FRBAA14-24-Amendment 18_Final.pdf

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 1

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA

Amendment 18 December 2023

Research and Development Directorate (RD) Enabling Capabilities Department (RD-EC)

Fundamental Research to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (C-WMD)

Original Posting Date: March 2015

Distribution Statement A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION NO. PAGE NO.

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

1. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

2. AWARD INFORMATION

3. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

4. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

5. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

6. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

7. AGENCY CONTACTS

8. OTHER INFORMATION

ATTACHMENT 1: SPECIFIC TOPICS

ATTACHMENT 2: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

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OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Agency Name:

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Research and Development (RD) Directorate Enabling Capabilities Department (EC) 8725 John J. Kingman Road, MS 6201 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201 Funding Opportunity Title: Fundamental Research to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (FRCWMD) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Announcement Type: This is an amended announcement of this funding opportunity. This BAA is in effect from March 2015 through September 2024. It is anticipated that a majority of the actions funded from this announcement will be in the form of grants; however, other instruments such as contracts, cooperative agreements (CAs) or other transactions agreements (OTAs) may also be awarded from this announcement. Submissions for this BAA may occur in two ways: 1) in response to the published topics detailed in Attachment 1 or 2) to a general thrust area as described in Section 1.5.

In general, all topic-specific and general thrust area submissions require pre-coordination in accordance with the guidelines in Section 1.5 and Section 4.2.1. DTRA reserves the right to waive the pre-coordination requirement for topics on a case-by-case basis; and will state the waiver applies within the individual topic description. If a pre-application white paper is received without prior coordination, DTRA may not review it. From the date of the disposition email the applicant has 63 days to submit the pre-application white paper. If the submission is not feasible within this 63-day window, the abstract must be coordinated again to ensure the interest in the white paper remains.

The evaluation of all submissions will be conducted in two phases. Phase I is for receipt and evaluation of pre-application white papers in direct response to a published topic or by invitation based on the assessment of the idea by the Technical POC. Phase II is for receipt and evaluation of invited proposal applications. Invitation to the Phase II, invited proposal submission, will be based on the evaluation results of the Phase I pre-application white paper.

Funding Opportunity Number: HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 12.351 Dates: This BAA is open continuously from March 2015 through September 2024. Published topics will include instructions on any topic-specific opening and closing dates as well as any topic-specific limitations on award types, dollar values, and eligibility. Submissions to a general thrust area may occur at any time this BAA is in effect. Applicants should take care to note requirements for pre-coordination of an abstract.

ADDITIONAL OVERVIEW CONTENT

Research, educational program, or other effort proposals are sought from accredited degree-granting colleges and universities. Research, educational program, or other effort proposals are also sought from industrial, commercial (including small businesses), and not-for-profit research entities. DTRA strongly encourages and may give preference to pre-application white papers and proposals that demonstrate a significant contribution (significant is defined as a minimum of

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30% of total value) by one (1) or more universities.

All submissions (pre-application white papers and invited proposals) must be made in accordance with the submission instructions in this BAA through www.grants.gov using the application packages linked with this BAA (under the “Package” tab) on www.grants.gov.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring compliant and final submission of their pre-application white papers and proposal applications. Any submission that does not conform to the requirements outlined in the BAA and in the invitation for proposal may not be reviewed or considered further at the discretion of DTRA.

Pre-application white papers may be evaluated any time after receipt. Invitations for full proposal submission may occur any time after the pre-application white paper evaluation and will be limited to available program funds.

Efforts may be proposed for up to five (5) years. Awards may be for a base period of one (1) year with four (4) additional years as possible options, a base period of two (2) years with three

(3) additional years as possible options, or a base period of three (3) years with two (2) additional years as possible options. Applicants should take care to propose the most logical mix of base and option years for the scope of work. Further, the base period should yield a logical completion point for the work. In cases where option years are proposed, decisions regarding exercising those options will be based on the evaluation of the work accomplished in the base period. Pre-application white papers and proposals that outline scope and effort for only the base period and do not propose options are also acceptable; however, the Government reserves the right to invite option years for awards that originally only included a base period.

Grants may range from small dollar value (e.g., $25K) up to $1M annually (total, including both direct and indirect costs) depending on the nature and the scope of work. Payments on grants will be made in advance, subject to the conditions described in 2 CFR 200.305. Funding amounts for contracts, CAs, and other procurement instruments will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Thirty (30)-60 individual awards are anticipated each year.

