DARPA simplifies contracting for those with little or no DoD experience
NewsOctober 30, 2016
ARLINGTON, Virginia. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) officials are introducing a simpler contracting approach for companies and other entities that have not previously worked with DARPA or had large contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
In particular, the new approach looks to reduce barriers for innovative companies that don’t engage in the standard federal contracting process, according to a DARPA release
“We at DARPA have the privilege of pursuing research outside the confines of traditional corporate R&D to catalyze the kinds of technological shifts that can launch radically new electronic, photonic, and MEMS devices,” says MTO Director Bill Chappell. “So while DARPA’s mission explicitly precludes supporting incremental advances of the sort companies might pursue as part of their day-to-day business plans, DARPA and commercial companies both have a lot to gain when our long-term ambitions align.”
For example, DARPA recently worked with two small companies on twin advances that could enable next-generation radio frequency (RF) arrays for both military systems and commercial wireless communications, according to the release. One company developed fabrication processes for profoundly small electronic structures, an innovation that led to a thriving manufacturing line for commercial products. The other created exceptionally high-speed, analog-to-digital converters that far outpace the previous state of the art, positioning that company to compete in the market for high-frequency (5G and beyond) products. While yet another company, which had never worked with the DoD, worked with DARPA to develop on-chip communication techniques now found in the company’s machine learning hardware—an advance that enabled new user applications and will help address national security needs. Other collaborations have focused on networked sensors and detecting counterfeit electronics.
The newly announced approach takes advantage of DARPA’s Other Transactional (OT) authority, which grants the agency certain alternatives to provisions in the standard DoD contracting rules, known as the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR. Under the terms of this legislatively granted authority, DARPA officials can design customized, mutually beneficial agreements on intellectual property rights, for example, and negotiate flexible accounting and reporting requirements that more closely resemble conventional commercial standards.
The process is described in MTO’s Commercial Performer Program Announcement (http://bit.ly/2e2LKGg). Unlike the task-specific Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) that DARPA offices periodically release, the Commercial Performer Program Announcement is open to any Office-relevant idea with the potential to yield revolutionary capabilities, according to DARPA. Moreover, task-specific BAAs typically include dozens of pages of information and requirements and demand highly structured proposals running 20 pages or more. MTO’s shortened Commercial Performer Program Announcement requests for submissions of no more than 10 pages.
MTO is requesting performers to address the following kinds of questions:
- The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing in the commercial world, even as the DoD’s need for advanced distributed sensor networks continues to increase. How can commercially developed IoT sensor technologies help defense-related applications and what advances are possible in local data processing and cybersecurity for distributed networks?
- Wireless connectivity has become critical in both the private sector and government operations, for applications ranging from telephone and broadband communications to radar and situational awareness. What technologies could help ensure optimal and secure use of the increasingly congested electromagnetic spectrum?
- Electronics underpin critical applications in all sectors, from banking to aeronautics to defense. What capabilities can be leveraged to guarantee authentic, assured electronics that reliably operate as desired and as expected, both in hardware and in software?
Any non-government entity that has had less than $50 million in contracts with the DoD in the last year is eligible for funding under the new announcement. Others are encouraged to respond with creative ideas to MTO’s new Office-wide BAA (http://bit.ly/2dcocdS).
To learn more about MTO initiatives visit http://www.darpa.mil/about-us/offices/mto. Interested parties are asked to begin an exploratory conversation to identify mutual interests by e-mailing [email protected].
