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The Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe) of the Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Administration for Strategic
Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) is issuing this Request for Information (“RFI”) in order to collect feedback on the
attached draft solicitation document (see “Attachment 1: BARDA Accelerator Network 2.0
RFI: Draft Solicitation For Comment”) and obtain information for potential teaming
opportunities.
Information collected from this RFI will serve as continued market research for the
refinement of the next iteration of the BARDA Accelerator Network (BAN 2.0) requirement
using BARDA’s Other Transaction Authority to foster the health security innovation
ecosystem with commercialization and wrap-around support and to enable rapid
development, evaluation, validation, and commercialization of medical countermeasures.
BARDA envisions that BAN 2.0 will support BARDA’s mission by addressing the following
objectives/tasks:
• Support health security innovators, startups, and existing BARDA partners
(“portfolio companies”) by providing wrap-around accelerator services including
entrepreneurship education and access to technical and
business/commercialization expertise and resources.
• Provide BARDA with product development capabilities to source, review, fund,
accelerate, and perform evaluation and validation of medical countermeasures
based on BARDA’s strategic priority.
• Build a rapid emergency response mechanism to fund and accelerate product
development and validation of MCMs that can be developed and deployed as quickly
as possible in the event of a public health emergency.
BARDA Accelerator Network 2.0: Request For Information (“RFI”)
Important Note: Interested parties should not prepare or submit an actual proposal
to the attached draft solicitation document in Attachment 1. The purpose of this RFI
is only to collect information by receiving feedback/comments to the draft
solicitation. Accordingly, BARDA will not issue any awards from responses to this RFI.
Responses will not be evaluated in any way, but may be used to further develop and refine
the described requirement. BARDA will not return or provide feedback on any submissions,
but BARDA does reserve the right to further engage with respondents to clarify their
understanding of submitted comments. Additionally, while we will not provide feedback to
this RFI, commonly asked questions and accompanying BARDA responses may be made
public and would be anonymized to contain no identifying information.
BARDA Accelerator Network 2.0: Request For Information (“RFI”)
BARDA will treat any response to this RFI as source selection sensitive information and will
protect confidentiality accordingly. By submitting a response to this RFI, you understand
and acknowledge that review of those responses may include non-federal BARDA
personnel serving in scientific, engineering, and technical assistance (“SETA”) or similar
support service roles.
Documents are to be submitted electronically via email to BAN_inquiries@hhs.gov by July
18, 2023, 09:00 AM ET. Questions should be sent directly to BAN_inquiries@hhs.gov.
Thank you in advance for any submission as we anticipate responses received to this RFI
will be highly beneficial to BARDA.
Sincerely,
Matthew A. McCord
Head of Acquisitions & Partnerships, DRIVe
Division of Contracts Management & Acquisition (CMA)
Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority (BARDA)
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Attachment 1: BARDA Accelerator Network 2.0 RFI: Draft
Solicitation for Comment
MedicalCountermeasures.gov
22 Based on the lessons learned from the current BARDA Accelerator Network and the COVID-19 pandemic
23 regarding the importance of having agile and scalable mechanisms to support innovation, BARDA is
24 seeking partners for the next iteration of the BARDA Accelerator Network (BAN 2.0) to further optimize
25 and enhance the services provided by the Accelerator Network. With BAN 2.0, BARDA aims to further
26 enhance the global health security innovation ecosystem, optimize startup acceleration and wrap-around
27 services, and ultimately develop the Accelerator Network as a scalable infrastructure for
28 commercialization including active product development support, and validation capabilities during
29 regular operations as well as rapid response during public health emergencies.
30
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37 • Support health security innovators, startups, and existing BARDA partners (“portfolio companies”)
38 by providing wrap-around accelerator services including entrepreneurship education and access to
39 technical and business/commercialization expertise and resources.
40 • Provide BARDA with product development capabilities to source, review, fund, accelerate, and
41 perform evaluation and validation of MCMs based on BARDA’s strategic priority.
42 • Build a rapid emergency response mechanism to fund and accelerate product development and
43 validation of MCMs that can be developed and deployed as quickly as possible in the event of a
44 public health emergency.
