Overview
The Biological Technologies Office (BTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hosting a Proposers Day for the potential proposer community in support of a planned Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) Program. The Proposers Day will be held on January 7, 2020 from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM ET at the Executive Conference Center (ECC; 4075 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22203). The event will be webcast for those who would like to participate remotely. Advance registration is required for both the physical meeting and the webcast. Note, all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Standard Time.
The goals of the Proposers Day are to:
- Introduce the science and technology community (industry, academia, and government) to the Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program vision and goals;
- Explain the mechanics of DARPA programs in general and in relation to the specific objectives and milestones of the AWE program; and
- Facilitate interactions between investigators to encourage and promote teaming arrangements among organizations that have the necessary expertise, facilities, and capabilities to meet the objectives established by the AWE program.
The Proposers Day will include brief overview presentations by government personnel, an information session to respond to participant questions, lightning talks (3 minutes, one slide) presented by potential proposers, and private sidebar meetings between DARPA/GOV team and potential proposers. Lightning talks and sidebar meetings are optional and MUST be scheduled via the registration website.
Attendance at this event is not a requirement for submission of a proposal or selection for funding; however, it is anticipated that teaming efforts will be needed to successfully innovate and integrate the critical technologies necessary to meet the AWE program goals. Information relayed during the Proposers Day will be made available on the BTO section of the DARPA Opportunities page: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities.
Registration Information
PLEASE NOTE: In Person registration closes on December 27, 2019 at 12:00 PM ET or when capacity is reached. Webcast registration closes on January 3, 2020 at 12:00 PM ET.
Participants must register in advance through the registration website. Registration is limited (maximum 100 people, 2 people per organization) by the venue capacity. Remote participation via webcast is limited to 300 participants. Interested parties are encouraged to coordinate attendance internally within their organizations prior to registration. Note that there will be no on-site registration.
All attendees are required to present government-issued photo identification upon entry to the event. Non-US citizens are required to submit a DARPA Form 60 (U.S. Permanent Resident and Foreign National Visit Request) no later than December 27, 2019 at 12:00 PM ET. This form and submission instructions will be provided in the registration confirmation email.
Individuals who are unable to register because the deadline has passed or capacity has been reached will be added to a waitlist. If slots remain open after registration closes or become available due to cancellations, the slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis from the waitlist.
Further administrative questions should be addressed to DARPA-SN-20-18@darpa.mil. Please refer to the AWE Proposers Day Workshop (DARPA-SN-20-18) in all correspondence. This announcement is not a request for proposals; any so sent will be returned.
Eligibility
Attendance is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, and Foreign Nationals. Upon entry to the physical meeting, all attendees will be required to present valid, Government-issued photo identification.
AWE Program Overview
Water transport is as mission-critical and as logistically challenging as fuel transport for the U.S. military. Meeting deployed military water needs requires equipment resources, consumes fuel, and endangers personnel. The goal of AWE is to provide drinking water for a range of military, stabilization, and humanitarian needs through the development of a small, lightweight, low-powered, distributable system that extracts potable water from the atmosphere to meet the needs of individuals and groups.
AWE seeks to (1) develop next-generation, scalable sorbents that can rapidly extract water from ambient air, and (2) leverage modeling, innovative engineering, and additive manufacturing methods to achieve a substantial reduction in SWaP parameters for an atmospheric water extraction device needed to make this technology fieldable for military applications. The program will have two tracks, with target deliverables capable of providing the daily potable water requirement for either an individual (expeditionary track) or a company of 150 people (stabilization track).
Specifically excluded research areas include:
- Incremental engineering of conventional condensation-based dehumidification technologies.
- Approaches that require an external water source.
