This Solicitation opportunity from Department Of Defense was posted on April 23, 2025. The submission period has ended. Browse the details below for market research, or find similar active opportunities.

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Securing Artificial Intelligence for Battlefield Effective Robustness (SABER)

Awarded

HR001125S0009Federal

Submission Closed06/03/2025, 12:00:00 PM UTC

Contract Overview

Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.

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NAICS: 541715

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about 14 hours ago

DEADLINE

in 28 days

AI Contract Overview

The SABER (Securing Artificial Intelligence for Battlefield Effective Robustness) contract is initiated by DARPA to address the vulnerabilities of AI systems used in military operations. Recognizing the strategic advantage that AI can provide on the battlefield through enhanced decision-making and autonomous capabilities, the program aims to develop a robust operational framework for assessing and mitigating adversarial threats to AI-enabled systems. Given the inherent risks associated with machine learning, such as data poisoning, physical adversarial patches, and model theft, SABER seeks to establish an AI red team capable of conducting comprehensive security evaluations of autonomous ground and aerial systems expected to be deployed within the next one to three years. The initiative emphasizes creating sustainable, operationally relevant testing processes, including the development and employment of advanced physical and digital counter-AI techniques, to identify vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of battlefield AI systems. The solicitation, posted by DARPA’s Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, invites responses by June 3, 2025, and is focused on identifying performers skilled in surveying, evaluating, and developing cutting-edge physical and cyber defense tools for AI robustness. The program underscores the importance of translating theoretical adversarial AI research into practical, operational assessments, thereby reducing uncertainties about the security risks faced by military AI systems in contested environments. This effort aims to ensure that AI-enabled battlefield systems are resilient against adversarial manipulations, ultimately safeguarding mission success and operational security in complex combat scenarios.

General Info

DARPA's SABER contract funds AI red teams to assess and secure military AI robustness operationally.

Agency

Department Of Defense → Defense Advanced Research Projects Agcy

NAICS

541715 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)

Place of Performance

Set-Aside

NONE

Documents

A1 Abstract Summary Slide Instructions and Template

2 pages · specifications

High

Baseline Model Contract Addendum - Circumstance-Driven Additional Clauses

1 page · contract-addendum

High

Baseline Model Contract (Large Business)

27 pages · award

High

Baseline Model Contract (Small Business)

27 pages · award

High

Baseline Model - OT P - Fixed Support Nontraditional

27 pages · contract-document

High

DARPA Other Transaction for Research - Fixed Support Company Model

26 pages · contract-document

High

DARPA SABER BAA HR001125S0009

24 pages · rfp

High

DARPA Standard Cost Proposal Spreadsheet

55 pages · specifications

High

HR001125S0009 Amendment 01 - SABER

amendment

High

HR001125S0009 - Securing Artificial Intelligence for Battlefield Effective Robustness (SABER) Amendment 02

amendment

High

Proposal Summary Slide Instructions and Template

2 pages · specifications

High

SABER Abstract Instructions and Submission Template

5 pages · submission-template

High

SABER Proposal Instructions and Volume II Template (Cost)

7 pages · sow

High

SABER Proposal Instructions and Volume I Template - Amendment 01

12 pages · amendment

High

AI Contract Breakdown

Uniform Contract Format

Contract not broken down yet

CLEATUS splits the solicitation into Uniform Contract Format (UCF) sections: scope, pricing, deliverables, and evaluation criteria.

Timeline

2 updates

PhaseAwarded

PostedMar 12

Solicitation

Notice updatedApr 7

Response deadline changed from May 6, 2025 to May 20, 2025. The notice description changed.

Deadline changedApr 23

Response deadline changed from May 20, 2025 to Jun 3, 2025.

AwardedOct 29

Contract was awarded

Submission Closed

06/03/2025, 12:00:00 PM UTC

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Organization & Contact Information

AgencyDepartment Of Defense → Defense Advanced Research Projects Agcy

Contacts1 person available

OfficeARLINGTON, VA, 222032114, USA

Organization / AgencyDepartment Of Defense → Defense Advanced Research Projects Agcy

Office AddressARLINGTON, VA, 222032114, USA

Contacts

BAA Coordinator

contact@example.gov

Full Description

There is a growing desire to integrate rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into Department of Defense (DoD) systems. AI may give battlefield advantage by helping improve the speed, quality, and accuracy of decision-making while enabling autonomy and assistive automation. Due to the statistical nature of machine learning, significant work has focused on ensuring the robustness of AI-enabled systems at inference time to natural degradations in performance caused by data distribution shifts (for example, from a highly dynamic deployment environment). However, as early as 2014, researchers demonstrated the ability to manipulate AI given adversary control of the input[1]. Additional work has further confirmed the theoretical risks of data poisoning[2], physically constrained adversarial patches for evasion[3], and model-stealing attacks[4]. These attacks are typically tested in simulated or physical environments with relatively pristine control compared to what might be expected on a battlefield. Today, there is still a limited ability to operationally assess deployed military AI-enabled systems for adversarial vulnerabilities and the - theoretical adversarial AI attacks have not been practically demonstrated in operational settings. As a result, the operational security risks of AI-enabled battlefield systems remain largely unknown. SABER aims to build an exemplar AI red team equipped with the necessary counter-AI techniques, tools, and technical competency to operationally assess AI-enabled battlefield systems. SABER seeks to establish a sustainable model for an operational AI red teaming process for the DoD. Our AI red team will target operationally assessing AI-enabled autonomous ground and aerial systems that could be deployed within the next 1-3 years. To assist the AI red team, the future solicitation will seek performers who can assist in surveying, evaluating, selecting, developing, and employing state-of-the-art physical (including m