Any assistance instrument awarded under this announcement will be governed by the award terms and conditions, which conform to DoD's implementation of OMB circulars applicable to financial assistance. This includes DoD implementation of OMB guidance in 2 CFR part 200, "Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards."

http://www.grants.gov/

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1. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

1.1. DTRA provides cross-cutting solutions to enable the Department of Defense, the United States Government, and international partners to Deter strategic attack against the United States and its allies; Prevent, reduce, and counter WMD and emerging threats; and Prevail against WMD-armed adversaries in crisis and conflict. DTRA seeks to identify, adopt, and adapt emerging, existing, and revolutionary sciences that may demonstrate high payoff potential to Counter-WMD (C-WMD) threats. This BAA is an extramural endeavor that combines the fundamental research, educational program, or other effort needs appropriate for basic or applied research funding of DTRA and other DoD interests.

This announcement solicits ideas and topic-based pre-application white papers for long-term challenges that offer a significant contribution: to the current body of knowledge, to the understanding of phenomena and observable facts, to significantly advance revolutionary technology, to new concepts for technology application, or that may have impact on future C- WMD threat reduction, expertise, or capabilities.

A portion of this effort is expected to be devoted to awards for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education programs with a C-WMD focus; such as, but not limited to postdoctoral fellowships, stipends, degrees, visiting scientist programs, student exchange programs, and development of accredited C-WMD curricula.

1.2. Fundamental research means basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary research and from industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons.

Contracted Fundamental Research includes research performed under grants, contracts (awards), or OTAs that are (a) funded by budget Category 6.1 (Basic Research), whether performed by universities or industry or (b) funded by budget Category 6.2 (Applied Research) performed on-campus at a university. Fundamental research provides for science and technology (S&T) research and early applied development. It seeks to lower performance risk to a manageable level and facilitate transition and funding to capability end-state programs.

1.3. Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) provide a systematic metric/measurement system that supports assessments of the maturity of a particular technology and the consistent comparison of maturity between different types of technology. Fundamental research may be defined within the first four (4) TRLs.

1.4. This BAA seeks optimum approaches to meet DTRA fundamental research objectives.

The Government encourages pre-application white papers and proposals that span a wide spectrum of research to expand fundamental scientific knowledge in response to specific topics and to the more general thrust areas. The Government reserves the right to award any combination of approaches which offer the best overall value to the Government and to oversee any and all processes and approaches once ongoing.

1.5. Thrust Areas 1-7 are described below. When a specific set of topics has been identified, these detailed needs will be described in Attachment 1 along with any topic-specific submission instructions, deadlines, anticipated award structure, and funding requirements. Otherwise, pre-application white papers and proposals may be written against one of the general thrust area

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DTRA may not review any pre-application white papers without prior coordination of the idea with the appropriate thrust area- e-mail address (Section 7). Applicants should note that there is extremely limited funding available for many of the thrust areas; Thrust Areas 1-5 are not currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination. Pre-application white papers will only be accepted from the coordinated abstracts under limited circumstances.

Thrust Area 1—Science of WMD Sensing and Recognition: The science of WMD sensing and recognition investigates the fundamental understanding of materials that demonstrate measurable changes when stimulated by radiation or particles from WMD in the environment.

This involves the exploration and exploitation of interactions between materials and various electromagnetic phenomena, molecules, nuclear radiation, and particles. Furthermore, these interactions and the specific form of recognition they offer are used for the subsequent generation of information, providing knowledge of the presence, identity, and quantity of material or energy in the environment that may be significant. The goal of this thrust area’s portfolio is to advance the following capabilities: location, identification and characterization of radiological-nuclear (RN) materials; detection of RN materials at significant stand-off distances;

and the reduction of the technical nuclear forensics timeline. Thrust Area 1 is currently not interested in research focusing on the sensing of explosives or the detection of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). **Thrust Area 1 is NOT currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination.**

Thrust Area 2—Network Sciences: The fundamental science of network sciences includes advancing knowledge of complex disparate but interdependent networks critical to military operations where WMD-related robustness, resiliency, recovery of, and informational and operational utility is required. It includes response, resilience, and recovery of interdependent, multi-layered physical networks after exposure from electromagnetic pulse and other nuclear weapons effects, rapid discovery and analyzing low-observable WMD-related information from large, disparate WMD-related data sets from multiple types of networks, and to develop theories and representations for low observable WMD-related radical ideation from social networks. **Thrust Area 2 is NOT currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination.**

