The Armed Forces Pest Management Board (AFPMB), an agency of the Department of Defense (DoD), is soliciting pre-proposals for original and innovative research designed to develop new interventions for protection of deployed military personnel from diseases caused by arthropod-borne pathogens and to improve control of bed bugs and filth flies. Diseases of significant concern include Lyme disease, malaria, dengue fever and other arboviruses. The program supports development of: (1) new toxicants or the adaptation of existing toxicants to medically relevant vectors; (2) new insecticide application techniques; and (3) new personal protection tools that prevent human-vector contact. Ideally the research would support the Advanced Technology Development (i.e. DoD RDT&E “Budget Activity 3” in the DoD Financial Management Regulation Volume 2B, Chapter 5) of new insecticides, or improved formulations of existing insecticides for vector control, new technology or enhanced modalities of personal protection from biting arthropods, or would improve the efficacy and sustainability of equipment for application of pesticides for vector control in a military operational environment. Research should be product-oriented, consisting of advanced research related to a particular technology or new capability, evaluation of experimental products for military uses, or research directed towards development of an existing prototype product for commercial manufacture. Research should include semi-field or field evaluation of prototype products. The research must be primarily applicable to the military, products should be transferable to civilian uses. The program consists of competitive grants open to principal investigators (PI) from academia, industry, and local or state government agencies. Federal Agencies, to include DoD and USDA, may apply subject to appropriate regulations. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is intended to solicit pre-proposals for AFPMB for those parts of development not related to a specific system or hardware procurement in accordance with Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter II, Part 200 CFR. The purpose of this BAA is to identify the best available science, and as such, there are no set-asides associated with any awards resulting from this BAA. Specific areas of interest are described in the “Areas of Interest” section of this BAA. This Announcement provides a general description of project areas, including specific areas of interest, general information, evaluation and selection criteria, and proposal preparation instructions. All documentation and or attachments that are required with the submission of a full proposal, if requested, are described in the Mandatory Proposal Forms section of this announcement. Awards are typically made under grants; however, other funding opportunities may be considered. Pre-proposals are sought from all eligible sources, including state and local government, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private industry. Generally, this announcement is continuously open; preliminary proposals (pre-proposals) may be submitted and will be evaluated at any time throughout the year. The availability of funds may limit the ability of the U.S. Government to make awards in specific areas; nevertheless, pre-proposals are sought under this BAA announcement for areas consistent with the mission areas identified in Section V of this announcement. This announcement of the AFPMB’s current interests will be posted on the Grants.gov web portal (http://www.grants.gov), the Federal Business Opportunity website (http://www.fedbizopps.gov), Natick Contracting Division (http://www3.natick.army.mil/AFPMBBAA.aspx) and the AFPMB website http://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/afpmb/. From time to time, this BAA may be amended, in addition to special announcements or calls for proposals. Additionally, the application process may be amended as other electronic application processes are implemented. All amendments to this BAA will be announced on the websites shown above. Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposal ideas with the AFPMB technical contacts listed in Section IV, paragraph G, Federal Awarding Agencies Contacts. Administrative questions concerning the preparation of pre-proposals or proposals should be addressed to U.S. Army Contracting Command Natick Contracting Division/ Grants Officer. They should be emailed to
[email protected], ATTN: AFPMB-BAA-19-01. Issues with submitting applications through the Grants.gov web portal should be directed to the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726 or email
[email protected]. The Contact Center hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 7 AM to 9 PM Eastern Standard Time. Please note pre-proposal (white paper) submissions should not be posted to Grants.gov. The CFDA number for this announcement is 12.355. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) can be accessed online at https://www.cfda.gov. The online CFDA provides access to a database of all Federal programs available to the grant community, including state, local and tribal Governments, academia and research institutions, commercial firms and not-for-profits. Included on the web site are contact information for the office that administers each program, instructions on how to apply for assistance, and several proposal writing guides. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ANNOUNCMENT IS NOT FOR THE ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING, CONSULTING OR OTHER TYPES OF SUPPORT SERVICES.