Solicitation
Fast Assessment of Solutions, Therapeutics, Pharmaceuticals, and SupplieS (FASTPASS) Innovative Solutions Opening
Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
AI summarySolution Summary slides are due September 21, 2026 (passed), and a presentation is required before a full proposal; the response due date is November 10, 2026, 4:00 PM Eastern. Solicitation ARPA-H-SOL-26-160 from ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health) seeks a fast scanner, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), that checks imported medicines through their packaging. It is an Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO, a call for research proposals), and ARPA-H plans multiple Other Transaction (OT) agreements, a flexible award type, over a 54-month program. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
This summary may miss requirements: 3 of 11 attachments weren't read (APPENDIX-D-Cost-Proposal-Workbook Amendment 01.xlsx, Appendix B_FASTPASS_Pre-Proposal Discussion Template and Instructions.pptx and 1 more). Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
Solution Summary slides are due September 21, 2026 (passed), and a presentation is required before a full proposal; the response due date is November 10, 2026, 4:00 PM Eastern. Solicitation ARPA-H-SOL-26-160 from ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health) seeks a fast scanner, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), that checks imported medicines through their packaging. It is an Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO, a call for research proposals), and ARPA-H plans multiple Other Transaction (OT) agreements, a flexible award type, over a 54-month program.
Who can bid (10)
- No set-aside is stated: universities, non-profits, small businesses and other commercial entities may respond if they are not debarred or suspended.
- A Solution Summary Presentation must be given before submitting a full proposal; at least one person from each organization on the team must take part.
- Be registered in SAM.gov with a valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) when submitting, and keep the registration active through award and performance. New registrations take 7-10 business days.
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- Register on the ARPA-H Solutions site to submit documents.
- Federally funded research centers (FFRDCs) and government entities, including government employees, are not considered as prime or sub-performer, unless the proposer documents that the FFRDC's capability is unique.
- Anyone currently providing support services to ARPA-H is not eligible for an award.
- Foreign entities may take part only if they follow export control and security rules; no award goes to an entity of concern, a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program, a covered foreign country entity, or a suspended or debarred entity.
- The concept must not already have received funding or been selected for award negotiations under another funding opportunity.
- Disclose any organizational conflict of interest (OCI: a conflict between this work and other roles) and send a plan to reduce it.
- For a multi-party team, a fully executed teaming agreement signed by all members must be in place before award.
How to submit: ARPA-H Solutions site: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/ (registration on the site is required). Questions go through https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/.. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (10)
From the version posted Oct 21, 2026.
- Serious: Required Solution Summary Presentation before a full proposal. Step 3 of the ISO is the Solution Summary Presentation, with slides due September 21, 2026, 4:00 PM ET; a business that skips it cannot send a full proposal due November 10, 2026.
- Serious: Three-phase program with cuts after Phase I. This opening covers all three 18-month phases, but performers are down-selected after 18 months and only successful Phase I teams move on to Phase II.
- Serious: SAM.gov registration needed before submitting. A new SAM.gov registration with a UEI takes 7-10 business days on average, and it must be active when you submit. Check a SAM.gov registration.
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- Worth checking: ARPA-H Solutions site registration required. Late submissions caused only by registration delays may not be considered, so register early.
- Worth checking: Multi-party teams need a signed teaming agreement before award. Every member of a multi-party team becomes a party to the OT agreement and must sign the teaming agreement, which covers the full program scope.
- Worth checking: Destructive or contact-based methods are out of scope. Methods that open or touch the product, and models that only apply existing methods or large language models, will likely be treated as out of scope.
- Worth checking: Large proposal package with redlined OT agreement. You must send many parts, including the draft OT agreement with edits or a no-change statement, plus cost workbooks and policy forms.
- Worth checking: Research security forms for all senior and key personnel. Selected proposals get a Research Security Review, and missing or unclear disclosures can remove a proposal from consideration.
- Minor: Open-source and software expectations. ARPA-H wants software, documentation and data as deliverables, and the IP structure may be weighed in the technical review.
