BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT - BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND DIVING EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENT

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for BAA N00024-27-S-0001 BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND DIVING EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREAS OF DIVER HEALTH, SAFETY, AND EFFECTIVENESS, AS WELL AS SUBMARINER SURVIVABILITY IN A DISABLED SUBMARINE

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is soliciting pre-proposals and full proposals for applied Biomedical Research and Diving Equipment Development with a focus on Diver Health, Safety, and Performance, Deep Diving Advancements, and Submarine Escape and Rescue.  The program’s goals are presented in detail below. It is the intent that this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) be open for a two-year period from the date of publication.  Specified dates are given in paragraph 2.a. below for submission of pre-proposals and full proposals to be awarded within Fiscal Year (FY) 2028 and 2029.

1.  Primary Areas of Interests

Program objectives are to focus research on improving or developing diving equipment for rapid transition to fleet capabilities, and biomedical aspects of Diver Health, Safety, and Performance, Deep Diving, and Submarine Escape and Rescue to develop and/or improve procedures that increase Navy personnel safety and effectiveness.  The typical project will be two years or less, although three-year projects will be considered. Contracts awarded as a result of these BAAs historically average around $300K or less in annual cost. This information is provided for informational purposes only to provide a sense of scope desired by NAVSEA. This is not an obligatory value and pre-proposals/proposals valued above or below will be considered. However, budgetary constraints are a deciding factor in the selection for award.

      a. Diving:  This interest area is comprised of five task areas focused on items that impose limitations on diver capabilities, specifically: breathing gas supply; human performance; protection from the undersea environment; decompression; and tools, transportation and training.  Focus areas for each task are:

1. Breathing Gas Supply (product goal should meet both US Navy General Specification for Diving and Manned Hyperbaric Systems and US Navy Dive annual requirements):
   • Improve carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubbing materials or systems (i.e. canister systems), used for both free-swimming (i.e. underwater breathing apparatuses (UBAs)) and fixed systems (i.e. recompression chambers), that extend diving duration;
   • Develop portable, minimal power input, ambient oxygen (O2) concentrators capable of working in conjunction with existing diving air compressors;
   • Improve helium reclaim systems to support mixed gas and saturation diving systems and compact, portable mix-making system to reduce large gas storage logistical footprints;
   • Develop CO2 sensor and improve O2 sensors for measuring ppO2 in closed-circuit UBA;
   • Develop innovative diluent gas solutions that combine the advantages of nitrogen’s abundance and availability and helium’s non-narcotic properties;
   • Develop high-pressure air flasks, hoses and regulators, with high pressure defined for this purpose as greater than 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi), for surface-supplied diving (SSD) emergency gas supplies (EGS) and SCUBA/ closed and semi-closed UBAs. Current diver worn EGS is not sufficient to provide organic gas supply for recovery from deepest depths if primary gas source is lost.

1. Human Performance:
   • Improve understanding of oxygen toxicity mechanisms and oxygen toxicity mitigation development;
   • Develop pharmacological or other novel mitigations to prevent or delay pulmonary and CNS oxygen toxicity;
   • Develop and/or refine underwater noise protection strategies, equipment, and diver underwater exposure limits;
     • Improve current comprehension of the environmental and physiological mechanisms via which sound is perceived via wetted auditory interface;
     • Develop permissible exposure limits (PEL) for typical broadband noise sources in the aquatic mission environment;
     • Develop compact, adaptive, wearable acoustic dosimetry technology for use in conjunction with PEL and to inform long-term auditory hazards associated with diving; 
     • Develop methods to assess and mitigate diver underwater sound/blast/implosion exposure.
   • Refine the understanding of hypercapnia and its effects on divers and mitigations thereof;
   • Improve understanding of gas (N2, O2, CO2) narcosis to include mitigations and predictions of equivalent narcotic depths;
   • Improve understanding of effects on the human body from immersion, exertion, breathing resistance, and temperature, or a combination thereof, in relation to working underwater;
   • Develop breathing standards for resting and working personnel in dry hyperbaric environments to 6 Atmospheres Absolute (ATA).

(3)  Protection from the Environment:   

• Improve knowledge of submerged body heat loss/retention to inform development of future heating/cooling systems; Develop analytical tools for exposure planning for deep / long duration diving operations based off know levels of thermal protection and environmental factors (i.e. depth, temperature, etc.);
• Improve heating/cooling methods/systems for submerged free-swimming divers; Examine novel mechanism for actively cooling a diver underwater. Specifically in helmeted or unhelmeted and tethered and untethered conditions. The system should be capable of functioning in a highly contaminated environment;
• Improve physical protection for divers in contaminated water (i.e. full encapsulation) to include novel non-permeable membranes;
• Improve equipment and procedures used to decontaminate divers and diving gear;
• Improve equipment and/or procedures to detect and quantify biologic and/or chemical contamination on-site within 24 hours of diving;
• Develop permissible exposure limits for common biological/chemical contaminants for risk mitigation planning.

