The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA‑H) is launching the Fast Assessment of Solutions, Therapeutics, Pharmaceuticals, and Supplies (FASTPASS) program to tackle a critical, often invisible problem in the U.S. healthcare system: substandard and contaminated medicines slipping through the supply chain. Drug-related morbidity and mortality cost the system an estimated $528 billion per year and recalls affect the medications taken by over 150 million Americans annually, often only after patients have already been exposed. FASTPASS aims to change that by enabling real‑time, through‑packaging verification of drug quality and safety at ports, warehouses, and distribution centers.
The Big Question
FASTPASS starts from a simple but ambitious question from ARPA-H: What if we could verify the quality and safety of every dose of every medicine, every time?
As pharmaceutical imports grow, so does the need for tools that can augment FDA’s existing inspection system with rapid, non‑destructive screening at key nodes in the supply chain.
What FASTPASS Aims to Do
ARPA-H is designing FASTPASS to protect Americans from harm caused by substandard or contaminated medicines. The goal is to sample pharmaceutical shipments in minutes, without opening boxes, using rapid, non‑destructive screening tools that can see through packaging and verify drug quality and safety in near real‑time at ports, warehouses, and distribution centers.
FASTPASS reflects ARPA‑H’s mandate to go after high‑impact public health challenges that sit between agencies and markets. With this program, ARPA‑H intends to:
- Address an urgent safety and quality gap that no single regulator, manufacturer, or existing technology can close alone.
- Achieve a significant technical leap in sensing technologies capable of assessing products through packaging.
- Partner with early adopters like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure successful solutions can be implemented and scaled across real‑world environments.
ARPA‑H’s LinkedIn announcement highlights how aggressive the performance targets may be, including order‑of‑magnitude gains in precision, throughput, and speed compared to current approaches.
FASTPASS: Core Technical Areas
ARPA-H has outlined two technical areas for the forthcoming solicitation:
- TA1 SAMPLE: TA1 performers will develop advanced through‑packaging sensing technologies to evaluate the chemical makeup of products using spectrographic or other non‑contact, non‑destructive methods. The focus is on speed, accuracy, and the ability to operate on sealed shipments without disrupting logistics.
- TA2 DETECT: TA2 performers will build analytics and models that turn these sensing outputs into reliable decision tools. This includes algorithms and workflows that interpret sensor data, flag issues in near real time, and fully leverage the sensing advances from TA1.
FASTPASS encourages collaboration across non‑contact spectroscopy, AI/ML, pharmaceutical chemistry, and hardware engineering, signaling that successful teams will need to span these disciplines to deliver confident, actionable product quality and safety decisions.
Upcoming Solicitation and Proposer Events
The FASTPASS solicitation notice ID is to be announced, with release expected in mid‑August. Once released, ARPA‑H will post the full solicitation on SAM.gov, including requirements, key dates, templates, evaluation criteria, and application instructions.
ARPA‑H is also hosting two optional events for prospective performers:
Proposer Workshop
- Event date: August 24, 2026
- Registration deadline: August 20, 2026 (12:00 PM ET)
- Location: Virtual
Proposers’ Day
A second hybrid Proposers’ Day will follow after the solicitation is published, offering additional information and process clarification. Teams are encouraged to attend both events to maximize interaction, Q&A, and teaming opportunities.
For organizations considering FASTPASS, EverGlade can help you quickly understand where your capabilities align, identify gaps, and build the right mix of teaming partners. Our team supports everything from full submission strategy to award negotiations and post-award execution.
EverGlade is a national advisory firm helping innovators navigate the federal funding ecosystem. We support companies across the funding lifecycle, from early-stage strategy through proposal development, negotiations, and post-award execution, ensuring you win the award and deliver the program.
For additional information on where your capabilities could plug into this upcoming program, schedule a conversation with our team.
