ARPA-H’s new Technology InteGrator and AcceleratoR (TIGAR) Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO) is a tightly scoped opportunity for government contractors and their research partners to reshape how complex biologics, tissues, and organs are stored, transported, and deployed at scale. By seeding high-risk, high-impact biopreservation concepts, TIGAR aims to unlock temperature-flexible storage for increasingly large and complex biological systems, with implications across military, Veterans Affairs (VA), and civilian health delivery ecosystems.
Technical Objectives and Capability Areas
TIGAR is part of ARPA-H’s Exploratory Topics portfolio, designed to rapidly generate proofs-of-concept aligned to Mission Office priorities rather than fund long, multi-phase programs from day one. For contractors, this means ARPA-H is looking for sharply defined technical bets with credible experimentation plans, not broad platform narratives.
At its core, TIGAR seeks enabling technologies that stabilize regenerative tissues and organs at practical, easily maintained temperatures using conventional equipment, including -80°C, -20°C, 4°C, or 20 to 25°C room temperature. Solutions may integrate any combination of new materials, AI/ML, high-throughput screening, biological interventions, devices, processing methods, analytics, and packaging approaches that together overcome specific biopreservation bottlenecks. ARPA-H explicitly favors strategies that reduce reliance on tightly controlled cold-chain logistics and allow safe storage under a broader range of environmental conditions, so long as they avoid undue cost or operational complexity.
Each proposed effort must be structured as an 18-month period of performance, split into two 9-month phases with a down-select at the end of Phase 1. By the end of the performance period, performers must show measurable progress toward functional preservation of either entire structures, such as organoids, organs, or organ sub-units, or at least one cubic centimeter of tissue for 30 or more days at the stated temperatures, with evidence of cell viability, function, and critical quality attributes for the chosen system. Preferred demonstration models are systems that are currently difficult to biobank or stockpile, including organoids, donated tissues, whole organs, organ sub-structures, vascularized allografts, and engineered tissues. Purely cellular advances without a path to deployment in thick tissues are out-of-scope.
Program and Solicitation Overview
TIGAR is being solicited via ISO ARPA-H-SOL-26-144 under the Scalable Solutions Office, with multiple awards anticipated as Other Transaction Agreements. ARPA-H will only accept prime/subcontractor teaming arrangements and will not consider multi-party teaming constructs beyond that structure. Universities, non-profits, small businesses, and other commercial entities are all encouraged to respond, provided they are not debarred or suspended.
The program uses a two-step submission model built around an initial mandatory Solution Video followed by a Full Proposal. Solution Videos will receive a response indicating whether the team is encouraged or discouraged to submit a Full Proposal, but proposers remain free to submit a Full Proposal regardless of the feedback. Submissions must be in English, follow the appendices for format and content, use sans serif fonts no smaller than 11-point, and be uploaded solely through the ARPA-H Solution Submission Portal. Late submissions due to registration delays may not be accepted.
Eligibility is broad but with some notable constraints. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and government entities, including government employees, cannot serve as the prime or a sub-performer, unless the proposer can document that an FFRDC brings a unique, otherwise unavailable capability and ARPA-H concurs. Entities currently providing professional support services to ARPA-H, whether technical, professional, financial, or administrative, are ineligible for award under this ISO. Foreign entities may participate if they comply with applicable security and export control requirements, but awards cannot be made to entities of concern as defined in the CHIPS and Science Act, individuals in malign foreign talent recruitment programs, covered non-domestic entities under 50 U.S.C. § 3059, or any suspended or debarred entity. All proposers must hold an active SAM.gov registration with a valid UEI at submission and throughout performance.
Key Dates and Submission Timeline
All dates are Eastern Time.
