 will participate in a live demonstration of their technology.

Solution Briefs must be submitted via the Vulcan platform no later than 2359 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 07 July 2026. Late submissions will not be considered.

How much funding would I receive?

The solicitation does not specify the prototype award amount, award range, or anticipated contract value. These initial contracts typically range from $500,000 to about $5 million.

What could I use the funding for?

The prototype is intended to develop and demonstrate an automated solution capable of:

• Discovering cryptographic algorithms, protocols, certificates, key lengths, and implementations across Department of the Navy environments.

• Supporting enterprise IT, cloud, mobile systems, operational technology (OT), and tactical or embedded platforms.

• Generating machine-readable Cryptographic Bills of Materials (CBOMs).

• Continuously monitoring cryptographic assets for changes.

• Supporting PQC migration planning, vulnerability assessments, and centralized risk reporting.

• Integrating with Navy authoritative data repositories.

• Operating across secure cloud environments and disconnected, intermittently connected, and low-bandwidth (DIL) environments.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Potential benefits include:

• Opportunity to participate in a Phase 2 live demonstration.

• Potential for a follow-on production agreement without further competitive procedures if a prototype agreement is awarded.

• Opportunity to demonstrate commercial technology directly to NIWC Atlantic and Department of the Navy stakeholders.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Key dates include:

• Opportunity opens: 29 June 2026.

• Solution Brief deadline: 2359 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 07 July 2026.

• Tentative Phase 2 Pitch: 20–21 July 2026 in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Companies selected for Phase 2 will be notified in writing as soon as practicable.

• The solicitation does not specify when prototype awards will be made or when funding will be received.

Solution Briefs must be submitted via the Vulcan platform no later than 2359 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 07 July 2026.

Where does this funding come from?

Funding is provided through:

• Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic Rapid Capabilities Office.

• Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) N65236-26-S-0001.

• Area of Interest 26-A006: Zero Trust Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Roadmap.

• Command Focus Area: Battlespace Connectivity.

Who is eligible to apply?

The solicitation is seeking commercial vendors capable of delivering a prototype solution.

Offerors must:

• Submit a Solution Brief through the Vulcan platform.

• Demonstrate the required Secret Facility Clearance at the time of Solution Brief submission.

• Include the prime contractor's CAGE Code.

• Meet the nontraditional business participation requirements described in CSO N65236-26-S-0001 Paragraph 6.2 or explicitly state any proposed cost share.

• Demonstrate their solution in an unclassified environment during Phase 2 if invited.

• Preference may be given to companies with solutions at a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 and prior experience with automated asset discovery, code security analysis, or enterprise-scale vulnerability scanning.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The following will not be considered:

• Contractors that do not possess the required Secret Facility Clearance at the time of Solution Brief submission.

• Solution Briefs submitted after 2359 EDT on 07 July 2026.

• Solution Briefs emailed directly to the Government point of contact instead of submitted through the Vulcan platform.

The solicitation does not identify any additional eligibility exclusions.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The strongest proposals will offer a mature, integrated commercial solution that can:

• Automatically discover cryptographic assets across enterprise, cloud, endpoint, OT, and tactical environments.

• Support both passive and active scanning.

• Automatically generate machine-readable CBOMs.

• Continuously monitor cryptographic baselines.

• Meet applicable security and compliance requirements.

• Operate within cloud-native and scalable architectures.

• Identify legacy cryptography alongside FIPS 203, FIPS 204, and FIPS 205 implementations.

• Operate in DIL environments.

• Integrate with Department of the Navy centralized repositories.

Preference may also be given to companies that:

• Demonstrate a corporate PQC migration roadmap.

• Minimize operational overhead.

• Have solutions at TRL 7 or higher.

• Can demonstrate enterprise-scale deployments and rapid scalability.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This opportunity is likely to be competitive because:

• The Government reserves the right to limit the number of companies invited to Phase 2.

• Selection is based on evaluation of the submitted Solution Briefs.

• Phase 2 requires a live demonstration of the proposed solution.

• Preference may be given to more mature technologies with demonstrated operational capability.

The solicitation does not specify the anticipated number of awards or invitees.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Applicants should be aware that:

• Solution Briefs must not contain Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

• Solution Briefs must be submitted through the Vulcan platform.

• Submission as a Scout Card alone is not sufficient; the Solution Brief must also be uploaded as an attachment.

• A Secret Facility Clearance is required at submission.

• The prime contractor's CAGE Code must be included.

• Teaming partners must be identified if used to satisfy nontraditional participation requirements.

• Cost share must be explicitly stated if proposed.

• The Government requires a mandatory live, unclassified demonstration during Phase 2.

• Late submissions will not be considered.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The solicitation does not specify an expected preparation time.

However, companies should anticipate preparing:

• A compliant Solution Brief.

• Documentation supporting nontraditional business participation or cost share.

• Secret Facility Clearance information and CAGE Code.

• Materials necessary for a live technology demonstration if invited to Phase 2.How can BW&CO help?

Developing a competitive NIH cooperative agreement application requires more than a strong technical concept. Applicants must also demonstrate program alignment, a clear development strategy, meaningful collaboration, measurable milestones, and compliance with NIH requirements.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO helps technology companies compete for Department of Defense OTA opportunities by:

• Assessing solution alignment with the Area of Interest.

• Developing compliant, reviewer-focused Solution Briefs.

• Positioning commercial capabilities against Government evaluation criteria.

• Highlighting technical differentiators, maturity, and transition potential.

• Preparing companies for live Government pitch and demonstration sessions.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

Development and Testing of a Multi-use Frameworks Playbook for Precision Medicine with AI: Integrating Imaging with Multimodal Data (PRIMED-AI) (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), through the Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund) and administered by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), is seeking applications to develop standardized frameworks that support the design, deployment, and adoption of multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) clinical decision support (CDS) tools.

Rather than funding development of a single AI application, this funding opportunity supports creation of practical frameworks—including standardized protocols, guidelines, and standard operating procedures—that will become part of the Precision Medicine with AI: Integrating Imaging with Multimodal Data (PRIMED-AI) Program "Playbook." These frameworks are intended to improve the development, validation, interoperability, and clinical adoption of multimodal AI tools that combine medical imaging with other health data.

Applicants must propose development of two or more distinct frameworks addressing separate framework topics. Projects that fail to propose at least two distinct frameworks will be considered non-responsive and will not be reviewed.

NIH intends to fund approximately five cooperative agreements through this opportunity.

Applications are due by October 09, 2026, at 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. No late applications will be accepted.

How much funding would I receive?

NIH Common Fund intends to commit approximately:

• Approximately $2,000,000 in FY2027

• Approximately five awards, contingent upon availability of funds and receipt of a sufficient number of meritorious applications

Award budgets are limited to:

• Up to $300,000 in direct costs per year

Project periods may be:

• Up to two years

Budgets must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding supports the design, development, and preliminary validation of practical frameworks that improve development and deployment of multimodal AI clinical decision support tools.

The resulting frameworks will populate the PRIMED-AI Playbook and are expected to be broadly usable across the biomedical AI community.

Applicants must develop two or more distinct framework topics, which may include areas such as:

• AI-enabled scientific discovery

• AI-ready dataset generation

• Clinical AI training frameworks

• Data quality

• Data leakage prevention

• Data lifecycle management

• Model uncertainty

• Data and model harmonization

• Generalizability across clinical environments

• Transparency and explainability

• Model cards and data cards

• Standards-based interoperability (including OMOP and FHIR)

• Privacy-enhancing technologies

• Regulatory navigation for clinical AI

Frameworks should:

• Address imaging data together with other multimodal health data

• Be practical and operational

• Adapt to the rapidly evolving AI landscape

• Clearly identify intended users

• Describe applicable data and model classes

• Define use cases and limitations

• Be suitable for adoption by the broader research community

Awardees are expected to work collaboratively to develop a shared Playbook that minimizes duplication and supports interoperability across the PRIMED-AI Program.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

In addition to funding, award recipients become members of the NIH PRIMED-AI Consortium and participate in collaborative development of the national PRIMED-AI Playbook.

Award recipients will:

• Collaborate with other Playbook awardees

• Participate in the PRIMED-AI Steering Committee

• Work with NIH program staff throughout the cooperative agreement

• Contribute frameworks to the PRIMED-AI web portal

• Participate in consortium meetings and working groups

• Attend annual in-person consortium meetings

• Participate in virtual tutorials and innovation meetings

• Participate in an in-person framework showcase at the end of Year 2

Recipients also benefit from coordination with NIH staff, Validation Centers, Logistics Centers, and other funded PRIMED-AI projects to improve consistency, dissemination, and adoption of developed frameworks.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Posted Date

June 30, 2026

Earliest Submission Date

September 09, 2026

Application Deadline

October 09, 2026, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

No late applications will be accepted.

Review timeline

• Scientific Merit Review: March 2027

• Advisory Council Review: May 2027

• Earliest Start Date: July 2027

Projects may last for up to two years, with awardees expected to meet defined milestones throughout the project period.

Where does this funding come from?

This funding opportunity is offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of the Common Fund, through the Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC). The program is administered by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) on behalf of NIH.

The funding supports the Precision Medicine with AI: Integrating Imaging with Multimodal Data (PRIMED-AI) Program, which aims to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable AI-based clinical decision support tools that integrate clinical imaging with multimodal health data.

This NOFO specifically supports development of standardized frameworks that will be compiled into the PRIMED-AI Playbook for use across the broader biomedical AI community.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants include:

Higher Education Institutions

• Public/state-controlled institutions of higher education

• Private institutions of higher education

Nonprofit Organizations

• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS status

• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS status

For-Profit Organizations

• Small businesses

• For-profit organizations other than small businesses

Government Organizations

• State governments

• County governments

• City or township governments

• Special district governments

• Federally recognized Tribal governments

• Non-federally recognized Tribal governments

• Eligible Federal agencies

• U.S. territories or possessions

Other Eligible Organizations

• Independent school districts

• Public housing authorities

• Native American Tribal organizations (other than federally recognized Tribal governments)

• Faith-based organizations

• Community-based organizations

• Regional organizations

NIH Intramural Research Program investigators may also participate under the specific requirements described in the solicitation.

