The purpose of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to solicit research proposals for Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) requirements for the CBDP Ebola BAA for the FY2015-2016 program.

DTRA, with industry and government partners, has been working aggressively for the past decade to understand and counter Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV). DTRA's program is currently supporting the accelerated development of a therapeutic through preclinical Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling activities as well as the clinical evaluation for one EBOV vaccine. The program co-developed the rapid field deployable diagnostic systems currently in use in West Africa. The program has also been adapting and improving upon North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) approved and high performance computing methods of modeling EBOV to perform analysis of the current EBOV outbreak. Recognizing that industry may have solutions applicable to the current EBOV outbreak in West Africa, this BAA has been released to ensure that all potential near-term solutions are considered.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently reports an ongoing outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa. The West African countries currently affected include Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, with past cases occurring in Nigeria and Senegal. There are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medical countermeasures for EBOV, the causative strain of the ongoing EVD epidemic in West Africa. Although diagnostic capabilities are available and are being utilized in West Africa, limitations with these current capabilities must be addressed. Similarly, improved modeling data, methods, and/or tools are required to better understand and predict the course of the current outbreak.

The primary objective of this BAA is to support development of near-term solutions such as therapeutic and vaccine candidates; diagnostic capabilities; modeling capabilities; and data gaps. For Medical Countermeasures (MCMs), only late stage development products for EBOV that can be completed and implemented in the near-term; defined as in time to assist with the current EBOV outbreak will be considered under this solicitation.