(4)  Decompression:  

• Develop/test decompression models valid across the full spectrum of U.S. Navy diving, including diving to depths beyond 300 fsw;
• Develop pharmacological or other novel mitigations for preventing or treating decompression sickness;
• Improve decompression sickness diagnosis through, but not limited to, the utilization of algorithms;
• Improve decompression guidance using alternate gas mixtures.

(5)  Tools, Transportation and Training:

• Improve diver communications, both wired and through-water;
• Improve the ability to track diver location underwater from surface support craft;
• Improve through-water data communication for divers (text, navigation, biometrics);
• Improve diver propulsion devices to include diver worn and diver as passenger.

      b.   Submarine Escape and Rescue:  This interest area relates to optimizing submariner survival in a disabled submarine event.  Focus areas are:  

• Development of rapid, accurate methods to assess a disabled submarine (DISSUB) atmosphere, with focus on Submarine Escape Action Limit (SEAL) gases, to internal pressures up to 6 ATA;
• Develop novel means to mitigate oxygen toxicity (Pulmonary and CNS) aboard a pressurized disabled submarine;
• Develop novel means to accelerate or eliminate saturation decompression of a pressurized disabled submarine (DISSUB) survivors, including but not limited to, greater oxygen use;  
• Evaluation of the utility of non-hyperbaric interventions to prolong survival and accelerate decompression from a pressurized DISSUB;
• Evaluation of the impact of starvation, dehydration, sleep deprivation, and/or gas narcosis at 2- 5 atmospheres absolute (ATA) on decision making in a pressurized DISSUB;
• Improve understanding and guidance of thermal stress (with focus on hyperthermia) and associated fluid loss in a pressurized DISSUB and rescue vehicles to 5 ATA by:
  • Development and evaluation of physiological heat stress limits based on time and environmental conditions, and
  • Development and evaluation of heat mitigation measures (body cooling) under conditions of increased temperature, humidity, and elevated CO2 (2.5 - 3%);
• Improve understanding and guidance for mitigation of surface interval decompression sickness (DCS) risk associated with rescue using either the Pressurized Rescue Module (PRM) or the Submarine Rescue Chamber (SRC) after saturation dropout or aborted decompression, including, but not limited to, mitigation with various periods of oxygen pre-breathing and/or other non-hyperbaric interventions e.g. pharmacological;
• Develop procedures to fully decompress pressurized rescuees within the PRM if needed;
• Improve guidance for hypothermia prevention in submarine escape scenarios using existing Submarine Escape and Surface Survival Personnel Equipment (SESSPE);
• Improve Guard Book guidance, procedures, and related senior survivor decision tools, to include reducing the risk of pulmonary oxygen toxicity for rescuees;
• Improve care of escape and rescue casualties within the U.S. Navy Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS), to include critical care and casualty assessment;
• Improvement of current concepts of rescuee triage, holding, and movement, including assessment of the adequacy of established procedures and available equipment, for rescues involving the PRM and the SRC;
• Improvement of current tracking of rescuee triage, holding, and movement.

      c.  Additional interest items include any equipment, procedure, or medical treatment protocol, not specifically listed above, that could be used to improve the safety or effectiveness of Navy divers or submarine rescue operations.

2.  Instructions for Preparation of Pre-proposal and Proposals

a. Proposals to this BAA are reviewed using a two-phase process.  To be considered for an award, respondents are first required to submit a pre-proposal. Multiple submissions are allowed and encouraged if a respondent wishes to be considered for award under more than one of the task areas identified above. Separate submissions are required for each area of interest.

(1)  For FY28, the pre-proposal submission deadline is no later than 3:00 PM EST, 30 November 2026.  If the pre-proposal submission is selected, the second phase will be a request for proposals.  The deadline for proposal submission is no later than 3:00 PM EST, 30 March 2027.  Proposals received after the due date will be considered only if funding remains available.  These dates are applicable to work beginning in the funding cycle starting 1 October 2027.

(2)  For FY29, the pre-proposal submission deadline is no later than 3:00 PM EST, 30 November 2027.  If the pre-proposal submission is selected, the second phase will be a request for full-proposals.  The deadline for proposal submission is no later than 3:00 PM EST, 30 March 2028.  Proposals received after the due date will be considered only if funding remains available.  These dates are applicable to work beginning in the funding cycle starting 1 October 2028.

b. The Phase One pre-proposal shall be three to five pages of text using the format provided with this BAA, and should include an estimate of overall costs (including indirect costs) for each year of the proposed effort.  Pre-proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria specified below using a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).

c. The highest rated pre-proposal responses will be invited to submit a Phase Two full technical and cost proposal on all or part of their pre-proposal submission. The technical proposal will be submitted using the format provided with this BAA and not be more than 20 pages excluding curriculum vitae and supporting documentation that would be included in the Appendix. Any such invitation does not obligate the U.S. Government to make an award.  Offerors are also advised all awards are subject to the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) contract audit process.  Any proposal that involves animal research must comply with the following requirements before a contract can be awarded: 7 U.S.C. 2131-2159 and 9 CFR parts 1 thru 4, SECNAVINST 3900.38C, DoDINST 3216.01 and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 252.235-7002 Animal Welfare, as applicable.  Additionally, any proposal that involves human subject research must comply with the following requirements before a contract can be awarded:  32 CFR 219, DoDINST 3216.02, the SECNAVINST 3900.39 series, and all applicable sections of the 21 CFR as outlined in DFARS 252.235-7004 Protection of Human Subjects.  Each pre-proposal and full proposal must state that it is submitted in response to this BAA.  This BAA provides no funding for pre-proposal or subsequent proposal development purposes.  Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria specified below.

