The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) has released its Fiscal Year 2026 Multi‑Topic Request for Project Proposals (MTEC‑26‑04‑MultiTopic), opening a wide lane for medical prototype and knowledge solutions that directly support force health and readiness. Enhanced White Papers are due October 30, 2026 at noon Eastern, and awards will be made under MTEC’s prototype OTA with the Defense Health Agency, leveraging flexible Other Transaction authority to move promising concepts from early data into operational utility.
Unlike single‑topic calls, this FY26 RPP spans 15 distinct Focus Areas of Interest, ranging from cross‑cutting prevention and total force fitness to battlefield wound infection prophylaxis, pathogen‑agnostic sepsis treatments, emerging infectious disease countermeasures, musculoskeletal injury interventions, combat‑relevant pain and anesthesia solutions, and blast/blunt exposure monitoring.
How The FY26 Multi‑Topic RPP Works
MTEC is using a streamlined, two‑stage process:
Stage 1 – Enhanced White Paper: Current MTEC members submit 10‑page Enhanced White Papers using the mandatory template, each aligned to exactly one Focus Area of Interest. Submissions must represent new projects (not re‑runs of recent MTEC calls), be true prototype efforts (not basic science), and include preliminary data.
Stage 2 – Cost Proposal: Selected Offerors are invited to submit full cost proposals and supporting documentation. Awards are issued as Research Project Awards under each member’s Base Agreement.
MTEC also uses a basket provision: strong proposals that cannot be funded immediately can be held for up to two years and picked up if new funding becomes available for that Focus Area. Typical initial awards across MTEC land in the roughly 2–3.5 million dollar range over a two to three‑year period of performance, with non‑competitive follow‑on possible if prototypes perform and transition paths are clear.
Focus Areas Of Interest At A Glance
Each Enhanced White Paper has to pick one Focus Area. Here is what each area is targeting, in plain language.
Policies and practices for cross‑cutting prevention
Design and evaluate non‑training policies and routine practices that reduce harmful behaviors (suicide, sexual assault, harassment, substance misuse) in the National Guard, focusing on factors like morale, fairness, leadership, and workplace hostility.Total force fitness through integrated primary prevention
Multi‑component interventions (beyond training alone) that tackle obesity, poor nutrition, food insecurity, and physical inactivity in Guard and Reserve populations, linking physical fitness and cognitive health to reductions in harmful behaviors.Identify and reduce barriers to help‑seeking
Prototypes that map the drivers of help‑seeking and resource use, then build tailored interventions (social marketing, interpersonal communication, policy) that increase use of high‑impact services among at‑risk Service members, including in rural and remote contexts.Prophylactic solutions to prevent battlefield and complex traumatic wound infections
Materiel prototypes used at the point of injury and in prolonged care that conform to complex 3D wounds, are self‑absorbing or irrigatable, and prevent or delay infection from high‑priority bacterial and fungal pathogens in austere or contested environments, with preclinical efficacy and regulatory plans.Pathogen‑agnostic countermeasures for sepsis following wound infection
Drug and biologic treatments, including host‑directed therapeutics, that treat sepsis resulting from battlefield and complex traumatic wounds (excluding burns), designed for use in resource‑constrained operational settings, with preclinical efficacy and toxicity data.Knowledge products for infection prevention in traumatic penetrating wounds
Knowledge product prototypes that optimize clinical practice guidelines and decision‑making for penetrating traumatic wound infection prevention, using data from combat polytrauma, wound‑infection‑sepsis relationships, and real‑world trauma care.Bacterial diarrhea prevention
Self‑administered, oral, non‑vaccine interventions that prevent bacterial diarrhea from priority pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni, enterotoxigenic E. coli, Shigella) in operational environments, backed by preclinical efficacy and safety plans.Dengue fever prevention and/or treatment
Prophylactic drugs and vaccines that prevent all four dengue serotypes, or antibody‑based therapeutics to treat dengue infection, with a focus on mitigating antibody‑dependent enhancement and enabling field‑ready administration (oral, IM, transdermal, SC).Prevention and treatment of emerging infectious diseases
Pathogen‑agnostic or broad‑spectrum prophylactics and therapeutics for Lassa virus, CCHFV, and hantaviruses, built on agile platforms that can pivot to new Joint Force threats, and suitable for field routes of administration.Musculoskeletal injury treatment (pre‑hospital)
Prototypes that either accelerate recovery from non‑life‑threatening musculoskeletal injuries (10A) or preserve musculoskeletal health and soft‑tissue function in the pre‑hospital environment (10B), highly relevant to military injury patterns and pre‑hospital care, with defined award sizes and 36‑month periods of performance.Operational suitability of existing pain treatments
Human‑subject trials and knowledge products that quantify how current battlefield analgesics (e.g., ketamine, fentanyl) affect cognitive and physical performance under operational stress, feeding evidence back into Joint Trauma System guidelines and Tactical Combat Casualty Care protocols.Repurposing and novel delivery of approved compounds
Drug/device combinations that use existing FDA‑approved drugs delivered via rugged, easy‑to‑use formats (e.g., intranasal, sublingual, auto‑injectors) for point‑of‑injury pain control, aiming to be Phase I‑ready with formulation, stability, preclinical PK/PD, toxicology, and regulatory plans.Development of novel, non‑addictive analgesics
New molecular entities or biologics for acute combat‑relevant pain, with military‑relevant preclinical models, efficacy vs. standard of care, safety and PK data, addiction liability assessment, and a nominated lead candidate ready for IND‑enabling studies.Advanced anesthesia and procedural pain solutions
Either closed‑loop anesthetic delivery systems that auto‑control sedation based on physiologic monitoring, or long‑acting, single‑administration anesthetic/analgesic prototypes, designed for austere Role 1/2 settings with non‑specialist users and supported by preclinical performance data.Blast and blunt sensors for exposure monitoring
Prototypes to track blast and blunt exposure and its impact on brain health and cognitive performance, including advanced blast surrogates with integrated sensors and software, or systems that link exposure to TBI incidence and performance over time, with substantial funding and multi‑year PoP.
Across the other Focus Areas, MTEC deliberately leaves funding amounts and PoP open to match proposed scope and maturity, with the reminder that average initial awards typically fall in the 2–3.5M range over 2–3 years.
Key Dates and Next Steps
A few anchor points for planning:
RPP issue date: August 6, 2026
Enhanced White Paper due date: October 30, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ET
Expected award timing: FY27–FY28, under MTEC’s prototype OTA with DHA
Funding examples:
Musculoskeletal injury treatment: 10A (~3M each, 1–2 awards, up to 36 months); 10B (~1.5M each, 2–3 awards, up to 36 months).
Blast/blunt exposure monitoring: total 10.5M, 2 awards, one up to 7M, PoP up to 48 months, starting FY27.
Other Focus Areas: Offerors scope budgets and PoP; Government uses typical MTEC award sizes and basket provisions to manage portfolio and timing.
MTEC plans a virtual Proposers Conference series and Teaming Connect events to walk through the RPP, clarify Focus Area intent, and help members find partners.
For companies, platforms, and academic teams operating at the intersection of infection, trauma, pain, and operational medicine, this RPP is essentially a menu: multiple lanes into the Military Health System, with OTA flexibility and repeat funding pathways if you can show real data and credible military relevance.
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 these focus areas, schedule a conversation with our team.
