DARPA's Commercial Solutions Opening (DCSO) for Commercial Strategy

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued solicitation HR001126RE007 for its Commercial Solutions Opening (DCSO) to transition DARPA-funded technologies into commercial and military capabilities. Managed by the Commercial Strategy team, the initiative focuses on the Embedded Entrepreneurship Initiative (EEI), which funds the integration of an embedded entrepreneur (EE) to provide business development and commercialization expertise to performer teams. The goal is to close military and civilian capability gaps, reduce business risk, and facilitate U.S. private investment in Department of War capabilities. The government may award either a fixed-price FAR-based procurement contract or an Other Transaction (OT) for Prototypes under 10 U.S.C. § 4022. Proposals must be submitted via email to DARPACSO@darpa.mil by April 30, 2027. A complete Commercial Solutions Proposal (CSP) requires a title page, a five-page technical proposal, a statement of work, and a price proposal. While offerors propose a total fixed price, DARPA highly encourages limiting the base CSP to 350,000 dollars or less to expedite evaluation. Evaluation is based on potential contribution to the DARPA mission, commercialization readiness, and price fairness, though proposals are not evaluated against each other. Key requirements include the identification of a qualified EE as the sole key personnel, CMMC Level 1 (Self) certification in the Supplier Performance Risk System, and registration in the System for Award Management. All submissions must remain unclassified.