Homeland Security requests technology proposals for cargo security

The "competitive arm" of the Homeland Security Department on Wednesday reached out to the private sector about making proposals to the department for technologies to detect radiological and nuclear threats.

"We're the competitive arm of the science and technology directive," Jane Alexander, deputy director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA), told the executives at a "bidders' conference" in the Washington area. The companies gathered to get more information about HSARPA's early February call for tech proposals. The technologies would be deployed to detect the threats in cargo, parcels, warehouses, ships and trucks.

Alexander outlined the division's mission and role, saying it is required to interact with the private sector in order to rapidly prototype existing commercial technology and research "revolutionary options." She said the agency will be asking companies to "stretch" their technologies by working with national laboratories or universities.

In its first and second year -- as part of the one-year-old larger department -- HSARPA should be considered an "experiment," Alexander said. Officials plan to "pause" and assess each project after it is finished, she added.

Unlike its namesake, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 90 percent to 95 percent of HSARPA's money "comes with requirements attached," she said, and only 5 percent to 10 percent of funds are earmarked for developing breakthrough technologies. But Alexander also encouraged new systems that would lower costs and decrease manpower.

She outlined characteristics of systems that the division will help develop, saying the division considers each proposal's cost, "false positive" rate of identifying potential threats and ability to match regional needs of "first responders" to emergencies and police.

The division will not offer federal mandates for technologies, Alexander added. "We will not be telling [state and local officials] this is the one to buy."

Steven Buchsbaum provided an overview of the process for bids on radiological and nuclear detectors. He categorized six "technical top areas" in his presentation, such as enhanced handheld identification systems, technology to identify and directly locate threats in ships and other locations, and area search devices with enhanced resolution and penetration for cargo and parcels. He also said the division wants "active systems" like a "multi-energy imaging system."

For the area search devices, the "system characteristics" in proposals should include a backpack system weighing less than 25 pounds, and a robust wireless communications system that is compatible with the Coast Guard's operations and is hardened against shock and salt water.

The active systems would need to detect a "limited quantity of compounds" with atomic numbers greater than iron, and have a scan time of 20 seconds for a cargo container that is 8-by-10-by-40 feet and 6 seconds for "luggage-size parcels."

Contracts are scheduled to be awarded in May and June, and the solicitation for the bid closes in February 2005.