Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Core Broad Agency Announcement

BOTH SMALL BUSINESS AND LARGE BUSINESS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND. The Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is interested in receiving pre-proposals for research focusing in the areas of Environmental Restoration, Resource Conservation and Resilience, and Weapons Systems and Platforms. This notice constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2).

Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare DoD SERDP’s intent to competitively fund research and development for environmental research that addresses the Statements of Need set forth in the Announcement.

SERDP supports environmental research relevant to the management and mission of the DoD and supports efforts that lead to the development and application of innovative environmental technologies or methods that improve the environmental performance of DoD by improving outcomes, managing environmental risks, and/or reducing costs or time required to resolve environmental problems. The Program Announcement and complete submittal instructions are found on the DoD SERDP website at www.serdp.estcp.org/workingwithus.

To be eligible for consideration, readers wishing to respond to this announcement must submit a pre-proposal in accordance with all instructions on the SERDP website no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on January 7, 2025. No electronic mail, faxed, or hard copy proposals will be accepted. No other announcement of this opportunity will be made. It is the sole responsibility of the proposer to make certain the proposal is properly received by SERDP. Awards will take the form of contracts.

Submission of pre-proposals is not restricted in any way to any particular entity. The Government will not pay for any costs associated with the preparation of proposals or travel to present oral presentations in support of the proposals. There is no commitment by SERDP to make any contract awards, nor to be responsible for any costs incurred by the offeror before contract award is made.

It is anticipated that multiple awards totaling approximately $10 million will be made available for projects dependent upon the quality of proposals received and availability of funds. Awardees under this BAA will be selected through a multi-stage review process. The pre-proposal review step allows interested organizations to submit research pre-proposals for Government consideration without incurring the expense of a full proposal.

Based upon the pre-proposal evaluation by SERDP, each of the pre-proposal submitters will be notified as to whether SERDP requests or does not request the submission of a full proposal. As noted in the instructions located on the SERDP website, evaluation criteria for pre-proposals are, in decreasing order of importance, Technical Merit, Personnel, and Cost.

Due to the anticipated volume of pre-proposals that will be received, SERDP will not provide debriefs on those that are not requested to submit a full proposal. Instructions for preparing a full proposal will be provided at the time of notification. A request for submission of a full proposal does not indicate a decision has been made to make an award for that work. Evaluation criteria for full proposals will include Transition Plan in addition to the criteria above.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541715 with the small business size standard of 1000 employees. Prior to award, selected contract proposals that exceed $750,000 submitted by all Other than Small (large or non-profits, including universities) Business concerns must be accompanied by a Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9 and elements as described in the checklist in DFARS PGI 219.705-4 at http://business.defense.gov/Acquisition/Subcontracting/.

Selectees who are located outside the United States and outlying areas who will perform their project outside of the United States and outlying areas are exempt from submitting a Small Business Subcontracting Plan. The Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA) Small Business Office website at https://www.usace.army.mil/HECSA/HECSA-Small-Business/ provides information on how to prepare a subcontracting plan, along with links to find small businesses to participate.

See the attached instructions for additional information regarding Small Business Subcontracting Plans. Additionally, please see the attached template for submitting an Individual Small Business Subcontracting Plan.

Points of Contact: Procedural/Technical Questions - SERDP Office (571-372-6565) Contract Questions - HECSA, Aimee Johnson (703-428-6551; Aimee.N.Johnson@usace.army.mil) or Shannon Benson (703-428-7407; Shannon.N.Benson@usace.army.mil) Small Business Participation Plan or Subcontracting Plan - HECSA Small Business Representative Monique Holmes (202-934-1816; HECSASmallBusinessProgram@usace.army.mil)