AMENDED-Request for Project Proposal (RPP)-ACC-18 Jun 2026.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROJECT PROPOSAL (RPP) – PREPROPOSAL

Validation of Emerging Defense & Detection Equipment for Readiness (VEDDER)

Agency: Department of the Army Office: Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood Division Location: Aberdeen Proving Ground-Edgewood, MD Program Office: Capability Program Executive for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (CPE-CBRND)

RPP Number: W911SR-24-R-CWMD Date Issued: 11 June 2026 Questions and Answers to RPP Due: June 16th 1300 EST 2026 Preproposals Due: 25 June 2026 1300 EST 2026 Tentative Invited In-Person Pitches: July 8th- July 9th 2026 Tentative Request for Full Proposal (RFFP): July 14th 1300 EST 2026 Questions and Answers to RFFP Due: July 17th 2026 Tentative RFFP Proposals Due: July 30 1300 EST 2026 Tentative Award Date: Sept 4th 2026

1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE:

The CPE-CBRND is issuing this Request for Project Proposal (RPP) to identify only qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit (NFP) organizations capable of establishing and operating a technology accelerator for the VEDDER Prototype Accelerator (PA) under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement under Broad Other Transaction Authority Announcement (BOTAA) W911SR- 24-R-CWMD. The VEDDER PA is designed to execute in alignment with Section 236 (Pilot Program on Development of Near-Term Use Cases and Demonstration of Artificial Intelligence Toward Biotechnology Applications for National Security).

The Government intends to utilize an overarching OT Agreement based award with milestone-based, Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) payments for up to THREE (3) innovative prototype processes that accelerate innovation continuously through addition awards for prototype projects to Portfolio Prototyping Companies (PPCs). Essential to the funding opportunity, is an integrated bridging of the private sector, elite national resources, and the U.S. Government. This enables the selected PAP awardee(s) to execute rapid, commercial-style Business-to-Business (B2B) sub-agreements with PPCs that are non-traditional defense contractors and small businesses/startups.

The Government recognizes that the United States (U.S.) Bioindustrial Base is not standardized, nor does it follow a universally accepted business model, as the methodologies required to successfully accelerate and scale these technologies vary significantly. Accelerator processes, commercialization strategies, regulatory navigation, and capital-matching frameworks differ wildly depending on the specific biotechnology domain (e.g., physical biomanufacturing hardware scale-up versus High-Performance Computing (HPC) driven synthetic biology or regulatory-heavy medical therapeutics).

The Government also recognizes that because no single accelerator model is universally effective across the entire biotechnology spectrum, the Government anticipates that it may require more than one type of accelerator process to ensure the overall success of the VEDDER PA.

Therefore, the Government reserves the right to award up to three (3) separate and distinct Prototype Accelerator Partner (PAP) Other Transaction (OT) agreements. This strategic portfolio approach allows the Government to secure different types of accelerator ecosystems, each managed by domain-specific experts, ensuring that the right commercialization framework is applied to the right biotechnology challenge.

The VEDDER PA’s strategic approach maintains the flexibility required to secure partners with deep, domain-specific expertise to maximize the resilience and breadth of the U.S. Bioindustrial Base, and enhance warfighter mission effectiveness, by improving platforms, systems, components, and materials proposed for, or currently in use by, the Armed Forces, in accordance with Department of War (DoW) OTA mandate under 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

To maintain technological overmatch and prevent the offshoring of critical biotechnologies, the Government requires a highly agile acquisition model. The VEDDER PA will leverage the OTA process to diverge from rigid Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) procedures.

Individual PAP OT agreement(s) will include a base award of up to $8 million and shall not exceed a ceiling of $95 Million over a potential five-year period. In the event the Government reaches the $95 Million ceiling prior to the five-year end date, one or two potential options could occur: (1) the OT Agreement would simply expire with no further action; or (2) In the event the VEDDER PA is successfully completed, the Government may execute a follow-on production award (see Section 6 below). The Government reserves the right to modify any resulting awards to accommodate subsequent congressional mandates and/or executive directives to updated terms and conditions.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION:

a. Proposal Costs: The U.S. Government will not fund the preparation of proposals or reimburse any costs incurred prior to the effective date of an agreement.

b. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Information submitted to the Government may be subject to disclosure under FOIA. Offerors must clearly mark any proprietary or confidential information that they believe should be exempt from disclosure.

