ERDC Broad Agency Announcement

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has released its 2025 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), seeking innovative proposals for basic and applied research across a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines. ERDC encompasses seven laboratories located in Mississippi, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Virginia, and conducts research in hydraulics, coastal engineering, geotechnics, structures, environmental restoration, information technology, and more. This BAA enables government, academic, and private sector institutions to collaborate on advancing the state-of-the-art technologies and scientific understanding relevant to ERDC’s mission. The purpose of this BAA is to solicit research proposals in various topic areas, including water resource management, infrastructure resilience, sediment transport, environmental sensing, ecological modeling, and more. The announcement supports the Department of Defense’s goals of technological superiority and environmental stewardship by funding R&D that addresses both military and civil objectives. The BAA explicitly invites projects aligned with ERDC’s laboratory focus areas, such as coastal and hydraulic systems, geotechnical engineering, environmental remediation, and information technology applications in engineering and infrastructure. Funding through this opportunity may be awarded as contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transaction authority mechanisms, depending on the nature of the work and government involvement. While the announcement is open year-round, the availability of funds may limit awards in certain topic areas. Proposals are encouraged from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI), as well as small and disadvantaged businesses, including those in HUBZones and veteran-owned entities. Eligible applicants must be U.S. entities and not include government organizations or Federally Funded Research and Development Centers unless specific statutory requirements and exceptions are met. Application submission begins with a white paper or pre-proposal, which, if accepted, leads to an invitation to submit a full proposal. All proposals will undergo a scientific and technical peer review process. Detailed guidance is provided on Grants.gov and through the ERDC website, and proposals must be submitted via the channels specified in the BAA. Interested applicants may contact the International Research Office in London or laboratory-specific points of contact for questions. Although continuously open, final offer submissions for this cycle are due by December 31, 2025. Awards are expected to be made on a rolling basis depending on proposal quality, funding availability, and programmatic relevance. Proposers are advised to ensure compliance with eligibility requirements and technical proposal preparation instructions found in the announcement.

Applicants should identify fundamental vs applied research, follow specific lab contacts, and demonstrate scientific merit and applicability.