Low Cost Biological Detector | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through its Science and Technology (S and T) directorate and the Office of Procurement Operations (Grants Division), issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) titled "Low Cost Biological Detector" (Funding Opportunity Number BAA09 15). The opportunity is framed as a high-risk, high-payoff research and development effort aimed at producing a proof of concept within roughly one to three years. The central idea is to push for a potentially revolutionary breakthrough in low-cost biological detection, rather than funding incremental improvements to existing systems. DHS explicitly signals that it wants unconventional, "out of the box" approaches, including technologies that could disrupt the normal, gradual pace of technology development in this field.

The solicitation emphasizes innovation as the main selection driver. Proposers are expected to show that their work targets transformative gains relevant to homeland security needs, including emerging biological threats and real operational challenges. DHS also notes upfront that significant technological risk is expected and accepted under this program, but that the potential upside could be substantial if a new detection approach proves feasible, scalable, and operationally meaningful. In practice, that means the agency is willing to consider ideas that may not be fully mature yet, as long as the proposer can lay out a credible path to demonstrating a working concept in the stated timeframe.

In terms of award structure, the announcement lists multiple possible funding instruments: cooperative agreements, grants, "other," and procurement contracts, indicating DHS may choose the mechanism that best fits the technical effort and the level of government involvement anticipated. The posting does not commit to any number of awards (ExpectedAwards is listed as 0) and provides no budget details at the time of posting (EstimatedTotalFunding, AwardCeiling, and AwardFloor are all shown as 0). Cost sharing is not required. DHS explicitly reserves the right to fund all, some, or none of the proposals received, reinforcing that only the strongest submissions aligned to the high-impact goals are likely to be selected.

Eligibility is broadly open. The BAA is described as open to "all responsible sources," with the eligible applicant category listed as unrestricted. That typically means universities, nonprofits, private companies (including small businesses), and other qualified organizations may submit, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full BAA document itself.

Key dates in the notice show a two-step process with registration requirements. The opportunity was posted on March 10, 2010, with an original and current closing date of May 28, 2010, and an archive date of June 27, 2010. Importantly, registration was required for white papers due by March 24, 2010, and registration for full proposals was due by May 21, 2010. Those registration deadlines suggest DHS intended to manage submission volume and ensure only registered parties could submit at each stage, so applicants needed to plan ahead rather than waiting until the final closing date.

For access and submission details, the notice directs interested parties to the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) site (the system used at the time) and instructs users to search by agency "Department of Homeland Security" and then under "Office of Procurement Operations" to locate the BAA. Questions or issues accessing the full announcement were to be directed to a named contracts specialist, Janet Herman, at DHS, and the notice also references a DHS mailbox for questions and information related to the BAA.

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