The Broad Agency Announcement is a technique for United States government agencies to contract for basic and applied research and certain development. 48 CFR 35.016.
The technique may be used to acquire "scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding." 48 CFR 36.106(a) The technique shares the name of the means of initiating it. The announcement, published in Federal Business Opportunities, describes "broadly defined areas of interest" (FAR 35.016(b)(1)). Proposals received in response to the announcement are evaluated through a peer or scientific review process (see FAR 35.016(d)), unlike the more traditional technique for evaluation of proposals under FAR Subpart 15.3. An award under the technique is treated as meeting the statutory requirement in the Competition in Contracting Act for full and open competition (vis a no-bid contract). 48 CFR 6.102(d)(2).
It is not intended for acquisition "related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement." 48 CFR 36.106(a) It may only be used "when meaningful proposals with varying technical/scientific approaches can reasonably be anticipated." Ibid.