MTEC-24-05-AutoDocSensor Pre-Announcement.pdf

Pre-Announcement, January 2024

PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT

“Passive Data Collection using Autonomous Documentation (AutoDoc) Project –

Development of Passive Sensor Suite”

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this pre-announcement for an upcoming Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for prototype projects Request for Project Proposals (RPP) with the objective of developing a system of sensor suites that can reliably and passively collect the core data needed to identify casualty status, key tasks performed by medics, and real-time resource use in casualty care scenarios under realistic battlefield conditions.

BACKGROUND:

The Military Health System (MHS) lacks a robust, accurate, and reliable methodology to collect, store, and track tactical combat casualty care (TCCC) data. Establishing a prehospital environment medical data set is an essential, foundational step to modernizing Military TCCC medical care. Without a means to collect and seamlessly transmit data reliably and passively from the point of need/care (e.g. point of injury [POI] through higher echelons of care), the MHS will continue to lack the essential data to develop a trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) stack1,2 to support future concepts that will sustain Military medical operations in the various environments of Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), including, but not limited to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). By leveraging trustworthy AI in future conflicts, the MHS can reduce the caregiver cognitive load and mitigate impacts of a LSCO medical asset overburden, enabling greater efficiencies and capabilities.

Military prehospital care often occurs in austere, chaotic environments. Military medics and combat lifesavers in the battlespace are focused on prioritizing casualty severity and managing a large patient load with limited supplies and assistance. During times of intense activity, they must prioritize their patients over documenting delivering care to save the lives of their fellow warfighters. Medical documentation for these providers is challenging, if not impossible in many instances. Being able to capture the medical care being delivered in these venues may be secondary to saving lives in that moment; however, the need for timely, accurate medical documentation remains. In the near term, this data generates valuable information to higher echelons of care, medical resupply/logistics systems, and Command situational awareness (SA).

To enhance TCCC and improve medical documentation in the MHS, a passive, (e.g., with minimal human effort) autonomous documentation solution of medical care in operational environments is an essential requirement to establishing these critical TCCC data sets. Furthermore, it is vital that the processes in collecting this data does not distract the medic/caregiver’s capability and capacity to deliver care.

Current medical IT capabilities rely on combat medics diverting their attention away from care delivery to document their efforts. This either detracts from the medics’ capability and capacity for performing essential care tasks or necessitates documentation in a delayed manner, often under significant time constraints, that reduce the quality and accuracy of the documentation. In future LSCO engagements, medical assets will be significantly stressed, increasing the likelihood of absent, poor-quality, or incomplete documentation. The development and use of passive, autonomous documentation in tactical military medical care, largely independent of caregiver interactions, will lead to opportunities to inform and potentially achieve the following modernizations:

• Semi-autonomous casualty care delivery

• Autonomous resource triage/assessments

• Autonomous resupply

• Autonomous resupply / medical regulating

• Just in Time (JIT) decision making across echelons of care

• JIT situational awareness for military leaders / decision makers

TECHNICAL OBJECTIVE:

To augment and supplement the current processes of medical documentation for TCCC, it is necessary to develop passive data inputs into the medical IT systems of record to reduce and or eliminate the need for manual entry of care delivery into these systems. This will allow the medic/combat lifesaver to remain focused on their primary task, saving lives. The Autonomous Casualty Care (AC2) Research Portfolio and the Passive Data Collection using AutoDoc project seeks to develop systems of sensor suites that passively collect accurate and reliable data about casualty status, caregiver (e.g., medic and/or combat lifesaver) actions, and real time resource usage. This passive data collection will be leveraged in a follow-on project phase to create algorithms that will autonomously document a TCCC card (e.g., DD Form 1380).

The current aim of the AutoDoc project being solicited for in this upcoming RPP is to establish a system of sensor suites that can reliably collect the core data needed to identify casualty status, key tasks performed by medics, and real-time resource use in casualty care scenarios under realistic battlefield conditions. This system is expected to be a multi-modal suite of sensors (medic and/or casualty-worn, environmental, robotic or drone based; see Figure 1) that can provide a reliable source of passive data to algorithms that can describe casualty care activities including:

• Medic performance of casualty care (e.g., medic registration, actions, tasks, decisions, etc.);

• Patient status (e.g., registration, physiologic, injury patterns, mental status, etc.); and

• Resource utilization (e.g., IVs, blood, tubing, bandages, dressings, medications, etc.).

The Government is seeking Solution Briefs describing a passive technology solution set(s) that supports the above-mentioned aim of the Passive Data Collection using the AutoDoc project. Offerors should describe the current capabilities of their passive technology solution set(s) and explore the art of the possible (e.g., using mature sensor technologies in novel ways to support passive data collection for autonomous TCCC). Candidate passive technology solution sets described in proposals will NOT be constrained to tactical communications in this initial phase, but those constraints should be considered for future phases (for example, follow-on work and RPPs).

Figure 1. Pre-Decisional/Conceptual Diagram of Data Agregation from AutoDoc Sensor Suites

Offerors should be prepared to propose a scope of work in alignment with this program’s intended iterative approach, where a series of government peer reviews will be conducted to inform the continued development of awarded solutions (see Figure 2 for an overview of the expected development timeline).

