Armed Forces Pest Management Board Broad Agency Announcement

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.