Program Overview

The GUARDIAN program seeks to develop Gene Drive Technologies (GDT) that can reach fieldablility in 24 months targeting the controllable elimination of the Brown Tree Snake from Guam (BTS, located in Guam only).

Eradicating invasive species is a critical imperative for homeland security and agricultural resilience. Invasive species have already inflicted over $2.2 trillion in global damage in the past six decades. To combat this, the GUARDIAN project aims to develop and deploy advanced genome editing tools to precisely and controllably eliminate the invasive Brown Tree Snake (BTS) from Guam, while adhering to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulatory standards. This adaptable toolkit will provide the Department of War and interagency partners with a vital resource for defending ecosystem health, potentially extending to a wide range of invasive species threats, focused on vertebrate control.

To view the full Special Notice, click the button below.

Event Participation (In Person and Webinar)

Registration

There is no registration fee to attend the Industry Day or webinar. The registration deadline is Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 12:00 PM Eastern or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Advance registration is required for both in person and webinar attendance. NOTE: All persons wishing to attend the webinar must register (whether viewing alone or as part of a group).

In Person Attendance: Due to the limitations of the conference facility space, in-person attendance is restricted to the first 120 registrants and limited to no more than two (2) representatives per team. Interested parties are encouraged to coordinate attendance internally within their organizations prior to registration.

Webcast Attendance: Registration received in excess of 350 individuals for ZoomGov may be added to a waitlist for the webinar. If slots become available due to cancellations, the slots may be filled on a first come, first served basis from the waitlist.

Eligibility

Industry Days are only open to registered potential proposers, i.e., the events are closed to the general public and media. For this particular program, Industry Day registration is open to potential proposers who are U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, and foreign nationals.

All registrants (both in person and webinar) who are not U.S. citizens must complete and submit either a DARPA Form 60 (U.S. Permanent Resident and Foreign National Visit Request – e.g., industry or academia) or an Official Visit Request (foreign government personnel, only) through the U.S. Embassy based in Washington, DC, no later than January 20, 2026 at 12:00 PM Eastern. NOTE: This deadline is in advance of the published registration deadline. Form 60 submission instructions are provided on the registration website and in the registration confirmation email. Contact your Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request.

Upon entry to the physical meeting, all attendees must present valid, Government-issued photo identification.

Lightning Talks

Interested attendees are invited to submit one PowerPoint slide (Attachment 2) that summarizes their interests and capabilities and will be restricted to one slide per presenter. These oral talks will be presented during 5-minute “lightning” presentations at Industry Day. Lightning talk requests will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until time constraints are reached. Presentations must be emailed to Guardian_team@darpa.mil no later than 4:00 PM Eastern on Friday, January 16, 2026.

Teaming

DARPA strongly encourages teaming to ensure the program has the expertise and capabilites necessary to meet program goals. Interested parties are invited to augment their Industry Day participation by submitting a 1-2 page team profile (Attachment 1) that, at a minimum, includes the following:

Contact information, including name, organization, email, telephone number, mailing address, and website.
Brief description of the proposer's technical competencies and relevant facilities.
Desired technical competencies and facilities needed from other potential team performers, if applicable.

Profiles that do not use the provided teaming profile template or exceed the two-page limit will not be accepted. All profiles must be emailed to Guardian_team@darpa.mil no later than 4:00 PM Eastern on Friday, January 16, 2026. Specific content, communications, networking, and team formation are the sole responsibility of the participants. Neither DARPA nor DoW endorses the documents submitted, nor does DARPA or DoW exercise any responsibility for improper dissemination of information and organizations contained in the consolidated teaming profile document, not does DARPA or DoW exercise any responsibility for improper dissemination of the teaming profiles.