Perrseus Proposers Day

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is preparing for the upcoming Perrseus program by hosting an in-person Proposers Day on July 17, 2026, at its Arlington, Virginia, conference center, with sessions running from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. This event is informational and intended to support future proposal development for a 42-month prototype initiative focused on rapidly developing, integrating, and delivering functional microscale ultra-high vacuum (μUHV) systems with vacuum pressures below 10^-10 mbar within a package smaller than 5 mL. The program aims to create manufacturable and scalable fabrication processes to enable next-generation sensors including thermal atom, cold atom, photonic, and vacuum-packaged MEMS devices. The effort will be structured in two phases: Phase 1 involves component integration, form-factor design, and mitigation of manufacturing risks to establish reliable μUHV performance; Phase 2 culminates in the delivery of test-ready prototype units and the finalized manufacturing process for government evaluation. Final devices must demonstrate vacuum integrity compatible with a operational lifetime exceeding three years and include integrated pressure sensors to directly monitor internal vacuum parameters, along with novel measurement techniques to assess pressure levels, leak rates, pump rates, and pump capacity within the miniature packages. This Proposers Day is issued under Special Notice DARPA-SN-26-99, which explicitly states that it does not constitute a formal solicitation, does not initiate any contractual obligations, and responses to it are not offers that the government can accept to form a binding contract. A formal Program Solicitation is anticipated to be released prior to the event, and future contracts are expected to be awarded under an Other Transaction Agreement for Prototypes (10 U.S.C. § 4022). Registration for the Proposers Day closes on July 8, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. ET with a cap of 160 attendees, limited to three individuals per organization. All attendees must complete and submit DARPA eForm 104 by the registration deadline, and non-U.S. citizens must additionally submit DARPA eForm 60 by July 5, 2026. Attendees are required to present government-issued photo identification upon entry. Organizations seeking to collaborate are encouraged to submit a one-page unclassified teeming profile via email to [email hidden] by