Thrust Area 3—Science for Protection: Fundamental science for protection involves advancing knowledge in physical, biological, and engineering sciences to protect personnel, sensitive electronic systems, and structural infrastructure from the effects of weapons of mass destruction. Protection includes both passive and active defense against threats. Approaches include advanced highly-ordered materials and nanomaterials to hardening infrastructure and facilities against blast, nuclear events, or other CBRNE effects; exploring new methods to experimentally and computationally simulate the effects of a nuclear event; investigations of the interaction of radiation with sensitive electronics and systems as well as development of novel materials and methods that are robust against radiation effects; novel methods to protect personnel from the physical, radiological, and nuclear effects of WMDs; and the study of biological systems, including intact structures, metabolic products, or discrete components and pathways, as applied to protection of U.S. Forces during operations in areas actually or potentially contaminated by radiation. For protection of personnel the areas of interest include development of radiation countermeasures to prevent biological damage associated with exposure to ionizing radiation and development of novel biologically-based or -produced detection systems for wide area surveillance to determine the nature, extent, and distribution of

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 7 contamination. **Thrust Area 3 is NOT currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination.** Thrust Area 4—Science to Defeat WMD: Fundamental science for significantly improving energetic materials for use against WMD facilities and systems with minimal collateral effects from post-blast WMD release, for deeper penetration to deny the adversary sanctuary of WMD, and for predictable modeling of counter-WMD munitions and simulation of in-theater scenarios with accurate lethality calculations. **Thrust Area 4 is NOT currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination.**

Thrust Area 5—Science to Secure WMDs: Fundamental science to support securing WMD includes: revolutionary means to safely handle, transport, control access, or eliminate WMD components and weapons; new physical or other methods to monitor compliance to support future agreements or treaties; and, exploring phenomena and means that facilitate reduction of nuclear or non-nuclear WMD proliferation pathways. This includes focus on:

science principles to assist tagging, tracking, location to secure WMD; novel means to mark and read objects in order to secure inventories; remote or unattended monitoring to understand the nature of objects (e.g., is it nuclear, biological, chemical or conventional?); monitoring to detect intrusion, diversion or substitution, tampering, and other adverse activity; and, understanding of both physical and life science environmental signatures as witnesses of WMD-related activity.

The ability to secure WMD may impact either verification of treaties, or control of WMD outside treaty regimes. **Thrust Area 5 is NOT currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination.**

Thrust Area 6—Cooperative Counter WMD Research with Global Partners:

Cooperative fundamental research to reduce the global threat of WMD in collaboration with a broad range of global research partners. This thrust area involves exploratory basic and applied research that will address opportunities to reduce, eliminate, and counter WMD across the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Explosive (CBRNE) spectrum. Efforts in this area will develop strong international relationships which will foster a smooth transition of program ownership to the partnering country. The goal is to improve international collaboration to detect, characterize, and report WMD, and to advance partner nation sustainment through a culture of long-term cooperation and scientific responsibility for such programs. Multi-disciplinary, multinational research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics development will be conducted to promote transparency through quality research publications and continual dialogue between scientists/engineers and young researchers.

The Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP), a component of the DoD Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, recognizes the danger to U.S. and global health security posed by the risk of outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases, whether natural or manmade.

Consistent with the national and departmental strategies, CBEP strives to address this risk by promoting best practices in biological safety and security, improving partner country capability to safely and rapidly detect and report dangerous diseases, and establish and enhance international research partnerships that focus on informing the disease surveillance network. The desired end state for CBEP engagements is the development of sustainable partner country capabilities to:

• Employ responsible bio-risk management best practices and principles,

• Conduct a modern and effective disease surveillance mission,

• Independently sustain engagement with, and effectively compete for funding within, the

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• Comply with World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)/U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reporting guidelines, and

• Promote the One Health Concept.

The goals and objectives of CBEP international research partnerships are to:

• Goal 1: Support Biosurveillance, Biosafety and Biosecurity (BS&S) Capability Building Efforts o Objective 1: Inform and enhance operational biosurveillance strategies and implementation through improved understanding of endemic disease burden and pathogen biology.

o Objective 2: Institutionalize responsible biorisk management best practices with partner country scientists.

• Goal 2: Engage Partner Country Scientists in Hypothesis-Driven Research o Objective 1: Support local, national, and regional priorities for understanding and mitigating human and animal disease risk (e.g., small, focused projects within individual countries linked by broad, integrating projects that include regional partners).

o Objective 2: Improve international collaborations to survey, detect, characterize, and report disease.