Individual Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) may apply if they have the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed project and are affiliated with an eligible applicant organization.

Applicant organizations may submit more than one application, provided each application is scientifically distinct.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The following are not eligible to apply:

• Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations)

• Non-domestic components of U.S. organizations

• Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement

Projects will also be considered non-responsive and will not be reviewed if they:

• Do not propose two or more distinct frameworks for development.

• Propose two methods addressing the same framework topic rather than two separate framework topics.

NIH will also not accept duplicate or substantially overlapping applications that violate NIH submission policies.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The strongest applications will directly support the objectives of the PRIMED-AI Program by developing practical, broadly applicable frameworks that improve development and deployment of multimodal AI clinical decision support tools.

Competitive projects are likely to:

• Propose at least two distinct framework topics.

• Address important challenges in multimodal AI that integrate imaging with other health data.

• Produce frameworks that are practical, flexible, and usable across multiple clinical environments.

• Clearly identify intended users, applicable data types, use cases, and limitations.

• Demonstrate expertise in AI framework development.

• Include multidisciplinary teams with relevant stakeholders, such as clinicians, patients, software developers, regulators, and data scientists.

• Present strong collaboration plans with other PRIMED-AI award recipients.

• Include realistic milestones, timelines, and measurable performance metrics.

• Promote clinical AI adoption through user feedback and iterative framework improvement.

• Demonstrate how proposed frameworks will be shared and adopted by the broader research community.

NIH states that applications proposing frameworks that are duplicative of existing frameworks or represent only incremental advancements will be considered of low programmatic relevance, reducing their likelihood of funding.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This funding opportunity is expected to be highly competitive.

NIH intends to make approximately five awards while committing approximately $2,000,000 in FY2027, contingent upon available funding and the receipt of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.

Applications will undergo NIH peer review and will be evaluated based on factors including:

• Importance of the proposed research

• Innovation

• Scientific rigor

• Feasibility

• Investigator expertise

• Institutional environment

In addition, reviewers will specifically evaluate:

• The need for the proposed frameworks.

• The benefit of the frameworks to multimodal AI and precision medicine.

• Flexibility and usability across multiple clinical environments.

• How well dependencies between framework types are addressed.

• The quality of collaboration plans.

• Plans to promote clinical AI adoption and innovation.

• The experience of the project team in developing and deploying AI frameworks.

Following peer review, applications compete for funding based on:

• Scientific and technical merit.

• Availability of funds.

• Relevance to PRIMED-AI program priorities.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Yes. Applicants should carefully review the program requirements before beginning an application.

Key restrictions include:

Clinical trials are not allowed

This NOFO only accepts applications that do not propose clinical trials. Applications may include activities involving human subjects that are not considered clinical trials.

You must propose at least two distinct frameworks

Each application must propose two or more distinct frameworks addressing separate framework topics.

Projects proposing only one framework, or multiple approaches to the same framework topic, will be considered non-responsive and will not be reviewed.

Frameworks must be broadly usable

All frameworks developed under this award are expected to:

• Be shared with the broader research community.

• Be suitable for inclusion in the PRIMED-AI Playbook.

• Support extensibility and interoperability.

• Clearly identify intended users, applicable data classes, use cases, and limitations.

Collaboration is required

Recipients will be expected to:

• Participate in the PRIMED-AI Consortium.

• Collaborate with other Playbook award recipients.

• Participate in monthly Playbook Working Group meetings.

• Participate in annual in-person Consortium meetings.

• Attend virtual consortium activities.

• Participate in an in-person framework showcase at the end of Year 2.

Data sharing requirements

Applicants must submit a Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan.

Recipients are expected to comply with PRIMED-AI Consortium policies regarding:

• Data sharing

• Software release

• Metadata standards

• Quality control

• Public copyright licensing

• Standardization requirements

Recipients are also required to engage with the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) for dissemination of PRIMED-AI resources.

Registration requirements

Organizations must complete all required registrations before submitting an application, including:

• System for Award Management (SAM)

• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)

• eRA Commons

• Grants.gov

Program Directors/Principal Investigators must have:

• An eRA Commons account

• A linked ORCID ID

NIH notes that registration can take six weeks or longer, so applicants should begin the registration process as early as possible.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

Applicants should expect this to be a significant proposal effort.

In addition to the standard NIH application requirements, applicants must prepare:

• Two or more distinct framework concepts.

• A detailed research strategy.

• A draft framework layout.

• Early standard operating procedures (SOPs).

• Framework management plans.

• A multidisciplinary team approach.

• Collaboration plans with other PRIMED-AI award recipients.

• A milestone plan with Gantt chart.

• Performance metrics.

• A Data Management and Sharing Plan.

• Resource sharing information.

• Required registrations for both the organization and PD(s)/PI(s).

Applicants must also budget for required consortium participation, including annual in-person meetings and the Year 2 framework showcase.

Because of these requirements, organizations should begin preparing well before the application deadline.

Applications are due by October 09, 2026, at 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

How can BW&CO help?

Developing a competitive NIH cooperative agreement application requires more than a strong technical concept. Applicants must also demonstrate program alignment, a clear development strategy, meaningful collaboration, measurable milestones, and compliance with NIH requirements.

BW&CO can help your team:

• Assess whether your project aligns with the goals of the PRIMED-AI Program.

• Refine your framework concepts to address NIH review criteria.

• Develop a compelling research strategy and project narrative.

• Create realistic milestones, timelines, and measurable deliverables.

• Strengthen collaboration and management plans.

• Prepare compliant budgets and application documents.

• Review your application for responsiveness before submission.

• Manage proposal development from kickoff through final submission.

Our team works with companies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and research institutions to prepare competitive federal funding applications while minimizing the administrative burden on technical teams.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

Battlefield Pain Management – Analgesic (HT942726RE009)

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The Defense Health Agency (DHA), through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity (DHACA), is seeking proposals to develop an FDA-approved, single-use analgesic product for battlefield use to treat moderate to severe acute pain. The product is intended for Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), Prolonged Casualty Care (PCC), casualty evacuation (CASEVAC/MEDEVAC), and all Roles of Care.

The Government expects to make no more than two prototype Other Transaction Authority (pOTA) awards under 10 U.S.C. 4022. A successfully completed prototype project may lead to a follow-on production contract or transaction.

Proposal deadline: 30 July 2026. Companies pursuing this opportunity should begin preparing immediately because the solicitation requires a comprehensive technical, management, regulatory, and cost proposal with extensive FDA development planning.

How much funding would I receive?

The solicitation does not specify:

• Total program funding

• Individual award value

• Maximum or minimum award amount

The Government states only that it intends to make no more than two awards.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding is intended to support development of an FDA-approved, single-use analgesic product for battlefield use, including activities such as:

• Non-clinical studies

• Clinical studies and trials

• FDA regulatory strategy and submission

• Development activities compliant with:

  • 21 CFR Part 58

  • 21 CFR Part 11

  • Applicable FDA guidance documents

• Manufacturing planning

• Quality management

• Commercial manufacturing planning

The objective is to obtain FDA approval for a rapid, single-dose analgesic indicated for moderate to severe acute pain that can be used in austere military environments.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

The solicitation states that:

• A successfully completed prototype project may lead to a follow-on production contract or transaction under 10 U.S.C. 4022(f).

• The product could ultimately be fielded as part of the Battlefield Pain Management Family of Systems and potentially become part of standard issue equipment for the Joint Force.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

The solicitation provides the following timeline:

• Request issued: 29 June 2026

• Questions due: 10 July 2026

• Proposal deadline: 30 July 2026

The solicitation estimates an overall project period of performance of eight years, consisting of:

• Objective 1: 3 years

• Objective 2 (non-clinical studies): 2 years

• Objective 3: 3 years

Funding is anticipated to be incremental, with the funding schedule provided after award.

The solicitation does not specify when awards will be made or when initial funding will be received.

Where does this funding come from?

Funding comes from:

• Defense Health Agency (DHA)

• Portfolio Acquisition Executive Medical Products (PAE MP)

• Warfighter Protection and Acute Care Project Management Office (WPAC PMO)

The solicitation is administered by the:

• Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity (DHACA)

Awards will be made using Prototype Other Transaction Authority (pOTA) under 10 U.S.C. 4022.

Who is eligible to apply?

To be eligible for award, a proposal must demonstrate at least one of the following:

• At least one nontraditional defense contractor participates to a significant extent.

• At least one nonprofit research institute participates to a significant extent.

• All significant non-government participants are small businesses or nontraditional defense contractors.

• At least one-third of total project costs are provided by non-federal sources.

Additional requirements include:

• Prime awardees must maintain an active SAM registration.

• Prime awardees must use their SAM Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

• NAICS Code 541714 must be listed in SAM prior to award.

Who is not eligible to apply?

Companies that fail to demonstrate one of the statutory eligibility conditions described above may be determined ineligible.

The Government also states proposals may be eliminated if they:

• Fail preliminary screening

• Do not comply with proposal instructions

• Fail to demonstrate required nontraditional participation or cost sharing (when applicable)

The solicitation does not identify additional ineligible applicant categories.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

Based on the stated evaluation criteria, the most competitive proposals will demonstrate:

• A strong technical approach for achieving FDA approval

• Well-developed non-clinical and clinical development plans

• A credible FDA regulatory strategy

• Relevant FDA approval and commercialization experience

• Strong project management

• Realistic scheduling and risk management

• Quality management systems

• Commercial manufacturing planning

• Realistic, reasonable, and complete cost proposals

Projects must clearly address the Government's objectives for developing a battlefield-ready, single-use analgesic product.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

The solicitation is expected to be highly competitive.

Indicators include:

• No more than two awards are anticipated.

• Proposals undergo technical, management, and cost evaluations.

• Vendors must satisfy statutory OTA participation requirements.

• Extensive FDA regulatory planning and commercialization planning are required.

• The Government reserves the right to make no award depending on proposal quality and funding availability.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Key restrictions include:

• Proposal must be submitted as three separate volumes:

  • Technical

  • Management

  • Administrative and Cost

• Cost information may appear only in Volume III.

• Technical proposals must include FDA regulatory strategy.

• Project Management Plan must include:

  • Integrated Master Schedule

  • Risk Management Plan

  • Spend Plan

  • Quality Management Plan

  • Work Breakdown Structure

• Microsoft Project schedule is required.

• Searchable PDF submissions are required.

• Files may not be password protected.

• Files may not contain hyperlinks.

• Labor escalation may not exceed 3% per year.

• Foreign organizations or collaborators require additional justification.

• Accounting systems must comply with GAAP for expenditure-based agreements.

• Prime awardees must maintain active SAM registration throughout performance.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The solicitation does not specify an expected proposal preparation time.

However, the required submission includes:

• Technical volume

• Management volume

• Administrative and Cost volume

• FDA regulatory strategy

• Statement of Work

• Integrated Master Schedule

• Project Management Plan

• Commercial Manufacturing Sales Plan

• Detailed cost proposal

• Supporting documentation

• Required certifications and representations

Preparing a compliant submission is likely to require significant coordination across technical, regulatory, manufacturing, management, and finance teams.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can support applicants by helping develop a compliant proposal package, including:

• Proposal strategy

• Technical narrative development

• Project management documentation

• Regulatory strategy alignment

• Cost proposal development

• Compliance review

• Proposal management through final submission

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

​Mitigating Proliferation Risks Posed by Artificial Intelligence Enabled Molecular Models and Leveraging Nonproliferation Opportunities​ - DFOP0018449

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

Application Deadline: 11:59 PM ET on 7/21/2026. Organizations interested in this opportunity should plan to begin preparing their application immediately, as proposals require a detailed technical narrative, budget, monitoring and evaluation plan, and supporting documentation.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Office of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (ACN/NDF), is seeking proposals to reduce the proliferation risks created by artificial intelligence-enabled molecular models (CBAIMs) while advancing beneficial AI applications for chemical and biological nonproliferation.

The program supports projects that identify vulnerabilities in AI molecular models and associated datasets, develop safeguards and mitigation measures, create technical tools and international best practices, and strengthen international cooperation to prevent the misuse of AI for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) applications.

Projects may address the full scope of the program or a clearly defined subset of the stated objectives. Awards will be made as Cooperative Agreements, meaning the Department of State expects substantial involvement throughout the project.

How much funding would I receive?

The solicitation provides:

• Total available funding: $4,000,000

• Anticipated number of awards: 2–5

• Award type: Cooperative Agreement

• Maximum period of performance: 24 months

The solicitation does not specify a minimum or maximum award amount per recipient. Proposals may not exceed the total availability of funds under this NOFO.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding supports projects that help prevent the misuse of AI-enabled molecular models while promoting responsible AI development for chemical and biological security.

Examples of supported activities include:

• Identifying foreign stakeholders involved in AI-enabled molecular design.

• Conducting technical evaluations and risk assessments of AI molecular models, datasets, computing infrastructure, and model architectures.

• Developing and testing safeguards, mitigation measures, and best practices that reduce proliferation risks.

• Piloting new methodologies to evaluate and mitigate misuse throughout the AI model lifecycle.

• Developing software tools, secure platforms, methodologies, and other technical resources that leverage AI for nonproliferation purposes.

• Developing tools that detect illicit chemical or biological material acquisition, development, diversion, proliferation, weaponization, or use.

• Publishing international guidelines, codes of ethics, best practices, institutional mechanisms, software tools, or platforms supporting responsible AI development.

• Organizing international workshops, tabletop exercises, technical exchanges, and stakeholder engagement activities.

• Providing mentorship and trainer development to foreign partners.

• Supporting recurring evaluations and red-teaming exercises to validate safeguards as technology evolves.

The Department encourages projects that produce tangible technical deliverables rather than awareness activities alone. Deliverables may include:

• Software tools

• Secure data-sharing platforms

• Methodologies

• Guidelines

• Codes of ethics

• Mitigation measures

• Technical frameworks

• Other resources supporting responsible AI molecular research and nonproliferation.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Beyond funding, successful recipients will work closely with ACN/NDF throughout the project.

Under the Cooperative Agreement, the Department expects substantial involvement, including:

• Regular coordination with ACN/NDF.

• Quarterly milestone reviews.

• Collaboration on identifying international partners and stakeholders.

• Assistance coordinating workshops and engagement activities.

• Review and feedback on work plans and project deliverables.

• Coordination with Department of State personnel and U.S. Missions where appropriate.

• Guidance to ensure project activities remain aligned with Department priorities.

Projects may also help establish long-term international communities of practice, strengthen partnerships with government, industry, and academia, and encourage adoption of globally recognized safeguards and best practices for AI-enabled molecular models.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Application deadline: 11:59 PM ET on 7/21/2026.

Applications must be submitted through MyGrants. Faxed, couriered, or emailed applications are not accepted except for eligible U.S. Federal Government entities.

Following submission:

• Applications first undergo a Technical Eligibility Review.

• Eligible applications advance to a Merit Review Panel.

• Final award decisions are made by ACN/NDF leadership.

The solicitation states that awards may be made based on the initial application without discussions or negotiations.

The solicitation does not specify when award decisions will be announced or when funding will be received.

If selected:

• A pre-project implementation meeting will occur within 30 days after award.

• A draft Project Work Plan must be submitted within 30 days of award.

Where does this funding come from?

This funding is provided by the:

U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation
Office of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (ACN/NDF)

The authority for this funding opportunity is Section 504 of the FREEDOM Support Act of 1992.

The Office of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund develops projects that support U.S. efforts to:

• Prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

• Reduce chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.

• Prevent the spread of missile and advanced conventional weapons.

• Support international nonproliferation and arms control objectives.

• Secure, remove, or destroy WMD-related materials and systems.

This funding opportunity specifically supports projects addressing proliferation risks associated with AI-enabled molecular models and opportunities to leverage AI in support of international chemical and biological nonproliferation efforts.

Who is eligible to apply?

The following U.S.-based organizations are eligible to apply:

• Domestic not-for-profit organizations, including organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status.

• Public institutions of higher education.

• Private institutions of higher education.

• For-profit organizations and businesses.

• U.S. Federal Government entities.

Organizations may also form a consortium and submit a combined proposal. In these cases:

• One organization must serve as the lead applicant.

• The remaining organizations must participate as sub-awardees.

• The lead applicant must independently meet the eligibility requirements.

Cost sharing is not required. Providing voluntary cost share is not an eligibility requirement and will not improve an application's competitive ranking.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The following organizations are not eligible under this solicitation:

• Foreign not-for-profit organizations.

• Foreign Public Entities (FPEs).

• Public International Organizations (PIOs).

Additionally, organizations are not eligible if they:

• Have an exclusion listed in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov).

• Have a current debt to the U.S. Government.

• Include any excluded entity or individual identified in the SAM.gov Exclusions list as part of the proposed project.

The solicitation also notes that while for-profit organizations are eligible, the Department of State prohibits recipients from earning profit under assistance awards. Reimbursement is limited to allowable direct and indirect costs.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The Department identifies several characteristics that it will evaluate favorably.

Strong proposals are likely to:

• Directly address AI-enabled chemical and biological proliferation risks and/or leverage AI to strengthen nonproliferation objectives.

• Produce practical, deployable technical deliverables rather than awareness activities alone.

• Demonstrate experience researching, testing, or implementing safeguards for AI molecular models.

• Include meaningful technical assessments, risk evaluations, or mitigation strategies.

• Develop software tools, secure platforms, methodologies, guidelines, or other resources that can be readily adopted by researchers and industry.

• Include subject matter experts with broad international AI research and development expertise.

• Prioritize partner countries with a clear rationale.

• Demonstrate measurable nonproliferation benefits supported by data-driven analysis.

• Include long-term sustainability through communities of practice, national action plans, or ongoing partnerships.

• Deliver meaningful threat reduction within the first year of funding.

• Incorporate workshops, technical exchanges, mentorship, red-teaming exercises, and sustained stakeholder engagement.

• Present creative solutions that extend beyond the examples listed in the NOFO while remaining aligned with its objectives.

During formal evaluation, reviewers will assess:

• Responsiveness to the program objectives.

• Technical quality of the proposed activities.

• Organizational capability.

• Budget realism and cost efficiency.

• Past performance on previous grants and cooperative agreements.

If two proposals receive equivalent evaluation scores, preference will be given to the applicant with the lower indirect cost rate as a tie-breaking mechanism.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This is expected to be a highly competitive funding opportunity.

The solicitation provides:

• $4,000,000 in total available funding.

• 2–5 anticipated awards.

Applications must first pass a Technical Eligibility Review before advancing to a Merit Review Panel.

Eligible proposals will be evaluated on a 100-point scale by U.S. Government subject matter experts and, where appropriate, non-government subject matter experts.

Reviewers will evaluate:

• Proposed activities.

• Organizational capability.

• Budget.

• Past performance.

Final selections will also consider:

• Alignment with Department of State priorities.

• Support for U.S. foreign policy objectives.

• Geographic distribution of top-ranked applications.

The Department also reserves the right to make awards based solely on the initial application without discussions or negotiations, making a complete and well-developed first submission especially important.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Applicants should be aware of several important restrictions and compliance requirements.

Key restrictions include:

• Award funds may not be provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

• Funds may not support activities that encourage, mobilize, publicize, or manage mass-migration caravans toward the U.S. southwest border.

• Funds may not be used for legal counseling on the U.S. asylum process or referrals to legal representation in the United States.

• If the project involves Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), additional requirements apply.

• Recipients must comply with applicable Federal anti-discrimination requirements where applicable.

