Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC)

November 12, 2021 by dld5dt@virginia.edu

Purpose:

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this pre-announcement for a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) focused on the development and validation of an enhanced training curriculum in burn care utilizing military and civilian burn care clinician-educators to improve patient outcomes in current and future battlefields. The enhanced training curriculum will be designed for military burn care providers in the pre-deployment setting to ensure readiness in a deployed setting. This includes the development of simulation-based training tools that will improve training quality and skills retention while also reflecting operational realities for military and civilian healthcare providers delivering burn care. The curriculum should also be adapted for civilian first responders who may be called upon in the event of a domestic mass-casualty scenario.

Background:

Patients who suffer burn injuries face a high potential for mortality and morbidity, including restricted physical functionality, cosmetic deformity, and psychosocial disorders that may persist for the remainder of their lives. While survival from burn injuries has improved over recent decades, the incidence and long-term effects of burn injuries resulting from military conflict remains a major challenge. Furthermore, the number of healthcare providers trained in specialized burn care is insufficient to address the size of the patient population. In addition, several critical knowledge gaps have been identified in prehospital care common to both military and civilian environments, such as prolonged burn care in rural/austere settings and during extended critical care transport times. Therefore, there is an unmet need for a scalable curriculum that can be used by military personnel and civilian care providers in pre-deployment/pre-hospital settings that facilitates the development and sustainment of burn care provider skills to improve patient outcomes in current and future battlefields.

 

Solution Requirements:

This upcoming RPP aims to develop and validate a training curriculum in burn care utilizing military and civilian burn care clinician-educators. The training curriculum will be designed for military burn care providers in the pre-deployment setting to ensure readiness in a deployed setting. This includes the development of simulation-based training tools that will improve training quality and skills retention while also reflecting operational realities for military and civilian healthcare providers delivering burn care. The program shall also be adapted for civilian providers, such as first responders, who may be called upon in mass-casualty scenarios. Partnerships between military and civilian organizations are encouraged.

 

Scope of Work:

The objective of this project is to develop a scalable curriculum prototype that includes the following three components:

 

1)      Prehospital Burn Simulator: Biomimetic, skills-based simulator to train and assess competency at the 3D’s (decontamination, debridement, & dressings)

 

2)      Prehospital Burn Escharotomy Simulator: biomimetic, skills-based simulator to train and assess competency at burn eschar assessment and escharotomy

 

3)      Artificial Immersive (AI) Medical Education: Asynchronous, online, scenario-based AI way-point tracking to assess, inform, & quantitatively measure clinical decisions by practitioners

 

The study design must include a prospective, controlled study with Role 2 and above military healthcare providers and civilian paramedics. The study design must compare the new prototype curriculum to current military and civilian burn training platforms. Study outcomes must focus on retention, standardization, & sustainment, including the assessment for skills-based points of failure and quantitative scenario-based assessments reflecting multi-dimensional battlefields. It is preferred that the Offeror has current experience with training protocols, and has access to relevant participants, such as Level 1, 2, or 3 trauma centers and burn centers.

 

Potential Follow-On Tasks:

There is potential for award of one or more follow-on tasks based on the success of any resultant Research Project Awards (subject to change depending upon Government review of work completed). Note that any potential follow-on work is expected to be awarded non-competitively to resultant project awardees. Potential follow-on tasks include (but are not limited to) procurement, fielding, and sustainment for this scalable burn care curriculum.

 

Potential Funding Availability and Period of Performance:

The U.S. Government (USG) Department of Defense (DoD) currently anticipates $4.6 Million (M) for this upcoming program. The USG may apply additional dollars for follow-on efforts via post award modification to any resultant award(s) after the evaluation and acceptance of work and cost plan. Dependent on the results and deliverables, additional time may be added to the period of performance for follow-on tasks.

 

MTEC expects to make a single award to a qualified Offeror to accomplish the statement of work. If a single proposal is unable to sufficiently address the entire scope of the RPP, several Offerors may be asked to work together in a collaborative manner. See the “MTEC Member Teaming” section below for more details.

 

The Period of Performance (POP) is not to exceed five years.

Acquisition Approach:

Full proposals will be required in response to this upcoming RPP thus reflecting a single stage acquisition approach. The RPP will be posted to the MTEC website (mtec-sc.org) and a notice will be posted on www.sam.gov to notify interested parties. The RPP is expected to be released in Quarter 1 of FY22 and will have a short proposal preparation period (approximately 30 days). MTEC membership is required for the submission of a full proposal in response to this upcoming MTEC RPP. To join MTEC, please visit http://mtec-sc.org/how-to-join/.

 

Filed Under: Funding Opportunities