DARPAConnect

Request for Information (RFI) and Invitation to DARPA Other Transactions (OT) Webinar

SUBMISSION: All responses to this RFI must be emailed to Acquisitioninnovation@darpa.mil. Please include special notice DARPA-SN-24-65 in the subject line of your email. Responses will be accepted any time from the publication of this RFI until 4:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) on May 23, 2024. INTRODUCTION: For more than 65 years, DARPA has held to a singular and enduring mission: to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security. DARPA partners with traditional defense contractors, non-traditional defense contractors, academia, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), national labs, and small businesses among other entities as part of the overarching Science and Technology (S&T) Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem to help bring the most innovative ideas to the push the boundaries of what constitutes “state of the art.” The DARPA Contracts Management Office is also pushing innovation from an acquisition perspective and to continue this pursuit, DARPA CMO is requesting feedback from “non-traditional defense contractors (including academia and small business concerns)” on acquisition innovation specific to the business framework of Other Transactions as well as understanding any potential barriers to entry. WEBINAR: A two-hour DARPA-sponsored virtual webinar is being planned for August 7 and 21, 2024 from noon to 2PM Eastern time through Zoom, for the purpose of direct engagement with non-traditional defense contractors. The August 7th and 21st sessions will be identical. DARPA intends for this webinar to be an interactive discussion to provide insight into DARPA’s use of Other Transaction agreements and to facilitate open discussions as to potential barriers to entry regarding submitting proposals to DARPA. The webinar will be in a panel discussion format and space is limited by design to encourage robust discussion and engagement from all attendees. Attendance will be by invitation only on a first-come, first-served, space available basis, based on RFI submission date and time. In your RFI submission, please provide: - Your request for webinar attendance to include names and titles of proposed attendees. Attendees will be limited to no more than 2 per CAGE Code. - Which webinar date you would like to attend. Attendees can only attend one session as the sessions will be identical. - Your contact information to include telephone number and email address. - Answers to the following questions: 1. Have you received an award (contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction) from DARPA in the past? If so, which award type(s)? 2. If you have entered into an Other Transaction agreement with DARPA in the past, please describe your experience with the negotiation/award process. 3. If you have not done business with DARPA in the past, please describe any barriers that discouraged you from pursuing DARPA opportunities. 4. What topics related to Other Transactions would be of interest to you as a potential DARPA proposer/performer? The above questions are not meant to be limiting. If there are other points of interest, please add them to your submission. DARPA does not anticipate classified, intellectual property, or other privileged or proprietary information to be submitted in response to this RFI.

Connecting with TTO

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) is sponsoring a “Connecting with TTO” webinar to provide an overview of TTO, highlight ways for non-traditional performers such as small businesses and educational institutions new to national security, to work with DARPA, and provide information on the objectives of the upcoming TTO Office Wide Broad Agency Announcement (OW BAA), HR001124S0023, anticipated to be published on SAM.gov in June 2024. “Connecting with TTO” will be held virtually via zoom.gov on June 12, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. Check-in begins at 10:00 a.m. Advance registration is required to participate. The webinar link and directions on webinar access and logistics will be provided to attendees by June 10, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. TTO seeks to enhance the nation’s ability to rapidly build, adapt and sustain force structures with the following focus areas: Platform Innovation – Design, engineer, and demonstrate new and innovative platforms at credible scale, proving new enabling technologies that lead to disruptive systems concepts. This includes nontraditional systems engineering processes to deliver increased pace of innovation. Missionized Autonomy – Apply autonomy as a force multiplier to enable the scaling of massed effects for defense applications, focusing on trustworthiness, security, heterogenous platform cooperation, and one-to-many human-systems interfaces. Managing Complexity – Reduce risk and cost through new methods of design space exploration and high-capacity computing that provide more efficient and complete insight on system architectures, deliver visibility into higher-order interactions, and enable focused and efficient testing. This includes nontraditional systems engineering processes that promise to deliver faster design, engineering, and manufacturing of complex defense systems. Freedom’s Forge 2.0 – Builds on the legacy of public and private cooperation for national security to make manufacturing, maintainability, and testing processes portable, affordable, and responsive. Key elements are rapid evolution from concept to manufacture and designing to support surge production. Cost awareness and control of the manufactured articles is included.