- Minor: Date passed (Oct 21, 2026): Amendment 01 changed cost proposal materials. Amendment 01, dated October 21, 2026, revised Appendix C.3, renamed Attachment D as Appendix D, and fixed a typo in the cost workbook; use the amended versions.
Read from the notice and 8 attachments. 3 of 11 not read. Show which files.
- FASTPASS ISO ARPA-H-SOL-26-160 Amendment 01.pdf (read)
- APPENDIX-C3-Cost-Proposal-Model Amendment 01.docx (read)
- APPENDIX-C.0-Proposal Format and Instructions.docx (read)
- Appendix A_Program and Technical Description.pdf (read)
- APPENDIX-C.1-Technical and Management Proposal Model.docx (read)
- APPENDIX-C.2-Task Description Document Model.docx (read)
- APPENDIX E-Draft OT Agreement.docx (read)
- APPENDIX F_Administrative National Policy Document.docx (read)
- APPENDIX-D-Cost-Proposal-Workbook Amendment 01.xlsx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
- Appendix B_FASTPASS_Pre-Proposal Discussion Template and Instructions.pptx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
- APPENDIX C.4_Milestone Payment Schedule Model.xlsx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
Full summary
What they want
- Technical Area 1 (TA1): next-generation sensors that read a drug's chemical makeup through its packaging without opening it, such as terahertz, Raman, x-ray or nuclear resonance methods.
- Technical Area 2 (TA2): AI and machine learning models and system software that combine signals from sensing methods, cut noise, self-calibrate and classify products. TA2 proposals must ingest data from at least three sensing methods.
- Cover six packaging types: boxes of liquid vials or syringes, bottles of solid oral doses, boxes of lyophilized vials, boxed blister packs, boxed liquid solutions in bags, and barrels of bulk powder.
- Fast results with very few false alarms: analysis of roughly 15-20 seconds per sample, in a transportable, rugged system for ports and warehouses that can calibrate itself.
- Show progress at demonstrations in each of three 18-month phases, from simple lab samples to real-world samples; work with independent verification and validation (IV&V) partners who test and check results.
- Deliver data, reports, software and milestone evidence to the Government; ARPA-H prefers open-source-aligned intellectual property (IP) and wants software and data as deliverables.
- A proposal may address one technical area or both; teams may be prime and subcontractors, or a multi-party team in which every member signs the OT agreement.
- Contract type
- Other Transaction (OT) agreement, not a standard federal contract; the sample agreement pays a fixed amount for each milestone met
- Period of performance
- 54-month program in three 18-month phases; performers can be dropped at the end of a phase or at any point, for example after the middle-of-phase demonstrations
- Place of performance
- DC, USA per the SAM.gov fields; each proposal lists its own places of performance, and demonstrations may be at Government partner sites such as FDA facilities
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Scientific and technical review of each conforming proposal on its own merits; proposals are not ranked against each other. ARPA-H may select all, some, one or none for negotiation.
- Offers due
- November 10, 2026, 4:00 PM Eastern
- How to submit
- ARPA-H Solutions site: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/ (registration on the site is required). Questions go through https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/.
- Page limits
- Technical & Management Proposal: 30 pages for one technical area, 40 pages for both. The task description, cost narrative, milestone schedule, cost workbook, draft OT agreement and Administrative & National Policy document do not count. Biographies, references, letters of support and the software component plan are also outside the limit.
What they'll judge offers on
- Criterion 1, Overall Scientific and Technical Merit: innovative, sound approach, clear tasks and deliverables, risks and mitigation, IP and software effects on commercialization
- Criterion 2, Proposer's Capabilities and/or Related Experience: team expertise, similar past work, key personnel bio-sketches
- Criterion 3, Potential Contribution to Relevance to the ARPA-H Mission and User Experience: potential to transform pharmaceutical import assessment, end-user needs, cost and access
- Criterion 4, Assessment of Proposed Cost/Price: realistic and reasonable costs backed by details; resource sharing may be a positive
What to include when you submit
- Send one proposal per team, covering one technical area or both.
