[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57855-57857]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-22854]
[[Page 57855]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Announcement of Requirements and Registration for ``System for
Locating People Using Electricity Dependent Medical Equipment During
Public Health Emergencies Ideation Challenge''
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and
Response, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
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Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
Award Approving Official: Dr. Nicole Lurie, Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response.
SUMMARY: The ``System for Locating People Using Electricity Dependent
Medical Equipment During Public Health Emergencies'' Ideation Challenge
seeks ideas to establish a system for monitoring the location and
status of life-sustaining durable medical equipment (DME) during a
prolonged power outage or disaster situation. This information would be
used by a network of family and friends, formal caregivers, emergency
responders and others responding to a disaster to better assist
individuals who are dependent on DME. The current Challenge focuses on
obtaining information about DME; however, this is part of a larger
effort to ensure that these people get the necessary help as quickly as
possible. Submissions can be existing applications, or applications
developed specifically for this challenge. The statutory authority for
this challenge competition is Section 105 of the America COMPETES
Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-358).
DATES: Submissions will be accepted for 30 calendar days from the date
this posting is published in Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam DeVore, (202) 401-2361.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Subject of Challenge Competition: The Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), in collaboration with
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), seeks ideas for a
system for monitoring the location and status of life-sustaining
durable medical equipment (DME) during a prolonged power outage or
disaster situation. Many in-home patients require the daily use of a
piece of electrically powered DME. During a disaster or other event
that leads to a prolonged power outage, these patients often end up at
shelters or emergency rooms looking for sources of power or alternate
ways to manage their medical needs. For example, during recent natural
disasters and weather related emergencies, many people who were
dependent on electricity and battery-powered DME--such as oxygen
concentrators and ventilators--and who typically care for themselves at
home, were forced to evacuate their homes and go to a shelter or health
care facility to power and re-supply their equipment. This not only has
the potential to adversely impact the health outcomes for individuals
who rely on DME, but it also stresses the local health care system and
reduces a community's resilience and capability to rapidly recover from
an emergency. During an emergency, communities could better meet the
needs of individuals who rely on DME if they had access to real-time,
remotely transmittable information about the locations and remaining
battery life of life-sustaining medical devices. In addition, this
information could be beneficial to an individual, their caregivers, and
family members on a routine basis during non-emergent events.
ASPR has identified a need for a reliable system available to
identify, locate, and assist these individuals in a timely fashion.
This information would be used by a network of family and friends,
formal caregivers, emergency responders, and others responding to a
disaster to better assist individuals who are dependent on DME.
Currently, there is no reliable system to simultaneously and rapidly
identify the locations of individuals who rely on DME, to understand
the power status of their life-sustaining devices. Developing and
integrating a system that automatically monitors and transmits the
status and location of a device will provide caregivers and responders
with actionable information to support emergency planning and response
operations, such as deploying a charged, replacement battery or
prioritizing power restoration.
ASPR is committed to developing a comprehensive action plan to
provide emergency aid to people in need. Proposals should be detailed
and implementable. The current Challenge focuses on obtaining
information about DME; however, this is part of a larger effort to
ensure that these people get the necessary help as quickly as possible.
This is an Ideation Challenge with a guaranteed award for at least one
submitted solution.
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition
To be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, an individual
or entity--
(1) Shall have registered to participate in the competition under
the rules promulgated by the Office of Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response;
(2) Shall have complied with all the requirements under this
section;
(3) In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and
maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the
case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group,
shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States;
(4) May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within
the scope of their employment;
(5) Shall not be an HHS employee working on their applications or
submissions during assigned duty hours; and
(6) Shall not be in the reporting chain of Dr. Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Federal grantees may not use federal funds to develop COMPETES Act
challenge applications unless consistent with the purpose of their
grant award. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a
contract to develop COMPETES Act challenge applications or to fund
efforts in support of a COMPETES Act challenge submission.
An individual or entity shall not be deemed ineligible because the
individual or entity used federal facilities or consulted with federal
employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made
available to all individuals and entities participating in the
competition on an equitable basis.
