Scalable Solutions Office (SSO) Mission Office Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO)

This ISO seeks solution summaries and proposals for projects that fall within the general scope of the ARPA-H Scalable Solutions mission office (SSO). SSO expands what is technically possible by developing approaches that will leverage an interdisciplinary approach and collaborative networks to address challenges of geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, thereby improving health care access and affordability.  In the United States, many communities and remote areas lack access to timely and quality health care, which leads to disparities in health outcomes for those populations. Bottlenecks during the manufacturing processes of products and health technologies also lead to delays and limited availability, preventing effective distribution of health care solutions to areas of need, especially in emergencies.

• Solution summary submissions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov
• Questions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/
• Proposal submission should be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/

Amendment 3 is effective immediately; however, if an entity has previously submitted a solution summary and/or a proposal, the prior solicitation(s) will be followed for those submissions. If a solution summary is submitted; however, a proposal has not been submitted yet, the proposal will be evaluated in accordance with this amendment. The following updates were made to the proposal documents:   

1) Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document

• Updated the instructions and references within the “Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) Affirmations and Disclosure” section.
• Updated questions, instructions, and content within the “Research Security Disclosure” section.
• Updated the instructions and intellectual property data assertions charts within the “IP” section. This included providing definitions of rights categories (unlimited, government purpose, limited, and specially negotiated/other) and consolidating two data assertions charts into one to assist proposers more efficiently complete the document. Specifically, the “Non-Commercial” and “Commercial” tables were removed and replaced with the “Background IP and Data Assertions” table.
• Eliminated the “Software Component Standards” section.
• Updated the Human Subjects Research (HSR) table within the “HSR” section.
• Updated the Animal Subjects Research (ASR) table within the “ASR” section.
• Updated the questions and instructions within the “Biosecurity” section.

2) Cost Proposal Document (Word document)

• Updated the instructions within the “Level of Effort and Labor Costs” section. Added definitions for “burdened labor rate” and “fully burdened labor rate” to provide clarity for proposers when completing the document. Also added a statement to clarify that fully burdened labor rates are not used in the Cost Proposal Workbooks.
• Increased the threshold for proposers to provide supporting documentation with their proposal for planned materials and equipment purchases based on unit cost. The unit cost threshold was increased from $5,000 to $10,000.

3) Cost Proposal Workbooks (Excel spreadsheets)

• Updated instructions to clarify that ARPA-H will assume profit/fee is not applicable for proposals if proposers do not include profit/fee in the workbook.
• Updated the instructions for supporting documentation associated with planned materials and equipment purchases (based on the unit cost threshold increasing from $5,000 to $10,000).

This ISO seeks solution summaries and proposals for projects that fall within the general scope of the ARPA-H Scalable Solutions mission office. SSO expands what is technically possible by developing approaches that will leverage an interdisciplinary approach and collaborative networks to address challenges of geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, thereby improving health care access and affordability.  In the United States, many communities and remote areas lack access to timely and quality health care, which leads to disparities in health outcomes for those populations. Bottlenecks during the manufacturing processes of products and health technologies also lead to delays and limited availability, preventing effective distribution of health care solutions to areas of need, especially in emergencies.

• Solution summary submissions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov
• Questions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/
• Proposal submission should be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/

Amendment 3 is effective immediately; however, if an entity has previously submitted a solution summary and/or a proposal, the prior solicitation(s) will be followed for those submissions. If a solution summary is submitted; however, a proposal has not been submitted yet, the proposal will be evaluated in accordance with this amendment. The following updates were made to the proposal documents:   

1) Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document

• Updated the instructions and references within the “Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) Affirmations and Disclosure” section.
• Updated questions, instructions, and content within the “Research Security Disclosure” section.
• Updated the instructions and intellectual property data assertions charts within the “IP” section. This included providing definitions of rights categories (unlimited, government purpose, limited, and specially negotiated/other) and consolidating two data assertions charts into one to assist proposers more efficiently complete the document. Specifically, the “Non-Commercial” and “Commercial” tables were removed and replaced with the “Background IP and Data Assertions” table.
• Eliminated the “Software Component Standards” section.
• Updated the Human Subjects Research (HSR) table within the “HSR” section.
• Updated the Animal Subjects Research (ASR) table within the “ASR” section.
• Updated the questions and instructions within the “Biosecurity” section.

2) Cost Proposal Document (Word document)

• Updated the instructions within the “Level of Effort and Labor Costs” section. Added definitions for “burdened labor rate” and “fully burdened labor rate” to provide clarity for proposers when completing the document. Also added a statement to clarify that fully burdened labor rates are not used in the Cost Proposal Workbooks.
• Increased the threshold for proposers to provide supporting documentation with their proposal for planned materials and equipment purchases based on unit cost. The unit cost threshold was increased from $5,000 to $10,000.

3) Cost Proposal Workbooks (Excel spreadsheets)

• Updated instructions to clarify that ARPA-H will assume profit/fee is not applicable for proposals if proposers do not include profit/fee in the workbook.
• Updated the instructions for supporting documentation associated with planned materials and equipment purchases (based on the unit cost threshold increasing from $5,000 to $10,000).

