In a previous post, I noted that the
Combatting Terrorism Technology Support Office (CTTSO) will issue a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), publishing inter-agency requirements for combating terrorism and seeking proposals to address these requirements.
So what is a broad agency announcement?
A Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is a competitive solicitation procedure federal agencies use to obtain proposals for basic and applied research and early development efforts -- if they are not related to a specific system or hardware procurement.
Agencies identify specific government needs, problems or requirements in BAAs and invite companies to propose solutions. Successful proposals may be funded through a subsequent contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction. However, funding of these projects is not necessarily guaranteed.
The primary difference between a BAA and other competitive procurements is that the submissions received for a BAA are evaluated on the submission's individual merits rather than against other submissions.
Broad Agency Announcements are described in the Federal Acquistion Regulation (FAR), specifically at
FAR 6.102, “ Use of Competitive Procedures,” and at
FAR 35.016 “ Broad Agency Announcements.”
Notices of BAAs are published on
FedBizOpps. They may also be published on agency websites and in scientific, technical or engineering publications.