November 14, 2003
Volume 1, Number 7

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First HSARPA Contracts on Track for January; Worth $250 Million

The Homeland Security department’s recently formed advanced research projects agency is on-track to begin negotiating in January more than $250 million in contracts for innovative technologies to counter biological or chemical threats to the U.S.

The spending priority will go to near-term ideas that can be moved from the drawing board to deployment in 6 to 24 months, said Dr. Penrose “Parney” Albright, who leads the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA).

Biological/chemical countermeasures is HSARPA’s first and highest priority item, and will attract about 30 percent of a total $847 million Science and Technology (S&T) directorate spending budget in FY 2004, Albright recently told a House Homeland Security subcommittee. Most of the money will go to biological measures, he said.

Seeding The Development

Albright said HSARPA is reviewing about 500 white papers in the bio/chemical category and will begin “seeding the development of the next generation of biological and chemical sensors and systems” based on selection of the best ideas.

The closer an idea is to the marketplace already, the more likely it will get HSARPA backing, Albright implied in testimony to the House subcommittee on cyber security, research and development.

Though chartered to “identify and develop revolutionary technologies,” Albright said that as the funding arm of DHS S&T, the research agency will reserve only about 10 percent of the 2004 bio/chem outlay for long-term or “breakthrough” technologies.

As early as February, Albright stressed that HSARPA (not even officially formed then) would be more inclined toward immediate anti-terror requirements than its elder sibling, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), well-known as the foremost backer of long-term R&D in government or elsewhere.

In his recent testimony, Albright noted that military-type technologies are candidates for Homeland use “but vigorous systems engineering processes need to be applied to ensure a successful transition.”

Albright gave the subcommittee a glimpse into the criteria HSARPA is applying to the white papers currently under review, noting that “affordability, performance and supportability” will be major categories of interest to DHS.

The agency will be inclined to back systems and solutions that are user friendly, produce minimal false positives, require little training for users, and deliver consistent, accurate results, he said.

The ability to turn an idea into a commercial product with multiple uses and markets will be important to HSARPA, in part because it also has the responsibility of setting standards for critical infrastructure industries in the U.S. private sector, DHS leaders have said.

Though still enduring growing pains, the S&T directorate is already actively extending a Biowatch program to a number of cities in concert with EPA and the Center for Disease Control, Albright said.

S&T’s Project for Response Options and Technology Enhancement for Chemical/Biological Terrorism (PROTECT) is already implemented in the Washington subway system, too, he said. The S&T directorate also recently took on the challenge of helping build first responder communications interoperability under the struggling SAFECOM project that pre-dates the 9/11 terror attacks.

Albright told Congress 90 percent of the 2004 HSARPA bio/chemical budget is “dedicated to improving existing technologies that can be developed more quickly.” Where biological threats are concerned, government officials often name anthrax and smallpox their two largest areas of concern.

You can learn much more about biological threats at the St. Louis University Center for the Study of Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections web site, http://bioterrorism.slu.edu.

For a list of the leading anti-bioterror companies, visit www.thehstc.us/FC.html.

This article was written by Public Sector Institute senior editor, Robert Green. He can be reached at RobertGreen@PubSector.net.