• Goal 3: Promote One Health Initiative o Objective 1: Emphasize the nexus of human health, animal health, and the environment, and seek to further understand the mechanisms and factors involved in disease transmission.

o Objective 2: Advance partner country sustainment of global health security initiatives.

• Goal 4: Foster an International Culture of Responsible and Ethical Conduct in Biological Research o Objective 1: Transition to a culture of responsibility and ethical conduct in biological research through thoughtful experimental design and good laboratory practices that result in high-quality data, and active participation in professional societies and the peer-review process.

o Objective 2: Train partner country researchers to think critically in the pursuit of ethical research and to be competitive in soliciting funding from the international scientific community.

Ultimately, the techniques, procedures, and approaches must be sustainable for the partner country and linked with appropriate training in order to promote global health security, reinforce norms of safe and responsible conduct, obtain timely and accurate insight on current and emerging infectious disease risks, and transform the international dialogue on biological threats.

CBEP research projects are not determined by or limited to specific biological agents, but must be plausibly linked to pathogens of security concern and aimed at measurably supporting threat

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• Enhance partner country’s/region’s capability to identify, consolidate, and secure collections of pathogens and diseases of security concern in order to prevent the sale, theft, diversion, or accidental release of such pathogens and diseases.

• Enhance partner country’s/region’s capability to rapidly and accurately survey, detect, diagnose, and report biological terrorism and outbreaks of pathogens and diseases of security concern in accordance with international reporting requirements.

Region-specific areas of interest are described in CBEP Regional Science Plans. Examples of general CBEP research areas of interest include: Epidemiology (e.g. studies measuring disease prevalence and incidence), Pathogen Biology, Pathogen Characterization, Assay Adaptation and Optimization, Microbial Ecology within a Public Health Context, and Preventative Strategies and Countermeasures. For clarification, medical countermeasure development (i.e., development of diagnostic tools, vaccines, therapeutics) is supported by many other U.S. Government or international agencies and is generally not supported by CBEP; however, research projects may inform medical countermeasure development and support validation and verification testing (e.g., as part of proficiency testing, pilot studies/testing, or exercises, etc.). Additionally, CBEP does not generally support research with common disease agents such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis where other U.S. agencies have dedicated missions to do so; however, the program may choose to capitalize on opportunities to leverage research on these diseases to further CBEP goals, for example by testing samples collected under the auspices of other programs. CBEP also will not support research which poses risks to the overall threat reduction mission of CBEP, Dual-Use Research of Concern, or related activities (i.e., in vivo pathogenicity studies, virulence studies, animal passaging, etc.).

CBEP is interested in collaborative research engagements with foreign partners in any one of the following regions: Countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) (specifically, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine), Africa (including, but not limited to, Kenya, Tanzania Uganda, South Africa), Southeast Asia (including, but not limited to, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand), and Middle Eastern /South Asian countries (including, but not limited to, Afghanistan, Iraq, India and Pakistan). CBEP encourages proposers to develop projects in conjunction with foreign institutions in CBEP-engaged countries.

Thrust Area 7—Fundamental Science for Chemical and Biological Defense:

Fundamental science for chemical and biological (CB) defense includes science and technology research that advances knowledge in physical and life sciences to defend and counter chemical and biological WMD that could be used against our Nation’s warfighters. Fundamental research efforts enable capabilities such as development of improved detection devices for traditional and nontraditional chemical agents; development of diagnostics for existing and emerging infectious disease threats; increasing knowledge and improved capabilities for development of new or improved medical and material countermeasures to CB threats for both pre- and post-exposure scenarios; enhanced personal protection against, modeling of, prevention of, or decontamination of CB threats; and providing effective elimination strategies via non-kinetic approaches for threat agent destruction, neutralization and/or sequestration.

1.6. This BAA, in addition to any amendments issued in conjunction with this BAA, will be posted to the Grant Opportunities Website (https://www.grants.gov), the System for Award

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Management website (https://sam.gov/), and the DTRA website (https://www.dtra.mil). The DTRA website is not the official sites; applicants are responsible for monitoring both sam.gov and www.grants.gov. Posted amendments supersede all previous versions of the BAA. Note that topics will be listed in Attachment 1 and will be added/closed with Amendments to this

BAA.

1.7. All coordination and communication between applicants and the Government will be conducted using the e-mail address associated with this BAA, specified in Section 7. Applicants should include both the administrative email and the relevant thrust area email address. DTRA will not release employee personal contact information.

