Request for Project Proposals: “PRimer and prObe Manufacturing PlaTform (PROMPT)”

The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is seeking proposals for the development of a fully automated, man-portable, and ruggedized prototype platform for the on-demand, expeditionary manufacturing of clinical-quality nucleic acid primers and probes. The system must be designed for operation in far forward or austere environments by non-specialist personnel. The primary objective is to address critical capability gaps in expeditionary medical diagnostics by replacing traditional hazardous synthesis chemistry with a field-stable alternative and integrating novel, on-board capabilities for both the automated purification and quality control validation of the resulting reagents. • The proposed system must integrate nucleic acid synthesis, purification, and quality control into a compact, ruggedized instrument. • The system should be designed to meet MIL-STD-810 testing requirements and have reduced power draw for battery operations. • The proposed solution must demonstrate stability at room temperature for at least 12 months and function reliably across -20°C to 55°C without cold-chain dependence. • The system should provide purification and verification approaches comparable to gold standard methods in higher resource laboratories. • The proposed solution should demonstrate end-to-end workflows through pilot projects that replicate a commercial PCR assay, comparing field-manufactured primers/probes to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) equivalents.