A contract is a legal instrument used to enter into a relationship between the Department of Defense (DoD) and a contractor, when the principal purpose is to acquire property or services for DoD's direct benefit or use.
Proposals for research are submitted in accordance with a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) or opportunity announcement. Each announcement contains specific proposal requirements. Please refer to the individual opportunity announcement for submission requirements.
For a listing of current opportunities with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), consult our funding opportunities listing or https://sam.gov/content/opportunities.
Information on this page:
What to Submit | How to Submit | Model Contract Awards
What to Submit
Understand what needs to be completed and submitted for contract consideration.
White Papers
ONR recognizes that the preparation of a full proposal is a time-consuming and often costly proposition for prospective contractors. Therefore, before a full proposal is written, prospective contractors are encouraged to take advantage of the submission of white papers. White papers allow prospective contractors to submit their ideas in confidence to ONR program officers to evaluate, provide technical feedback and offer some indication of the likelihood of success for a full proposal based on program interests and priorities. A full proposal will be either encouraged or discouraged; however, a full proposal may be submitted at any time (even if the white paper is discouraged) and it will receive full consideration. Prospective contractors who are invited to submit full proposals are reminded that the invitation to submit does not represent a commitment to fund the proposal.
If you decide to submit a white paper, the following cover page must be included with your submission:
Full Proposals
All ONR Broad Agency Announcements incorporate a standardized template for the submission of technical and cost proposals for contract awards. Guidance and assistance in completing the form and spreadsheet can be obtained from points of contact provided in the BAA.
The following documents must be completed and submitted for contract consideration:
- Cover page template
- Proposal checklist
- Technical proposal template
- Statement of work template
- Cost proposal template
In addition, prospective contractors must complete Online Representations and Certifications (ORCA) in the System for Award Management (SAM), including both FAR and DFARS clauses located at www.sam.gov. SAM must be supplemented with:
Lastly, this document only needs to be completed if you do not have a report from DCAA or DCMA stating the design of your accounting system is in compliance. Please note that an "approved government accounting system software" does not exist. An audit of each contractor accounting system must be performed to evaluate the design and implementation of each system.
PLEASE NOTE: Some web browsers' default PDF viewers are unable to open the pre-award survey file. If you receive an error message when you click on the file link (i.e., "Please wait... If this message is not eventually replaced..."), please download the file locally first:
- Right click the "pre-award survey" file link.
- Select the "Save link as" option.
- Save the file to your computer.
- Right click the file name on your computer and open it with Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
How to Submit
The submission process generally takes place in two stages.
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White Paper Submission
You are encouraged to submit white papers, which can minimize the labor and cost associated with production of detailed full proposals that may have little chance of being selected. Based on an assessment of your white paper, the responsible research topic lead (ONR program officer) will provide you with informal feedback. White papers arriving after a deadline may not receive, and therefore may not benefit from, the informal feedback. White papers shall be submitted via FedConnect unless the Broad Agency Announcement or Special Notice states differently (see below for more information).
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Full Proposal
All full proposals shall be submitted via FedConnect unless the Broad Agency Announcement or Special Notice states differently (see below for more information). Provide all information cited in the announcement found at https://sam.gov/content/opportunities or on the ONR funding opportunities page to ensure that your proposal can be properly evaluated.
Where to Submit
ONR uses FedConnect to electronically receive white papers and full proposals unless the Broad Agency Announcement or Special Notice states differently. To access FedConnect, please go to: https://www.fedconnect.net
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to inquiries related to using FedConnect.
Model Contract Awards
Below is an example of a typical contract awarded at ONR. The actual award document may be different than the example due to differences in the type of awardee, amount of award, clause updates and other factors.