Opioid Detection Challenge

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gives notice of the availability of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Opioid Detection Challenge” prize competition and rules. As part of the comprehensive government effort to address the opioid crisis, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), are seeking new tools and technologies to detect opioids in parcels moving through international service centers and express consignment facilities.

The Opioid Crisis

The Opioid Crisis: The abuse of opioids such as fentanyl has created an unprecedented public health crisis across the United States. In 2017, approximately 50,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. International mail — through both USPS and express consignment — has been identified as a route for illicit opioids entering the U.S., commonly transported in nearly pure, powdered form. Consequently, large-scale drug trafficking can occur via very small packages sent in the mail.

Seeking Solutions:

The Challenge calls on innovators in a wide range of fields, from forensic science to industrial quality assurance to artificial intelligence, to help disrupt the flow of opioids into the United States by participating in this Challenge. The Challenge seeks novel, automated, nonintrusive, user-friendly and well developed plans for tools and technologies that have the potential to quickly and accurately detect opioids in parcels, without disrupting the flow of mail.

The Opioid Detection Challenge, a multistage open innovation competition, will run from February 2019 through fall 2019 and award up to $1.55 million in cash prizes. Following the conclusion of the Challenge, the government expects to work with selected solvers to develop these prototypes into the next generation of opioid interdiction tools. The government plans to deploy these tools in international mail, express consignment facilities, and other environments across the country that call for rapid, accurate detection of opioids and related substances.

• Stage 1: Up to eight (8) finalists will be selected to share a prize pool of $800,000 and advance to Stage 2.
• Stage 2: Finalists will compete for a prize pool of $750,000, to be shared by a grand prize winner and a runner-up.

Challenge Phases (Overview)

Stage 1

In Stage 1, the Challenge seeks well developed plans for novel tools and technologies that can detect opioids in parcels in international mail. Solutions should be nonintrusive, accurate and intuitive, with the potential to screen packages quickly.

Please note solutions should meet the following requirements:

• Solutions cannot physically penetrate the parcel in any way
• Solutions cannot involve pretreating the parcels with powders, sprays, solutions or liquids
• Solutions must rely on information gleaned from the physical parcel, such as height, weight, appearance, handwriting, etc.; solutions may not rely on external data, such as information about the sender and recipient, that cannot be discerned from the package itself, or information from government or private/commercial databases
• Solutions must be moderate in size, no greater than 180″ x 81″ x 78″
• Solutions must be able to process parcels up to 27” x 17” x 17” in size
• Though not a requirement, solutions should ideally be able to process parcels up to 27″ x 21″ x 14″ in size

Up to eight (8) finalists will be selected by the judges according to official Stage 1 selection criteria. Each finalist is expected to be awarded a share of the $800,000 prize pool. As part of their acceptance of the cash prize, finalists must agree to participate in Stage 2. At the conclusion of Stage 1, finalists will have the opportunity to add to their teams in order to maximize their likelihood of success through Stage 2, when teams will be developing their prototypes. In order to facilitate this, Stage 1 participants will be given the opportunity to share their contact information and submission abstracts, to be made available to finalists.

If any potential finalist is found to be ineligible, has not complied with the Official Rules, Terms and Conditions, or declines the cash prize for any reason prior to award, an alternate finalist may be selected. DHS and its partnering agencies may consider awarding nonmonetary recognition(s) to any submission(s) which are of high interest to the government, but not selected as finalists.

Stage 2

In Stage 2, Finalists will participate in a 14-week prototyping accelerator, where they will develop their plans into testable prototypes. During this time, finalists will receive additional support, including access to mentors, guidance from government experts, educational webinars, access to additional datasets and/or information on current processes. We anticipate holding several webinars featuring guidance and open question periods with government and other experts. Training dataset(s) will be made available to finalists as required by the solution type.

Stage 2 will culminate in a mandatory live test event, where finalists will convene at a government selected facility for on-site testing of their prototypes. A standard testing approach will be applied to all solutions. DHS will provide a set of articles on which the solutions will be tested. Test results will be a factor in determining the Stage 2 winners, but not the sole basis for selection. Test event participants will be responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodation, paid for using their Stage 1 prize award. Additional details regarding testing will be provided at the start of the prototyping accelerator.

During Stage 2, finalists from Stage 1 will compete for $750,000 in additional cash prizes. The grand prize winner is expected to be awarded $500,000, and the runner-up to be awarded $250,000. The cash prizes in Stage 2 will be distributed based on the review of the Stage 2 submissions by the judges according to the Stage 2 selection criteria, which will be shared at a later date. Please refer to the Official Rules, Terms and Conditions for further details.

Furthermore, if the government determines that the entire project has been successfully completed, there continues to be a need, and there is available funding; You and DHS or any DHS component, or USPIS may attempt to negotiate one or more new agreements for the following purposes as authorized by law:

• An agreement with USPIS  under applicable USPS authorities as determined by USPIS
• Follow On prototype R&D contract, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement,  or Other Transactions Agreement as authorized by law and applicable DHS or DHS component policy.
• Follow On agreement for limited use of one or more completed prototypes in the DHS environment for test purposes for a minimum of up to one year; as authorized by applicable law and DHS or DHS component policy.
• A Follow-On production purchase agreement in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-1, FAR 6.204, or as otherwise authorized by applicable law and DHS or DHS component policy.

Source: Challenge.gov