IARPA MOVES

IARPA MOVES

Funds United States researchers using movement from video to support neurological assessment in intelligence profiles.

MOVES (Movement Observation and Video-based Evaluation System) is a research program run by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a U.S. agency within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The program sits within IARPA's Emerging Technology Accelerator (ETA) framework — a compressed-timeline contracting vehicle introduced in 2026 to accelerate the transition of emerging technology into intelligence-community use. MOVES targets a specific analytic requirement: using video analysis to diagnose neurological conditions from movement patterns, supporting biographic intelligence assessment of individuals of interest captured in open-source video. The program funds development of automated systems capable of identifying movement-based signals indicative of neurological state, extending medical-grade diagnostic AI into an intelligence context. Awards are issued as Prototype Other Transaction Agreements under solicitation DOI-ETA-FY26-30, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior on behalf of IARPA.

Eligible prime contractors must be U.S.-based entities. Companies, universities, nonprofits, and non-traditional defense contractors may all apply as primes; foreign organizations may participate only as sub-contractors within a U.S.-led team. Government agencies, FFRDCs, and UARCs cannot be primes. OTA qualification requires non-traditional participation, small-business exclusivity, or at least one-third non-federal cost-sharing. Classified proposals and facility construction or commercialization costs are not allowable. Typical ETA awards range from $1 million to $5 million for performance periods of 12–24 months; MOVES-specific award amounts are not published in the solicitation.

The application process is white-paper-first: teams submit a white paper for screening before receiving a full-proposal invitation. The initial white-paper deadline was June 30, 2026; the solicitation accepts rolling submissions continuously after the Q&A posting period until the program receives sufficient proposals and closes. Evaluation criteria include technical innovation, feasibility, team capabilities, and IP terms that support government transition. Research teams bridging clinical movement analysis, computer vision, and medical AI with national-security applications are the most competitive candidates.