Overview of the RPP
The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), in support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), has released a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) titled PRimer and prObe Manufacturing PlaTform (PROMPT) (Solicitation Number: MTEC-26-03-PROMPT). Through this solicitation, MTEC is seeking proposals from qualified organizations to develop a fully automated, man-portable, and ruggedized prototype platform for the on-demand, expeditionary manufacturing of clinical-quality nucleic acid primers and probes.
Current diagnostic capabilities are hindered by a reliance on centralized manufacturing for essential nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) reagents such as primers and probes. This paradigm is incompatible with the demands of agile, far-forward medical responses to novel biothreats, creating critical capability gaps that this RPP aims to close. Military relevance is a central component of all submissions, with strategic oversight provided by the Joint Science and Technology Office.
Technical Areas of Interest
The primary objective is to develop a self-contained system capable of producing sequence-verified, high-purity oligonucleotides from a digital sequence file within hours, without reliance on traditional laboratory infrastructure or cold chain logistics. MTEC is seeking solutions capable of satisfying the following requirements:
- Compact, Ruggedized Instrument Design: Integrate nucleic acid synthesis, purification, and first-line quality control into a portable system operable by minimally trained personnel at forward roles of care, meeting MIL-STD-810 testing requirements for temperature, humidity, shock, and vibration.
- Field-Stable Synthesis Chemistry: Provide high-efficiency oligonucleotide synthesis for at least 20-40 nucleotide PCR (polymerase chain reaction) primers and fluorescent probes using chemistries that operate safely in low-resource environments, with reagents stable at room temperature for at least 12 months.
- Improved Production Time and Yield: Generate multiple high-quality nucleic acid-based molecular assay reagents per synthesis run to support rapid development of laboratory-developed tests.
- Purification and Verification: Provide cartridge-based cleanup and microfluidic electrophoresis approaches comparable to gold standard HPLC and LCMS methods used in higher-resource laboratories.
- End-to-End Workflow Demonstration: Demonstrate pilot projects that replicate a commercial PCR assay, comparing field-manufactured primers and probes to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) equivalents in purity, analytical performance, and diagnostic accuracy.
Important Information for Respondents
Prime offerors must be MTEC members in good standing at least three days before proposal submission. Subcontractors and lower-tier subawardees do not need to be MTEC members.
MTEC is using a multi-stage acquisition process for this effort:
- Stage 1: Solution Brief
- Stage 2: Solution Brief Pitch
- Stage 3: Selection for Award and detailed Cost Proposal
The period of performance may not exceed 24 months. MTEC states that it expects to make one or more awards to qualified offerors. If a single proposal does not sufficiently address the full scope of the RPP, several offerors may be asked to work together in a collaborative manner.
Key Dates
- RPP Issued: June 24, 2026
- Proposal Due Date: July 24, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET
- Proposers Conference: July 8, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET
- Teaming Connect: July 14, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Why This Matters
PROMPT is addressing a critical and largely unsolved challenge in military medicine: the ability to manufacture diagnostic reagents in the field, on demand, without dependence on cold chain logistics or centralized laboratory support. For developers of portable diagnostic systems, novel synthesis chemistry, or ruggedized biomedical hardware, this is an opportunity to directly advance military readiness and biothreat response capability.
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