45 BARDA intends to enter into other transaction agreements with five or more Accelerator Hub
46 organizations with each Accelerator Hub providing resources and support focused on one of the following
47 Technology Areas:
48 • Therapeutics/Vaccine
49 • Diagnostics/Medical Device
50 • Digital Health
51 • Enabling Technologies (e.g. Biomanufacturing/Drug Development/Clinical Support)
52 • Focus on Special Population (e.g. Pediatrics, low resource settings)
53 Each Accelerator Hub can be an individual accelerator partner or a consortium of partners, although one
54 legal entity will need to be identified as the prime awardee for purposes of entering into an Agreement
55 with BARDA. It is anticipated that the Accelerator Hubs will provide funding and/or services to mission
56 relevant innovators and companies regardless of their physical location worldwide. Respondents may
57 apply to support more than one technology area, but each technology area response must be addressed in
58 a separate proposal. Proposals to multiple technology areas by a respondent will be assessed
59 independently, and only one technology area will be awarded to a single respondent. An Accelerator Hub
60 may not be awarded more than one agreement under this solicitation.
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70 The Accelerator Hubs will be responsible for planning and participating collaboratively with BARDA
71 under this agreement. Through participation in regular teleconferences and/or face-to-face review
72 meetings, the Accelerator Hub will work with BARDA to make progress toward its goal of executing the
73 Accelerator Hubs’ work plans.
75 • Coordinate with BARDA on a regular basis to ensure alignment of the Accelerator Hub’s priorities
76 based on BARDA’s strategic priorities.
77 • Submit technical reports and deliverables, consistent with the Deliverables and Reporting
78 Requirements (Appendix A).
79 • Have in place fiscal and programmatic systems to document accountability and performance.
86 • Therapeutics/Vaccine
87 o Focus on next generation therapeutics and vaccine platforms.
88 • Diagnostics/Medical Devices
89 o Focus on diagnostics and devices to enable pathogen agnostic surveillance, detection, and
90 diagnosis especially at point of care and at home settings, and innovative medical devices
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106 Each Accelerator Hub respondent must demonstrate the capability to provide the following required
107 services. For example, competitive proposals may demonstrate advancement of or complement previous
108 and existing HHS programs such as the current BARDA Accelerator Network, CARB-X, NIH Point-of-
109 Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN), NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx), and
110 the NIH Proof of Concept Network. In addition, there are several other external federal and private bench-
111 to-market commercialization programs that may be leveraged, built on and expanded to support the
112 mission of the Accelerator Hubs.
114 BARDA supports innovators and companies with various levels of expertise at various stages of
115 development. Respondents are required to design programs and offer services across all technology
116 readiness levels (TRL). Under BARDA direction, the Accelerator Hub will be required to work with
117 innovators and companies in the ecosystem including the BARDA portfolio companies to provide the
118 following services:
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133 • Provide innovators from diverse background interested in developing medical countermeasures
134 with access to skills development, hands-on entrepreneurial experience, and networking
135 opportunities.
136 • Provide entrepreneurial educational opportunities on medical countermeasure product
137 development and commercialization activities required to move technologies to the next stage
138 including topics such as business development, fundraising and financing, regulatory,
139 reimbursement.
140 • Recognize and prioritize common gaps and needs across the medical countermeasure product
141 development community and develop training and education programming to address the needs.
142 • Develop and deliver curriculum for support to innovators, startups, and innovation ecosystem via
143 workshops, webinars, other modes of training and communication. The Accelerator Hub must
144 ensure curriculum and workshops are inclusive and cater to diverse audience including both US
145 and foreign based innovators and startups that aim to develop their innovations for the US market.
146 Support for international innovators may include topics such as soft-landing support, IP
147 management, identification of partnership and funding opportunities.
148 • Design and execute at least one health security focused experiential, curriculum and mentorship
149 driven accelerator cohort or competition every two years. These accelerator cohorts can be a
150 component of and/or be integrated with the Development, Evaluation, and Validation Services
151 requirement outlined below.
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153 • Build a network of mentors, industry experts, key opinion leaders – which may include both
154 volunteers and paid consultants - with technical and business expertise that include but not limited
155 to scientific/technical, manufacturing, quality assurance, nonclinical, clinical, business
156 development, regulatory, reimbursement, intellectual property, legal, marketing, fundraising and
157 financing, and strategic partnerships.
