Two-day event encourages proposals for high-risk, high-payoff research with potential to provide overwhelming U.S. military advantage

DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO) seeks to preserve and extend decisive advantages for the U.S. military through innovative systems or systems components that incorporate new or emerging technologies. To help accomplish these goals, TTO has scheduled a TTO Proposers Day at DARPA's offices in Arlington, Va., to be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, and Thursday, April 30, 2015, at which potential performers can learn more about TTO's technical objectives. Those objectives will be outlined in detail in advance of the Proposers Day in a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) calling for executive summaries, white papers and proposals for advanced research, development and demonstration of innovative systems for military missions.

"This Proposers Day offers participants the chance to brainstorm with DARPA on the very high-risk, high-payoff research that is the hallmark of all DARPA programs," said TTO Director Brad Tousley. "We're looking for ideas that show significant promise to enable revolutionary new mission capabilities, significant increases in mission effectiveness and dramatically reduced system costs."

Advance registration for the Proposers Day is required and available at http://ow.ly/JVJXi. Registration opens on Monday, March 16, 2015, at 11:00 AM Eastern and closes Thursday, March 19, 2015, at 8:00 PM Eastern or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Due to space limitations of the conference facility, attendance will be limited to the first 150 registrants, and to no more than two representatives per organization.

The Proposers Day will inform potential contributors about TTO's strategy and portfolio and the best way to interface with TTO through the BAA. TTO program managers will also share insights about their specific interest areas. Attendees can schedule 1-on-1 meetings with DARPA program managers on either day to discuss shared interests and learn more about working with the Agency. After the event, attendees will have access to registrant contact information to facilitate dialogue among interested parties.

TTO seeks contributors who can apply the Office's cross-cutting themes (agile systems development, collaborative autonomy and reducing costs) to the following focus areas:

* Ground Systems: soldier/squad technologies, combat vehicles and tactical operations in complex (urban, forest/jungle and arctic) environments
* Maritime Systems (surface and undersea): expanded platform performance, cross domain applications, defense of maritime forces and enhanced autonomy
* Air Systems: novel air vehicles and hypersonic platforms
* Space Systems: spacecraft technologies, space situational awareness, systems for access, future space operations and propellants and propulsion

To maximize the pool of innovative proposal concepts, DARPA strongly encourages participation in these events and subsequent solicitations by non‐traditional performers, including small businesses, academic and research institutions, and first‐time government contractors.

The DARPA Special Notice document announcing the Proposers Day and describing the specific capabilities sought is available at http://go.usa.gov/3x7NB. For more information, please e-mail DARPA-BAA-15-27@darpa.mil.