Solicitation
ARPA-H Emerging Health Innovators (EHI) Initiative Proposers Day
Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health · Sol. ARPA-H-SOL-26-150
Due in 123 days
Track this notice by email. We'll email you if it's amended or awarded, and a week and two days before responses are due.
AI summary Beta
Some details weren't available to this summary, so it may miss requirements. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
ARPA-H (the health research funding agency inside NIH) is inviting proposals from early-career researchers and innovators and their organizations for health and biomedical research and innovation, under its Emerging Health Innovators (EHI) initiative. It expects to sign multiple Other Transaction (OT) agreements, which are research deals rather than standard FAR contracts. Based on the attached templates, each award is capped at $700,000 for a 2-year base period plus a $350,000 option year, paid in fixed quarterly milestone payments.
Watch out for
- Main solicitation not provided. The files are templates and a model agreement; the Innovative Solutions Opening itself (evaluation criteria, topics, submission steps, dates) and the pitch slides were not provided, so key bid/no-bid facts are missing.
Additional information regarding a non-conforming determination may be found in Section 3.6 of the ISO.
- Strict template and page rules. Not using the mandatory template or breaking the rules can get the proposal rejected as non-conforming before it is reviewed.
Failure to use this template or follow the instructions herein may result in the submission being determined non-conforming.
- Hard price caps and milestone-only payment. You cannot bid above $700,000 base and $350,000 option, and you are paid only after the Government accepts each milestone, so a small business must carry its own costs between payments.
Payment authorization is contingent upon Government acceptance of the milestone in accordance with the Agreement.
- Conflicting base-period ceiling. The pricing table caps the base period at $700,000, but a note under Year 1 says the ceiling is $750,000; ask the agency which is right.
The controlling Base Period ceiling is $750,000 across all eight Base Period milestones.
- Option year not guaranteed. Only the 2-year base is certain; the $350,000 option year is paid only if ARPA-H chooses to exercise it.
The Option Year is not guaranteed.
- OT terms are negotiated and different from FAR contracts. The attached agreement is only a model; final terms are set by the Agreements Officer, so IP, data rights and reporting terms may change.
any final language will be determined by the cognizant ARPA-H Agreements Officer (AO)
- Penalty for transferring IP to foreign entities. Transferring IP created under the agreement to a foreign entity without Government approval means refunding all federal funds paid for it.
the Performer shall refund to the Government the full amount of Federal funds paid under the Agreement for the development of the intellectual property
- Government review before publishing. Papers and public releases must be sent to ARPA-H well ahead of publication, which can slow academic or marketing plans.
at least twenty-one (21) calendar days in advance of intended publication or dissemination
- Heavy research-security and policy paperwork. Proposals must include team disclosures, conflict of interest, IP assertions, cybersecurity and biosecurity answers, with legal certifications that carry prosecution risk if wrong.
you acknowledge that misrepresentations and/or omissions may be subject to prosecution and liability
Read from the notice and 5 attachments. 1 not read in full.
- Attachment G_ARPA-H Model Other Transaction.docx
- Attachment C_Technical and Management Proposal.docx
- Attachment F_Administrative_National_Policy_Requirement.docx
- Attachment D_Task Description Document (TDD).docx
- Attachment E_Milestone_Payment_Schedule.docx
- Attachment B_Pitch Slides.pptx: .pptx files aren't read yet
Full brief
What they want
- Proposals for cutting-edge biomedical, health and community-engaged research and innovation from early-career investigators
- A Technical & Management Proposal: proposal summary, goals and impact, technical plan, and capabilities/management plan
- A Task Description Document (TDD) listing tasks, responsible organizations, locations, deliverables, milestones and risks
- A Milestone Payment Schedule with 8 base-period and 4 option-year quarterly milestones, each with deliverables and objective acceptance criteria
- An Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document (team, conflicts of interest, research security, IP, human/animal research, cybersecurity, biosecurity)
- A pitch slide deck (Attachment B, not readable here)
- Contract type
- Other Transaction (OT) agreement, fixed milestone payments, multiple awards expected
- Period of performance
- Two-year base period (8 quarterly milestones) plus one option year (4 quarterly milestones)
- Place of performance
- DC, USA per SAM.gov; where the research is performed is proposed by each team
- Estimated value
- Caps of $700,000 (base) and $350,000 (option year); maximum potential value per agreement $1,050,000
- Offers due
- SAM.gov shows a response deadline of 2027-02-10 2:00 PM Eastern; the files provided do not say what this date is for (the notice is titled as a Proposers Day)
- Page limits
- Technical & Management Proposal: 8 pages maximum (recommended: summary 2, technical plan 5, capabilities/management 1). The Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document has no page limit.