2. AWARD INFORMATION

2.1. Award Types. The full range of flexible procurement instruments available to DTRA are possible results from this announcement, including but not limited to contracts, grants, CAs, and OTAs; however, grants will likely be the predominant procurement instrument. Each of the applicable procurement instruments offer different advantages, liabilities and responsibilities for applicants and the Government.

Applicants must specify in their submittal their recommended approach (e.g. contract, grant, CA, or OTA); however, the Government reserves the right to negotiate and award the types of procurement instruments determined most appropriate under the circumstances. If warranted, portions of resulting awards may be segregated into pre-priced options.

Except for OTAs, the Government actions under this BAA shall adhere to the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and/or DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDGARS), as appropriate for the type of instrument. DoDGARs can be accessed online at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e5d686f6760f3274b3368f36723fbb7e&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title32/32CIsubcha pC.tpl . See also 32 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 22, which can be accessed online at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5;node=32%3A1.1.1.3.16 . Any assistance instrument awarded under this announcement will be governed by the award terms and conditions, which conform to DoD's implementation of OMB circulars applicable to financial assistance.

On average, DTRA expects to award 30-60 individual awards each year. The predominance of awards will be grants. Payments on grants will be made in advance, subject to the conditions described in 2 CFR 200.305.

2.2. Scope of Awards. Awards may range from focused, exploratory projects with a high risk approach in innovative research in subjects with potential for high impact to C-WMD science to comprehensive programs of innovative research in an interdisciplinary area with potential for high impact.

Awards may have multiple Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) and subawards. Authors of pre-application white papers and proposals should detail the contribution of all Co-PIs and any subawards to the C-WMD scientific impact.

Preference will be given to projects where undergraduate and/or graduate students, and/or postgraduate students are supported by the awards. Details regarding the participation of the http://www.dtra.mil/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e5d686f6760f3274b3368f36723fbb7e&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title32/32CIsubchapC.tpl http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e5d686f6760f3274b3368f36723fbb7e&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title32/32CIsubchapC.tpl http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e5d686f6760f3274b3368f36723fbb7e&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title32/32CIsubchapC.tpl http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5;node=32%3A1.1.1.3.16

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 11 students and the value of the research to the students as part of the pre-application white paper and full proposal are expected. Additional guidance regarding student and/or postgraduate student participation may be provided in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper. Any specific guidance provided in a topic or to an applicant supersedes the information provided herein.

2.3. Subawards. Subawards (subgrants and/or subcontracts) are permitted. Subawards may be used to carry out a portion of the research or efforts. Awards may have multiple subawards.

Awards will be made by a single award, e.g., grant or contract, to the lead organization. All subawards are the responsibility of the award recipient; exceptions will not be made.

For submissions made to Thrust Area 6 and associated topics, there is no limitation on subawards. DTRA will review and consider the proposed subawards for all pre-application white papers and proposals on a case-by-case basis. The prime awardee will be responsible for transferring funds to the subawardee. Applicants are reminded that priority is given to projects with the main locus of activity in the region-of-interest, so budgets should be allocated accordingly. Preference will be given to proposals where the subaward component to the region-of-interest partner(s) represents more than half of the award value (as measured in U.S. dollars).

2.4. Award Values. Grants resulting from submissions to Thrust Areas 1-7, including topics associated with these thrust areas, may range from small dollar value (e.g., $25K) up to $1M annually (total, including both direct and indirect costs) depending on the nature and the scope of work. Contracts, CAs, and OTAs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All awards are subject to the availability of funds. Additional guidance regarding award values may be provided in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper. Any specific guidance provided in a topic or to an applicant supersedes the information provided herein. Funding for participation in this program is highly competitive and the cost of proposed research should strictly be maintained as detailed herein or as indicated in the invitation instructions.

2.5. Period of Performance and Award Structure. Efforts for Thrust Areas 1-7, including topics associated with these thrust areas, may be proposed for up to five (5) years. Awards may be for a base period of one (1) year with four (4) additional years as possible options, a base period of two (2) years with three (3) additional years as possible options, or a base period of three (3) years with two (2) additional years as possible options. Additional guidance regarding award structure may be provided in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper. Any specific guidance provided in a topic or to an applicant supersedes the information provided herein.

Applicants should take care to propose the most logical mix of base and option years for the scope of work. Further, the base period should yield a logical completion point for the work. In cases where option years are proposed, decisions regarding exercising those options will be based on the evaluation of the work accomplished in the base period.