• Institutions of higher education must comply with applicable foreign funding disclosure requirements.

• Certain awards exceeding specified thresholds require Trafficking in Persons compliance certifications.

• All applicants must maintain an active Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and SAM.gov registration throughout the application and award period unless an approved exemption applies.

• Applications must be submitted through MyGrants (except eligible U.S. Federal Government entities).

• The Department of State prohibits recipients from earning profit under assistance awards.

Recipients should also review the applicable Federal regulations, Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions, and reporting requirements described throughout the solicitation.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

This is a moderate- to high-effort application.

Applicants must prepare a complete proposal package that includes:

• SF-424 and SF-424A (where applicable)

• Project Proposal Narrative (maximum 10 pages)

• Detailed line-item budget

• Budget narrative

• Resumes or position descriptions for key personnel

• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan (maximum 3 pages, excluding the tracking document)

• Performance indicator tracking table

• Required registrations, including an active UEI and SAM.gov registration

The proposal narrative must clearly describe:

• The problem being addressed

• Program goals and measurable objectives

• Technical approach

• Activities

• Timeline

• Program partners (if applicable)

• Sustainability plan

Organizations without an active SAM.gov registration should allow additional time. The solicitation states that obtaining or renewing a registration may take anywhere from 4–8 weeks.

Because the Department may make awards based on the initial application without discussions or negotiations, applicants should submit their strongest technical and budget proposal by the application deadline of 11:59 PM ET on 7/21/2026.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO helps organizations develop competitive, compliant proposals for federal funding opportunities like this one.

Our team can assist with:

• Assessing whether your technology or organization aligns with the solicitation.

• Developing a proposal strategy aligned with the stated evaluation criteria.

• Writing and editing the technical proposal narrative.

• Developing measurable project objectives, milestones, and deliverables.

• Preparing compliant budgets and budget narratives.

• Developing monitoring and evaluation plans.

• Reviewing proposals for completeness and responsiveness before submission.

For this opportunity, applicants should be prepared to demonstrate strong technical expertise in AI-enabled molecular models, chemical and biological security, or closely related disciplines, along with a clear implementation strategy and measurable outcomes that align with the Department of State's stated objectives.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

Autonomous Closed Loop Control Mechanical Ventilation (ACLCMV) | MTEC-26-02-Ventilator

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), in support of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is seeking one company to develop and demonstrate the core technologies for an Autonomous Closed Loop Control Mechanical Ventilation (ACLCMV) system. This one-year prototype project focuses on reducing technical risk by developing physiological closed-loop control (PCLC) algorithms, defining the system hardware architecture, and preparing for FDA regulatory activities before a future Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD) effort.

This opportunity is intended for FDA Registered Medical Device Companies with in-house ventilator manufacturing capabilities that can rapidly mature an autonomous military ventilator for use in austere and prolonged-care environments.

Enhanced White Paper Deadline: July 15, 2026, Noon Eastern Time.

How much funding would I receive?

The U.S. Government anticipates providing:

• Up to $1.9 million total for this effort.

• One Firm Fixed Price (FFP) award is expected.

• Initial Period of Performance not to exceed 12 months.

The Government may provide additional funding and/or additional time through award modifications for scope increases or follow-on efforts, depending on project results.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding supports research, design, development, and testing activities necessary to mature the ACLCMV concept during a 12-month technical risk reduction effort.

Required work includes:

• Development and demonstration of a Physiological Closed-Loop Control (PCLC) software algorithm.

• Definition of system hardware architecture and component selection.

• Preparation and submission of an FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application.

• Benchtop testing.

• System demonstration at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

• Program management and technical reporting.

The contractor is expected to deliver:

• System architecture

• PCLC algorithm

• Test and Evaluation Master Plan

• Benchtop validation

• Final technical report

• Monthly technical and financial reports

• Prototype demonstration

• Draft operations and user manuals

• Cybersecurity documentation

• FDA submission package

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Potential benefits include:

• Opportunity for non-competitive follow-on work under the OTA if the prototype effort is successful.

• Potential future production contract or transaction under 10 U.S.C. § 4022(f) following successful prototype completion.

• Potential additional funding or extended scope through award modification.

• Strategic oversight from the Joint Science and Technology Office.

The solicitation also states that competition is satisfied at the prototype stage, meaning additional competition may not be required for later development or production phases.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Milestone Timeline

Solicitation issued June 24, 2026

Proposers Conference July 2, 2026 at 11:00 AM EST

Enhanced White Paper deadline July 15, 2026, Noon Eastern Time

Selection notification Not specified

Expected project start September 2026 (subject to change)

Initial Period of Performance Up to 12 months

The solicitation states Offerors should plan for the project period to begin September 2026 (subject to change).

Where does this funding come from?

This Request for Project Proposals is issued by the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) in support of the Defense Health Agency (DHA).

The project is funded through the MTEC Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for prototype projects with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) under 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

Strategic oversight will be provided by the Joint Science and Technology Office.

Who is eligible to apply?

Offerors must:

• Be MTEC Members in good standing.

• Become an MTEC member at least 3 days prior to Enhanced White Paper submission.

• Possess a UEI and CAGE Code.

• Be an FDA Registered Medical Device Company.

• Have in-house ventilator manufacturing capabilities.

Subcontractors are not required to be MTEC members.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The following are not eligible:

• Organizations that are not MTEC Members in good standing.

• Prime Offerors that do not become MTEC members at least three days before submission.

• Organizations that are not FDA Registered Medical Device Companies.

• Organizations without in-house ventilator manufacturing capabilities.

• Proposals that fail to satisfy mandatory Other Transaction Authority statutory requirements described in the Proposal Preparation Guide.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The Government will evaluate proposals primarily on:

1. Technical Feasibility

2. Experience and Expertise

Competitive proposals will clearly demonstrate:

• Strong alignment with the solicitation objectives.

• Supporting preliminary data.

• A technically feasible approach.

• Ability to execute the work efficiently.

• Commercialization strategy beyond DoD.

• Manufacturing development plan.

• Experienced technical and management teams.

• Realistic project schedule.

• Appropriate budget.

Offerors are expected to explain how they meet or exceed the requirements rather than simply restating them.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

The solicitation is expected to be highly competitive because:

• The Government anticipates making one award.

• Awards will be based on a best value determination.

• Technical merit and organizational experience are evaluated before price.

• Only qualified MTEC members meeting the mandatory eligibility requirements may compete.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Key restrictions include:

• Enhanced White Papers are limited to 10 pages (excluding required appendices).

• Submission must follow the mandatory format.

• Submission must be made through the BIDS portal.

• Only Stage 1 Enhanced White Papers are submitted initially; full Price Proposals are requested only from Offerors recommended for funding.

• The MTEC Assessment Fee is 2% of the funded award value and cannot be charged to the Government award.

• Cost sharing above statutory minimums is not required, but statutory OTA conditions must be satisfied.

• Proposals that fail mandatory requirements may be eliminated during preliminary screening.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The solicitation uses an accelerated Enhanced White Paper process designed for rapid submissions.

Applicants must prepare:

• A 10-page Enhanced White Paper.

• Warranties and Representations.

• Statement of Work / Milestone Payment Schedule.

• Current and Pending Support.

• Intellectual Property and Data Rights Assertions.

The solicitation does not specify how long applicants should expect to spend preparing an application.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can help your team:

• Determine whether your technology aligns with the solicitation.

• Develop a competitive Enhanced White Paper that addresses the stated evaluation criteria.

• Build a compliant Statement of Work and Milestone Payment Schedule.

• Prepare required submission documents.

• Develop commercialization and transition strategies aligned with Government expectations.

• Position your proposal to clearly demonstrate technical feasibility, execution capability, manufacturing readiness, and commercialization planning.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

PRimer and prObe Manufacturing PlaTform (PROMPT) MTEC-26-03-PROMPT

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), in support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), is seeking proposals to develop a fully automated, man-portable, and ruggedized prototype platform capable of manufacturing clinical-quality nucleic acid primers and probes on demand in expeditionary environments. The goal is to eliminate reliance on centralized manufacturing and cold-chain logistics by enabling military personnel to rapidly produce high-quality PCR reagents in austere settings.

Applications are due by July 24, 2026, Noon Eastern Time. Companies interested in this opportunity should begin preparing immediately because the solicitation uses a competitive three-stage evaluation process beginning with a concise Solution Brief that must demonstrate both strong military relevance and technical merit.

The government is looking for prototype technologies that integrate nucleic acid synthesis, purification, and quality control into a compact system that can safely operate in forward environments with minimal operator training. Proposed solutions should also demonstrate a credible pathway toward military transition and future production.

How much funding would I receive?

Instead, the U.S. Government encourages Offerors to propose budgets that are appropriate for the scope, complexity, and duration of the proposed work. Budgets should include all direct and indirect costs across the full project period and should align with major project deliverables.

MTEC expects to make one or more awards. If no single proposal addresses the complete technical scope, multiple Offerors may be asked to collaborate.

The solicitation also states that, depending on project results, the Government may non-competitively provide additional funding, extend the period of performance, increase project scope, or pursue follow-on efforts through award modifications.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding is intended to support the development of a prototype platform capable of manufacturing clinical-quality nucleic acid primers and probes in forward operational environments. Specifically, proposed projects may include work to:

• Develop a fully automated, man-portable, ruggedized manufacturing platform.

• Integrate PCR primer and probe synthesis with automated purification and first-line quality control.

• Replace traditional hazardous synthesis chemistry with field-stable alternatives.

• Design compact instrumentation optimized for reduced size, weight, and power.

• Develop systems operable by minimally trained personnel.

• Design equipment capable of meeting MIL-STD-810 environmental requirements.

• Improve oligonucleotide production speed, yield, and throughput.

• Develop purification and verification methods comparable to laboratory gold standards such as HPLC and LCMS.

• Demonstrate end-to-end manufacturing workflows that replicate commercial PCR assays.

• Produce prototypes for independent government evaluation.