c. System for Award Management (SAM): Prospective awardees MUST be registered in the SAM database (https://sam.gov) prior to award and must maintain an active registration throughout the period of performance.

d. The Offeror is responsible to ensure the Preproposal is received by the date and time specified above. The Government suggests an offeror submits its Preproposal at least two hours prior to the closing date, allowing enough time to ensure the entire Preproposal is https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsam.gov received on time to be considered for award. If all portions of the Preproposal are not received by the Preproposal closing deadline, inclusive of subcontractor proposal submissions (if applicable), the Preproposal shall be rejected as late. Please remember the Preproposal time is NOT when you send the Preproposal, but when the Government receives it. ***The Government has experienced issues where emails could take up to 30-45 minutes to be received.***

e. The selected PAP(s) will function as actively managed continuous innovation ecosystems, accelerating the development, validation, and fielding of National Biosecurity Capabilities.

f. The Government encourages PAP(s) to form innovation ecosystems enriched in, but not limited to, the following specialized areas; legal, cybersecurity, biotechnology, commercialization, financial, and HPC integration.

g. Intellectual Property Rights:

• Data rights will be negotiated. The DoW desires, to the fullest extent possible, Government Propose Rights (GPR) to data (technical data, computer software, or content output by an AI system under an Agreement) generated with DoW funding for data furnished to or developed for the Government under an Agreement. The Government expects to have unlimited data rights for all PAP non-B2B deliverables specified in a final agreement’s Statement of Work (SOW) that are required to be provided by the PAP(s).

• The Government’s intent is as follows. All B2B agreements executed by the Awardee shall explicitly separate and identify IP into two categories: (1) Background IP and

(2) Foreground IP Rights: Background IP rights are pre-existing technical data, computer software, algorithms, AI models, or biological data platforms owned by PPCs. The PPC retains all rights to Background IP to preserve their commercial valuation. Foreground IP (The Prototype) Rights are the specific prototype developed utilizing Government funding as well as any associated technical data, computer software, and content output by an AI system under an Agreement developed utilizing Government funding. The Government shall be granted, at a minimum, Government GPR for all Foreground IP allowing the Government to manufacture and utilize a capability for national defense and biodefense purposes, without restricting the commercial entity from selling the technology in the civilian market. The Government will retain ownership of its data, including Government data inputs into an AI system, modifications to Government data inputs by an AI system, and content/output generated by an AI system in response to Government data inputs.

3. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES-PREPROPOSAL:

Preproposals shall be submitted in accordance with CWMD BOTAA-24-01 Section III (B)(1), “Submission Procedures” and shall not exceed 11 pages. The 11 pages count does not include the following: (1) Draft VEDDER Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Mitigation Plan; and

(2) Pricing Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM). Offerors shall include a brief Executive Summary (1/2 page) to provide a synopsis of your approach at the beginning of the Preproposal.

Avoid excessive verbiage, elaborate promotional materials, grandiose statements, or repetitive, disorganized presentations; such submittals may indicate operational inefficiency and a lack of cost consciousness. Unsupported promises to comply are insufficient. Proposals shall not merely parrot RPP requirements but must actively demonstrate HOW the Offeror will perform them.

Offerors will be evaluated in FOUR (4) Overall Evaluation Areas: (1) Technical Approach; (2) Portfolio and NFP Experience; (3) Price; and (4) Organizational Conflict of Interest.

Technical Approach Categories:

The Overall Technical Approach shall clearly and logically address all FOUR (4) Technical Approach Categories stated below: (I) Goals and Impact; (II) Management Plan & Capabilities;

(III) Schedule and Milestones; and (IV) Transition Plan. Within the Four Technical Approach Categories, the Offeror shall address unique approaches to accelerating biotechnology capabilities and include detailed information addressing the following: (1) Dual-use Commercial Viability; (2) Technical Merit and Scalability; (3) HPC Integration; (4) Schedule and Velocity;

(5) Cost-share and Capital Matching Strategy; (6) Commercialization Performance; (7) Intellectual Property; and (8) Governance Framework (i.e. the management structure enabling government oversight and integration of U.S. Government (USG) strategic priorities, alongside delegated investment authorities, portfolio health transparency, and incentive structures).

I. Goals and Impact: (approximately 3-4 pages)

• Clearly describe what the team will achieve and the difference it will make (qualitatively and quantitatively) to the warfighter and defense industrial base if successful.

