ERIS Special Topic Area – DARPAVERSE

The DARPA Expedited Research Innovation System (ERIS) has issued a Special Topic Area (STA) solicitation, "DARPAVERSE" (DARPA-PS-25-05-ST01), seeking breakthrough technological advancements. This program aims to create a collaborative environment for warfighters, analysts, and program managers to interact with complex modeling systems, enabling rapid development and deployment of multi-domain models in less than a day. The DARPAVERSE program seeks to overcome limitations of stove-piped simulation environments by creating an open platform for iterative ideation and discovery of optimal solutions, shrinking development time from years to weeks. The STA focuses on three technical areas: Adaptive Software Repository (TA1) for reduced-order modeling, Adaptive Co-Design and Orchestration (TA2) for formal methods and dependent type theory in model composition, and Adaptive Definition and Visualization (TA3) for natural language interfaces to generate workflows. Submissions are accepted from October 1 to December 31, 2025, via the ERIS Marketplace, requiring a 7-minute video pitch and supplemental slides for each technical area proposed. Successful submissions may lead to an invitation for a program negotiation event.

The DARPAVERSE initiative is an open-ended program seeking innovative research ideas and established prototype solutions across all Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) to address outlined challenges. Submissions will be assessed monthly, not just at the final deadline, and the program has an 8-month Period of Performance. While no specific cost guidance is provided, performers should propose costs based on their technical approach, ensuring competitive pricing. The government is open to commercial organizations asserting rights on existing baseline software while providing government rights on newly developed software, evaluating such mixed-rights solutions for their suitability for transition and ability to deliver a usable architecture to the warfighter.

The DARPAVERSE program outlines a special topic within the ERIS announcement, seeking innovative research submissions across all Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) with an 8-month Period of Performance. Submissions will be assessed monthly, and proposers should base costs on their technical approach, aiming for competitive pricing. The government is open to commercial organizations asserting rights on existing software and providing government rights on newly developed software, as well as participation from FFRDCs adhering to DARPA policies. DARPAVERSE focuses on government use cases related to all DARPA office missions, allowing proposers to suggest any human/machine interaction modalities and real-time model adjustments. TA1 is responsible for generating the integrated multi-domain model. The program's goal is not to develop a new 3D immersive environment but to solve technical objectives, including visualizing results on traditional monitors or immersive environments. TA3 focuses on enabling model use, presenting specification issues, and addressing both specification and execution errors. Teaming is allowed, and inter-TA coordination will be defined by a government-developed API. Performers will be evaluated against program metrics, with shared compute infrastructure provided by DARPA for evaluation. The program anticipates follow-on transition opportunities for successful results, and TA1 submissions must be modeling and simulation environment agnostic, with the government providing multiple reference environments for testing.