TOPIC CALL 2 Q and A _Ph I.pdf

Approved for Public Release

Questions Answers Q1: What is the budget limit, or recommended budget for applications to the BAA? A1: The offeror should submit what they deem appropriate for the submission of Phase I.

Q2: On which start date should proposers base their cost estimate? A2: Awards are estimated to occur in Government Fiscal Year 2024.

Q3: CBA-01 - Instructions encourage research collaborations with other government agencies to be part of the proposal. Is it sufficient to discuss ongoing but separate/distinct work with other US government agencies?

A3: Collaboration with other government agencies is not a requirement.

The offeror should collaborate with other government agencies if they deem appropriate for submission of Phase I.

Q4: CBA-01 - What is acceptable when it comes to ‘real-time’? Is near real-time acceptable?

A4: The objective is to have an instantaneous readout to determine if a threat is present in a sample. If there is a slight pause before the analysis and interpretation begins, that is acceptable.

Q5: CBA-01 - What end users is CBA 01 geared towards? We’d like to frame our proposal accordingly.

A5: The end-user may be a Corpsman or a Medic, definitely enlisted with or without post high school education. The readout cannot be overly technical, but informative and reportable.

Q6: CBA-01 - Can you provide examples of specific visualizations and interpretations that would be optimal to include?

A6: The Offorer should propose visualizations and interpretations that they deem appropriate.

Q7: CBA-01 - CBA 01 describes a solution that doesn't depend or rely on a high performance computing environment, providing both a quick interpretation and technical sequencing reports as needed. Must follow-on technical sequencing reports be similarly limited to commodity hardware?

A7: Follow-on technical sequencing reports will be analyzed by reach-back personnel with appropriate education and hardware/software to thoroughly understand the results.

Q8: CBA-01 - What depth of analysis is expected? Is the identification of threat alone sufficient or is a deep analysis of mechanism, disease, and virulence necessary?

A8: The identification of the threat is of primary concern. The data package will also be readable by higher end computing equipment for a thorough analysis.

Q9: CBA-01 - CBA 01 suggests that resources within Department of Defense research laboratories can be leveraged as a part of this effort. Do these resources include data from Department of Defense research on biological virulence, toxicity, and pathogenicity?

A9: Yes, these data will be made available on a request basis. The successful responder will request these data and DTRA will work with the appropriate DoD laboratory to provide the data, as appropriate.

Q10: CBA-01 - What types of samples will analysis platforms be expected to handle as part of CBA 01? Will samples be directly sequenced or preprocessed (e.g., cultured before sequencing)?

A10: Samples will be directly sequenced. There may be some preprocessing in terms of extraction and library building, but will be sequenced immediately after.

Q11: CBA-01 - Is it a requirement that the proposed product analyze biological sequence data such as DNA or RNA?

A11: The focus will be on bioinformatic analysissolutions.

Q12: CBS-01 - Which avenue is more important to DTRA, repurposing or drug discovery?

A12: Neither avenue is more important, the focus is on rapidly getting a medical countermeasure fit for purpose through Phase 1 trials, transitioned to Advanced Development for Phase 2 and 3 trials or pivotal animal studies, to FDA approval and delivered as a capability to the Joint Force.

Q13: CBS-01 - Which of the toxidromes have the highest priority? A13: Several toxidromes are of interest including, but not necessarily limited to, and in no particular order: Anaesthetic/Sedative, Cholinergic, Convulsant, Opioid and/or Knockdown. The desire is for medical countermeasures that can be used agnostic of the threat and/or across multiple toxidromes.

Q14: CBS-01 - Does DTRA have datasets to support the AI/ML training? A14: DTRA may have datasets that can support AI/ML training, but this will depend on what type of data is needed, what level of data (unclassified publicly releasable or other) the proposer can handle, which toxidromes the data is needed for, etc.

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