Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

Offers United States intelligence mission programmes with development-ready agreements for advanced technology.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or IARPA, is a US federal agency within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Established in 2007, it was formed by consolidating the NSA's Disruptive Technology Office, the NGA's National Technology Alliance, and the CIA's Intelligence Technology Innovation Center. Its mandate is to lead high-risk, high-payoff research that can create technology advantage for the intelligence community.

IARPA runs competitive multi-year research programs rather than open-ended grantmaking. Historically it has relied on Broad Agency Announcements, and in 2026 it added Prototype Other Transaction Agreements under the Emerging Technology Accelerator framework. The active portfolio includes ARCADE, COSMIC, DECIPHER, LocUS, MOVES, Seedling BAA work, and BENGAL, with awards that can reach $5 million on some ETA programs and $1 million on the Seedling BAA route. Government agencies, FFRDCs, and UARCs are not eligible as prime contractors.

Its subject matter runs through AI and machine learning, quantum computing, synthetic biology, forecasting, geospatial intelligence, speech, and video analysis. IARPA is best suited to academic and industry teams that can solve a tightly defined technical problem and show a transition path into intelligence use. The agency's model rewards speed, technical depth, and teams that can work with non-traditional contractor structures.