A Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is a notice from the government that requests scientific or research proposals from private firms concerning certain areas of interest to the government. The proposals submitted by the private firms may lead to contracts.

FAR 35.016 (a) Broad Agency Announcement procedure is for the acquisition of basic and applied research and that part of development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement. BAA’s may be used by agencies to fulfill their requirements for scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on a specific system or hardware solution. The BAA technique shall only be used when meaningful proposals with varying technical/scientific approaches can be reasonably anticipated.

Below is a list of the main DoD Component BAA websites:

Army BAA

• Army Engineer Research and Development Center
• Army Research Laboratory/Army Research Office

Navy BAA

• Naval Research Laboratory Contracting Division
• Office of Naval Research

Air Force BAA

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• Air Force Research Laboratory

Other Agency BAA

• Defense Threat Reduction Agency
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Missile Defense Agency
• Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical & Biological Defense

AcqLinks and References:

• FAR 35.016 (a) Broad Agency Announcement
• Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG) – Chapter 10
• Technology Readiness Assessment Deskbook – Appendix C
• DoD Directive 3204.1 ”IR&D and Bid and Proposal (B&P) Program” – 10 May 1999
• DFARS 242.771 “Independent Research and Development and Bid and Proposal Costs”
• DFARS 231.2 “Contracts with Commercial Organizations”
• DoD SIR/STTR Program Flyer