• Describe the innovative aspects of your approach in the context of state-of-the-art (past and present) approaches, clearly delineating the uniqueness and benefits of your approach.

• Describe the metrics for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), examples listed in EXHIBIT I below, and deliverables required to demonstrate your PAPs success and value, within the context of the state of the art. The Offeror may submit CUSTOM KPIs or adjust the values of the EXAMPLE KPIs in Technical Exhibit 1. Offerors are encouraged to suggest tailored metrics and measurable targets and deliverables specific to their approach, across the Eight Key Criteria. The Government will leverage finalized metrics to evaluate the success of PAPs throughout the life cycle of performance.

II. Management Plan & Capabilities (approximately 3-4 pages): Offerors are responsible for assembling a complete team, please describe:

• Formal agreements required to execute the proposed PAP. Provide a clear description of the team, including an organization chart that contains, as applicable: elite RDT&E or commercial facilities, and or USG infrastructure, funding resources, governance structure, team members, and responsibilities.

• Provide a plan for resource coordination. Include risk management approaches.

• Provide a summary of expertise of the team, including any subcontractors, and key personnel who will be doing the work. Do NOT Submit Resumes.

III. Schedule and Milestones (approximately 1-2 pages):

• Provide a detailed schedule (Gantt chart preferred): (1) showing tasks (i.e. task name, duration, work breakdown structure element, and performing organization as applicable), (2) Schedule of Metrics (discuss in the subsection I “Goals and Impact” stated above), (3) Milestones (clearly articulated and defined in time relative to the start of the project), and the

(4) Interrelationships among tasks.

IV. Transition Plan (approximately 1-2 page):

• Preproposals must address how the PAP will continually find, support, accelerate, scale, and market small business capabilities for exits into the military and commercial industrial base.

Portfolio and NFP Experience:

• The Government will evaluate the offeror’s demonstrated history, maturity, and capability as a 501(c)(3) Non-For-Profit (NFP) to successfully execute and manage a high-velocity, $95M technology accelerator.

Pricing:

• The Offeror shall submit a detailed Pricing Preproposal in a separate, dedicated appendix.

The Pricing Preproposal will not be adjectivally rated but will be thoroughly evaluated to determine if the proposed costs are fair, reasonable, realistic, and represent the best overall value to the Government. The Government’s primary objective is to maximize the allocation of funds directly to prototype development(s) while ensuring the Prototype Accelerator Partner (PAP) has sufficient resources for effective management and compliance.

• To assess the scalability and financial efficiency of the proposed accelerator model, the Price/Cost Preproposal must detail a comprehensive Basis of Estimate (BOE) for two distinct funding scenarios: (1) An initial $8 Million Funding Profile; and (2) the Maximum $95 Million Funding Profile.

• The Government is only seeking a broader ROM for this Preproposal Stage. Offerors will be allowed to provide Two (2) SEPARATE (does not go against page count) PDF breakdowns with one for $8 Million and one for $95 Million.

Draft VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan (NOT COUNTED Against Page Count, but limited to eight (8) pages):

• The Government acknowledges in the accelerator startup world, conflicts of interest are almost impossible to avoid entirely, and the goal is to have PAP(s) that have strong relationships with top-tier biotech startups while remaining neutral. Therefore, a Draft VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan is mandatory. The selected PAP will be responsible for scouting, competing to the maximum extent practicable, vetting, and issuing B2B sub-agreements (funding) to PPCs, the Government must ensure absolute fairness, transparency, and objectivity. The DRAFT VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan must specifically address and mitigate three core types of conflicts of interest: (1) Impaired Objectivity; (2) Biased Ground Rules; and (3) Unequal Access to Information.

• Offerors must submit a Draft VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan and will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Preproposals that fail to submit a Draft VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan that is deemed inadequate by the Agreements Officer, will be excluded from award consideration.

Submission: Preproposals must be emailed to usarmy.apg.acc.mbx.jpeo-cbrnd-botaa@army.mil, Mr. Aaron Skinner, aaron.d.skinner.civ@army.mil, and Mr. Lionel Love, lionel.d.love.civ@army.mil, by the due date and time stated above. Late submissions will not be considered.

VEDDER PITCH MEETINGS:

The Government intends to invite selected Offerors to present their approach at a formal VEDDER Pitch Meeting. Therefore, Offerors should be prepared to “attend,” in-person (preferred) or virtual, to provide a presentation for up to one (1) hour. Offerors invited to the VEDDER Pitch Meeting shall provide VEDDER Pitch Meeting Slides.

4. QUESTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS:

Please direct any questions regarding this RFI to Agreements Officer, Aaron Skinner at aaron.d.skinner.civ@army.mil and Lionel Love at Lionel.d.love.civ@army.mil. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our requirements further. The Government will attempt to answer all questions but is not obligated to do so.

5. EVALUATION AND AWARD:

Evaluation will be performed by Government personnel. The Government may provide successful PAP(s) whose proposal offers the best overall value to the Government. Awards are dependent upon the availability of funds. Only a warranted Agreements Officer may obligate the U.S. Government to the expenditure of funds.

The Agreements Officer reserves the right to select a combination of PAPs that provides the best value and strategic coverage across different dual-use biotechnology domains. Consequently, the Government may select a PAP(s) whose individual proposal scored lower than another, if the higher-scoring proposal would result in redundant ecosystems or unnecessary duplication of Government resources.

The Government may employ AI as a tool to assist in the analysis and review of quotes. AI tools may be used to assist with drafting evaluations, to include support tasks such as summarizing quote content, identifying compliance with request for quote / solicitation requirements, and mailto:aaron.d.skinner.civ@army.mil mailto:lionel.d.love.civ@army.mil mailto:aaron.d.skinner.civ@army.mil highlighting potential areas of increased confidence, decreased confidence, or risk.

Maintaining Inherently Governmental Functions: Notwithstanding the use of AI tools to support the evaluation process, all final evaluation judgements, including the assignment or assessment of confidence ratings, best value determinations, and selection decisions, will be made exclusively by duly appointed Government personnel. The Government retains sole responsibility for all inherently governmental functions and will not delegate decision making authority to any AI tool.

The AI tools utilized by the Government will be employed in a manner consistent with applicable regulations that govern the protection of proprietary and source selection sensitive information. The AI tool will be an output-only system. Once evaluations are drafted, any system prompts and/or generated report data is not saved by the Government or the AI system.

Offerors will be evaluated across the FOUR (4) Overall Evaluation Areas: (1) Technical Approach; (2) Portfolio and NFP Experience; (3) Price; and (4) Draft VEDDER OCI Mitigation Plan. The Technical Approach and the Portfolio and NFP Experience areas will be evaluated and assigned an adjectival rating using the VEDDER Evaluation Grading Scale provided below. The Price/Cost Proposal will not be adjectivally rated, but will be evaluated using price analysis techniques to determine fairness and reasonableness. The Draft OCI Mitigation Plan will be evaluated strictly on a Pass/Fail basis.

TABLE 1: VEDDER Evaluation Grading Scale Outstanding Proposal significantly exceeds expectations.

Good Proposal meets all requirements and exceeds some.

Marginal Proposal meets minimum requirements but contains significant weaknesses.

Unacceptable Proposal fails to meet requirements.

Based on the above Overall Evaluation Area grades, the Government will invite selected Offerors to attend the VEDDER Pitch Meeting to ultimately decide who will advance by receiving an RFFP.

Technical Approach Evaluation:

• The Overall Technical Approach evaluation will receive a single, consolidated grade using the VEDDER Evaluation Grading Scale. To determine this overall rating, the Government will evaluate the offeror’s submission across the four (4) Technical Approach Categories. Each category will be assessed to determine the soundness of the offeror’s unique strategy for accelerating biotechnology capabilities and their ability to achieve measurable success.

Portfolio and NFP Experience Evaluation:

• The Offeror will be graded using the Portfolio and NFP Experience for the following:

(1) The offeror’s proven track record of effectively sourcing, vetting, and managing a portfolio of commercial startups or non-traditional defense contractors; (2) historical speed in executing Business-to-Business (B2B) sub-agreements and transitioning technologies out of the accelerator.

Pricing Evaluation:

• The Government will evaluate the offeror's price proposal to ensure costs are fair, reasonable, realistic, and directly aligned with the proposed technical and management approach. To demonstrate financial scalability and efficiency, the offeror must submit a detailed Basis of Estimate (BOE) for two distinct funding scenarios: an initial $8 Million solution and a maximum $95 Million solution.

