MTEC Solicitation Summary: Fiscal Year 2026 Multi-Topic Request for Project Proposals

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is excited to post this summary announcement for a Request for Project Proposals (RPP) soliciting a broad range of medical prototype technological and knowledge solutions related to the Focus Areas of Interest (also called Focus Area(s) ) listed below. Proposed solutions may include medical techniques, knowledge products, and materiel (e.g., medical devices, drugs, and biologics). Military relevance is a key feature of this RPP. Awards resulting from this RPP are expected to be made under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 4022 (Authority of the Department of Defense to carry out certain prototype projects). As stated at the end of this announcement, the full RPP is posted to the MTEC website (https://mtec-sc.org/); this notice is intended only to notify interested parties of the available solicitation. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Background: Current wartime operations assume that the United States and our allies will maintain air, land, maritime, space and cyber superiority. Future conflicts against peer and near-peer adversaries are expected to be layered stand-offs and fought across multiple domains. Mission success will be determined by our ability to compete to expand the competitive space, penetrate both strategically and operationally, disintegrate enemy s defenses, exploit enemy weaknesses, and re-compete to consolidate gains. Medical capabilities play a critical role in each aspect of the future battlespace and must modernize rapidly to maintain Force readiness and increase soldier lethality. Focus Areas: To meet the intent of the RPP, each Enhanced White Paper proposal SHALL specifically address ONLY ONE Focus Area described below. Offerors are not limited to a single Enhanced White Paper proposal submission. Projects that fail to align with only one of these Focus Areas may not be considered for funding. The following Focus Areas of Interest are not listed in order of importance; the detailed requirements for each are described in the full version of the Request for Project Proposals. Focus Area 1: Policies and practices for cross-cutting prevention the aim of this focus area is to develop and evaluate non-training interventions/activities that address risk and protective factors for harmful behaviors. Priority risk/protective factors to address include: morale, fairness, work-life balance, passive leadership, toxic leadership, and workplace hostility. Focus Area 2: Fostering Service member physical fitness through integrated primary prevention the aim of this focus area is to develop interventions or trainings to combat the key contributors to force readiness and physical fitness. This focus area encourages offerors to consider resource/environmental constraints and social and psychological barriers present for warfighters when developing solutions. Focus Area 3: Identify and reduce barriers to help-seeking the aim of this focus area is to identify and develop prototypes against key drivers of help-seeking. Proposed prototypes should prioritize high-impact resources/services and Service member populations at elevated risk for harmful behaviors. Focus Area 4: Prophylactic Solutions to Prevent Battlefield and Complex Traumatic Wound Infections in Austere or Contested Environments the aim of this focus area is the development of prototypes to prevent or delay wound infections (bacterial, fungal, and/or antimicrobial-resistant) following battlefield and complex traumatic wounds, including in austere or contested environments, for use at the point of injury and in prolonged care environments (Roles 1 and 2), without negatively impacting wound healing. High-priority pathogens include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, and invasive fungal infections. NOTE: This focus area is not interested in vaccines, burn wound solutions, or discovery-stage efforts. Focus Area 5: Pathogen Agnostic Countermeasures for the Treatment of Sepsis Caused by Wound Infection the aim of this focus area is the development of products, including immune modulators, novel drugs, immunotherapeutics, and other pathogen-agnostic and/or host-directed prototypes, to treat sepsis following battlefield and complex traumatic wounds (excluding burn wounds), including in austere or contested environments. NOTE: This focus area is not interested in vaccines, burn wound solutions, discovery-stage efforts, or proposals focused solely on direct treatment of wound infection rather than sepsis. Focus Area 6: Knowledge Product Prototypes for the Prevention of Infection in Traumatic Penetrating Wounds the aim of this focus area is the development of knowledge product prototypes to optimize clinical practice guidelines for the prevention of infection in traumatic penetrating wounds. Focus Area 7: Bacterial Diarrhea Prevention the aim of this focus area is the development of prototypes to prevent bacterial diarrhea resulting from high-priority pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, and Shigella) in operational settings. NOTE: Proposals targeting other pathogens will be deemed out of scope. Furthermore, this focus area will not consider proposals for vaccine-based interventions. Focus Area 8: Dengue Fever Prevention and/or Treatment Solutions the aim of this focus area is the development of drugs and vaccines to prevent or treat all four serotypes of Dengue Fever. NOTE: Intravenous (IV) solutions are explicitly excluded and will not be considered under this Focus Area. Focus Area 9: Prevention and Treatment of Emerging Infectious Diseases the aim of this focus area is on developing pathogen-agnostic and/or broad-spectrum solutions for prevention or treatment of Lassa fever virus, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV), and various hantaviruses, which are high-consequence pathogens that pose distinct risks to the deployed Joint Force. NOTE: IV solutions as well as proposals focused solely on other pathogens, including endemic and emerging respiratory viruses, are explicitly excluded and will not be considered under this Focus Area. Focus Area 10: Musculoskeletal Injury Treatment the aim of this focus area is the development of prototypes for musculoskeletal injury interventions for the pre-hospital environment. Specifically, this focus area seeks (1) therapeutic interventions to accelerate recovery from musculoskeletal injury or (2) solutions for the preservation of musculoskeletal health. To meet the intent of the funding opportunity, Enhanced White Papers submitted to this Focus Area must address ONLY one of the above listed sub areas. Focus Area 11: Operational Suitability of Existing Pain Treatments the aim of this focus area is for the development of a knowledge product to generate definitive human performance data to inform risk/benefit decisions and create evidence-based recommendations for the Joint Trauma System (JTS) to refine and optimize existing Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) protocols. Focus Area 12: Repurposing and Novel Delivery of Approved Compounds the aim of this focus area is to accelerate the development of safer, opioid-sparing analgesics by leveraging the FDA's 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for repurposed drugs delivered via novel administration methods. The desired end-state is a candidate drug/device combination ready to enter Phase I clinical trials. Focus Area 13: Development of Novel Non-Addictive Analgesics the aim of this focus area is to advance the preclinical development of a novel, non-addictive analgesic compound with a mechanism of action suitable for treating acute, combat-related trauma. The desired end-state is a promising lead candidate with a data package sufficient to justify further investment in IND-enabling studies. Focus Area 14: Advanced Anesthesia and Procedural Pain Solutions the aim of this focus area is to develop and demonstrate a prototype system or therapeutic for the management of anesthesia and procedural pain in austere environments (Role 1 and 2). The goal is to produce a solution that reduces the cognitive burden on providers and can be used by non-specialists. Focus Area 15: Blast and Blunt Sensors for Exposure Monitoring - this focus area seeks to develop and deploy technologies that monitor blast and blunt impact exposure in regards to the following two pathways: Advanced Blast Surrogate: A prototype of an advanced, sensor-integrated surrogate with software-enabled tunable structures that mimic human blast responses. The system must automatically report BOP exposure injury risk using both sensor and surrogate data. TBI Incidence and Performance Tracking: A methodology and system for the precise determination of TBI incidence, alongside a neurocognitive performance assessment and tracking method designed to enhance mission readiness. Additional background and full solution…