- Technical & Management Proposal (Appendix C.1): summary, innovative claims table, goals and impact, Gantt chart timeline, technical plan, risk plan, commercialization strategy narrative, capabilities and management plan, and a list of partners with the nature of each partnership.
- Also send the software component technical plan, a biosketch for each key person (NIH format is accepted), references cited, and letters of support.
- Task Description Document (Appendix C.2): strongly encouraged model; its tasks must match the tasks in the cost workbook tabs for each phase.
- Cost materials: Cost Proposal Narrative (Appendix C.3), Milestone and Payment Schedule (Appendix C.4) and Cost Proposal Workbook (Appendix D); Amendment 01 revised Appendix C.3 and Appendix D. Back up any item over $10,000 with quotes or invoices.
- Send the draft OT agreement (Appendix E) with your redlines and rationale, or a written statement that you propose no changes.
- Complete the Administrative & National Policy Requirements document (Appendix F) in full, with research security forms for every senior or key person, a conflict of interest disclosure and a mitigation plan if needed.
- Format: 8.5 by 11 inch pages, 1-inch margins, sans serif font no smaller than 11 point (8 or 10 point allowed in figures, tables and charts), written in English.
- Set a proposal validity period of at least 120 days.
- Mark proprietary information on the cover page and every page that has it; do not use the word 'Confidential'.
After award, you must have
- Register in the Payment Management Services (PMS) system to submit invoices. From APPENDIX-C.0-Proposal Format and Instructions.docx:
Performers will be required to register in, and submit invoices for payment through, the Payment Management Services (PMS)
Not in the notice text
- Attached but not read: Appendix B (slide template and instructions for the required Solution Summary Presentation), Appendix C.4 (milestone and payment schedule model) and Appendix D (cost workbook). The middle of the draft OT agreement was also left out.
- The total funding, the size of each award and the number of awards are not stated; the ISO says only that multiple OT agreements are anticipated.
- The date and time of each virtual Solution Summary Presentation are not given; the link is shared after the slide deadline.
- The ISO gives two web addresses for Solution Summary submission (Submit-Solution and submit-summary); check which one the ARPA-H Solutions site uses.
- The terms in the middle of the draft OT agreement (disputes, intellectual property rights, foreign access and security articles) were not read.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How to submit, from the AI summary: ARPA-H Solutions site: https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Submit-Proposal/ (registration on the site is required). Questions go through https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 21, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), Washington, DC
- Product/service code
- AN13 · Health R&D Services; Health Care Services; Experimental Development
- Business type
- Engineering, architecture & research (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541715)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 21, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 10, 2026
- Aug 20, 2026 · SolicitationDue Nov 10, 2026
- Related notices
Other notices that name this solicitation, or that this one names.
- SURPASS Webinar and Proposers' Day Information · ARPA-H-SN-26-164Posted earlier Sep 30, 2026 · Due Oct 12, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
October 21, 2026 FASTPASS ISO, ARPA-H-SOL-26-160, Amendment 01 The purpose of Amendment 01 is to: (1) Revise Section 1.2 of the Appendix C.3: Cost Proposal Narrative Model; (2) Rename Attachment D: Cost Proposal Workbook to Appendix D: Cost Proposal Workbook; and (3) Revise item 4 under the General tab of Appendix D: Cost Proposal Workbook to correct a typographical error. No other changes were made to the body of the ISO or appendices. See attached FASTPASS ISO, ARPA-H-SOL-26-160, Amendment 01. _________________________ August 20, 2026 The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Fast Assessment of Solutions, Therapeutics, Pharmaceuticals, and SupplieS (FASTPASS) program aims to develop a near real-time, non-destructive, AI-enabled system for screening pharmaceutical products and inputs through their packaging at ports of entry and other supply-chain nodes. Interested parties are invited to review the attached FASTPASS Innovative Solutions Opening, ARPA-H-SOL-26-160.
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