158 • Provide necessary expertise, advice and feedback to innovators and companies in the ecosystem
159 including the BARDA portfolio companies in order to accelerate technology and product
160 development as well as mitigate risks inherent to startup companies
161 • Make connections to investors, corporate and strategic partners, and incubators, in addition to
162 BARDA engagement and funding opportunities.
163 • Additional support to innovators includes but is not limited to 1:1 coaching/ mentoring services,
164 grant writing support, and boot camps/accelerator programs focused on specific technology topics
165 defined by BARDA.
166
167 B. Development, Evaluation, and Validation (DEV) Services
168 Each Accelerator Hub will provide product development, evaluation, and validation support to innovators
169 and companies that cover a spectrum of technology readiness for its specific technology area of focus.
170 These DEV services may be provided through a combination of in-house efforts and/or collaborations with
171 relevant experts/partners. The general scope of effort for DEV services should include, but is not limited
172 to:
173 • In collaboration with BARDA, identify unmet needs in the BARDA portfolio. Develop, run, and
174 manage funding solicitation topics to address the needs. The solicitation could use grant, contract,
175 prize, challenge, competition, or other funding mechanisms. Each Accelerator Hub is expected to
176 run at least one funding solicitation each year and support multiple projects with the potential to
177 support additional projects based on BARDA’s needs and the availability of additional funding.
178 The number of projects funded has the ability to change or be negotiated based on the funding and
179 the scope of individual projects.
180 • For each project, the Accelerator Hub is required to source, review, award, and manage product
181 DEV services of these projects. The Accelerator Hubs are required to fund these projects at least
182 within 2 months from the receipt of applications. However, BARDA might require that projects
183 are funded within days and weeks on a case-by-case basis especially during emergency situations.
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201 The development of MCMs against health security threats is an ongoing process in anticipation of future
202 scenarios where BARDA must be able to act and deploy resources rapidly, such as in the event of a future
203 PHE. Once a rapid response scenario is identified by BARDA, it is imperative to dramatically accelerate
204 the development of appropriate MCMs. In addition to providing DEV and wraparound services during
205 times of “steady state”, BARDA anticipates the Accelerator Hubs to leverage additional resources, engage
206 external partners, and develop a streamlined plan for scaling Accelerator Hub operations and outputs in
207 any situation deemed necessary to have a rapid response.
208 The Accelerator Hub will be required to demonstrate the know-how and capability to ramp up all
209 Accelerator Hub functions including wrap-around accelerator services and DEV (outlined in Sections III.A
210 and III.B above) to deliver rapid and scalable solutions in the event of a rapid response scenario. During a
211 scenario should BARDA choose to exercise the option of allocating significant additional funds (up to the
212 OTA agreement ceiling per Section VI) to the Accelerator Hub, it shall be able to boost its capability to
213 identify partners, deploy funds, and provide wrap-around and DEV support for rapid and scaled-up
214 services (both with internal capabilities and relevant external partnerships) in accordance with the
215 proposed Rapid Response Capability Activation Plan (Appendix I). The Accelerator Hubs will be required
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224 It is important to note that this does not prohibit the Accelerator Hub from taking equity positions in any
225 of the supported entities, but rather limits the use of HHS funds for these activities.
231 It is important to note that this does not limit the amount of salary an Accelerator Hub may compensate an
232 individual, rather it limits the amount of salary that can be paid to an individual using HHS funds.
1
If the Respondent is a consortium of partners, one legal entity will need to be identified as the prime. While
consortium members can be non-US-based entities, the prime entity must be a US-based entity. It is the
responsibility of the prime entity to disclose the identity of all entities in the consortium.
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246 Respondents may submit more than one proposal, provided that each proposal is to support one specific
247 technology area (Therapeutics/Vaccines, Diagnostics/Medical Devices, Enabling Technologies Digital
248 Health, or Special Population (Pediatrics/Low Resource Setting)). Any Respondent’s individual proposal
249 proposing to support more than one specific technology area will be considered non-responsive. Multiple
250 proposals by the same respondent, each proposing a different specific technology area but using shared
251 core facilities and programs are acceptable and will be reviewed independently.
252 BARDA will NOT accept duplicate or highly overlapping proposals under review at the same time. This
253 means that the BARDA will not accept a proposal that has substantial overlap with another proposal
254 pending the outcome of the review of earlier submissions.