Figure 2. Passive Data Collection using Autonomous Documentation (AutoDoc) Project Phases

For awareness only: The government anticipates the release of a future solicitation seeking to satisfy the following aims of the AutoDoc Project:

• Develop task identification algorithms that reliably document elements of a DD Form 1380 TCCC card.

• Build an infrastructure database of data passively collected from combat medics performing casualty care tasks in lab, training, and hyper-realistic battlefield settings.

DESIRED SOLUTION CHARACTERISTICS:

Proposed solution sets should expect to conform to the following desired solution characteristics to satisfy a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), characterized by Technology Requirements, Data Output Requirements, and Documentation Requirements outlined below. Offerors are encouraged to propose solutions that meet as many of the desired solution characteristics (listed below) as possible at the time of proposal submission with clear strategies for incorporating all other desired characteristics during the period of performance.

Desired solution characteristics of the Technology Solution Sets

• Comprised of 2 or more commercial off the shelf (COTS) sensors and includes a physical data aggregation point.

• Support passive monitoring of patient, caregiver, and resource consumption.

• COTS Sensors are inclusive, but not limited to, audio, video, physiological monitors/VSMs, wearables and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies.

• Distinguish between patient and caregiver generated data.

• Comprised of existing, proven sensor technologies

• Reliable, valid, effective, and intuitive (easy to use).

• Efficient with respect to size, weight, and power (SWaP) (minimum of 2 hours run time)

• Relevant/applicable to data collection for combat casualty care

• Data processing is effective and efficient

• Suitable for future use in austere, tactical environments

Key information relevant to the data outputs:

• All data from the physical data aggregation point can be downloaded in a format that will be organized and timestamped using a common clock and inclusive of descriptive information (e.g., meta tagging et al.)

• Data outputs conform to industry standards (e.g., not proprietary/inaccessible).

• Raw sensor data outputs are strongly preferred.

Additional documents that Offerors may be required to provide throughout the RPP process:

• List of DD Form 1380 (TCCC card) fields targeted with their sensor suite solution.

• Data Formats/Interoperability Standards used.

• Estimated Data Output/Bandwidth

• Estimated Power requirements and/or battery life.

• Description of software (if applicable)

• User manuals

• Training plan (end user & tech operator focused)

• Conceptual project plan (future phases)

POTENTIAL FUNDING AVAILABILITY AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The U.S. Government (USG) currently has available a total of approximately $1.5 million (M) for anticipated awards to be made through this effort during Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. Award and funding from the Government is expected to be limited to the funding specified above and is contingent upon the availability of federal funds for this program.

MTEC expects to make up to two awards to a qualified Offeror(s) to accomplish the scope of work with a Period of Performance (PoP) not to exceed 24 months.

ACQUISITION APPROACH:

The upcoming RPP will be conducted using a multi-stage acquisition approach.

Stage 1 [Solution Brief]: MTEC Members are invited to submit a Solution Brief using the format contained in the upcoming RPP.

Stage 2 [Solution Brief Pitch]: Offerors who are favorably evaluated during Stage 1- Solution Brief based on the RPP criteria will be invited to present and discuss their proposed solution with the Government sponsors via a virtual “pitch” of the proposed project along with a SOW/Milestone Payment Schedule and cost information.

Stage 3 [Virtual Demonstration]: Offerors selected to advance to Stage 3 will arrange for 4 complete fully functional passive technology solution set(s) to be shipped to TATRC headquarters (Fort Detrick, MD). After an initial live virtual demonstration by the Offeror, the Government will conduct a technical evaluation of the product over the course of four (4) weeks. During this time, the Government expects a technical representative from the offeror to be available for phone or video conferencing to answer questions from the Government.

Stage 4 [Selection for Award]: Upon completion of the Government’s evaluation, Offeror(s) will be notified of the final award decision. Those Offeror(s) selected for award will be invited to submit a detailed Cost Proposal in accordance with the MTEC Proposal Preparation Guide (PPG).

The upcoming RPP will be posted to the MTEC website (https://www.mtec-sc.org/solicitations/) and sam.gov to notify interested parties. The RPP is expected to be released as soon as possible and will have a short proposal preparation period (approximately 30 days). MTEC membership is required for the submission of a Solution Brief 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 Enhanced White Paper 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. The following resources may help Offerors form a more complete team for this requested scope of work.

• The MTEC M-Corps is a network of subject matter experts and service providers to help MTEC members address the business, technical, and regulatory challenges associated with medical product development. Please visit https://www.mtec-sc.org/m-corps/ for details on current partners of the M-Corps.

• MTEC Database Collaboration Tool to help identify potential teaming partners among other MTEC members. 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.

• A dedicated Teaming Connect will be held to facilitate direct interaction amongst MTEC members in relation to this active funding opportunity. This will be a virtual “connect” session via ZOOM where MTEC members will be allowed to provide brief pitch presentations regarding to their https://www.mtec-sc.org/solicitations/ https://sam.gov/content/home http://mtec-sc.org/how-to-join/ https://www.mtec-sc.org/m-corps/ ongoing work, organizational capabilities, and teaming preferences. More information on this event will be provided in the near future.

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.

POINT OF CONTACT:

For inquiries regarding this pre-announcement, please direct your correspondence to Dr. Chuck Hutti, MTEC Biomedical Research Associate, chuck.hutti@ati.org.

Sincerely, MTEC Project Team mailto:lauren.palestrini@mtec-sc.org