Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: Academic Research Initiative (ARI) | DHS 21 CWMD 077 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for DHS 21 CWMD 077 001

The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: Academic Research Initiative (ARI) is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) research funding opportunity designed to tap university expertise for long-term, high-impact advances that strengthen the nation s ability to detect and prevent chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. The program sits within the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office, which was formally established by the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 2018 and created by consolidating the former Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and most of the Office of Health Affairs. In practical terms, the ARI program is one way DHS uses its CWMD research and development resources to explore and demonstrate new technologies and scientific approaches that can help prevent attacks, protect the public, support response operations, and reduce the consequences of CBRN incidents.

At its core, ARI is aimed at cross-cutting basic research that can improve national security capabilities related to detecting, identifying, and providing timely warning of CBRN hazards. The solicitation emphasizes fundamental research rather than short-cycle product development, with the idea that hard CWMD problems often require sustained investigation and new foundational knowledge before they can be turned into operational tools. It also aligns with national preparedness and protection priorities referenced in Presidential Policy Directive 8 by focusing on improved detection and prevention of illicit entry, movement, assembly, or potential use of unauthorized CBRN materials, devices, or agents within the United States.

The program highlights two primary objectives. First, it seeks to engage the academic community to advance fundamental CBRN science and engineering that is directly relevant to CWMD missions, especially research that tackles long-term, high-risk technical challenges. Second, it is explicitly designed to build human capital, meaning it aims to educate and develop the next generation of scientists and engineers who can work in CBRN-related fields. Beyond individual projects, ARI is framed as part of a longer-term commitment to basic research and as a mechanism to coordinate and complement related research efforts across the federal government.

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, including both public or state-controlled universities and private universities. The funding instrument type is a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement during the period of performance compared with a standard grant. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 97.077 (now commonly referenced through SAM.gov assistance listings) and was released by DHS through its Office of Procurement Operations, Grants Division. The posting indicates an expectation of approximately 11 awards, with the award ceiling listed as 0 in the notice, which typically means applicants need to refer to the full solicitation for any topic-specific funding ranges or constraints rather than relying on a single published cap.

The solicitation is organized around specific research topic areas intended to address technical barriers to improved CBRN threat detection, identification, and notification. Topic Area 1 focuses on microRNA (miRNA) as biomarkers for early biothreat detection. The emphasis here is on improving scientific understanding of how miRNA could support earlier detection or diagnosis of exposure to biological agents of security concern. Example directions include studying how miRNA packaging and expression levels affect function, and determining whether exposed individuals or animal models show distinct circulating serum miRNA profiles compared to controls. The larger goal is to translate those expression signatures into methods that can help with early prediction, detection, diagnosis, or monitoring, which is especially important because early warning can dramatically improve decision-making in a biological incident.

Topic Area 2 addresses CBRN area detection and analytics, with an operationally oriented framing around high-profile events. The aim is to develop broad-area sensing array approaches that can detect and track CBRN threats before, during, and after major events, while also generating baseline data that supports both current analytics and future efforts. A notable component of this topic is the explicit call to develop methods to detect and remediate induced bias in threat detection algorithms, reflecting awareness that adversaries, environmental conditions, or uneven data can skew algorithm performance. This topic therefore combines sensing, data collection, and advanced analytics, with an emphasis on reliability and robustness in real-world deployments.

Topic Area 3 focuses on technology component improvements for neutron-based active interrogation, a set of techniques used to probe materials and detect signatures consistent with special nuclear material, explosives, or other contraband relevant to DHS missions. The solicitation points toward advancing enabling components that make these systems more effective, which may include improved detection algorithms, specialized software tools to simulate and study detection performance, experiments or modeling to inform detector implementation, studies of threat material signatures, and work to define neutron source requirements. The unifying theme is making active interrogation more capable and better suited to DHS operational needs by improving both hardware-adjacent components and the analytical methods that interpret detection signals.

Applications are evaluated using criteria described in the solicitation s review section, and the notice indicates the full list of detailed research topics is provided in an appendix (Appendix A). Taken together, ARI functions as a bridge between academic basic research and homeland security mission needs, funding early-stage, high-risk science while also investing in workforce development so the United States maintains deep expertise in CBRN science and engineering over the long term.

• The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Procurement Operations - Grants Division in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: Academic Research Initiative (ARI)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 97.077.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 08, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 11 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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