DEVCOM ARMY RESEARCH LABORATORY BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH | W911NF 23 S 0001

Opportunity Information: Apply for W911NF 23 S 0001

The DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Foundational Research (Funding Opportunity Number W911NF-23-S-0001) is a long-running, open solicitation used by the U.S. Army to attract a large volume of research ideas that can strengthen future Army capabilities. It is designed to fund foundational science and technology work that helps ARL "operationalize science" and maintain overmatch in future conflicts. In practice, this means ARL is looking for research that creates new knowledge, matures promising concepts, and can ultimately influence Army-relevant technologies, even when the work is still early-stage and exploratory.

This opportunity consolidates and replaces two earlier ARL announcements (W911NF-17-S-0002, focused on fundamental research through the Army Research Office, and W911NF-17-S-0003, focused on basic and applied scientific research) into a single, unified vehicle. By combining them, ARL created one central doorway for whitepapers and full proposals across its topic areas rather than forcing applicants to choose between separate postings. The research topics themselves are maintained online on the ARL BAA topics page (https://www.arl.army.mil/opportunities/arl-baa/), which functions as the living catalog of what ARL is currently interested in funding.

The scope spans primarily basic research (Budget Activity 6.1) and applied research (Budget Activity 6.2), using the definitions in 32 CFR 22.105, but it can also extend into more advanced stages when appropriate. Specifically, ARL notes that it may support advanced technology development (6.3) and, when opportunities align with its mission, advanced component development and prototypes (6.4). This signals that while the core emphasis is foundational research, ARL is willing to invest in work that begins to demonstrate feasibility, de-risk key technical questions, or provide early prototypes if doing so helps connect the science to Army needs.

Structurally, this is a combined solicitation that can result in multiple types of awards. It is issued as a Broad Agency Announcement under FAR Part 35 for research and development contracting, and also functions as a Funding Opportunity Announcement under 2 CFR 200.204 for assistance instruments. As a result, ARL can fund projects using procurement contracts as well as assistance mechanisms such as grants and cooperative agreements, and it also lists "Other" as a possible instrument type. The solicitation also references DoD policies that support merit-based competition and, where appropriate, the use of flexible transaction approaches described in the DoD Other Transaction Guide. For applicants, the key takeaway is that ARL is not limited to one funding mechanism and can choose the instrument that best matches the nature of the work and the level of government involvement anticipated.

Eligibility is broad but described at a high level in the listing as "Others" with additional eligibility details provided in the full announcement materials. In general, ARL BAAs typically attract submissions from universities, nonprofit research organizations, for-profit companies (including small businesses), federally funded research and development centers, and other qualified research performers, sometimes including teams and consortia. Because the listing points to a clarification field in the full text, applicants need to confirm the specific eligibility rules and any restrictions, such as those tied to security, export control, or institutional status, in the official documents.

The government emphasizes that selections are competitive and treated as full and open competition. The BAA is issued under FAR 6.102(d)(2), which is the authority used for competitive selection of basic and applied research proposals, and it cites statutory research authorities (including 10 U.S.C. 4001, 4021, and 4022) supporting awards for these kinds of efforts. It also explicitly states that proposals selected for award are considered compliant with the Competition in Contracting Act, which matters because BAAs operate differently than standard procurement solicitations: they are driven by scientific merit and relevance to agency interests rather than a single, tightly specified requirement.

In terms of timeline and scale, the opportunity opened on November 21, 2022 and is scheduled to remain available until November 20, 2027, making it a multi-year umbrella vehicle rather than a one-time call. The posting lists an expected 2000 awards over its life, which reflects ARL's use of this BAA as a primary pipeline for seeding and sustaining a wide range of research efforts. The listing shows an award ceiling of 0, which typically indicates that a single universal cap is not specified at the program level and that funding levels depend on the topic, the proposed scope, and available budget.

Overall, this BAA is best understood as ARL's main entry point for researchers who have ideas aligned with Army science and technology needs, whether those ideas are early-stage basic science questions or more applied efforts that begin bridging toward demonstrable technology. Prospective applicants are expected to align their submissions with the current topic statements on the ARL BAA topics website and to compete on the strength of technical merit, potential impact, and fit to ARL mission priorities, with awards made through a variety of contracting and assistance instruments depending on the project and partnership model.

• The Department of Defense, Dept of the Army -- Materiel Command in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DEVCOM ARMY RESEARCH LABORATORY BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.431.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 21, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 20, 2027.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2,000 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for W911NF 23 S 0001

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: