The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this announcement for a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) entitled, "Tele-Sleep Decision Assist Tool." The military is focused on scaling-up the availability of behavioral sleep intervention services to relieve the growing pressure on its workforce and assist in the physiological and psychological restoration of active-duty personnel prior to redeployment or transition into the civilian workforce as veterans. The objective of this upcoming RPP will be to provide a solution that reduces time commitment, minimizes travel, eliminates inconvenience, and enables practitioners not specialized in behavioral sleep intervention to provide treatment. Technical Background: Sleep management is a high priority of the military to optimize Warfighter performance, remain safe, and potentially, reduce the likelihood of psychological issues downstream. Personnel with sleep deprivation are likely to perform at a suboptimal state, both mentally and physically, which jeopardizes themselves, their companions, the mission, and the general effectiveness of the military unit. According to the National Sleep Foundation, "85% of active duty Service members have been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea or insomnia." Studies have also shown that up to 40% of returning personnel have sleep disorders that can lead to depression and anxiety, as well as contribute to other medical disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Currently, behavioral sleep interventions are recommended as the first-line of treatment of such sleep disorders, such as relaxation training, stimulus control therapy, sleep hygiene, etc., and many have shown improvements in patient outcomes in the clinic. However, the success of many of these therapies is limited due to: i) an insufficient number of clinicians and sleep clinics specializing in behavioral sleep interventions; ii) a large number of patients seeking treatment (high demand, low supply), and iii) a current practice that relies on multiple visits of face-to-face sessions with the clinician to reach an acceptable patient outcome. The time commitment, travel, inconvenience and general lack of trained practitioners contributes to the limited accessibility of these valuable interventions and leaves many patients with untreated sleep disorders. Project Objective: This RPP will focus on the transition of evidenced-based behavioral sleep interventions for application to the military population to address the limitations of current practices. Therefore, a solution is required that reduces time commitment, minimizes travel, eliminates inconvenience, and enables practitioners not specialized in behavioral sleep intervention to provide treatment. To accomplish this objective, this RPP will require that Offerors address the following tasks in their proposals. Task 1: Develop a "telehealth" device or alternative means (such as an "app") that provides scalable behavioral sleep intervention methods to a military-relevant population. Task 2: Conduct a clinical study that demonstrates the potential of the "telehealth" device or alternative means (developed in Task 1) to provide behavioral sleep intervention to a military-relevant patient population. Task 3 (To Be Determined By Offeror): Interactions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Financial Framework: The U.S. Government (USG) currently has available approximately $4M for Fiscal Years (FY) 18 and 19 to potentially make two awards of $2M each. The period of performance is not to exceed 24 months, but faster timelines are acceptable. MTEC: The MTEC mission is to assist the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) by providing cutting-edge technologies and supporting effective materiel 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" government contractors, academic research institutions and not-for-profit organizations. Administrative Information: Full proposals are due no later than November 14, 2018 at 12:00pm EST. The RPP is posted to the MTEC website (mtec-sc.org) and a notice will be posted to FedBizOpps (fbo.gov) to notify interested parties. MTEC membership is required for the submission of a full proposal in response to this MTEC RPP. Offerors submitting Full Proposals as the prime contractor must be MTEC members of good standing by November 9, 2018. To join MTEC, please visit http://mtec-sc.org/how-to-join/ A Proposers Conference via webinar will be held for interested parties to have their questions answered by the Government after the RPP is posted. MTEC Members will be notified when the Proposers Conference is scheduled. For inquiries regarding this announcement, please direct your correspondence to the following contacts: • Technical questions Dr. Lauren Palestrini, MTEC Director of Research,
[email protected] or Mr. Bill Howell, MTEC Chief Operating Officer,
[email protected] • Contracting questions Ms. Rebecca Harmon, MTEC Contracting,
[email protected] • Administrative questions Ms. Kathy Zolman, MTEC Program Manager,
[email protected] • Membership questions Ms. Stacey Lindbergh, MTEC Executive Director,
[email protected] For more information about this RPP, please visit the MTEC website (a link is included in the attachment incorporated into this posting).