DTRA is flexible on the award structure unless otherwise specified in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper. Applicants should take care to clearly label the

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 12 tasks and anticipated outcomes for the base and option years in the pre-application white papers and the proposals. Pre-application white papers and proposals that outline scope and effort for only the base period and do not propose options are also acceptable; however, the Government reserves the right to invite option years for awards that were originally awarded with only a base period.

2.6. The Government Accountability Office, in its report GAO-16-14, WOMEN IN STEM RESEARCH: Better Data and Information Sharing Could Improve Oversight of Federal Grant-making and Title IX Compliance, December 3, 2015, recommended that the DoD collect certain demographic and career information to be able to assess the success rates of women who are proposed for key roles in applications in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics disciplines. To enable this assessment, DTRA will include with each Phase II application package the Research and Related Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) form and the Research and Related Personal Data form.

2.7. The Government does not anticipate the need to provide any hardware or software to execute the proposed research. However, DTRA will review and consider any hardware/software requests for all pre-application white papers and proposals on a case-by-case basis.

2.8. The Government reserves the right to fund all, some, or none of the proposals submitted;

may elect to fund only part of any or all proposals; and may incrementally fund any or all awards under this BAA. The Government also reserves the right to request applicants make any changes necessary to submitted full proposals to increase the feasibility of making the proposal fundable.

Applicants may decline to participate in any revisions to application packages requested by

DTRA.

2.9. The Government may offer funding for any full proposals or portions of proposals at any time during the lifetime of this BAA.

3. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

3.1. Pre-application white papers and proposals submitted for this BAA will be considered from the following U.S. and Foreign Institutions as follows:

• Accredited degree-granting colleges, universities, and academic institutions.

• Industrial and commercial entities, including small businesses.

• Not-for-profit entities with a portfolio predominantly in research and foreign government laboratories. Proof of 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service may be required.

For foreign-based establishments entirely based outside the U.S. and/or its territories, proof of not-for-profit status may be required. Foreign based government laboratory equivalents include those residing in the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education and Science and Food Safety Agencies.

DTRA strongly encourages and may give preference to pre-application white papers and proposals that demonstrate a significant contribution (significant is defined as a minimum of 30% of total value) by one (1) or more universities. Applicants should note that university participation may be mandatory for some published topics. Additional guidance regarding

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 13 university participation may be provided in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper. Any specific guidance provided in a topic or to an applicant supersedes the information provided herein.

The following entities may not participate as prime awardees nor furnish Principal Investigators (PIs) in awards made under this BAA but may act as collaborators, including as Co-PIs, and/or subawardees:

• Federal Academic organizations (e.g., Naval Postgraduate School).

• Federal laboratories (including DoD and Department of Energy (DOE)).

• U.S. Government agencies.

• DoD-sponsored Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) specified in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 235.017-1 (http://farsite.hill.af.mil/VFDFARA.HTM) and click on ‘DFARS Part 35’.

• DOE-sponsored FFRDCs.

Note: Federal laboratories (including DoD and DOE) and FFRDCs are eligible to submit abstracts (when required), pre-application white papers, and proposals in response to the Government Call (HDTRA1-16-24-FRCWMD-Call). However, a FFRDC (other than the DoD FFRDCs specified in DFARS 235.017-1) must have authorization from its sponsoring agency in accordance with FAR 35.017-1. Eligibility requirements under the Call are subject to change.

See http://www.dtrasubmission.net and after logging in, follow the link to the ‘FY16-24 Fundamental Research to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (C-WMD) Government Call’.

3.2. Cost Sharing or Matching. In general, cost sharing or matching is not required for applications to this announcement. However, DTRA reserves the right to require cost sharing or matching on a case-by-case basis. Such instances will be specifically detailed in the published topics or in communications with the applicant to include the coordination of the abstract or in the debrief summary of the pre-application white paper.

3.3. Other. DTRA uses the System for Award Management (SAM) to exclude recipients ineligible to receive Federal awards. SAM can be accessed online at http://sam.gov (Reference 2

CFR 1125).

4. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

4.1. Address to Request Application Package. This announcement contains all information required to submit a pre-application white paper and invited proposal.

The required application packages for the pre-application white papers and for the invited proposals are posted with this announcement. Note that each thrust area (as outlined in Section 1.6) and each topic (as outlined in Attachment 1) has a unique application package posted with this BAA. The application package corresponding to both: a.) the thrust area or topic of interest and b.) the phase, should be used for submission of pre-application white papers and invited full proposals.

http://farsite.hill.af.mil/VFDFARA.HTM http://www.dtrasubmission.net/ http://sam.gov/

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The application packages posted to www.grants.gov consist of the forms as detailed in Table 2.