What to include when you submit
- Use the mandatory Technical & Management Proposal template; files in .pdf, .odx, .doc or .docx, in English
- Format for 8.5 x 11 inch paper, 1-inch margins, font no smaller than 12 point (8 or 10 point allowed for figures, tables and charts)
- Administrative & National Policy Requirements Document: complete in full, sans-serif font no smaller than 11 point, .pdf, .doc or .docx
- Include Attachments D (Task Description Document) and E (Milestone Payment Schedule); Attachments B, D, E, F, G and H do not count toward the 8-page limit
- Proposal validity period of at least 120 days
- Senior/key personnel must attach a Biographical Sketch and Current & Pending Support common forms
- Proposer's EHI Executive Summary Reference Number is requested on the cover sheet, which suggests an earlier executive summary step
You must have
- Aimed at early-career investigators and their organizations (the exact definition of early career is not in the files provided)
ensure ARPA-H identifies and engages early career investigators
- Maintain an active SAM.gov registration, designate an Electronic Business Point of Contact, and register in the Payment Management System (PMS) within 10 days after award
(iii) register to use PMS, within ten (10) calendar days after award of this Agreement.
- No team member may be part of a malign foreign talent recruitment program; every PI and key person must certify
no member of the proposed team is a party in a malign foreign talent recruitment program
- Disclose conflicts of interest, any ARPA-H support-contractor (SETA) work, foreign ownership, and any research done in or tied to foreign countries of concern; provide mitigation plans where needed
- Human or animal research needs IRB or IACUC review plans and assurances
- Do not use covered telecommunications equipment or services (Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, Dahua and similar) in the work
Not in the notice text
- Evaluation factors, scoring and award method (the Innovative Solutions Opening was not provided)
- What the 2027-02-10 date in SAM.gov refers to (Proposers Day, executive summary, or full proposal due date) and the real proposal due dates
- How and where to submit
- How ARPA-H defines an early-career investigator and who is eligible to be the prime
- Topic areas and technical goals for the EHI initiative
- Whether a staged process applies (pitch slides, executive summary, then full proposal)
- Contents of Attachment B (pitch slides) and Attachment H, which were not read
- Which base-period ceiling is correct: $700,000 or $750,000
- Whether resource or cost sharing is expected or scored
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Key facts
- Response due
- Feb 10, 2027, 7:00 PM UTC
- Posted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Solicitation
- ARPA-H-SOL-26-150
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Office
- Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (Arpa-H)
- Set-aside
- No Set aside used
- NAICS
- 541714
- Product/service code
- AN41
- Business type
- Engineering, architecture & research
- Place of performance
- DC, 20003
- Contracting contact
- EHI Program TeamEHI@arpa-h.gov
What similar contracts paid
1,146 contracts at this agency under the same NAICS code had activity in the last 5 years, according to USAspending.gov. Small businesses won 31% of the dollars in this market over the last 3 fiscal years.
Typical contract$735KMiddle half: $217K to $3.7M
Typical per year$251KValue divided by years of performance
Before you respond
Full notice text from SAM.gov
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Emerging Health Innovators (EHI) aims to or seeks to ensure ARPA-H identifies and engages early career investigators. To achieve this goal, ARPA-H is soliciting proposals from these researchers and innovators and their organizations to develop cutting-edge biomedical, health, and community-engaged research and innovation. ARPA-H anticipates multiple Other Transaction awards resulting from this announcement
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