255 Former federal employees, fellows, or contractors who worked for BARDA on the Accelerator Network
256 within the previous year, at the time of the proposal submission, are ineligible to respond. In addition, any
257 individual who contributed to the creation of this announcement is ineligible to respond. All members of
258 the proposed team for the project (including any subcontractors or consultants) must certify whether their
259 organization, including its individual team members and proposed subcontractors or consultants, has
260 provided similar support to any U.S. Government agency. If a Respondent’s proposed team includes a
261 former BARDA federal employee or a member who has provided Accelerator Network support to BARDA
262 or another U.S. Government agency with whom BARDA engages, it is the responsibility of the
263 Respondent to disclose this information and demonstrate that no actual or potential conflict of interest
264 exists.
265
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287
299
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302 • The right to request additional, necessary documentation upon initial review. Such additional
303 information may include but is not limited to, a further detailed proposal, budgets, and
304 representations and certifications.
305 • The right not to select a Respondent’s Proposal for award.
306 • The right to remove a Respondent from consideration should (i) the respondent fails to reach an
307 agreement on terms, conditions, and cost within a reasonable time; (ii) the respondent fails to
308 provide requested additional information in a timely manner, or (iii) BARDA believes it is in the
309 best interests of the USG.
315 Submissions are due at 12:00PM ET on the due dates listed below for each technology area. BARDA
316 may adjust the closing date for submissions under any of the following technology areas through
317 amendment of this notice.
318 • Diagnostics/Medical Devices by Summer 2023 with the intention to make the award in
319 FY2023.
320 • Therapeutics/Vaccine by Summer 2023 with the intention to make the award in FY2023.
321 • Enabling Tech (Biomanufacturing/Drug Development/Clinical Support) by Summer 2023 with
322 the intention to make the award in FY2023.
323 • Digital Health by Fall 2023 with the intention to make the award in FY2024.
324 • Special Population (Pediatrics, Low Resource Settings) by Winter 2024 with the intention to
325 make the award in FY2024.
326 All proposals will be kept confidential and reviewed pursuant to the criteria established. Any interested
327 parties that respond to this solicitation will be deemed a Respondent. BARDA reserves the right to engage
328 with any Respondent, as necessary, to clarify information submitted in the proposal. Respondents not
329 selected for the award will be notified of the decision, but formal debriefings will not be offered.
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336 Please submit a proposal consisting of a narrative (including figures, schematics, diagrams, graphics, etc.,
337 which must be labeled) that describes the organization’s capabilities, experience, and approach, to perform
338 the tasks and responsibilities outlined in sections 1 – 5 below. Please structure proposals in accordance
339 with the sections below.
341 Identify the Technology Area the Respondent is applying for and describe
342 • How the Respondent will partner with BARDA to develop a program as a BAN 2.0 Accelerator
343 Hub
344 • Why the Respondent is interested in partnering with BARDA, and
345 • How the Respondent can help BARDA’s mission to save lives and protect Americans from 21st
346 century health security threats as a BAN 2.0 Accelerator Hub.
347 2. Prospectus of Relevant Experience
348 This section pertains to current and past performance. The Respondent must include detailed examples of
349 its relevant current and past performance. The Respondent should also include experience and past
350 performance of key personnel and collaborators who will deliver the objectives of the partnership. All
351 examples should stand on their own without the need for evaluators to do any external research outside of
352 what is provided in the proposal. Proper citations (weblinks, papers, presentations, etc.) and supporting
353 evidence are required in the following areas:
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369 Respondent should provide an overview of capabilities it possesses to source, provide wrap around
370 accelerator services, Development, Evaluation, and Validation, and rapid response services as described
371 in Section III in support of companies regionally, nationally, and internationally located. If the Respondent
372 does not currently have all the necessary capabilities, describe how the respondent plans to scale operations
373 to support Accelerator Hub activities and management.
374 a. Provide an overview of the key personnel and support staff (including key subcontractors,
375 consultants, etc.) who will be responsible for the management and operations of the
376 Accelerator Hub. Provide the following for each of the proposed personnel:
377 (a) Name
378 (b) Description of role, contribution, and proposed level of effort
379 (c) Relevant Experience
380 (d) CV/Resume (attached as an appendix)
381 b. Provide a detailed description of how the Respondent will protect against conflicts of interest,
382 if any exist. It is the Respondent’s responsibility to establish policies and manage all internal
383 conflicts of interest.