Form Name Phase I Pre-Application White Paper

Phase II Invited Proposal

SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form

Required Required

RR Budget Form N/A Required

R&R Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form(s)

N/A If Applicable

Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile Form (Expanded)

N/A Required

RR Personal Data N/A Required

Research & Related Other Project Information

N/A Required

Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) N/A If Applicable

Attachments Form N/A Required

Table 2: Forms. The instructions for completing each of these forms may be found online at the following web link: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/form-instructions.html.

4.2. Content and Form of Application Submission. Submissions for this BAA will be conducted in two phases. Phase I is for receipt of pre-application white papers. Phase II is for receipt of invited proposal applications. Invitation to the Phase II proposal submission will be based on the evaluation results of the Phase I pre-application white paper.

The predominance of efforts, including all submissions to the thrust areas and some submissions to topics posted in Attachment 1, as noted within the topic, must be coordinated with the relevant technical point of contact (POC) for the appropriate thrust area prior to submission of a pre-application white paper; an e-mail for the DTRA technical POCs for Thrust Areas 1-7 are provided in Section 7. Applicants should note that Thrust Areas 1-5 are not currently accepting abstracts for pre-coordination. Coordination of research ideas and efforts must be accomplished via these email addresses, except in cases where a topic specifically states that pre-coordination is not required, and includes submission of an abstract (recommend less than 250 words) of the proposed project/effort or a paragraph description of the proposed project/effort to the email address in Section 7 and a reply email from the relevant email address in Section 7 with the disposition to the applicant. Pre-coordination may not be accomplished with email addresses other than those listed in Section 7. DTRA will not review white papers without prior coordination. Please note that attachments to e-mails may not be reviewed.

Applicants should note that there is extremely limited funding available for the general thrust areas. Pre-application white papers will only be accepted from the coordinated abstracts under very limited circumstances.

Topics may be posted in Attachment 1 of this announcement that may not require pre-coordination of an abstract. Please review the topics carefully.

http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/form-instructions.html

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Pre-application white papers and invited proposals must be submitted electronically using www.grants.gov and the corresponding application packages linked with this BAA on www.grants.gov (under the “Packages” tab). All applications, including all supporting documents, must be submitted in the English language.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring compliant and final submission of their Phase I pre-application white paper and Phase II invited proposal application. Note that this also applies to applicants using third party systems to submit application packages and attachments. Any submission that does not conform to the requirements outlined in the BAA and in the invitation for proposal may not be reviewed or considered further at the discretion of DTRA.

DTRA will not review any of the following:

• Pre-application white papers that are not pre-coordinated as required

• Pre-application white papers and proposals that are not submitted in the English language.

• Pre-application white papers that are submitted to topics that have been previously closed via an amendment to the BAA.

• Application packages and proposals for Phase II submissions that were not invited.

Exceptions WILL NOT be made under any circumstances.

Phase I Pre-Application White Paper Submission and Content. Each pre-application white paper must address only one thrust area or topic. Each pre-application white paper must use the corresponding thrust area or topic application package.

Each Phase I application package contains the following forms:

Form Attachment Action

SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form

Up to four (4) page white paper

Enter the appropriate information in data fields

Table 3: Phase I Pre-Application White Paper Package Chart.

Each Phase I application package contains the SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance.

To be considered a complete package, an up to four (4) page white paper is required to be uploaded as an attachment to the SF 424 (R&R).

DTRA-specific instructions for completing the SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance are below, general application instructions can be found on www.grants.gov:

• Block 1 – Type of Submission. Applicants should indicate the Phase I submission is a “Pre- Application.”

• Block 2.1 – Applicant Identifier. Not applicable.

• Block 3 – Date Received by State. Not applicable.

• Block 3.1 – State Application Identifier. Not applicable.

• Block 5 – Applicant Information. You must provide a Business Office Point of Contact (BPOC) with an e-mail address.

• Block 19 – Authorized Representative. The “signature of AOR” is not an actual signature and is automatically completed upon submission of the electronic application package. Hard http://www.grants.gov/

HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Page 16 copies or email attachments of applications will not be accepted.

• Block 20 – Pre-application. Must be used to attach an up to four (4) page white paper. The white paper itself should provide sufficient information on the research being proposed (e.g., the hypothesis, theories, concepts, approaches, data measurements and analysis, etc.) to allow for an assessment by a technical expert.

Any pages submitted for the white paper that exceed the limit of four pages will not be read or evaluated. A page is defined as 8 ½ x 11 inches, single-spaced, with one-inch margins in type not smaller than 12 point Times New Roman font. The white paper must be provided in portrait layout.

