IARPA Emerging Technology Accelerator (ETA) Program Announcement (DOI-ETA-FY26-30)

IARPA Emerging Technology Accelerator (ETA) Program Announcement (DOI-ETA-FY26-30) is sponsored by Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). This multi-program IARPA funding vehicle supports high-risk, high-payoff R&D across multiple active programs, including areas like artificial reasoning for circuit automation, commercial observation for spatio-temporal monitoring, and location using sound.

IARPA ETA Program (DOI-ETA-FY26-30): Rolling R&D Funding via Prototype OT Agreements — BW&CO DOI & IARPA - EMERGING TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR (ETA) PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTDOI-ETA-FY26-30 Below is a brief summary. Please check the full solicitation before applying (link in resources section).

The Emerging Technology Accelerator (ETA) Program Announcement (DOI-ETA-FY26-30) is a multi-program IARPA funding vehicle supporting high-risk, high-payoff R&D across multiple active programs (e.g., ARCADE, COSMIC, DECIPHER, LocUS). Awards are made as Prototype Other Transaction Agreements (OTs) through a competitive, white paper–first process.

There is no fixed submission deadline — White Papers per Program: Continuous, after the posting of Q&As (Preferred) . This is a rolling opportunity, but programs can close once sufficient white papers are received. That creates real urgency: if you are aligned, you should apply as soon as possible before a program is re-labeled “Not Active.

” How much funding would I receive? Not specified in the solicitation. The Government will make multiple Prototype OT awards Partial (only parts of proposals funded) No award size ranges or total program value are provided.

1.

ARCADE – ARTIFICIAL REASONING FOR CIRCUIT AUTOMATION AND DESIGN ENGINEERING (FY26) - ACTIVE ARCADE transforms and accelerates electrical circuit design within the Intelligence Community (IC) by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop an intelligent, comprehensive AI-knowledge assistant that extracts key information from vast technical documentation and enables engineers to perform quick, intuitive queries to meet the speed of mission.

The technical information ingested by ARCADE will include text, datasheets, diagrams, schematics, tables, and graphs. ARCADE extracts crucial details about electrical components, their specifications and interfaces to compile them into a comprehensive searchable knowledge platform.

Going beyond a simple search engine, ARCADE aims to suggest and recommend optimal components based on design requirements, constraints, and performance parameters as specified through user-defined prompts. This capability enables engineers to perform swift, targeted queries, dramatically reducing the time it takes to find, compare, and select suitable parts.

It also aims to help identify optimal components and potential alternatives more efficiently by providing comparison tables and explanations for why specific components were selected, effectively saving engineers from manually sifting through thousands of documents.

Ultimately, ARCADE will lead to faster, more accurate, and more robust circuit designs, ensuring Government missions can be deployed with unprecedented speed and reliability. 2.

COSMIC – COMMERCIAL OBSERVATION FOR SPATIO-TEMPORAL MONITORING FOR INDICATIONS OF CHANGE (FY26) - ACTIVE The aim of the Commercial Observation for Spatio-temporal Monitoring for Indications of Change (COSMIC) program is to formulate a methodology to leverage commercial remote sensing technologies and open source geolocated information to generate pseudo-persistent data (PPD).

This will be done by combining and translating complex and novel data, such as nonnadir imagery and non-Red,Green, Blue (RGB) spectral bands, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision-based methodologies into a layered, temporal geospatial model understandable by commercial agentic AI systems.

COSMIC will enable the development of an agentic AI analytic system trained by commercial vendors and equipped to answer intelligence questions by bridging the gap between the Intelligence Community (IC) data characteristics and the simpler solutions offered by commercial vendors. COSMIC will foster routine updating and modelling of baseline geospatial information in areas through multi-source, persistent surveillance.

New sensors will fluidly be incorporated into the generation of layered geospatial models as constellations and sources change over time. In addition to improving the temporal resolution of layered geospatial models, COSMIC also aims to reduce resource demands by streamlining the derivation of actionable intelligence from these models.

By integrating commercial remote sensing data with existing geospatial information, the program aims to create a harmonized and up-to-date representation of the physical world that can be used by agentic processes to answer questions relevant to the IC. 3.

DECIPHER - (FY26) - ACTIVE Analysts often struggle to understand specialized language (e.g., slang, jargon, technical terminology) in various situations where dictionary definitions are not readily available, such as: • Non-English research articles with novel technical concepts and terms • Communications using slang • Undefined acronyms used within limited contexts • Web forum posts using coded language to mask illicit activities In these and similar contexts, analysts dedicate significant effort to triaging content pertinent to their domain of interest and understanding the meaning of unknown or novel specialized terms used within that domain.