- Webinar: May 14, 2026
- Webinar registration deadline: May 12, 2026, 11:59 PM
- Intake Group 1 Solution Video due: June 8, 2026, 5:00 PM
- Intake Group 1 Full Proposal due: August 5, 2026, 5:00 PM
- Intake Group 2 Solution Video due: December 8, 2026, 5:00 PM
- Intake Group 2 Full Proposal due: February 5, 2027, 5:00 PM
- ISO closing date: February 5, 2027, 11:59 PM
Submission portals:
- Questions: ARPA-H Solutions Ask A Question portal
- Solution Videos: ARPA-H Solutions Submit Solution portal
- Full Proposals: ARPA-H Solutions Submit Proposal portal
Registration in the ARPA-H Solution Submission Portal is required before upload, and ARPA-H explicitly instructs proposers to register well in advance of the Solution Video deadline, as late submissions due solely to registration delays will not be considered.
Funding Overview
TIGAR supports well-scoped, early-stage concepts with a total ARPA-H funding request capped at 2 million USD over the 18-month period of performance. The agency expects performers to leverage prior research and encourages resource-sharing mechanisms, such as in-kind contributions, shared infrastructure, or post-performance value-sharing, when aligned with program goals, though such mechanisms are not mandatory. Resource sharing more broadly is encouraged under this ISO.
Full Proposals will be evaluated using four criteria, listed in descending order of importance.
- Overall scientific and technical merit: ARPA-H is looking for highly innovative, technically sound approaches with logically sequenced tasks, clearly defined deliverables, credible risk identification, and feasible mitigation plans. Evaluators may also consider how IP rights and software components affect commercialization and alignment to open-source solutions and standards.
- Proposer’s capabilities and related experience: The government will assess the team’s ability to deliver within the proposed budget and schedule, drawing on prior relevant efforts and reviewing bios for key personnel including the Principal Investigator, Project Manager, Regulatory Expert, Product Development Lead, commercialization experts, and other critical staff.
- Contribution to the ARPA-H mission and user relevance: Reviewers will look at potential future research and development, commercial, and clinical applications, the ability to address unmet biomedical needs, and the prospect of transforming biomedicine, with particular attention to interdisciplinarity and clear understanding of end-user workflows, access, and affordability.
- Assessment of cost and price: ARPA-H will analyze whether proposed costs are realistic for the technical approach, aligned with stated goals, and supported by adequate detail across labor, materials, equipment, travel, and other categories, while preserving Agreement Officer discretion to negotiate terms.
Several policy baselines are central for government contractors. ARPA-H strongly encourages IP rights aligned with open-source rules and expresses a preference for commercial-friendly open-source software licenses. Where applicable, health IT components are expected to adhere to or thoughtfully extend national standards, including FHIR and other HHS-adopted interoperability standards. Proposers must also comply with restrictions on dangerous gain-of-function research, the NIH genomic data sharing policy where applicable, human subjects protections, and vertebrate animal research requirements.
Closing Perspective
If successful, TIGAR could materially change how regenerative tissues, organoids, and even whole organs move through the federal health ecosystem, from DoD forward care and VA transplant pipelines to civilian hospital networks. Temperature-flexible storage at practical, non-cryogenic conditions would ease cold-chain burdens, enable new stockpiling strategies, and extend access to advanced biologics in austere or resource-constrained environments. For contractors, the ISO’s structure, centered on early-stage 18-month efforts, OT authority, and a defined bio preservation focus, creates a pathway to demonstrate capabilities that can later mature into larger ARPA-H programs and downstream agency adoption.
EverGlade works with health-focused contractors to interpret ARPA-H requirements, design compliant teaming strategies, and build competitive technical and cost volumes that align scientific ambition with federal acquisition realities. The firm can help shape a concept into a Solution Video that speaks directly to the TIGAR evaluation criteria, then translate that vision into a compelling and conforming Full Proposal that addresses IP posture, standards alignment, research security, and compliance with ARPA-H’s human and animal research policies. To explore whether TIGAR is a strategic fit for your portfolio, visit ARPA-H’s open funding opportunities page at https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/open-funding-opportunities and connect with EverGlade at https://www.everglade.com.