3.  Criteria for Scoring and Ranking Pre-proposals and Proposals, their Relative Importance, and the Method of Evaluation.

a. Pre-proposal and full technical proposal submissions will be evaluated on:

      (1) the basis of innovation and scientific merit;

      (2) the relevance to diving and submarine escape and rescue;

      (3) the overall value to the U.S. Government and affordability of the proposal;

      (4) the likelihood of achieving success, based on the Offeror’s abilities, capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, all of which impact the ability to achieve the proposal objectives;

(5) the potential benefits of any proposed data rights (if applicable);

(6) the ability of the offeror to efficiently manage their project, funds and timely completion of work products; and

(7) The overall impression of the project by the expert reviewer(s). 

These criteria are all of equal importance. Each of these criteria will be evaluated on a score of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) and the final score will be an average of the score for each criterion.

b. Selection of proposals for award will be based on the total evaluated score of the items above. The scoring is awarded as follows:  poor: 1-3, fair: 4-5, good: 6-8, excellent: 9-10.

Scores are assigned by individual reviewers and averaged by the program manager.  Final decisions for funding are based on the scores received and ties are broken by discussion and re-vote at the technical advisory board meeting.

c. This is to notify potential Offerors that each contract that may be placed under this announcement to an institution of higher education must include the following clause:

"As a condition for receipt of funds available to the Department of Defense (DoD) under this award, the recipient agrees that it is not an institution that has a policy of denying, and that it is not an institution that effectively prevents the Secretary of Defense from obtaining for military recruiting purposes:  (A) an entry to campuses or access to students on campuses; or (B) access to directory information pertaining to students.  If the recipient is determined, using procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement Section 558 of Public Law 103-337 (1994), to be such an institution during the period of performance of this agreement, and therefore to be in breach of this clause, the Government will cease all payments of DoD funds under this agreement and all other DoD grants and cooperative payments unilaterally for material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of award.  If your institution has been identified under the procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement Section 558, then: (1) no funds available to DoD may be provided to your institution through any contract, including any existing contract, (2) as a matter of policy, this restriction also applies to any cooperative agreement, and (3) your institution is not eligible to receive a contract or cooperative agreement in response to this solicitation."

d. This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2)(i).  The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement.

4.  Pre-proposals and subsequent proposals shall be submitted to: Dr. David Southerland, david.g.southerland.civ@us.navy.mil; usn.washington.sea-00.mbx.sea-00c-dsbd@us.navy.mil

 and lisa.m.grayum.civ@us.navy.mil, Attn: BAA N00024-27-S-0001.  Offerors are to follow the sample format for submission of pre-proposals and proposals as found in enclosures (1) and (2) of this BAA. 

a. All pre-proposals and proposals will be acknowledged within 7 working days after the published due date.  If no acknowledgement is received after 7 working days it is the responsibility of the submitter to contact the Naval Sea Systems Command office at 202-781-3854 to verify that their submission has been received. Pre-proposals and proposals will not be returned after evaluation.  General and technical questions regarding this announcement should be sent to: usn.washington.sea-00.mbx.sea-00c-dsbd@us.navy.mil

b. The point of contact for information regarding contractual issues is Ms. Lisa Grayum, Contracting Officer, at email: lisa.m.grayum.civ@us.navy.mil and Ms. Ashala Bell, Contract Specialist, at email: ashala.d.bell.civ@us.navy.mil.  The following additional information is provided:

(1) Proposals may be submitted by any governmental agency, commercial firm, individual, non-profit, or institution of higher education.

(2) Offerors must be current in System for Award Management (SAM).

c.  Phase Two of the proposal selection process for non-government institutions (contractors) will consist of a request from the U.S. Government to the Offeror(s) for full technical and cost proposals to support the Navy in one or more of the primary areas of interest listed in paragraph 1 above.  An Offeror can be considered for contract award only upon preparation and submittal of a fully compliant Phase Two Proposal. In the event that a Phase Two technical and cost proposal is requested, the applicable Request for Proposal will contain the terms and conditions and clauses to be incorporated in the potential contract.

5. Any contract(s) awarded based on responses to this BAA are considered to be the result of full and open competition (see FAR 6.102(d)(2)(i)) and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law (PL) 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.”