This ISO seeks solution summaries and proposals for projects that fall within the general scope of the ARPA-H Scalable Solutions mission office. SSO expands what is technically possible by developing approaches that will leverage an interdisciplinary approach and collaborative networks to address challenges of geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, thereby improving health care access and affordability.  In the United States, many communities and remote areas lack access to timely and quality health care, which leads to disparities in health outcomes for those populations. Bottlenecks during the manufacturing processes of products and health technologies also lead to delays and limited availability, preventing effective distribution of health care solutions to areas of need, especially in emergencies.

• Solution summary submissions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov
• Questions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/
• Proposal submission should be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/

Amendment 2 is effective immediately; however, if an entity has previously submitted a solution summary and/or a proposal, the base solicitation will be followed for those submissions. If a solution summary is submitted; however, a proposal has not been submitted yet, the proposal will be evaluated in accordance with this amendment. The amendment:   

1. Updated solutions summary template;
2. Updated bundle of attachments for other transactions (admin & national policy requirements document, cost proposal narrative, cost proposal workbook, task description document, and technical & management proposal) for proposal submissions;
3. Removed cooperative agreements as a potential award instrument and removed bundle of attachments for cooperative agreements;
4. Updated various sections of the ISO.

This ISO seeks solution summaries and proposals for projects that fall within the general scope of the ARPA-H Scalable Solutions mission office. SSO expands what is technically possible by developing approaches that will leverage an interdisciplinary approach and collaborative networks to address challenges of geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, thereby improving health care access and affordability.  In the United States, many communities and remote areas lack access to timely and quality health care, which leads to disparities in health outcomes for those populations. Bottlenecks during the manufacturing processes of products and health technologies also lead to delays and limited availability, preventing effective distribution of health care solutions to areas of need, especially in emergencies.

• Solution summary submissions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov
• Questions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/
• Proposal submission should be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/

Amendment 1 is effective immediately; however, if an entity has previously submitted a solution summary and/or a proposal, the base solicitation will be followed for those submissions. If a solution summary is submitted; however, a proposal has not been submitted yet, the proposal will be evaluated in accordance with this amendment. The amendment:   

1. Removes the option to submit a proposal through Grants.gov in Section 1 and Section 4.4.  

2. Removes the option for a proposer to submit a solution summary and proposal at the same time. Language is deleted in Section 2.2 and Section 5.1. 

3. Removes duplicative language about the type of eligible proposers in Section 3.1 because language is found in Section 2.2.  

4. Incorporates language in Section 3.2 to show “FFRDCs and government entities, including federal government employees, are not permitted to respond to this solicitation…” and includes information on how handle unique proposal situations.  

5. Incorporates language in Section 3.5 to encourage submission of research ideas notwithstanding any potential ARPA-H award limitations.  

6. Incorporates language in Section 4.1 to expand on the reasoning for requiring solution summaries.  

7. Incorporates language in Section 4.4 to clarify required documents for other transaction and cooperative agreement proposal submissions.  

8. Extends the solicitation to be open until March 3, 2029. Removes time limiting language in Section 4.5. 

9. Includes language in Section 4.6 to show, “ARPA-H is responsible for handling submissions to the extent permitted under applicable federal law, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)” and adds language in Section 5.5 to include FOIA.  

10. Removes the Section 4 “Security Information” language which only referenced Section 6.1.     

11. Clarifies in Section 5.2, the Task Description Document and the Research Description Document will not be evaluated as part of the proposal evaluation process.  

12. Updates Criterion 4 under Section 5.2 to include “Budget Risk Analysis” instead of “Price Realism”.  

13. Includes requirements to comply with NIH’s Genomic Data Sharing Policy if applicable, in Section 6.1  

14. Incorporates requirements for sans serif fonts to be used for readability purposes in Appendix A. 

15. Incorporates administrative changes.  

16. Incorporates administrative changes and updates language under Section 10 in the Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document Template in both Cooperative Agreement and Other Transaction Bundle. 

17. Incorporates an updated Model Cooperative Agreement and Model OT in the Cooperative Agreement and Other Transaction Bundle.

This ISO seeks solution summaries and proposals for projects that fall within the general scope of the ARPA-H Scalable Solutions mission office. SSO expands what is technically possible by developing approaches that will leverage an interdisciplinary approach and collaborative networks to address challenges of geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, thereby improving health care access and affordability.  In the United States, many communities and remote areas lack access to timely and quality health care, which leads to disparities in health outcomes for those populations. Bottlenecks during the manufacturing processes of products and health technologies also lead to delays and limited availability, preventing effective distribution of health care solutions to areas of need, especially in emergencies.

• Solution summary submissions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov
• Questions must be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/
• Proposal submission should be submitted to: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/

NOTE: Proposers’ requesting a Cooperative Agreement are strongly encouraged to submit a proposals to the ARPA-H proposal link (https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/); however, those proposals may be submitted to Grants.gov.