Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative | N00014 18 S F006

Opportunity Information: Apply for N00014 18 S F006

The Fiscal Year 2019 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) is a competitive grant program run by the Department of Defense, with the Office of Naval Research serving as the issuing agency for this opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number N00014-18-S-F006). Its purpose is to fund basic research in science and engineering at U.S. universities when that research is likely to matter to long-term national security needs. The program is intentionally “farsighted” and aimed at high-payoff discoveries: it supports work that builds fundamental understanding of phenomena rather than proposing a specific product, system, or near-term application. In DoD terms, this is basic research as defined in the DoD Financial Management Regulation (DoD 7000.14-R), meaning systematic study and experimentation to increase foundational knowledge across physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences.

A defining feature of MURI is the emphasis on multidisciplinary teams. The program is designed for problems where progress depends on multiple traditional disciplines interacting, so proposals are expected to integrate expertise across fields in a way that accelerates advances beyond what a single investigator or single discipline could accomplish. Teams may be formed across different departments within the same university or across multiple universities, depending on where the required expertise resides. This focus makes MURI complementary to other DoD basic research efforts that more commonly fund single-investigator projects.

The FY 2019 competition is topic-driven, meaning applicants must align their research plan to one of the specific MURI topics announced for that year. The opportunity notes that detailed topic descriptions and the designated Topic Chiefs are provided in a referenced section of the full announcement (Section II.I, “Specific MURI Topics”). Those descriptions are meant to guide applicants by giving a frame of reference, but they are not intended to limit creativity; the solicitation explicitly encourages innovative approaches that address the goals of the topic and the broader intent of the program.

Proposals must be organized around a clear leadership and administrative structure. Each submission must identify one Principal Investigator (PI) who serves as the responsible technical point of contact, and the PI must be from the primary (lead) institution. Likewise, one institution must be designated as the primary awardee responsible for executing the grant. If multiple institutions participate, the proposal and the budget must spell out the relationships among partners, define their roles, and describe how funds will be divided, including any subawards.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. institutions of higher education with degree-granting programs in science and/or engineering, including DoD institutions of higher education. Certain university-connected entities may also be eligible if they are part of a U.S. university and are not classified as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), or another University Affiliated Laboratory (UAL) that is treated as ineligible under the solicitation. In contrast, organizations such as industry, DoD laboratories, FFRDCs, foreign entities, and other ineligible organizations may participate as collaborators but cannot receive MURI funding directly or indirectly through a subaward.

The solicitation also anticipates cases where an ineligible collaborator needs funding for the collaboration to be feasible. In that situation, the ineligible organization may submit a separate supplemental proposal that is attached to the main university-led MURI proposal. That supplemental request is reviewed using the same MURI criteria by the appropriate Research Topic Chief, but if it is approved, it would be funded using non-MURI or non-government sources rather than MURI dollars. This structure allows universities to build strong teams while still keeping MURI funds restricted to eligible university recipients.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant for science and technology research and development under CFDA 12.300. The original closing date listed is October 16, 2018, and the posting indicates a creation date of March 22, 2018. The notice does not provide a specific award ceiling or a stated number of expected awards in the excerpted data, but it frames the program as a competitive, topic-specific university research investment intended to keep the DoD aware of emerging scientific knowledge and to seed the foundational discoveries that can enable future defense-relevant technologies.

• The Office of Naval Research in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.300.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-03-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-10-16. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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