The government is specifically seeking technologies capable of producing sequence-verified, high-purity oligonucleotides from a digital sequence file within hours while operating without reliance on traditional laboratory infrastructure or cold-chain logistics.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

The solicitation identifies several potential advantages beyond the initial award.

If project performance is successful, the Government may:

• Provide additional funding.

• Increase project scope.

• Extend the period of performance.

• Award one or more non-competitive follow-on efforts.

• Potentially issue a non-competitive follow-on production contract or transaction pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022(f).

The solicitation also identifies potential follow-on work that may include:

• Nonclinical studies supporting regulatory applications.

• Quality system development.

• Manufacturing process improvements.

• Manufacturing scale-up.

• Regulatory clearance or approval activities.

• Military environmental and operational assessments.

• Additional ruggedization.

• Advanced technical testing in relevant or simulated operational environments.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

The solicitation follows a three-stage evaluation process.

Request Issue Date
June 24, 2026.

Application Deadline
July 24, 2026, Noon Eastern Time. Solution Briefs must be received by this deadline to be considered. Late submissions may not be accepted.

Stage 1 – Solution Brief
Applicants submit a Solution Brief using the required template. The Government evaluates submissions based on:

• Programmatic and technical relevance

• Personnel and team expertise

Successful Offerors are invited to the next stage.

Stage 2 – Solution Brief Pitch

Selected Offerors present a virtual pitch to Government evaluators. The pitch expands on the proposed technology, development strategy, commercialization or transition approach, partnerships, military relevance, and competitive advantages. Stage 2 proposals are evaluated based on:

• Technical feasibility

• Potential for commercialization and transition (identified elsewhere in the solicitation as scalability and sustainment in the stage summary)

Stage 3 – Selection for Award

Offerors selected for award are invited to submit a detailed Cost Proposal before final award negotiations.

Expected Project Start

The solicitation states that Offerors should plan for the Period of Performance to begin December 2026 (subject to change).

Period of Performance

The Period of Performance may not exceed 24 months.

Where does this funding come from?

This Request for Project Proposals (RPP) is issued by the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) in support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Strategic oversight will be provided by the Joint Science and Technology Office.

Awards will be made through MTEC's Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for prototype projects (Number W81XWH-15-9-0001) with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC). Successful Offerors will receive funding through a Research Project Award (RPA) issued under the member's MTEC Base Agreement.

Who is eligible to apply?

To be eligible, the prime Offeror must:

• Be an MTEC Member in good standing.

• Be an MTEC Member in good standing at least three (3) days prior to proposal submission.

• Submit a proposal in accordance with the solicitation requirements.

The solicitation also states:

• Subcontractors and lower-tier subawardees do not have to be MTEC members.

• Organizations that are not currently members may join MTEC before applying.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The solicitation identifies several situations that make an Offeror ineligible.

These include:

• Prime Offerors that are not MTEC Members in good standing at least three days before proposal submission.

• Proposals that fail to satisfy the statutory requirements governing the use of Other Transaction Authority described in the Proposal Preparation Guide.

• Proposals that fail to comply with mandatory submission requirements or required formatting and are eliminated during preliminary screening.

In addition, organizations represented by certain MTEC Officers and Directors are not eligible to submit proposals because those organizations are not MTEC members.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The solicitation indicates that successful proposals will clearly demonstrate both military relevance and technical merit. It also outlines the characteristics evaluators will consider throughout the selection process.

Projects are likely to be competitive if they:

• Directly address the unmet military medical need described in the solicitation.

• Present a technically sound and well-supported approach.

• Demonstrate strong preliminary data and technical feasibility.

• Integrate synthesis, purification, and quality control into a compact field-deployable platform.

• Show a clear advantage over existing or emerging solutions.

• Include an experienced technical team with relevant facilities and resources.

• Present a realistic development strategy and military transition pathway.

• Include an effective risk mitigation plan.

• Demonstrate the potential to advance technical maturity during the project period.

• Show a viable commercialization or Government transition strategy where applicable.

The solicitation also states that merely restating requirements is insufficient. Offerors are expected to clearly explain how their proposed solution satisfies the program objectives and technical requirements.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This solicitation is expected to be competitive because it uses a three-stage evaluation process that progressively narrows the field of applicants. Only Offerors that perform well during the initial Solution Brief evaluation will be invited to present a Solution Brief Pitch, and only selected Offerors will be invited to submit a full Cost Proposal.

The Government will evaluate proposals using multiple technical and programmatic factors throughout the process. During Stage 1, proposals are evaluated equally on:

• Programmatic and Technical Relevance

• Personnel and Team Expertise

During Stage 2, proposals are evaluated equally on:

• Technical Feasibility

• Potential for Commercialization and Transition (identified elsewhere in the solicitation summary as scalability and sustainment)

The solicitation also states that proposals must do more than restate the Government's requirements. Offerors are expected to clearly demonstrate how they will satisfy the technical objectives and reduce performance risk.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Yes. Applicants should be aware of several important administrative and program requirements.

MTEC Membership

Prime Offerors must be MTEC Members in good standing at least three days before proposal submission.

Proposal Format

Solution Briefs must follow the mandatory template and formatting requirements provided in the solicitation. Proposals that fail to meet mandatory formatting requirements may be eliminated during preliminary screening.

Submission Requirements

Solution Briefs must be submitted through the BIDS submission portal before July 24, 2026, Noon Eastern Time. It is the Offeror's responsibility to ensure a complete and timely submission.

Period of Performance

Projects may not exceed 24 months.

Cost Sharing

Cost sharing above the statutory minimum is not required for eligibility. However, proposals must satisfy at least one of the statutory conditions governing the use of Other Transaction Authority as described in the Proposal Preparation Guide. Cost sharing is strongly encouraged.

MTEC Assessment Fee

Recipients of a Research Project Award must pay MTEC an assessment fee equal to 2% of the total funded value of the research project. This fee:

• Must be paid within 90 days after execution of the Research Project Award.

• May not be charged as a direct project cost.

Intellectual Property

The solicitation states that deliverables are anticipated to be provided to the Government with Government Purpose Rights or unlimited data rights unless different rights are asserted in the proposal and accepted by the Government.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The solicitation does not specify how long applicants should expect to spend preparing a proposal.

However, applicants should plan sufficient time to:

• Confirm or obtain MTEC membership if necessary.

• Prepare the required Solution Brief using the mandatory template.

• Develop a complete project approach and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate.

• Assemble all required supporting documents, including warranties and representations, current and pending support, intellectual property and data rights assertions, and any applicable letters of support.

• Submit all required materials through the BIDS portal before July 24, 2026, Noon Eastern Time.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can help your team develop a competitive application by supporting every stage of the proposal process, including:

• Determining whether your technology aligns with the solicitation objectives.

• Developing a compliant proposal strategy.

• Preparing the required Solution Brief.

• Strengthening the technical narrative, military relevance, commercialization strategy, and transition plan.

• Developing a defensible project budget and Rough Order of Magnitude cost estimate.

• Coordinating teaming partners where appropriate.

• Managing proposal production, compliance reviews, and submission.

Early preparation is especially important because this solicitation uses a multi-stage evaluation process beginning with a concise Solution Brief and has a firm application deadline of July 24, 2026, Noon Eastern Time.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

DIBC - Defense Manufacturing Readiness Exercise Request for Solutions (RFS) DIBC-RFS-26-02

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The Defense Manufacturing Readiness Exercise (DMRE) is a phased prototype opportunity issued under the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to identify manufacturers and design organizations that could strengthen future U.S. defense production capacity. Rather than asking companies to build complete defense systems, the Government is looking for organizations that can fill specific production roles, demonstrate manufacturing readiness, and provide evidence that they could become qualified, contractable, and usable suppliers for future defense needs.

The exercise focuses on two manufacturing areas:

• Group 3 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS/UAV)

• Munitions wiring harnesses, connectors, and electrical interconnect assemblies

The Government is encouraging participation from both traditional and nontraditional defense companies, including businesses with little or no previous defense contracting experience. Companies may participate as manufacturers, contract manufacturers, OEMs, suppliers, design owners, system integrators, testing providers, tooling providers, or other organizations that contribute to defense manufacturing readiness.

Unlike a traditional grant program, this opportunity uses a phased evaluation process. Companies first submit high-level capability information. Selected participants may then move into prototype activities, readiness assessments, and potential prototype awards.

Application Deadline: July 20, 2026 23:59 ET

If your company has manufacturing capacity, production expertise, engineering capabilities, or facilities that could support future defense production—even if you have never worked with the Department before—this is an opportunity to get on the Government's radar before future production requirements emerge.

How much funding would I receive?

Instead, it states:

• Initial aggregate funding is approximately $15,000,000 across multiple potential awards and activities.

• Subject to funding availability and Government determination, additional funding up to $100,000,000 may be considered.

• Funding may support:

  • Stage 1 Small Business Readiness Awards

  • Discovery and technical exchanges

  • Prototype awards

  • Teaming and production approach activities

  • Conversion planning

  • Validation activities

  • Milestone-based prototype activities

  • Qualification and acceptance support

  • CRMN-related analysis and readiness assessments

Funding allocations, timing, and the number of awards are not specified and may change throughout the exercise.

Topics of focus:

Topic 1: Group 3 UAS/UAV Design and Manufacturing Production Roles (DIBC-26-02-001)

The Government is seeking companies that can help strengthen the manufacturing ecosystem for Group 3 unmanned aerial systems (UAS/UAVs). Rather than requiring a single company to build an entire aircraft, the focus is on organizations that can perform specific production or design functions within a larger supply chain.

Examples of eligible capabilities include:

• Component manufacturing

• Subsystem manufacturing

• Assembly and contract assembly

• Integration support

• Contract manufacturing

• Distributed manufacturing

• Supplier support and supplier network coordination

• Ground support equipment

• Testing and inspection

• Quality assurance

• Tooling, fixtures, and test equipment

• Producer-to-incumbent teaming

• OEM participation

• System integration

• Air vehicle or subsystem design

• Configuration management

• Manufacturing and producibility engineering

• Technical data ownership or stewardship

The Government wants to understand:

• Which companies and facilities are credible candidates for these production roles.