384 c. Provide a description of the Respondent’s existing facilities and infrastructure and any future
385 plans, if any, for scale-up to address this partnership.
386 4. Program Design and Technical Approach
387 Respondents should provide an overview of how they envision to support the following required
388 capabilities of the BARDA Accelerator Network Hub as identified in Section III.
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454 It is anticipated that the pricing structure for each Agreement will consist of a base fixed price for (a)
455 Wrap-around Accelerator services ($500K per year), (b) a fixed price for Development, Evaluation, and
456 Validation services ($1M per year), and (c) a variably structured Rapid Response Capability element that
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462 The Respondent shall submit the following Cost/Price Proposal volume as follows:
466 The Written Cost/Price Proposal shall be provided in Word (.docx or .doc) or PDF and should detail all
467 the activities included in the proposed base fixed price for each service separately as outlined in Section
468 III and Section VI (i.e., Wrap-Around Accelerator Services, Development, Evaluation, and Validation and
469 Rapid Response Capability). This narrative response should illustrate the Respondent’s understanding of
470 the labor market and the appropriate labor mix and costs associated with the services above. Note, the
471 fixed amounts for each service area in this section should support all requirements as outlined in Section
472 III and all other administrative activities. It should be inclusive of, but not necessarily limited to:
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489 All proposal information in response to this solicitation is submitted at no cost or obligation to the
490 Government. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition-
491 sensitive information contained in their response.
492
496
507 If it is determined that the Respondent does not satisfy the eligibility requirements, the proposal will not
508 be evaluated. If it is determined the respondent does satisfy the eligibility requirement, the proposal will
509 be evaluated against the evaluation criteria for each of the Required Capabilities (Wrap Around
510 Accelerator Services; Development, Evaluation, and Validation; Rapid Response Capability).
2
If the Respondent is a consortium of partners, one legal entity will need to be identified as the prime. While
consortium members can be non-US-based entities, the prime entity must be a US-based entity. It is the
responsibility of the prime entity to disclose the identity of all entities in the consortium.
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514 • Therapeutics/Vaccine
515 • Diagnostics/Medical Devices
516 • Digital Health
517 • Enabling Tech (Biomanufacturing/Drug Development/Clinical Support)
518 • Special Population (Pediatrics, Low Resource Settings)
519 If it is determined the respondent is responsive, the proposal will be evaluated against the following
520 evaluation criteria listed below in descending order of importance for each required capability:
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596 • The Government will evaluate the estimated cost/price proposed by the Respondent for
597 performing all the requirements outlined in this solicitation. This evaluation will include an
598 analysis of the proposed cost/price together with all the supporting cost/price information required
599 including the rationale for assumptions made. The Government will evaluate the cost/price
600 proposal for completeness and value to the Government.
601
608 Following this initial evaluation of each Technology Area, the Respondent whose submission appears to
609 offer the best value to the USG will be invited to enter negotiations with the intent to reach and execute an
610 Agreement. Through this process, if it is determined that the respondent does not offer the best value to
611 the USG or mutual agreement on the terms cannot be reached, another Respondent may be invited to enter
612 negotiations.
613 By engaging in this process, submitting a proposal to this announcement, or entering into an agreement
614 resulting from this announcement, Respondents acknowledge that non-federal personnel may participate
615 and provide input throughout the evaluation or contract administration process. All non-governmental
616 personnel who support BARDA are strictly bound by appropriate non-disclosure and conflict of interest
617 requirements. Respondents should not engage in any part of this process if they do not consent to the
618 participation of non-federal consultants as described in this subparagraph.
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621 The Accelerator Hub shall comply with the following BARDA standard Deliverable and Reporting
622 Requirements:
3
Unless otherwise specified, Hub’s format is acceptable. Submissions may be in MS Office or PDF format.
Funding and scheduling information shall be in MS Excel and MS Project, respectively.
4
Unless otherwise specified, ALL deliverables shall be emailed to the Other Transaction Agreements Officer
(OTAO) and Other Transaction Technical Representative (OTTR) listed in the Agreement AND uploaded to the
USG-specified database/folder.
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623 Specific formats, contents, and timelines for these reports will be finalized during negotiations.
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