PositiveID, an emerging growth company and developer of airborne bio-threat detection systems for America’s homeland defense industry as well as advanced technologies for diabetes management and rapid medical testing, today provided an update to its stockholders on its pursuit of BioWatch Generation 3, Phase II. Two weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) revised its procurement strategy for BioWatch Generation 3, Phase II, which now will consist of a two-stage procurement which includes two to three years of testing estimated at $89 million. A draft request for proposal (“RFP”) on this effort is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of calendar 2012. PositiveID’s patented M-BAND biodetector was developed under a competitive award from the DHS Science & Technology Directorate (“S&T”).
The purpose of BioWatch Generation 3, Phase II is to obtain a fully autonomous networked biodetection capability that will be deployed, operated, and sustained, both indoor and outdoor, in selected U.S. BioWatch jurisdictions to continuously monitor the air for agents of biological concern. The original procurement outlined in the draft solicitation released by DHS in August 2011, with an estimated contract value of $3.1 billion, contemplated a single procurement resulting in a single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for Performance Testing, Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP), Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E), Detector Production, Deployment, Sustainment and Disposal.
The revised strategy, released by DHS two weeks ago, would consist of a two-stage procurement using a competitive down-selection between stages. Stage 1 would be for Performance Testing of candidate systems and may result in the award of multiple contracts depending on the technical merits of proposals submitted and the availability of funding. Stage 2 would be a separate competition and result in the award of a single contract for LRIP, OT&E, Full Rate Production, Deployment, Sustainment and Disposal. To be considered for the Stage 2 award, a company would need to demonstrate a design maturity and data set equivalent to that of Stage 1 participants.
William J. Caragol, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, stated, “We believe the revised strategy for BioWatch, allowing for performance testing of qualifying systems in preparation for the full roll-out of the $3.1 billion procurement, provides us an opportunity to prove our M-BAND system, the only system of its kind that was demonstrated previously in the field under the DHS S&T BAND Program. Additionally, we continue to have discussions with potential strategic partners to prepare the Company for success in BioWatch Gen-3, Phase II.”
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