SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- DTRA Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) for Technology Applications
- Notice Date
- 4/25/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency , DTRA Annex, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, MSC 6201, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
- ZIP Code
- 22060-6201
- Solicitation Number
- DTRA01-PRDA-02-AL01
- Response Due
- 6/10/2002
- Archive Date
- 7/10/2002
- Point of Contact
- janet thodos, 703-767-7894
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(janet.thodos@dtra.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NA Solicitation DTRA01-PRDA-02-AL01. DTRA Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) for Technology Applications. This PRDA constitutes the entire solicitation for this effort. No other formal request for proposal/solicitation will be issued for t his requirement-request for such proposal/solicitation will be disregarded. NOTICE:Due to size restrictions, the entire content of the PRDA will be posted in two parts. The second part will follow as a a synopsis amendment to DTRA01-PRDA-02-ALO1. INTRODUCT ION: The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) invites proposals for research to support technology applications under the Program Research and Development Announcement DTRA01-PRDA-02-ALO1. The administering DTRA program is the Technology Applications Div ision (TDA), Technology Development Directorate (TD). PROGRAM AREAS-Research is being sought in three topic areas: 1)TOPIC AREA 1:Radionuclide Detectors; 2)TOPIC AREA 2:Chemical and Biological Agent Detection; 3)TOPIC AREA 3:Nuclear Weapon Effects. The total estimated awards(including base and potential options) inclusive of all 3 topic areas in this PRDA are estimated at approximately $53.3M.OBJECTIVES: The objectives for each topic area contained in this PRDA are as follows:OBJECTIVE 1 (Applicable to T opic Area 1): Research in radionuclide detectors. Better radionuclide detectors in terms of performance equal to existing systems with greater portability, and superior performance in terms of collection efficiency and resolution, are sought. OBJECTIVE 2: (Applicable to Topic Area 2) Research in Chemical and Biological Agent Detection. Research in detection, identification, characterization and monitoring of chemical and biological agents in clinical and environmental samples. Technical areas include health surveillance, advanced diagnostics, environmental monitoring and nondestructive evaluation. Supporting technical efforts include software and algorithm development for data collection, management, mining and fusion. OBJECTIVE 3:(Applicable to Topic Area 3 ) Research into the effects of nuclear weapons in areas of current interest, application to DoD, and as applicable to DTRA's Center for Nuclear Weapon Effects. Such research will involve advanced scientific computing as applied to state-of-the-art physics -based computer modeling, with verification by simulators. Each of the three topic areas are specifically described below. Individual proposals should be directed to only one topic area. All topic areas are of equal importance. Topic Area 1: Radionuclid e Detectors-The period of performance will be for a base period of up to 2 years with a maximum 1 year option period. The maximum period of performance will be 3 years including the base period and any options. Proposals of $650,000 or less are anticipat ed for the base period with 3-5 awards anticipated for this area. 1.1-Improved Gamma Ray Spectroscopy Systems?The focus of research in this area will be alternative gamma ray detection systems capable of offering resolutions and collection efficiency close to High Purity Germanium (HPGe) but without the burden of extreme cooling (Liquid Nitrogen). Research should encompass new materials designed to replace HPGe in detector systems that offer high resolution and collection efficiency, but do not require elec tromechanical or liquid nitrogen cooling. Alternatively, cooling methods for HPGe could be identified to maintain the resolution of HPGe, but improve the portability of the detection system. Alternative systems must be reliable, provide minimal electroni c noise to the detection system, and cost competitive with liquid nitrogen HPGe detection systems. Improved electronics and software are needed to reduce noise and improve sensitivity in gamma ray detection systems. Innovative ways of reducing the size of the radionuclide detection systems are desired. 1.2-Improved Neutron Detection Systems ? The focus of research in this area will be on improved neutron detecti on systems capable of offering better collection efficiency than standard Helium-3 tubes. New materials are desired to replace Helium-3 in detector systems that offer higher collection efficiency and better ruggedness for portability applications.Alternati ve methods for collecting neutron interaction within a detector that allow the detector to determine energy of the neutron and direction of travel are required. Topic 2: Chemical and Biological Agent Detection-The period of performance for this area shall be a base period of up to 2 years with a maximum 1 year option period. The maximum period of performance will be 3 years including the base period and any options. Proposals are anticipated to be under$10M for the base period with 5-10 awards antici pated for this area. 2.1 Software Development-Prototype software is desired to collect, analyze, and distribute information to WMD decision-makers from the local to the national levels. Software should include algorithms for mining and fusion of multisour ce data in a variety of formats and content. Specific applications might include public health monitoring, plant (crops and native vegetation) and animal (livestock and wildlife) disease tracking, food (field-to-table), water quality (potable water distri bution systems and surface water sources) and related systems that can detect anomalous exposure to a biological or chemical agent. 