U.S. Army Contracting Division, Natick Contracting Division, Request for Pre-Proposal (RFPP) also known as a “Concept Paper.”

Area of Interest: Soldier Sustainment Directorate, Combat Feeding Division. Development of Integrated Scalable Technology for Production at the PON for Nutritionally Tailored Rations in military operating environments.

Objective: The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Natick, invites preproposals under BOTAA 22-01 per 10 U.S.C. 4022 to develop automated biomanufacturing technology for nutritionally tailored rations at the PON in operational environments. This RFPP follows the Sources Sought announcement (W911QY-24-BIOMFG) on Sam.gov and outlines guidelines from the DEVCOM SC BOTAA 22-01. Submissions are non-binding, and the Government will not cover submission cost.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (DEVCOM SC), located in Natick, Massachusetts, is seeking proposals on the capabilities and willingness of non-traditional defense contractors, or contractors meeting one of the exceptions to a non-traditional defense contractor as identified in the aforementioned BOTAA. The intent of this project is to design, fabricate and assemble an automated prototype for the biosynthetic production of foodstuffs at the PON in military operating environments with minimum resources.

BACKGROUND: The Government (DEVCOM Soldier Center) is seeking a biotechnology integrator to design, fabricate and integrate PON food biomanufacturing technology scaled for mobile application and targeted for use in contested military operating environments where resources, manpower and space are limited. An industry day is planned to be hosted on MS Teams and a meeting invitation will be sent to respondents requesting to participate, dates to be published in the subject announcement on sam.gov.

PROJECT OVERVIEW: The effort will be initiated with incremental funding to support the design and review of the proposed base fermentation process. The design shall be configured to rapidly produce nutritional biomass. It is desired that the proposed process be configured to support future integration and process optimization to ultimately produce high quality protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber and other vitamins and minerals that provide complete nutrition. It is further desired that the proposed design fosters technology advancement process optimization to achieve the threshold/objective parameters outlined in the biosynthetic nutrition performance metrics chart. Following approval and availability of funds, the base process will be fabricated and integrated within a target demonstrational platform. While the offeror is encouraged to propose a suitable platform upon which the process will be configured, a military asset/platform may be provided by the government to support the effort. Incremental advancement of the biosynthetic process efficiency and process automation is also desired. The scope of the effort will be focused on development of a modular, mobile demonstrational capability to produce nutritional products (e.g. shake, pudding, bar and/or jerky) at the PON. The project will initiate with review and approval of a base design for a modular, scalable fermentation process that provides accelerated production of a nutritional biomass product and allows for follow-on development and technology insertion of pre- and post-processing capabilities. The ultimate goal of this biosynthetic process is to efficiently utilize in-place resources (air, water, minerals) for microbial fermentation, prioritizing Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) bacteria, yeast, or microalgae. The system will emphasize food safety, flexibility, and automation of nutritional biomass production in military operating environments with limited supplies.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS:

1. Pre-processing Technologies: Integrate feedstocks from ubiquitous resources (e.g., carbon and nitrogen compounds from gaseous effluents to include fuel-fired generator effluent, water and other in-place resources) for microbial metabolism. Supplemental processes (e.g., yeast lysate production) could enhance cell mass and product formation. Inputs must be safe, non-flammable, and meet drinking water standards.

2. Integrated Biosynthetic Process: Design an automated, modular bioprocessing system for military nutrition production. While a developmental/commercial platform may be proposed, a modular, scalable platform capable of leveraging existing platforms (e.g., JLTV Trailer-mounted shelter/container, TRICON or other suitable platform) is preferred and must have a footprint sufficient to include “fermentors” for microbial cultures, pre-processed feedstocks, and external inputs. Future integration of advanced pre- and post-processing technologies is required