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Technologies Against Terrorism Conference

Notes from Conference - 27 Nov 2001 - by WR Byrnes

The "Technologies Against Terrorism" Conference ("Conference") was held on 
November 27, 2001 at the Volpe Transportation Center in Cambridge, MA

The main purpose of the Conference was to support the call of the Dept. of 
Defense (DoD) and the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) for companies to propose a wide range of innovative technology products for fighting terrorism that could be developed and fielded with 12 to 18 months. TSWG is an 
interagency task force receiving overall direction from the Dept. of State 
and most of its funding from DoD. TSWG also performs for DOE, DOJ, FBI, CIA and others. (See web site for full details: www.tswg.gov )

The focus is on rapid research, development, and prototyping with about 75% 
of the funding going to four (4) broad areas:
1. Physical security
2. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures
3. Explosion detection and defeat, and
4. Surveillance collection and operations support*
* The govt is particularly interested in duel use in govt. and commercialization

The business model followed by TSWG is:
1. Requirements meeting(s) produce a requirements statement
2. The requirements statement results in a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
3. Companies respond to the BAA by submitting a Quad Chart (see below)
4. If the Govt. accepts the Quad Chart, a white paper will be requested.
5. An RFP will be issued based on the white paper.
6. The contracting process is supposed to be streamlined considerably as 
well, but details were not available in the short timeframe of the meeting.

The BAA selection criteria will be based on:
1. Basic requirements being met (including both the letter and intent of the 
stated requirements)
2. Technical Performance with a final deliverable within 12-18 months
3. Contractor's past performance (if any)
4. Schedule - complete and achievable with all risks understood
5. Cost - reasonable.

The Quad Chart is a one (1) page summary consisting of:
1. Photo or sketch of the deliverable
2. Operational capabilities (How device is used)
3. Proposed technological approach (Steps to solve the problem and technology
used)
4. Estimated cost and Point of Contact for company

Current BAAs and Sample Quad Chart and format are available on the web site 
( www.bids.tswg.gov/tswg/bids.nsf )

Funding caps are:
1. Maximum: 1/2 Million to One Million 
2. Prototype Development: $300,000 to $500,000
3. Multiple Million awards would be considered if the proposed device is 
good enough.

The intent is to arrive at a final device cost of "a couple thousand dollars 
per unit". The goal being an affordable end item in the field in 18 months or 
less.

Speaker presentations will be posted on both the Arthur D. Little web site 
( www.adltechnology.com )  and the Mass Technology Collaborative web site 
( www.mtpc.org ). As of close of business (Nov 28, 2001) presentations are not 
yet available.

Please contribute comments.

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