2.2 Health Surveillance-Methods and procedures are needed for tracking epidemiological data from humans, animal (livestock a nd wildlife) and plants (crops and native vegetation) that may indicate exposure to chemical or biological agents. Data should be obtained either directly from primary sources (e.g., clinical procedures and analytical testing) or acquired through data min ing of existing computerized databases (e.g. absentee rates, pharmacy dispensing trends). The methods should be validated. 2.3-Development and Validation of Advanced Diagnostics. Research is needed on micro-array technologies to explore new and innovati ve ways to detect bacteria, virus and toxins in clinical and environmental samples. Microarray technologies are also required to track host response to infection. Advanced, high-capacity, multiplexed real-time PCR assays are desired using microarrays for spatial separation or novel dyes for spectral discrimination. Protein arrays are needed for proteomic assays. Both nucleic acids and protein microarrays should be analyzed using commercial or developmental readers. 2.4-Nondestructive Evaluation. Techniq ues are desired to interrogate and identify chemical and biological materials in canisters, shipping containers and hold baggage. New approaches need to be developed to increase instrument standoff and allow interrogation of moving vehicles or containers. Instruments should be compatible with operations at access control points (e.g., airports, weigh stations, ports, border crossings, etc.) Techniques should be validated. 2.5-Environmental Monitoring. Point and standoff detection devices for chemical and biological agents are desired. Emphasis shall be placed on low-cost, low-maintenance systems that can achieve high specificity, high sensitivity and low false alarm rate. Ideally, instruments should be self-contained (reagents and materials easily repla ceable), automated (perform analyses onboard), and can be unattended for extended periods of performance. Instruments should be deployable in buildings, subway systems, stadiums or the environment. Validation of devices is desired. Topic 3:Nuclear weapon effects. The period of performance for this area will be a base period of up to a 2-years with a maximum 1-year option period. The maximum period of performance will be 3 years including the base period and any options. Proposals under $200K are encourag ed for the base period. It is anticipated that one or two awards will be made from this area. Current interest involves such traditional effects as blast, seis mic, shock, thermal radiation, penetrating radiation, fallout, and electromagnetic pulse, but the Cold War scenarios are of little current application. Today's military planners need information on lower-yield nuclear weapons, and ineffective weapons that are targeted and delivered by less sophisticated means than during the Cold War. Scenarios today involve infrastructure vulnerabilities like urban environments, with the associated complex geometry that greatly complicate blast, shock, thermal, etc. prop agation and impact. Furthering the advance of understanding of high-altitude nuclear weapon effects is important in today's military planning. Likewise, novel applications/exploitation of nuclear weapon effects in scenarios involving countering terrorist and emerging threat countries' activities are of interest. Such efforts are anticipated to be complex, involving establishing basic physics and applications that are state of the art, to be meshed with capabilities for advanced scientific computing, and verified by simulator experiments. As such, these studies will require complex validation and verification processes involving different teams and differing approaches. Successful proposers will recognize the value of coordinating efforts with diverse te ams from the DoD contractor industry and the DOE National Labs, and anticipate close cooperation, with possible need for re-vectoring of technical direction. The potential is great for being mentored in these research areas under the tutelage of seasoned specialists from other teams, while making advances in research being pursued, and especially for identifying promising avenues of research, with attendant need for justifying new thrust directions. 3.1-Topics of interest common to academia and DoD that re late to nuclear weapon effects include such large scale natural phenomena as volcanic activity, large-scale earthquakes and meteoric impact, and sunspot phenomena that relate to high-altitude effects.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Defense Threat Reduction Agency DTRA Annex, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, MSC 6201 Fort Belvoir VA
- Zip Code: 22060-6201
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 22060-6201
- Record
- SN00066442-W 20020427/020425213541 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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