This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), which sets forth research areas of interest to Project Manger (PM) Soldier Survivability (SSV), is issued under paragraph 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the competitive selection of proposals and 10 U.S.C. 2371b should any OTA being awarded stemming from this announcement.  The Government considers proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provision of Public Law 98-369, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984" and subsequent amendments.

PM SSV is one of the five project management offices under Program Executive Office Soldier (PEO Soldier).  PM SSV’s mission is to provide and rapidly deliver to Soldiers enhanced protection, individual equipment, and aviation life support capabilities, which provides combat overmatch and facilitates mission execution.  There are three Product Managers under PM SSV:

     a.  Product Manager Soldier Protective Equipment (PM SPE) produces state-of-the art armor protection to defeat ballistic and fragmentation threats.  PM SPE’s mission is to increase the Warfighter’s lethality and mobility by optimizing Soldier protection and effectively serving as the Lifecycle Manager for all personal protective equipment.  Its products include body armor, helmets, ballistic eye protection, bomb suits, and hearing protection.

     b.  Product Manager Air Warrior (PM AW) develops and provides advanced equipment for Aircrews to enhance mission effectiveness, integration with aircraft platforms, and clothing and equipment to maximize aircrew member survivability.  PM AW’s mission is to integrate aviation life support and mission equipment into an ensemble that provides combat overmatch and improves the combat effectiveness of the Army aircrew member.

     c.  Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment (PM SCIE) develops and provides superior and sustainable integrated clothing and equipment for Soldiers in a rapidly changing global environment.  PM SCIE’s mission is to support Soldiers in all operational environments and improve their survivability, protection, mobility, and sustainability by providing safe, agile, adaptive, durable and operationally effective organizational clothing and individual clothing.

PM SSV’s intent is to use this BAA to attract Government and Industry proposals that fulfill requirements directed toward advancing state-of-the-art technologies in support of PEO Soldier mission interests.  This BAA identifies PM SSV development areas of interest, and provides prospective offerors information on the preparation of proposals, along with proposal evaluation factors.  The Government reserves the right to award purchase orders, contracts, and Other Transactions Agreements against this BAA.

New contractor technology resulting from work executed under this BAA typically leads to an additional requirement for the applicable contractor to provide services in support of operational experiments to evaluate the measures of merit and performance enhancement capability to the Soldier.  However, it is not possible at the time of release of this announcement, or at the time of contract award, to accurately predict or anticipate if these services will be required, nor is it possible to anticipate the level of effort required.  In addition, the technology explored under this BAA typically has application across the various branches of the Department of Defense (DoD).  In order to satisfy the unique needs of these different branches, and to ensure a proper job is done in the evaluation of the applicable technology, the Government may execute contract modifications to awards stemming from this BAA, may add new Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs), or expand on current CLINs, for services providing for flexibility in executing technology assessment.  In the event that this is required, the Government will consider these modifications to be within the scope of this BAA and the resulting contract, and therefore will have met the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), DoD FAR Supplement (DFARS), and the Competition in Contracting Act.  The benefit of this flexibility to the Government, and ultimately the taxpayer, is a significant increase in the Research and Development (R&D) return on investment.  The flexibility to have multiple users (branches of the military) in the technology evaluation cycle is crucial and allows systems and technologies to be developed in a manner that has broader DoD market applications.  This allows the technology resulting from the work of this BAA to be modularly reconfigured during development to meet goals and objectives for all DoD services.

The Government does not consider the costs of concept papers or the cost to complete proposals in response to this BAA an allowable direct charge to any award resulting from this BAA or any other award.  It may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect costs specified in FAR 31.205-18, independent research and development and bid and proposal costs.

In accordance with federal statutes, regulations, DoD, and Army policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin, or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from the Army.

The Government cautions offerors submitting proposals that only a duly appointed Contracting Officer (KO) or Agreements Officer acting within the scope and limits of his or her authority may obligate the Government to the expenditure of funds.

The Government will not consider requests for conference or symposium support, consultant services, engineering, marketing services, or training support under this announcement.

This BAA is a continuously open announcement valid throughout the period from the date of issuance through 17 November 2026, unless superseded, extended, or canceled.  The Government will accept concept papers up until 17 August 2026.  The Government may make awards against this BAA up until 17 November 2026.  The Government will post the BAA, and any subsequent amendments to this BAA when they occur, to the SAM.gov Contract Opportunities web site.  Interested parties are encouraged to check this website periodically for updates and amendments.