Department of Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) (previously referred to as Joint Service EOD)

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The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is interested in receiving white papers and full proposals for Department of Defense (DoD) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Applied Research Science and Technology (S&T) projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of multi-Service EOD operations. ONR has a need to develop and demonstrate emerging technologies for dismounted missions to detect/locate, access, diagnose/identify, and render safe/neutralize explosive hazards, including Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXO) to support the DoD EOD mission. The EOD mission is to render safe ordnance, including conventional and unconventional, improvised, chemical, biological, and nuclear IEDs and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). It includes land and underwater location, identification, render-safe, and recovery (or disposal) of foreign and domestic ordnance. EOD conducts demolition of hazardous munitions, pyrotechnics, and retrograde explosives using detonation and burning techniques. The EOD mission is unique from the role of other forces, such as combat engineers that support movement of US and allied forces. An IED is a device placed in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract. It can include military stores, but normally is devised from non-military components. White papers and full proposals for exploratory development are sought in the following areas: 1) Explosive Hazardous Device Detection and LocationThis area focuses on hand-held technologies that can detect and/or locate the presence of an explosive hazard containing energetic materials. This may include buried, obscured, and/or items out in the open. The explosive hazard may contain military-grade and/or commercial/homemade energetic material. 2) Explosive Hazardous Device Render Safe/ Neutralization This area focuses on new information/capabilities that can be manually or robotically employed and used to neutralize IEDs or render safe conventional munitions, or substantially enhance existing EOD tools and equipment that currently perform the tasks. 3) Explosive Hazardous Device Munition Diagnose and Identification This area focuses on the identification of ordnance and IEDs or IED components, and the materials used in the manufacture of them, including toxic industrial chemicals (TIC), toxic industrial materials (TIM), Biological materials, or Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA). Potential targets can include thick cased munitions, such as artillery shells. Emphasis will be on manually or robotically employed capabilities.4) Explosive Hazardous Device AccessThis area focuses on technologies to aid in the approach and/or access IEDs or UXO to gain greater knowledge regarding their physical composition or configuration; particularly through the use of unmanned EOD robotic systems. Work funded under a BAA may include basic research, applied research and some advanced technology development (ATD). With regard to any restrictions on the conduct or outcome of work funded under this BAA, ONR will follow the guidance on and definition of "contracted fundamental research" as provided in the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) Memorandum of 24 May 2010. As defined therein the definition of "contracted fundamental research", in a DoD contractual context, includes [research performed under] grants and contracts that are (a) funded by Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Budget Activity 1 (Basic Research), whether performed by universities or industry or (b) funded by Budget Activity 2 (Applied Research) and performed on campus at a university. The research shall not be considered fundamental in those rare and exceptional circumstances where the applied research effort presents a high likelihood of disclosing performance characteristics of military systems or manufacturing technologies that are unique and critical to defense, and where agreement on restrictions have been recorded in the contract or grant. White Papers are required prior to submitting a Full Proposal.

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