BARDA DRIVe

DRIVe EZ-BAA Plus Phase (Advanced Development)

Funds United States health-security projects transitioning into advanced development after initial defense innovation stages.

The BARDA DRIVe Easy BAA Plus Phase is the advanced-development tier of the EZ-BAA mechanism, providing multi-year contracts up to $20 million for health-security innovations that have demonstrated feasibility. DRIVe designed the Plus Phase as the natural successor to EZ-BAA Standard awards, enabling companies that have de-risked their technology through a prior Standard contract — or through equivalent prior funding from BARDA's main BAA, NIH, DoD, or private capital — to advance toward manufacturing scale-up, clinical validation, regulatory milestones, and commercialization readiness without transitioning into a full BARDA BAA competition.

Awards range from $750,000 to $20 million, with an estimated median of $5 million and an estimated annual pool of approximately $80 million. Project duration is typically 24 to 36 months. The application process reuses the EZ-BAA inquiry-and-abstract structure from the Standard track — a brief inquiry email, a 30-minute alignment call with DRIVe program managers, and then abstract submission through the BARDA Digital Resources portal — but budgets and project plans are correspondingly larger and more detailed. Cost-share is encouraged. All organization types except individuals are eligible, provided they are U.S.-registered with U.S.-based performance. Minimum TRL at entry is 4; the track targets candidates through TRL 8.

Plus Phase awards occupy a strategic position in the BARDA funding continuum: they bridge the gap between early proof-of-concept work and the scale of a main BARDA BAA award or a Project BioShield procurement contract. Applicants should frame proposals around clear, milestone-driven deliverables that reduce the residual technical and manufacturing risk for the U.S. government. Prior EZ-BAA Standard awardees have a meaningful advantage because the DRIVe team already has familiarity with the technology and the team's execution track record.