• What work can realistically be performed in-house versus outsourced.

• What technical, manufacturing, quality, cybersecurity, supplier, and business constraints could affect production.

• What teaming arrangements are realistic.

• What Government support could reduce barriers.

• What it would take to move from existing capability to qualified, contractable, and usable defense production.

• How manufacturing readiness could be maintained after the exercise.

• How the results could support Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network (CRMN) planning.

Topic 2: Munitions Wiring Harness and Connector Production Roles (DIBC-26-02-002)

The Government is also seeking companies that can support the production of munitions wiring harnesses, connectors, electrical interconnect assemblies, and related manufacturing activities.

Companies are not expected to produce an entire munition. Instead, the Government is interested in organizations that can perform specific manufacturing or supplier functions within the production process.

Examples of eligible capabilities include:

• Wiring harness fabrication

• Connector assembly

• Electrical interconnect assembly

• Cable and wire processing

• Inspection and testing

• Quality assurance

• Tooling, fixtures, and test equipment

• Source approval support

• Supplier support

• Contract manufacturing

• Contract assembly

• Distributed manufacturing

• Producer-to-incumbent teaming

• Supplier network coordination

The Government wants to understand:

• Which companies and facilities are capable of supporting wiring harness and connector production.

• What manufacturing activities can be performed internally versus outsourced.

• What technical specifications, qualification requirements, supplier dependencies, cybersecurity requirements, and business conditions could affect production.

• What teaming opportunities are feasible.

• What Government assistance could reduce manufacturing barriers.

• What would be required to become qualified, contractable, and production-ready.

• How manufacturing readiness could be sustained after the exercise.

• How the information could support future Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network (CRMN) planning.

What could I use the funding for?

The Government intends to fund prototype activities that improve defense manufacturing readiness rather than traditional research projects.

Depending on your role in the exercise, funding may support activities such as:

• Manufacturing readiness planning

• Production role development

• Conversion planning

• Teaming development

• Validation activities

• Execution activities

• Readiness assessments

• Qualification and acceptance activities

• Supplier network development

• Manufacturing engineering

• Production approach development

The Statement of Need explains that the Government is seeking evidence that companies can move from potential manufacturing capability to qualified, contractable, and usable defense production capacity.

For the Group 3 UAS/UAV topic, potential production roles include:

• Component production

• Subsystem production

• Assembly

• Integration support

• Contract manufacturing

• Distributed production

• Testing

• Inspection

• Quality support

• Tooling

• Manufacturing engineering

• System integration

• Design ownership

• Technical data stewardship

• Producer-to-incumbent teaming

For the Munitions Wiring Harness topic, examples include:

• Wiring harness fabrication

• Connector assembly

• Electrical interconnect assembly

• Cable processing

• Inspection

• Testing

• Tooling

• Quality support

• Contract manufacturing

• Distributed production

• Supplier-network support

Companies are not expected to manufacture complete end items. The Government specifically states that it is interested in realistic, bounded production roles within larger defense production ecosystems.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Beyond potential prototype funding, the DMRE is designed to help companies establish relationships with the defense industrial base and demonstrate their manufacturing capabilities.

Potential benefits identified in the solicitation include:

• New market opportunities and growth positioning

• Development of new business connections

• Assessment of operational resilience and agility

• Potential access to streamlined funding from the Department

• Participation in capability discovery activities

• Identification of future production role opportunities

• Inclusion in Government planning for manufacturing readiness and the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network (CRMN)

Companies may also be placed into a Manufacturing Readiness Candidate Pool, allowing the Government to retain visibility into their capabilities for future consideration even if they are not immediately selected for prototype activities.

Placement in the Candidate Pool does not guarantee an award, future funding, or advancement to Stage 2.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

The solicitation provides the following schedule:

Milestone Date

RFS Issue Date June 25, 2026

Questions Due Date July 1, 2026

Submission Due Date July 20, 2026 23:59 ET

After submission:

1. Companies submit the Stage 1 questionnaire.

2. The Government conducts screening.

3. Selected companies may participate in discovery activities.

4. The Government determines whether companies:

   • Advance to Stage 2 Prototype Activities;

   • Receive Small Business Readiness Award consideration;

   • Enter the Manufacturing Readiness Candidate Pool; or

   • Receive No Further Action.

5. Stage 2 participants complete milestone-based prototype activities that may include:

   • Teaming and production approach

   • Conversion planning

   • Validation

   • Execution

   • Readiness assessment

The solicitation states that the Government's goal is to complete the Defense Manufacturing Readiness Exercise within 9 months from RFS issuance, although it reserves the right to extend or cancel the exercise.

The solicitation does not specify when individual award decisions or funding payments will occur. Payment schedules will be established through applicable Project Sub Agreements.

Where does this funding come from?

Funding comes through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 4022 using an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA).

According to the solicitation, the DMRE supports broader Industrial Base Policy (IBP) objectives by:

• Improving manufacturing readiness

• Strengthening domestic production capability

• Increasing industrial-base resilience

• Expanding awareness of available manufacturing capacity

• Generating decision-grade evidence for future industrial-base planning

• Supporting development of the Civil Readiness Manufacturing Network (CRMN)

The Government states that the exercise is intended to improve understanding of manufacturing capabilities, production constraints, surge capacity, and readiness preservation opportunities that may support future defense production requirements.

Who is eligible to apply?

The Defense Manufacturing Readiness Exercise is open to both traditional and nontraditional performers (as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 3014), including companies with little or no prior defense contracting experience.

The Government is seeking participation from both manufacturing-side and design-side organizations.

Examples of eligible participants include:

Manufacturing-side organizations

• Manufacturers

• Contract manufacturers

• Component suppliers

• Assemblers

• Tooling providers

• Testing and inspection providers

• Manufacturing engineering providers

• Logistics and production-support providers

Design-side organizations

• Design owners

• Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

• Current producers

• Technical-data holders

• System integrators

• Organizations possessing production knowledge, supplier relationships, qualification expertise, manufacturing constraints, or production opportunities relevant to the exercise

Companies may submit information for:

• Topic 1 – Group 3 UAS/UAV Design and Bounded Manufacturing Production Roles

• Topic 2 – Munitions Wiring Harness / Connector Bounded Production Roles

• Or both topic areas.

For Stage 1, respondents are not required to be DIBC members, unless otherwise specified.

However, only DIBC members may receive a prototype Project Sub Agreement award under the DIBC OTA. Companies selected for prototype award consideration must complete all applicable DIBC membership, eligibility, representation, certification, and award-readiness requirements before award execution.

Who is not eligible to apply?

However, it does specify several important limitations:

• Companies that do not complete required DIBC membership and award-readiness requirements cannot receive a prototype award.

• Organizations that submit late Stage 1 responses will not be considered.

• Stage 1 responses must be submitted exclusively through the ATI Acquisition Management Platform.

• Respondents may not submit classified information, export-controlled information, trade secrets, proprietary manufacturing data, customer-specific information, or Controlled Unclassified Information (unless submitted through approved means).

• White papers, capability statements, presentations, marketing materials, and other supplemental documentation are not permitted during Stage 1 unless expressly requested by the Government.

The solicitation does not identify any business size restrictions, geographic restrictions, nonprofit restrictions, university restrictions, or ownership restrictions beyond those explicitly stated.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The Government is looking for companies that can provide credible evidence they could contribute to future defense manufacturing—not necessarily companies that already manufacture complete defense systems.

During Stage 1, the Government may evaluate factors such as:

• Manufacturing relevance

• Facility relevance

• Production capability relevance

• Manufacturing-readiness potential

• Available manufacturing capacity

• Quality systems

• Manufacturing adaptability

• Industrial-base value

• Discovery value

• Production opportunity relevance

• Technical-data relevance

• Manufacturing-capacity matching value

For Stage 2, evaluation may consider:

• Teaming viability

• Production approach viability

• Manufacturing feasibility

• Planning credibility

• Tooling readiness

• Workforce readiness

• Supplier readiness

• Execution performance

• Readiness outcomes

• Industrial-base value

• Government value

The Government also states it may consider:

• Portfolio balance

• Manufacturing-sector diversity

• Geographic diversity

• Small-business participation

• Nontraditional participation

• Industrial-base resilience

• Overall exercise value

Rather than selecting only companies capable of producing complete systems, the Government is explicitly interested in organizations that can fill bounded production roles within broader defense manufacturing ecosystems. This includes manufacturers, suppliers, integrators, testing providers, design organizations, tooling companies, and other specialized contributors.

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This opportunity is expected to be highly competitive.

Several factors contribute to the competition:

• The Government may select one or more solutions, partial solutions, role-specific solutions, phase-limited efforts, or no solution.

• Advancement through the exercise occurs in multiple stages.

• Participation in Stage 1 does not guarantee advancement to Stage 2.

• Participation in one milestone does not guarantee continuation to subsequent milestones.

• The Government reserves broad discretion to modify, expand, reduce, suspend, or discontinue participant activities throughout the exercise.

At the same time, the solicitation is intentionally broad.

Unlike many Department of Defense solicitations, the Government specifically encourages participation from:

• Traditional performers

• Nontraditional performers

• Companies with little or no prior defense contracting experience

• Manufacturers

• Design organizations

• Suppliers

• Contract manufacturers

• System integrators

Companies that can clearly demonstrate manufacturing capability, readiness potential, and realistic production roles are likely to be more competitive than those providing generic capability statements.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Some of the most important restrictions include:

• Submission Deadline: Responses must be received by July 20, 2026 23:59 ET.

• Submission Method: Stage 1 responses must be submitted exclusively through the ATI Acquisition Management Platform.

• Question Deadline: Questions are due July 1, 2026.

• Stage 1 responses must consist only of the electronic questionnaire.

• Additional documents may not be submitted unless requested.

• Respondents should provide high-level, non-proprietary information during Stage 1.

