IARPA posts new agency-wide research BAA

On May 3, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) posted a broad agency announcement (Solicitation Number: IARPA-BAA-16-07).  Abstracts and proposals may be submitted throughout the period that this BAA remains open. Offerors are encouraged to submit early and at any time up to 5:00 PM Eastern time on May 2, 2017.

IARPA is soliciting proposals for research on topics that are not addressed by emerging or ongoing IARPA programs or other published IARPA solicitations. The BAA primarily, but not solely, seeks proposals for early stage research (which IARPA refers to as “seedlings”).

IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research that has the potential to provide our nation with an overwhelming intelligence advantage. This BAA solicits abstracts/proposals for IARPA. A summary of topics of interest is described below by technical area:

1. Anticipatory Intelligence Anticipatory intelligence focuses on characterizing and reducing uncertainty by providing decision makers with timely and accurate forecasts of significant global events. This BAA solicits research that explores or demonstrates the feasibility of revolutionary concepts that may deliver real-time indications and warning, in context, to support rapid, nuanced understanding by intelligence consumers.

2. Analysis Analysis focuses on maximizing insights from the massive, disparate, unreliable and dynamic data that are – or could be – available to analysts, in a timely manner. IARPA is pursuing Page 6 of 27 new sources of information from existing and novel data, and developing innovative techniques that can be utilized in the processes of analysis. Analysis research efforts are diverse across technical disciplines but have the following common features: (a) they create technologies that can earn the trust of the analyst user by providing the reasoning for results; and (b) they address data uncertainty and provenance explicitly.

3. Operations Research in operations focuses on the IC’s ability to operate freely and effectively in an often hostile and increasingly interdependent and resource-constrained environment. While some of our challenges stem from adversary activity, others emerge coincidentally with changes in technology or business practices. Research efforts are most often not application-specific, but concentrate instead on creating the foundations of a powerful and robust infrastructure for the IC that can maintain its integrity over time. This BAA solicits research that explores or demonstrates the feasibility of revolutionary concepts in computation, trust establishment and maintenance, and detecting and deflecting hostile intent.

4. Collection The goal of collections research is to dramatically improve the value of collected data from all sources by developing new sensor and transmission technologies, new collection techniques that more precisely target desired information, and means for collecting information from previously inaccessible sources. In addition, IARPA pursues new mechanisms for combining information gathered from multiple sources to enhance the quality, reliability, and utility of collected information.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps