January 2018 update on the Dept. of Navy Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) program: Good news especially for small, innovative companies who want to perform final development and testing and sell the resulting product to the DOD: Section 213 of the FY17 NDAA removed the RIF program sunset clause, providing permanent authority for the program. While the FY18 defense appropriation is still pending, and a RIF plus up is necessary, OSD is gearing up for an FY18 RIF BAA in the Feb/March 2018 timeframe, which will include topics from all the defense services. Typical service-wide RIF funding available is $200-250M. The full BAA schedule and latest info is at http://www.defenseinnovationmarketplace.mil/rif.html.
Government TPOCs can talk openly now; communications become restricted upon BAA release. Historically, about 2/3 of Dept. of Navy RIF awards go to fund projects which derive from the SBIR program. It’s easy to apply for RIF (three page white paper + quad chart), but the competition is quite fierce (~4% of white papers result in a full proposal invite). Interested companies may want to review the FY17 BAA-Amendment 2 (Dept. of Navy topics on pages 45-69) now as many of the topics represent persistent Dept. of Navy needs. This National Defense Magazine article provides sound advice.
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Brenda Pickett
Director, Office of Small Business Programs
Office of Naval Research
875 North Randolph St.
ONR Code: 00SB
Attention: Brenda Pickett
Arlington, VA 22203-1995
Tele: 703-696-2607
Email: brenda.pickett@navy.mil
