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The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command - Soldier Center is conducting an investigation to identify technologies for water quality assessment by individual Soldiers in the field. Technolog... The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command - Soldier Center is conducting an investigation to identify technologies for water quality assessment by individual Soldiers in the field. Technologies of interest may detect biological or chemical contaminants from indigenous water sources or post-treatment waters. The goal of such technologies is to provide soldiers lightweight, low cost per test, easy-to-use sensors that minimize health risks related to consuming contaminants and provide awareness of environmental water quality. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. A solicitation is not available at this time. Request for a solicitation will not receive a response. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United Stated Government to contract for any supply or service. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the United Stated Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the United States Government. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The purpose of this RFI is to determine the capabilities of the existing marketplace. The Government intends to use white papers provided solely for internal government purposes to further develop or refine the statement of requirement, not as a basis for making an award determination. The intent is to gather information on technologies at different levels of maturity that have potential to meet criteria discussed in subsequent sections for in-field analysis. The technologies should be compatible for use by minimally trained soldiers or squads (approximately 7 soldiers) during combat missions of up to seven days without resupply. Technologies should be low SWaP (size, weight, and power); specifically not exceed 16 oz, utilize commercially available batteries for continuous operation up to seven days, and provide results that can be easily interpreted. They shall not be impacted by low temperature exposure/freezing and shall be fully functional on thawing, and be functional in basic, hot and cold environments. Time from sample collection to test result should not exceed 2 hours with minimal requirements for user input steps and results should be easily interpreted by non-experts. Potential biological targets of interest include pathogens (bacteria, virus, parasite) and indicator organisms (bacteria and virus) in locally acquired water samples. More specific guidance relevant targets can be found in the “Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality: Fourth Edition” published by the World Health Organization . Technologies that achieve low detection limits, require minimal sample preparation by the user, compatible with in-field testing, minimize/eliminate incubation steps, and detect multiple targets simultaneously are highly desired. Potential chemical targets of interest are described in the Military Exposure Guidelines (MEGs) outlined by US Army Public Health Center. Specific toxic industrial chemicals (TIC) and toxic industrial materials (TIM) and their military exposure guidelines for emergency drinking water are shown in the Table 1 attached. While not specifically mentioned in the exposure guidelines there is also interest in detection of perflourinated compounds (PFAS, PFA), other toxic metals (lead, hexavalent chromium), radioactive isotopes (depleted uranium), and energetics (TNT, RDX, etc). Technologies that achieve the detection limits as specified, require minimal sample preparation by the user, are compatible with in field testing and detect multiple targets simultaneously are highly desired for this application. RESPONSES: 1. Interested parties are requested to respond to the RFI with a capabilities description and/or whitepaper. 2. White papers in Microsoft Word for Office 2013 compatible format or Adobe Portable Document (pdf) format are due by 30 November 2020. Responses shall be limited to 10 pages and can be submitted via email only to Eric Brack at eric.m.brack.civ@mail.mil. 3. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Proprietary information will not be disclosed outside of the US Government. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 4. The white paper shall address some or all of the requirements or areas in Section 2 and include the following information: Name, company name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and email of designated point of contact. Sources shall include information regarding their experience, personnel, and facilities and should include technical information (i.e., technical literature, data and illustrations, photographs, patents), relevant background/experience, samples as applicable, projected costs (instrumentation, disposable supplies, etc) for testing, and expected near-term results of any relevant ongoing work Industry Discussions. Army representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks. Summary. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources current technology and how they might address the Military capability. The information provide in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Army has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.