IARPA-Wide Research BAA (Seedlings)
Funds exploratory, early-stage intelligence research that seeds future programmes through broad experimental solicitation.
The IARPA-Wide Research BAA, known as the Seedlings route, is IARPA’s standing channel for early-stage exploratory research that may grow into a larger focused program later. It sits under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity and is meant for high-risk ideas within IARPA’s published topics of interest. Seedlings are typically 9 to 12 months long and usually stay under $1 million. The route runs continuously through the year, with white papers submitted first and full proposals invited only after screening. The mechanism is a traditional BAA contract or grant rather than an OTA, and the record allows U.S. organizations as well as foreign organizations with restrictions; academia, industry, and nonprofits are in scope, while government agencies, FFRDCs, and UARCs are typically excluded as primes. This program fits teams that have a sharply defined experiment and a credible path to a measurable result. A strong submission is narrow, technically ambitious, and tied directly to an IARPA topic, because the purpose of the route is to test an idea cheaply before it becomes a larger effort. Applicants that can show novelty, risk, and a plausible next step are the ones this channel is built for.
Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.