Adding to this challenge, language can change quickly, and adversaries can rapidly adapt their language to evade detection. The Decipher program’s goal is to create capabilities to detect and define specialized language in diverse, multilingual text collections.

In Decipher, “specialized language” refers to single or multiword expressions that are difficult to disambiguate (e.g., acronyms, terminology with multiple meanings), are used to deliberately obfuscate interpretation (e.g., coded language), or for which accurate translations or explanations are not readily available (e.g., emergent jargon or slang) to typical non-expert users.

Decipher will flag and extract candidate specialized terms in a document or corpus and then will provide candidate plain language translation and annotation of specialized terms, including jargon, slang, and acronyms. The program will also develop technology to annotate text with relevant social and contextual factors, capturing nuanced meaning, as well as to detect concept drift by monitoring use of terminology as it evolves over time.

4. LocUS – LOCATION USING SOUND (FY26) - ACTIVE 5. MOVES – MOVEMENT OBSERVATION AND VIDEO-BASED EVALUATION SYSTEM (FY26) - ACTIVE The intelligence community (IC) would benefit from the ability to diagnose, from open-source data, medical conditions in individuals and populations.

This ability would enable, e.g., monitoring of the spread of health threats (disease, chemical accidents or attacks, environmental toxins, etc.) and other medical intelligence analyses. The MOVES program aims to demonstrate the feasibility of this long-term goal by addressing a subset of the challenges associated with generalized diagnosis from video.

The MOVES program will focus on diagnoses of neurological conditions that typically affect people’s movement and demonstrate that it is feasible to diagnose such conditions from challenging input video that may: • Be taken from non-ideal angles • Include subjects wearing a wide variety of clothing styles • Show partially obstructed subjects The program requirements are selected to ensure a path to rapid adoption and trust in the algorithms’ performance by medical professionals.

Key challenges include the nature of the videos as described above, especially finding movements that are diagnostic of conditions, differentiating between similar symptoms of different disorders, and providing enough information to the medical professionals about how the diagnosis was made so that they can verify the diagnosis and build confidence in the algorithm performance. Are there any additional benefits I would receive?

Potential follow-on production Contract or OT if prototype is successful Direct engagement with IARPA and Intelligence Community stakeholders Access to Government-furnished data (program-dependent) Independent Test & Evaluation (T&E) feedback throughout development What is the timeline to apply and when would I receive funding?

White Papers per Program: Continuous, after the posting of Q&As (Preferred) Full proposals: By invitation only Government evaluates for viability If selected → invited to submit full proposal If selected → negotiation → award Not specified in the solicitation. Where does this funding come from?

Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC) In partnership with IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity) Issued under 50 U.S.C. § 3024(m)(6) for Prototype OT agreements Who is eligible to apply?

All responsible sources capable of meeting requirements U.S.-based entities (prime must be U.S.) Non-traditional defense contractors (NDCs) Allowed only as part of a U.S.-based team Government-affiliated organizations with privileged access What companies and projects are likely to win?

Based on evaluation criteria, winning proposals will: Demonstrate innovative, high-risk/high-payoff technical approaches Clearly align with specific program objectives Show feasible execution plans with defined milestones Include strong technical teams and capabilities Address technical risks with mitigation strategies Offer IP terms that allow Government transition The Government prioritizes: Relevance to IARPA mission Are there any restrictions I should know about?

Yes — several important ones: One program per white paper Must follow strict formatting and page limits No commercialization costs Classified proposals are not accepted Government requires sufficient rights for transition Must disclose IP ownership and restrictions NSPM-33 research security disclosures required Potential foreign influence review and mitigation How long will it take me to prepare an application?

White Paper (up to ~8 pages technical content) Full technical proposal (≤15 pages) Multiple compliance attachments This is a moderate-to-high effort application , especially at full proposal stage.

Program selection (which ETA program to target) White paper strategy and positioning Technical narrative development aligned to IARPA evaluation criteria Full proposal development (if invited) IP, compliance, and structure alignment End-to-end submission management Review solicitation here.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Defensetech & Dual-Use Tech Cybersecurity IARPA Aerospace & Spacetech NIH, CDC and FDA Small Business Innovation Research Grant (Parent SBIR [R43/R44] Clinical Trial Optional) - PA-27-100 ARPA-H - SBIR/STTR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)