Innovation Projects
Request For Proposal (RFP) and Project Proposal Instructions
The Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC) is requesting proposals for the “Innovation Program” from all accredited universities in the United States. The deadline to apply is October 15, 2025.
Innovation Program
Innovation Projects are an opportunity for university faculty, undergraduate and graduate students to address real-time acquisition challenges faced by the Department of Defense (DOD). This program will provide support to university research teams solving problems within DOD’s Research and Engineering, Acquisition and Sustainment, and Service communities.
The intent is to broaden the scope of traditional technical developments in areas important to national defense by augmenting teams with students and faculty to introduce new products and capabilities into DoD systems.
This year's research priorities are:
• Incentives and Culture
• Financial Management
• Contract Management
• Requirements
• Jointness, Interoperability, Integration
• Intellectual Property
• Policy Test Labs
• Innovation and Transition
• Model-based Portfolio Tools
• T&E
• Sustainment Transformations
• Digital Engineering
• Digital Ecosystem
• Sustainment Data Analytics
Eligibility — Universities and Students
AIRC’s Innovation awards will only be awarded to universities where participating faculty and students are “U.S. Persons”.
Proposals may be accepted, and Innovation Program subcontracts awarded to all accredited universities in the U.S.
Undergraduate and graduate students, as well as research staff, may participate.
Project Team
Teams may include a mix of faculty, research staff, undergraduate, and/or graduate students. Each team is highly encouraged to involve multiple disciplines – in both their solution as well as their team makeup.
Proposal Coordination
AIRC requires a proposal from universities for each team, with distinct midpoint and final deliverables. There are no restrictions on the number of topics and awards that can be made to a single university. All submission must be received no later than October 15, 2024.
Period of Performance and Schedules
Innovation projects will start in the 2024 Fall Semester and must conclude by February 14, 2025. AIRC’s funds awarded to the 2024 Innovation projects will expire on February 28, 2025.
Contracts, Funding Ceilings, Restrictions
Each AIRC Innovation subcontract will be issued by Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) as a Firm Fixed Price award to a university, for a specific project and a single team. A Statement of Work will describe high level project objectives and team deliverables. The funding for each project team will have a ceiling of $10K for non-member schools and $250,000 for member schools. Direct labor charges will be allowed subject to university policy.
Invoices
University business offices may invoice SIT for Innovation projects when the contract deliverables are satisfied.
Proposal Preparation and Submission
The proposal includes a Project Description; this section is brief and should not exceed two (2) pages in length. Other Project information sheets and budget sections do not count against this limit. The proposal template gives guidance on other details such as faculty involvement, multidisciplinary capstone approaches, educational techniques, laboratory, facility, and university resources, and past performances.
Universities are requested to submit project proposals to AIRC as early as possible. Student teams do not have to be designated in the proposal or identified before Contract Awards. Proposals should be submitted using the below proposal template. Proposals should be submitted using the proposal submission link on the AIRC proposal template. Documents and attachments must be submitted in MS Office applications or PDF formats using the template below.
