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.