The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is offering updated guidance on the Biological Technologies EZ Broad Agency Announcement, a streamlined funding mechanism designed to encourage proposals from nontraditional defense contractors unaccustomed to the intricacies of federal contracting.
The mission of BTO is to leverage biology as a technology to solve intractable problems, and the BTO EZ BAA provides the opportunity for nontraditional contractors to receive seed funding of up to $700,000 simply by submitting an initial two-page white paper describing their ideas.
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The intent is to encourage proposals from nontraditional defense contractors seeking fixed price contracts or Other Transactions as award instruments. The BTO contracting officer shall determine which of these award instruments is appropriate and negotiate terms and conditions with selectees as applicable.
Proposed research must enable revolutionary advances in science, technologies, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of the art. BTO seeks unconventional approaches that are outside the mainstream, challenge assumptions, and have the potential to radically change established practice. Efforts should be creative and agile both in terms of the technologies proposed and in the structure of the approach.
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Traditional defense contractor applicants seeking alternate funding vehicles (e.g., cost-reimbursable procurement contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants) should instead respond to BTO’s Office-Wide Biological Technologies solicitation.