Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with ERDC | W912HZ22PIA01

Opportunity Information: Apply for W912HZ22PIA01

The Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is a Department of Defense opportunity aimed at expanding and speeding up collaboration between ERDC and outside organizations, especially small businesses and academic institutions. ERDC is a large, multi-site research organization that supports the Army, military installations, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works mission, while also working with other federal, state, and local entities and U.S. industry. Its work spans four major research areas (Battlespace Environment, Military Engineering, Environmental Quality/Installations, and Civil Works/Water Resources) across seven laboratories located in Vicksburg, MS; Champaign, IL; Hanover, NH; and Alexandria, VA. Through this effort, ERDC is seeking an intermediary organization to help create more effective pathways for joint research, partnership formation, and practical transition of technology out of the lab and into real-world use.

This announcement is structured as a Request for Information (RFI), meaning ERDC is first collecting capability information from eligible entities rather than immediately requesting full proposals. The Army is using the statutory authority in 15 U.S.C. 3715 to establish the PIA. The anticipated agreement term is up to five years, with an overall ordering capacity not to exceed $30 million across all projects, and ERDC indicates it may make multiple awards (the posting suggests an expectation of up to two awards). In plain terms, the PIA is meant to function like a flexible umbrella arrangement under which ERDC can issue project orders over time for partnership-related services, rather than running a separate standalone competition for every single activity.

Eligibility is narrowly defined by the statute. A potential PIA partner must be either (1) a state or local government agency, or (2) a nonprofit entity that is owned, chartered, funded, or operated at least in part by or on behalf of a state or local government. The organization must also have a mission and demonstrated capability to assist, counsel, advise, evaluate, or otherwise work with small businesses and/or higher education and educational institutions that can use technology-related assistance from a federal laboratory. This is important because ERDC is not looking for a typical for-profit contractor as the prime PIA intermediary; it is looking for an entity that fits the specific “partnership intermediary” role contemplated by federal technology transfer law and that can credibly serve as a bridge between a defense lab and the broader innovation ecosystem.

ERDC’s stated intent is to become a more adaptive, responsive defense laboratory by strengthening the conditions that make innovation more likely: interdisciplinary interaction, frequent collaboration, and shared spaces (both physical and virtual) where people can work together. The intermediary is expected to help ERDC connect its world-class facilities and researchers with entrepreneurs, industry, and academia, while also improving how relationships are formed, how projects get started, and how knowledge and intellectual property move toward operational or commercial impact. A key theme is building “fluid collaboration spaces,” which includes not only facilities but also the programmatic and community infrastructure that makes collaborations easier to initiate and sustain.

The scope of work is organized into three focus areas. First is Collaboration. Here, the intermediary is expected to actively increase partnering (domestic and international) by identifying new R&D partnership opportunities and helping kickstart early-stage collaborative activities. ERDC wants the intermediary to understand ERDC’s technology campaign portfolio and to be conversant in partner technology portfolios as well, so it can provide real matchmaking that aligns complementary capabilities. The intermediary is also expected to help identify and shape opportunities to share or develop collaborative research facilities at ERDC or partner sites. In addition, ERDC wants increased visibility in online research communities through mechanisms like data hubs, blogs, and other web-based strategies tied to ERDC’s collaboration and tech transfer plan. The intermediary should also facilitate the practical “vehicles” used for collaboration, including personnel and student exchanges, licensing of intellectual property, and agreements such as Educational Partnership Agreements (EPAs), Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), and Cooperative Agreements (CAs).

Second is Technology Transfer and Transition. ERDC emphasizes that cooperative relationships often mature into joint R&D projects, business partnerships, and joint ventures, and it wants an intermediary that understands the end-to-end technology transfer process across government, academia, and industry. The intermediary is expected to identify external partners who can use ERDC intellectual property and to enable that use through CRADAs, CAs, and patent license agreements (PLAs). Beyond simply finding licensees, ERDC also wants strategies that create and incubate small business startups for the purpose of federal engagement and partnership, suggesting an interest in building pipelines where early-stage companies can form around ERDC innovations and then work with ERDC as they mature. The intermediary is also expected to help with IP portfolio management and to identify collaboration opportunities that leverage ERDC’s existing IP inventory and unique testing facilities and capabilities.

Third is Science and Engineering Workforce Development. ERDC highlights the growing need for lifelong learning as technology evolves and workforce skills must be renewed. The intermediary’s role here is to help strengthen ERDC’s culture of innovation and stimulate cross-fertilization of ideas across the science and technology community. Concretely, ERDC wants the intermediary to identify academic partners interested in engaging with ERDC in targeted research areas or in emerging areas with high payoff potential for the Army. The intermediary is also expected to identify virtual classrooms, data warehouses, or educational laboratories that ERDC could augment, tying the effort to broader STEM readiness and workforce development goals.

For submission, ERDC asks eligible entities to provide a White Paper that explains capabilities and fit. The White Paper must, first, clearly state how the organization qualifies under 15 U.S.C. 3715(c). Next, it must summarize any PIAs the organization has held in the last five years, including identification numbers, periods of performance, government partners, performance locations, and total cumulative dollar values. ERDC also explicitly wants to see experience operating and maintaining innovation hubs that support DoD or federal laboratory technologies. In this notice, an innovation hub is described as a flexible, configurable space designed to foster creativity, collaboration, and the development of ideas and prototypes or technological advances. Applicants are expected to explain how they operate and maintain such hubs in ways that support collaboration among government labs, private industry, and academia, and to connect those services back to ERDC’s three focus areas. Finally, the submission must include an approach to a “Sample Collaborative Project Order” (referenced as Appendix A) along with a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate, which ERDC can use to gauge how the intermediary would execute a representative task.

Formatting and delivery requirements are specific. White Papers must be submitted electronically in Times New Roman 12-point font, in Microsoft Office 2013-compatible format and/or PDF. The file name must follow a prescribed naming convention (Organization Name - White Paper Title - MMDDYYYY), be no more than 50 characters, and contain no special characters. The technical content is limited to ten pages total: up to five pages for the qualification and past PIA information (sections 1.0 and 1.1) and up to five pages for the sample project order response (section 1.2). The cover page does not count toward the limit, and all non-cover pages must be numbered. Submissions were due by 12:00 PM on August 4, 2022, sent to the listed ERDC point of contact email.

The notice also includes several practical caveats and conditions. ERDC reserves the right to make multiple awards and may request clarifications, but it is not obligated to provide feedback and will not return submitted materials. There is also no guarantee that responding to the RFI will result in a PIA award; ERDC may use the information to refine its requirements. At the same time, ERDC states it may select a partnership intermediary based solely on an RFI submission and may engage in discussions with one or more respondents before selection, which signals that the White Paper needs to be written as a credible, decision-ready capability pitch. In addition, any selected organization must meet the requirements of 2 CFR 200.305(b) to qualify for advance payments, which matters for nonprofits and public entities planning cash flow and reimbursement arrangements under federal financial assistance rules. Finally, while a physical presence in Vicksburg, Mississippi is not required to submit, ERDC makes clear that during performance of any subsequent partnership a major footprint in the Vicksburg area will be required, indicating an expectation of meaningful on-the-ground engagement near ERDC’s primary site.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- Corps of Engineers in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with ERDC" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.630.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 05, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 04, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $30,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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