• Classified information should not be submitted.

• Export-controlled information should not be submitted.

• Trade secrets and proprietary manufacturing data should not be submitted during Stage 1.

• Communication with Government personnel regarding the RFS is prohibited unless specifically authorized through ATI or another official Government communication.

The solicitation also makes clear that participation:

• Does not guarantee funding.

• Does not guarantee placement in the Candidate Pool.

• Does not guarantee prototype award.

• Does not guarantee follow-on production.

• Does not guarantee future Government work.

The Government reserves the right to:

• Make no award.

• Make multiple awards.

• Make partial awards.

• Modify milestones.

• Pause or discontinue activities.

• Restructure teams.

• Modify participant roles.

• Cancel the effort at any time.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The solicitation is designed to minimize the burden of the initial submission.

For Stage 1, companies submit only a high-level electronic questionnaire describing topics such as:

• Company profile

• Facility profile

• Manufacturing capabilities

• Production environment

• Product areas

• Capacity indicators

• Manufacturing-readiness indicators

• Potential production roles

• Production constraints

• Technical-data availability

• Supplier dependencies

Because no technical proposal, white paper, capability statement, cost proposal, or other supplemental documentation is required during Stage 1, most qualified companies should expect a relatively modest preparation effort compared to a traditional federal proposal.

The solicitation does not specify an expected preparation time.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can help you determine whether your manufacturing capabilities align with the Defense Manufacturing Readiness Exercise and position your company for the strongest possible Stage 1 submission.

Our team can assist with:

• Evaluating your eligibility and fit for the opportunity.

• Identifying the most competitive production roles to emphasize.

• Translating commercial manufacturing capabilities into defense-ready language.

• Preparing clear, compliant responses to the Stage 1 questionnaire.

• Developing a strategy for potential Stage 2 prototype activities.

• Advising on DIBC membership requirements if prototype award consideration becomes available.

• Positioning your company for future Department of Defense manufacturing opportunities beyond this exercise.

Even if your company has never worked with the Department of Defense before, this solicitation is specifically intended to identify manufacturers and design organizations that can strengthen future domestic defense production capacity.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

Request for Information (RFI) Special Notice DARPA-SN-26-96 Advancing Autonomous Science for Biological Applications DARPA BTO

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

Application deadline: July 22, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technology Office (BTO)—not a funding opportunity or solicitation for proposals. DARPA is seeking input from the scientific and technical community on the current state of autonomous science for biological applications, key technical challenges, and future investment opportunities that could inform future DARPA programs. Organizations with expertise in autonomous science, AI, robotics, laboratory automation, and related technologies should consider submitting a response before July 22, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) to help shape potential future research initiatives.

How much funding would I receive?

This RFI does not provide funding. Award amounts, contract values, or grant funding are not specified because this is an information-gathering request rather than a solicitation for proposals. This information can be used to apply to the DARPA BTO Broad Agency Announcement for awards under $2 million.

REQUESTED INFORMATION:

Responses should address Informatics Technologies, Physical Technologies, or Both Informatics and Physical Technologies for autonomous science. In each case, a response must address at least one of the following research areas:

1. Current state of the art of autonomous science and transformational enabling technologies to advance that state of the art

• Key existing enabling technologies broadly transferrable across scientific workflows.

• Technologies in development that will be transformational in enabling autonomous science.

• Metrics of success for judging the current state of the art and emerging technologies to surpass it (e.g., throughput, reproducibility, power usage, continuous runtime, cost per assay, etc.).

2. Key technical, organizational, or operational bottlenecks in deploying autonomous science at scale or in new domains

• Challenges to enabling rapid development and exchange of new autonomous workflows, including equipment or assays that provide unique challenges to automation.

• Challenges to interoperability between laboratories and the exchange of data and protocols.

• Measures of success in promoting more efficient, effective, and portable workflow development.

3. Application areas in which new investments could have the greatest impact and best demonstrate the unique advantages of autonomous science to solve problems not amenable to conventional approaches

• Problems of national interest where autonomous science can achieve results infeasible via conventional science, including specific applications for national security.

• Enabling technologies available or emerging to achieve those results.

• Metrics for establishing improvement over conventional approaches.

• Current commercialization strategies and business cases for future development of autonomous science.

4. Safety and security considerations in the operation of highly automated laboratories and ways these might be addressed, for example through simulation, AI digital twins, or formal verification

• Risks to safety and security in the operation of autonomous laboratories.

• Current safeguards, system-level security, traceability, and other approaches to biosecurity.

• Enabling technologies to resolve these risks.

• Measures of success for safe operation.

5. New technologies, opportunities, and challenges for maximizing productive interaction between human operators and autonomous agents in hybrid human-AI workflows

• Applications of national interest that can be achieved only by humans augmented by autonomous scientific facilities.

• Key barriers to productive interaction between human scientists and autonomous laboratories or their AI agents.

• Enabling technologies to overcome these barriers.

• Metrics of success demonstrating the advancement of human-machine partnering over unassisted human or purely autonomous systems.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Submitting a response gives organizations an opportunity to:

• Provide input that may influence future DARPA program development.

• Share perspectives on the current state of autonomous science in biological domains.

• Highlight emerging technologies, technical challenges, commercialization strategies, and national security applications.

Entities that have not previously worked with DARPA are also encouraged to engage with DARPAConnect, which offers educational resources, one-on-one guidance, and outreach to help organizations understand how to engage with DARPA.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Response deadline: July 22, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).

Responses must be submitted electronically in PDF format to AutoSci-RFI@darpa.mil.

There is no funding timeline because this is an RFI rather than a funding opportunity. DARPA states that responses may be used to inform future program development, but no subsequent solicitation schedule is provided.

Where does this funding come from?

This RFI was issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Biological Technology Office (BTO).

Because this is an RFI, no funding source or funding program is specified.

Who is eligible to apply?

DARPA welcomes responses from all capable sources, including but not limited to:

• Private companies

• Public companies

• Individuals

• Universities

• University-affiliated research centers

• Not-for-profit research institutions

• U.S. Government-sponsored laboratories

Who is not eligible to apply?

The RFI does not specify any excluded applicant categories.

However:

• Classified information must not be submitted.

• DARPA encourages submission of non-proprietary information, and proprietary information must be clearly marked if included.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

This is not a competitive funding opportunity, so there are no awards or winners.

DARPA is seeking responses addressing one or more research areas related to autonomous science, including:

• State-of-the-art autonomous science technologies

• Technical, organizational, and operational bottlenecks

• High-impact application areas

• Safety and security for autonomous laboratories

• Human-autonomous system collaboration

Responses may focus on:

• Informatics Technologies

• Physical Technologies

• Both Informatics and Physical Technologies

How competitive will this solicitation be?

DARPA states that this RFI is issued solely for information and program planning purposes and does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. Responses are voluntary and will not result in a contract or funding.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Key submission requirements include:

• Responses are limited to 7 pages maximum using 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and standard letter-sized pages.

• Responses must be submitted as an unprotected Microsoft Word document or PDF.

• Classified information must not be included.

• Proprietary information must be clearly labeled.

• DARPA will not reimburse response preparation costs.

• Responses are voluntary.

• Proposal abstracts or formal proposals submitted in response to this RFI will be disregarded.

• DARPA is under no obligation to acknowledge or provide feedback on submissions.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

Responses must include:

• A one-page cover page

• Up to three pages describing the technical approach

• One page of references

• Optional summary slides

Organizations should also identify which technology category and research area(s) their response addresses.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can help organizations prepare a concise, DARPA-ready RFI response by:

• Aligning your response with DARPA's requested research areas.

• Clearly articulating technical capabilities, challenges, and proposed solutions.

• Developing commercialization and national security narratives where supported by your technical work.

• Ensuring compliance with formatting, page limits, and submission requirements.

• Producing a polished submission designed to communicate your organization's expertise effectively.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

CDMRP: FY26 Reconstructive Transplant Research Program (RTRP)

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The FY26 Reconstructive Transplant Research Program (RTRP) Concept Award supports highly innovative, high-risk research that could open new directions in reconstructive transplantation. The program is designed to fund new concepts and untested theories rather than incremental advances to existing work. Projects must address at least one FY26 RTRP Focus Area and be relevant to improving outcomes for catastrophically injured Service Members, Veterans, their families, caregivers, clinicians, and the American public. Clinical trials are not allowed.

This is a relatively small, early-stage funding opportunity intended to help researchers generate foundational insights that could lead to future development and larger follow-on efforts. The Defense Health Agency expects to fund approximately three awards. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET, September 16, 2026. Organizations interested in applying should begin preparing immediately because a required Letter of Intent must be submitted first by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), September 2, 2026.

How much funding would I receive?

Applicants may request up to $200,000 in total costs for the entire project period. The maximum period of performance is 18 months.

The FY26 RTRP expects to allocate approximately $0.6 million to fund approximately three Concept Award applications.

Cost sharing is not required.

What could I use the funding for?

Funding is intended to support highly innovative research addressing important problems in reconstructive transplantation and vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA). The award specifically supports exploration of new concepts and untested theories rather than continuation of established research programs.

Projects must address at least one of the following FY26 RTRP Focus Areas:

• Improve or optimize VCA immunosuppression.

• Identify and/or validate prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers, methods, or tools for monitoring VCA graft rejection and immunosuppression.

• Advance VCA preservation strategies.

• Develop tools for measuring VCA outcomes, including performance-based, patient-reported, and neurocognitive outcomes.

Allowable costs may include:

• Research activities supporting the proposed project.

• Travel supporting multi-institutional collaborations.

• Travel for one investigator to present project findings at one scientific or technical meeting per year.

• Required travel for the Principal Investigator to present results at one Department of War-sponsored meeting during the award period.

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

In addition to funding, awardees gain the opportunity to conduct research within a Department of Defense-funded program focused on advancing reconstructive transplantation and improving outcomes for catastrophically injured Service Members and Veterans.

