Funding-Chemical Attribution Signature Studies for Chemical Threat Agents; September 18, 2009 

 

Agency

 

Department of Homeland Security 

 

Description

 

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) states that DHS S&T will “support basic and applied homeland security research to promote revolutionary changes in technologies; advance the development, testing and evaluation, and deployment of critical homeland security technologies; and accelerate the prototyping and deployment of technologies that would address homeland security vulnerabilities.” Pursuant to this mission, the Chemical and Biological Division (CBD) seeks technologies to prevent and defend against a chemical and biological attack. In addition, the division is charged with the responsibility to pursue research to improve response and restoration, conduct threat risk assessments, and invest in chemical forensics and bioforensics research and development. Within the Chemical and Biological Division is the Threat Characterization and Attribution (TCA) Branch, which has the mission to conduct threat and risk assessments on both traditional and advanced agents; conduct experiments to close major scientific knowledge gaps; provide scientific support to the biodefense, chemical defense and intelligence communities; and provide the Nation with an operational biological and chemical forensics capability.

The threat of terrorist or criminal use of chemical threat agents (CTA) remains of great concern in the United States. There are vulnerabilities that create the need to perform chemical analyses for attribution in a rigorous scientific manner. As part of the effort to deter criminal and terrorist chemical attacks and strengthen the law enforcement response to such an act, Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 22, a classified document dealing with domestic chemical defense, was issued. An unclassified portion of this document addresses attribution as a means of identifying the nature and source of materials, the perpetrators and the methods of chemical attacks.

This solicitation is a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) issued under the provisions of Paragraph 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide for the competitive selection of research proposals. Contracts based on responses to this BAA are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law (PL) 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.” A formal Request for Proposals (RFP) will not be issued. Awards under this BAA are planned in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. No contract awards or other instruments that obligate funds will be made until appropriated funds are available from which payment for contract purposes can be made.

 

Announcement Number:  BAA_09-16_DHS_ST

 

Closing Date:  Sep 18, 2009 5:00 pm Eastern

 

Link to Full Announcement

 

https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=248570fe5986538bc17421d11ad915d3&tab=core&_cview=0

 

Contact Information

 

Janet Herman

janet.herman@dhs.gov

Phone: 202-254-6918