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The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this pre-announcement for a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) focused on the development of the following 2 prototypes in suppo... The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this pre-announcement for a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) focused on the development of the following 2 prototypes in support of MTEC’s Military Operational Medicine technology focus area: FOCUS AREA #1 (Whole Body Blast): Development of survivability criteria and vital organ injury metrics for the whole body when exposed to extreme blast exposures (e.g., IEDs). FOCUS AREA #2 (Cognitive / Brain Health & Performance): Development and validation of personalized training or materiel (pharmacological/technological) approaches to build and enhance cognitive/brain health, performance and psychological health. PROGRAM BACKGROUND: The U.S. Army’s Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) focuses on the development of countermeasures that address military-relevant stressors and prevent physical and psychological injuries during training and operations in order to maximize health, readiness, and performance. SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS: The MOMRP has identified two focus areas for funding under this RPP. To meet the intent of this upcoming RPP, each proposal MUST specifically address only ONE of the two Focus Areas described below. Offerors are not limited to a single proposal submission. Projects not aligned to at least one of these Focus Areas will not be considered for funding. FOCUS AREA #1 (Whole Body Blast): Development of survivability criteria and vital organ injury metrics for the whole body when exposed to extreme blast exposures. Personal protection equipment (PPE) for the Warfighter has been designed to primarily protect against injuries from projectiles, shrapnel, debris and blunt object impact in training and combat operational environments. At present, there are no appropriate guidelines and test methodologies to evaluate the protective performance of PPE, such as body armor and bomb suits, against primary blast. Therefore, this project aims to develop survivability criteria and vital organ injury metrics relevant to personnel exposed to potentially lethal primary blast, such as that resulting from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). During the PoP, the Awardee shall establish medically-based criteria (i.e., blast injury risk curves) for evaluation of the protective efficacy of PPE (i.e., bomb suits and body armor) for Warfighters. The Awardee shall coordinate with research leads at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and non-medical investment stakeholders to address one or more of the following gaps that is not redundant with the expertise of WRAIR researchers: Establish metrics to assess the effectiveness of PPE against primary blast using biological surrogate models. Develop survivability dose-response relationships and vital organ blast injury criteria for primary blast exposure. Utilize different animal experimental models (i.e., differently scaled species) in conjunction with surrogate models to define blast-induced injuries and scaling factors for blast-induced vital organ injury (e.g., brain and lung) that can be readily translated to humans. Define biomechanical parameters associated with established injury levels for individual vital organs and cognitive functional outcomes. Multi-institutional partnerships are highly encouraged particularly with expertise in scaling animal research to biological surrogate models and developing Warfighter-relevant injury metrics. END GOAL: Provide whole body blast injury criteria to evaluate the next generation bomb suit and body armor blast personal protection equipment. 2. FOCUS AREA #2 (Cognitive/Brain Health & Performance): Development and validation of personalized training and/or materiel (pharmacological/technological) approaches to build and enhance cognitive/brain health, performance and psychological health. Multi-domain operations will involve significant demands on Warfighter cognitive agility and resistance to a multitude of stressors. There is a lack of rigorously tested cognitive training and enhancing tools and a dearth of data demonstrating effectiveness of such tools on operationally relevant tasks, psychological health outcomes, and brain health. There is also a lack of prospective longitudinal data to understand appropriate training protocols and requirements (e.g., training dosing, duration). During the PoP, the Awardee shall: Develop or adapt cognition-promoting training or materiel solutions suitable for military application and training pipelines (e.g., feasible, scalable, efficient, low-cost). Demonstrate efficacy of training or materiel to positively impact cognitive performance (as measured by operationally relevant tasks including, but not limited to, perception, attention and memory) and psychological health outcomes in healthy as well as injured Warfighters. Elucidate active components of the cognitive training or materiel and relative contribution to outcomes in order to streamline and optimize military-relevant training. END GOAL: Deliver an efficient and effective method for personalized training to build and enhance cognitive/brain health, performance and psychological health. POTENTIAL FUNDING: The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) currently has available approximately the following Defense Health Program (DHP) Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) funds for each focus area: FOCUS AREA #1 (Whole Body Blast): $2.78 Million FOCUS AREA #2 (Cognitive / Brain Health & Performance): $2.36 Million It is expected that MTEC will make a total of 2 awards (a single award for each focus area) to qualified teams to accomplish the statement of work. Each project shall be led by a centralized point of contact at the prime contracting organization. If a single proposal is unable to sufficiently address the entire scope of each focus area, several Offerors may be asked to work together in a collaborative manner. The Period of Performance (POP) is not to exceed three years. ACQUISITION APPROACH: Full proposals will be required in response to this upcoming RPP. The RPP will be posted to the MTEC website (mtec-sc.org) and a notice will be posted on www.beta.SAM.gov to notify interested parties. The RPP is expected to be released by the end of February 2020 and will have a short proposal preparation period (approximately 30 days). MTEC membership is required for the submission of a full proposal in response to this upcoming MTEC RPP. To join MTEC, please visit http://mtec-sc.org/how-to-join/. MTEC MEMBER TEAMING: While teaming is not required for this effort, Offerors are encouraged to consider teaming during the proposal preparation period (prior to proposal submission) if they cannot address the full scope of technical requirements of the RPP or otherwise believe a team may be beneficial to the Government. MTEC members are encouraged to use the MTEC Database Collaboration Tool to help identify potential teaming partners among other MTEC members. The Database Collaboration Tool provides a quick and easy way to search the membership for specific technology capabilities, collaboration interest, core business areas/focus, R&D highlights/projects, and technical expertise. Contact information for each organization is provided as part of the member profile in the collaboration database tool to foster follow-up conversations between members as needed. The Collaboration Database Tool can be accessed via the “MTEC Profiles Site” tab on the MTEC members-only website. MTEC: The MTEC mission is to assist the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) by providing cutting-edge technologies and supporting life cycle management to transition medical solutions to industry that protect, treat, and optimize Warfighters’ health and performance across the full spectrum of military operations. MTEC is a biomedical technology consortium collaborating with multiple government agencies under a 10-year renewable Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), Agreement No. W81XWH-15-9-0001, with the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). MTEC is currently recruiting a broad and diverse membership that includes representatives from large businesses, small businesses, “nontraditional” defense contractors, academic research institutions and not-for-profit organizations. POINTS OF CONTACT: For inquiries regarding this pre-announcement, please direct your correspondence to the following contacts: Technical and membership questions – Dr. Lauren Palestrini, MTEC Director of Research, lauren.palestrini@officer.mtec-sc.org Programmatic questions – Ms. Kathy Zolman, MTEC Director of Program Operations, kathy.zolman@ati.org MTEC Member Collaboration Database Tool – Ms. Melissa Sanchez, MTEC Program Administrator, melissa.sanchez@ati.org