Award recipients may also be invited to present project progress at annual RTRP In-Progress Review meetings.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Key dates include:

• Letter of Intent deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), September 2, 2026

• Full application deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET, September 16, 2026

• End of application verification period: 5:00 p.m. ET, September 21, 2026

• Peer review: November 2026

• Programmatic review: January 2027

Awards supported with FY26 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2027.

Where does this funding come from?

This funding opportunity is offered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity (DHACA) and managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) as part of the Reconstructive Transplant Research Program (RTRP).

Congress initiated the RTRP in 2012 to support research that refines reconstructive transplantation approaches and expands access to reconstructive transplants and immunotherapy. The FY26 appropriation for the RTRP is $12 million.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicant organizations include:

• Extramural and intramural U.S. Department of War organizations.

• Foreign organizations.

• Domestic organizations.

• For-profit organizations.

• Nonprofit organizations.

• Public entities.

• Private entities.

Eligible Principal Investigators include:

• Investigators at or above the level of postdoctoral fellow.

• Investigators affiliated with an eligible organization.

• Investigators regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or citizenship status.

• Investigators from academic or non-academic organizations.

An investigator may serve as PI on no more than two FY26 RTRP Concept Award applications.

Who is not eligible to apply?

The solicitation states that:

• Individuals cannot receive awards directly because awards are made to organizations.

• Investigators below the level of postdoctoral fellow are not eligible to serve as PI.

• Investigators serving as PI on more than two FY26 RTRP Concept Award applications are not eligible beyond the first two submissions received.

Applications may also be administratively withdrawn if:

• A clinical trial is proposed.

• Human subjects or specimen studies do not qualify for exempt or expedited review.

• The PI does not meet eligibility requirements.

• Required pre-application materials are not submitted.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The program is seeking projects that are:

• Highly innovative.

• High-risk with the potential to reveal new avenues of investigation.

• Focused on at least one FY26 RTRP Focus Area.

• Relevant to military health and catastrophic injury recovery.

• Supported by a strong scientific rationale despite the absence of preliminary data.

• Designed with rigorous and reproducible research methods.

Applications leveraging findings from solid organ transplantation for testing in VCA may be competitive when the rationale and potential benefits are clearly justified.

The review criteria place the greatest emphasis on:

1. Innovation

2. Relevance

3. Research Strategy and Feasibility

4. Personnel

5. Transition Plan

6. Research Sharing Plan

7. Budget

8. Environment

9. Application Presentation

How competitive will this solicitation be?

This appears to be a highly competitive opportunity.

The program expects to fund approximately three awards from a total funding pool of approximately $0.6 million.

The solicitation also notes that since FY15, the RTRP Concept Award mechanism has received 196 applications, with 26 recommended for funding.

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Key restrictions include:

• Clinical trials are not allowed.

• Preliminary data cannot be included.

• Research involving human subjects or specimens must qualify for exempt status or expedited review.

• Projects involving painful research using domestic cats or dogs are not supported except for studies relating to military or service animals.

• Classified research data or research likely to generate classified outcomes may result in withdrawal.

• Duplicate submissions of the same research project within the RTRP during the same fiscal year are prohibited.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

The application process includes both:

1. A required Letter of Intent submission.

2. A full application package.

The solicitation does not specify how long preparation will take. However, applicants must prepare multiple application components, including a Project Narrative, Statement of Work, Innovation Statement, Post-Award Transition Plan, budget materials, supporting documentation, and other required forms.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can help your team:

• Evaluate whether your concept aligns with one or more FY26 RTRP Focus Areas.

• Position your project around the program’s primary review criteria, particularly innovation and military relevance.

• Develop a compliant Letter of Intent and full application package.

• Build a compelling research strategy and transition plan.

• Prepare budgets, supporting documentation, and submission materials.

• Manage the application process through submission and compliance review.

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.

CDMRP: FY26 Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP)

Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

Executive Summary:

The FY26 Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP) is a Department of Defense-funded grant program that supports research on cancers affecting six or fewer persons per 100,000 people per year in the United States. The program aims to improve outcomes for people with rare cancers through discovery, community building, and expansion of knowledge across the cancer landscape. Research must be relevant to Service Members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and the American public.
RCRP offers three separate funding opportunities in FY26:

• Concept Award – supports highly innovative, untested, potentially groundbreaking ideas.
• Idea Development Award – supports promising research ideas that are ready for further development and could generate high-impact findings.
• Resource and Community Development Award – supports development of research resources, datasets, infrastructure, and community-building platforms for rare cancers research.

Applicants interested in the Idea Development Award or Resource and Community Development Award must submit a required preproposal by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), August 19, 2026. Applicants interested in the Concept Award must submit a required Letter of Intent by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), September 16, 2026, and a full application by 11:59 p.m. ET, September 30, 2026.

How much funding would I receive?

Funding depends on the award mechanism selected:

Concept Award

• Up to $140,000 total costs

• Maximum period of performance: 2 years

• Approximately 18 awards expected

Idea Development Award

• Up to $490,000 total costs

• Maximum period of performance: 3 years

• Approximately 15 awards expected

Resource and Community Development Award

• Up to $1.12 million total costs

• Maximum period of performance: 4 years

• Approximately 5 awards expected

What could I use the funding for?

Projects must address rare cancers and align with one or more FY26 RCRP focus areas.

Concept Award and Idea Development Award focus areas

• Biology

• Preclinical Research Models

• Therapy, including drug repurposing

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Models
  Resource and Community Development Award focus areas

• Platform Development

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Models

Examples of activities supported under the Resource and Community Development Award include:

• Biospecimen repositories

• Patient registries

• Databases and centralized data-sharing platforms

• Omics resources

• Longitudinal natural history studies

• Resource-sharing infrastructure

• AI/ML-enabled discovery platforms

Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

In addition to funding, successful applicants gain access to a nationally recognized Department of Defense cancer research program focused on advancing rare cancers research and improving outcomes for patients, Service Members, Veterans, and their families.

The Resource and Community Development Award specifically supports the creation of lasting research resources, stakeholder networks, and community infrastructure intended to continue benefiting the field beyond the award period.

What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

Concept Award

• Letter of Intent Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), September 16, 2026

• Full Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET, September 30, 2026

• Peer Review: December 2026

• Programmatic Review: March/April 2027

• Awards supported with FY26 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2027.

Idea Development Award

• Preproposal Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), August 19, 2026

• Invitation to Submit Full Application: September 30, 2026

• Full Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET, November 18, 2026

• Peer Review: February 2027

• Programmatic Review: March/April 2027

• Awards supported with FY26 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2027.

Resource and Community Development Award

• Preproposal Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), August 19, 2026

• Invitation to Submit Full Application: September 30, 2026

• Full Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET, November 18, 2026

• Peer Review: February 2027

• Programmatic Review: March/April 2027

• Awards supported with FY26 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2027.

Where does this funding come from?

The Rare Cancers Research Program is managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) within the Defense Health Agency Research and Development organization. Congress established the program in 2020 to support research of exceptional scientific merit in rare cancers. The FY26 appropriation is $17.5 million.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants include:

• Foreign and domestic organizations

• For-profit organizations

• Nonprofit organizations

• Public entities

• Private entities

• Extramural and intramural organizations
  Principal Investigator eligibility varies by mechanism:

Concept Award

• Independent investigators at or above the level of postdoctoral fellow (or equivalent)

Idea Development Award

• Independent investigators at all career levels

Resource and Community Development Award

• Independent investigators at all career levels

Who is not eligible to apply?

The solicitation does not provide additional eligibility exclusions beyond the stated organizational and investigator requirements.

However:

• Awards are made to organizations, not individuals. - An investigator may only serve as Principal Investigator on one application within each FY26 RCRP award mechanism.

What companies and projects are likely to win?

The strongest applications will closely align with the intent of the selected mechanism.

Concept Award

• Highly innovative, untested, potentially groundbreaking concepts

• High-risk ideas that open entirely new avenues of investigation

• Novel approaches that challenge existing paradigms in rare cancers research

Idea Development Award

• Research supported by preliminary data

• Projects with strong scientific rationale

• Ideas capable of generating high-impact findings and major advancements in rare cancers research

Resource and Community Development Award

• Platforms, datasets, repositories, and infrastructure that fill major gaps in rare cancers research

• Projects with strong plans for community engagement, dissemination, sustainability, and resource sharing

• Efforts that can benefit multiple rare cancer types or subtypes

How competitive will this solicitation be?

The program is expected to be highly competitive.

Historical data provided in the solicitations show:

Concept Award

• 979 applications received

• 90 recommended for funding

Idea Development Award

• 862 applications received

• 85 recommended for funding

Resource and Community Development Award

• 103 applications received

• 23 recommended for funding

Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Across all three mechanisms:

• Clinical trials are not allowed. - Projects must focus on cancers affecting six or fewer persons per 100,000 people per year in the United States. - Research must be relevant to Service Members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and the American public.
  Additional Resource and Community Development Award requirements include:

• At least two rare cancer Patient Advocates must participate as integral members of the research team.

• Community building, dissemination, and sustainability plans are required.

How long will it take me to prepare an application?

Preparation effort depends on the mechanism selected.

Concept Award

• Requires a Letter of Intent and a short blinded application package.

• Generally expected to require the least preparation effort of the three mechanisms.

Idea Development Award

• Requires a preproposal followed by an invited full application.

• Preliminary data with disease-specific rationale are required.
  Resource and Community Development Award

• Requires a preproposal followed by an invited full application.

• Requires extensive planning around community engagement, patient advocacy, dissemination, sustainment, and resource-sharing infrastructure.

How can BW&CO help?

BW&CO can support applicants with:

• Opportunity assessment and mechanism selection

• Eligibility and project fit review

• Preproposal and Letter of Intent development

• Full proposal writing and editing

• Scientific and commercialization positioning

• Reviewer-focused narrative development

• Patient advocate engagement strategy

• Budget development and compliance review

• Final submission support

Additional Resources

Review the solicitation here.