VEDDER Pitch Meeting:

Offerors whose preproposals are evaluated as 'Outstanding' or 'Good' will be invited to present their approach at a formal VEDDER Pitch Meeting, though the Government reserves the right to invite a 'Marginal' rated offeror if doing so is in the best interest of the Government. The Government will be evaluating the VEDDER Pitch Meetings based on Table 2: VEDDER Pitch Meetings Scale to provide final determination of who will receive a RFFP:

Table 2: VEDDER Pitch Meetings Scale High Confidence

The oral presentation and Q&A strongly validated the claims in the preproposal. The team demonstrated exceptional domain expertise, a unified management structure, and a highly credible scaling strategy

Advance to RFFP

Moderate Confidence

The presentation validated most claims, but the Q&A revealed minor gaps in the approach or team cohesion. The Government believes these can be easily corrected or negotiated in the Full Proposal phase

Advance to RFFP (at Government's Discretion)

Low Confidence

The presentation contradicted the preproposal, or the team could not adequately defend their methodology during Q&A. The risk of execution failure is deemed too high

Do Not Advance

6. FOLLOW-ON PRODUCTION:

In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 4022(f), the Government may award a follow-on production contract or Other Transaction (OT) without the use of competitive procedures to a participant who has successfully completed their prototype project under this agreement. The Government defines successful completion, as a self-sustaining PAP that meets the finalized KPIs. The Self-sustaining includes both: (1) successfully achieving pre-determined KPIs; and (2) a system [consistent, healthy pipeline of B2B innovation, accelerated CBRN defense aligned capability TRL and MRL, and diverse exit pathways for B2Bs]. The VEDDER must be completed to with continuous operational liquidity and reduced dependency on USG capital TO maintain the flexibility required to secure commercial small business partners that maximize the resilience and breadth of the U.S. Bioindustrial Base, and enhance warfighter mission effectiveness, by improving platforms, systems, components, and materials proposed for, or currently in use by, the Armed Forces, in accordance with DoW OTA mandate under 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

Because the nature of this prototype effort is to determine the optimal methods for scaling dual-use biotechnology capabilities (from bench-scale to commercial production), the specific scope, period of performance, and estimated dollar value of any potential follow-on production effort cannot be fully defined at this time, but may be scoped at a significant dollar value (e.g. $500

Millon) for a potential 10-year performance period. These parameters will be informed by the metrics, scalability, and commercial viability demonstrated during the successful execution of the prototype process project.

Given the inherent risks of biotechnology development and commercial scaling, the Government recognizes that individual PPC B2B agreements may fail, pivot, or be terminated during the prototyping phase. The failure of an individual PPC does not preclude the PAP from achieving overall 'successful completion' of the VEDDER prototype project, provided the overarching accelerator framework continues to function, adapt, and meets the aggregate programmatic metrics defined above.

EXHIBIT I: EXAMPLE KPI METRICS FOR ASSESSING PERFORMANCE:

Indicator Measurement Target

Time-to-Contract (B2B)

Execute B2B prototyping agreements within 10-15 days of partner identification.

Time-to-Agreement (USG or Private Enabling Resourcing)

Accelerator and Resourcing agreements executed, defining integration, access, security, IP rights, and cost allocation within 90 days of award

Capability Maturation Accelerating small business capability transition through technology readiness, or maturity readiness levels by >60% of 3 referenced industry standards.

Private Capital Multiplier

Sliding scale ratio (10%-50%+) of vetted US based private-to-public capital invested alongside the Government funds

Non-Traditional Engagement

>70 percent of B2B agreements awarded to non-traditional defense contractors

Data Compliance Rate >99% of small business capability datasets meet Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Usable (FAIR) standards, at a minimum, within 30 days of B2B agreement award

Access to USG or Private Acceleration Enabling Resourcing (e.g., HPC, Wet labs, Drylabs, SMEs)

<72 hours for routine, < 24 hours for priority response

IP-sanitized ingestion rate

100% of shared small business datasets are anonymized, scrubbed of proprietary trade secrets, and deemed otherwise sanitized prior to data pool entry.

Domestic Manufacturing

100% compliance on B2B clauses preventing the offshoring of critical technologies.

IP Gridlock Avoidance < 30 business days between initial Statement of Work draft and the final signature on the IP/Data Rights allocation annex.

Standardized Clause Adoption

>80% adoption of non-traditional defense contracts who accept the pre-negotiated modular IP and B2B framework without requesting legal redlines.

Background IP Segregation Speed

<3 business days for prototype accelerator review and approval, following small business submission, of the definitive background IP register.