At minimum, the white paper should address the following:

• A project abstract, which should be concise (less than 250 words), provide a summary of the proposed work, and demonstrate relevance to the topic being addressed. The abstract should not contain any proprietary data or markings.

• Potential scientific impact to provide greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts, including how the research contributes to the C-WMD science needs outlined in the thrust area or topic.

• The impact of the research on C-WMD science must be clearly delineated.

• Cost estimate by year and total dollars required to accomplish the research as presented in the white paper (no details or breakout of costs is required).

• Potential team and management plan, including details on student involvement.

• Multidisciplinary white papers should carefully detail each of the institutions/departments involved and the contribution that will be made by each of the investigators.

• Do NOT include corporate or personnel qualifications, past experience, or any supplemental information with the white paper. References may be included within the 4-page limit at the discretion of the applicant; however, extensive references are not required.

• Thrust Area 6 pre-application white papers must also include a description of the extent and duration of the relationship/collaboration between the universities/institutes/entities and/or scientists.

• The thrust area or the topic should be included as a header on the white paper attachment and referenced in the text of the white paper.

Phase I Pre-Application White Paper Re-Submission and Content. On a limited basis a second pre-application white paper may be submitted without pre-coordination of an abstract.

These re-submissions will be based on the review of the original pre-application white paper and will be allowed when changes to the project scope, technical approach, and/or cost are envisioned for any potential full proposals. Revised pre-application white papers must conform to the standards for the pre-application white papers detailed in Section 4.2.4.

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All submissions should be made with the appropriate Phase I application package which contains the following form:

Form Attachment Action

SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form

Up to four (4) page white paper

Enter the appropriate information in data fields

Table 4: Phase I Pre-Application White Paper Package Chart.

Each Phase I application package contains the SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance.

To be considered a complete package, an up to four (4) page white paper is required to be uploaded as an attachment to the SF 424 (R&R).

The DTRA-specific instructions for completing the SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance are the same as for the original pre-application white paper submission except for the following:

• Block 1 – Type of Submission. Applicants should indicate the Phase I re-submission is a “Changed/Corrected Application.”

• Block 4c – Previous Grants.gov Tracking ID. Enter the Phase I Grant ID for the original submission.

At minimum, the revised white paper should address the issues and questions detailed in the debrief summary.

Phase II - Invited Proposal Submission and Content. Each proposal must address only the thrust area or topic for which it was invited. The application package corresponding to the thrust area or topic of interest should be used for submission of invited full proposals.

Each Phase II application package contains the following forms and attachments:

Form Attachment Action

SF-424 (R&R)

Application for Federal Assistance Form

N/A Enter the appropriate information in data fields

RR Budget Form Budget Justification for entire performance period

Attach to Section K in budget period one

RR Sub-award Budget Attachment(s) Form (if applicable)

Individual sub-award budgets Attach a separate budget with justification for each sub-award

Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile Form

PI Biographical Sketch Attach to Biographical Sketch field

PI Current/Pending Support Attach to Current & Pending Support field

Key Personnel Biographical Sketches

Attach to Biographical Sketch field for each senior/key person

Key Personnel Current/Pending Support

Attach to Current & Pending Support field for each senior/key person

RR Personal Data Form N/A Enter the appropriate information in data fields

Research & Related Other Project Information Form

Publically Releasable Proposal Summary/ Abstract

Attach to Block 7 Project Summary/ Abstract

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Project Narrative/Technical Proposal

Attach to Block 8 Project Narrative

Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) (if applicable)

N/A Enter the appropriate information

Attachments Form

Attachment 1 – SOW Upload as Attachment 1 Attachment 2 – Quad Chart Upload as Attachment 2 Attachment 3 – Supporting Documentation (Thrust Area 6 submissions only)

Upload as Attachment 3

Table 5: Phase II Proposal Package Forms and Attachments.

DTRA reserves the right to consider incomplete application packages and required attachments and to request any missing information via email. Should the applicant fail to provide all the requested information either as part of the www.grants.gov submission or in response to email requests from DTRA, at their discretion, DTRA may not consider the proposal further.

SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance: DTRA-specific instructions for completing the SF 424 (R&R) are below. General application instructions can be found on www.grants.gov:

Block 1 – Type of Submission. Applicants should indicate the Phase II submission is an “Application.”

Block 2.1 – Applicant Identifier. Not applicable.

Block 3 – Date Received by State.