Registered participants shall be required to agree to assume any
and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its
related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any
injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits,
whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their
participation in a competition, whether the injury, death, damage, or
loss arises through negligence or otherwise, and to indemnify the
federal government against third party claims for damages arising from
or related to competition activities.
Participants shall be required to obtain liability insurance or
demonstrate financial responsibility for claims by--
(1) A third party for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or
loss
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resulting from an activity carried out in connection with participation
in a competition, with the federal government named as an additional
insured under the registered participant's insurance policy and
registered participants agreeing to indemnify the federal government
against third party claims for damages arising from or related to
competition activities; and
(2) The federal government for damage or loss to government
property resulting from such an activity.
Registration Process for Participants
To register for this challenge participants may do any of the
following:
(1) Access the www.challenge.gov Web site, search for the ``System
for Locating People Using Electricity Dependent Medical Equipment
During Public Health Emergencies Ideation Challenge,'' and follow the
link to the registration page; or
(2) Access the InnoCentive challenge Web site at
www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9933433.
All participants are required to consent to the rules upon or
before submitting an entry.
Amount of the Prize
This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following features:
There is a guaranteed award. The awards will be paid to
the best submission(s) as solely determined by the judge. The total
payout will be $10,000, with at least one award being no smaller than
$5,000 and no award being smaller than $1,000.
Additional Award: In addition to the direct monetary
awards, some of the winner(s) of this Challenge may be invited (at the
ASPR's sole discretion) to a unique opportunity to present their idea
to high-profile thought leaders at an upcoming event in Atlanta, GA,
USA on April 1-4, 2014. This opportunity includes a $1,000 stipend to
defray the cost of travel and accommodations.
Awards may be subject to federal income taxes and HHS will
comply with IRS withholding and reporting requirements, where
applicable.
Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected
Winning solution proposals to this Challenge will at a minimum meet
the following Requirements:
(1) System is capable of capturing essential data from durable
medical equipment (DME), including, but not limited to:
Loss of external power;
Power level and status of internal battery, including
remaining battery life time, if appropriate;
Unique identifier of the DME or at minimum, brand and
model;
GPS location;
Current time/date;
Device diagnostic information to determine operational
status of DME; and
User identifying information.
(2) System is capable of securely sending all captured data over
various spectrums:
Send information over medical body area network (MBAN);
Robustly transmit over at least two communication methods/
technologies; e.g. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Mobile (CDMA, GSM, LTE), Amateur
Radio, ZigBee;
Ability to switch between/rollover spectrum/technologies
depending on resource availability;
Ability to send data automatically or upon manual command
(e.g. at specified intervals of time, on-demand, or when triggered by
external events);
No interference with the operation of the DME;
Securely transmit ``read only'' data collected from DME;
and
Data need to be distributed to a predetermined list of
responders in a format defined by ASPR.
(3) System is accessible to all in-home patients with DME:
Easy to install and set up user defined characteristics;
Simple registration process; and
Simple to use, particularly for elderly or frail
individuals.
A solution may include the use of a device(s). If this is the case,
these additional specifications must be met:
(1) Low-power consumption transmitter:
Ideally be constructed of readily available open source
components;
Consumes low level of standby power;
If integrated into DME, consumes minimal power with no
impact upon DME performance; and
Alternatively, has its own power source separate from the
DME.
ASPR is currently working to develop a piece of open source
hardware capable of executing these functionalities. While the hardware
is near completion, coding software is still needed and additional
methods (e.g., mobile and social media apps) are required to establish
the infrastructure needed to support information transmission using
multiple channels. Hence, ASPR is interested in additional types of
hardware, a combination of hardware and software, or a non-technical
solution.
Include in your submission a detailed description of the system
(process and/or device) that will be used under routine and emergency
conditions to:
Uniquely identify DME;
Report the current power status of the device, to include
remaining battery time;
Report the location of the device;
Determine the operational status of DME; and
Identify a way to contact the DME user.
Be sure to include the rationale for the solution and specific
ideas to address the following questions.
How would people obtain the system?
How could they register?
How will data be transferred to recipients?
The solution most likely includes a device, but ASPR is interested
in a versatile submission that would benefit people from all
socioeconomic backgrounds.
Submitted proposals along with all relevant supporting data should
include the information described in the Detailed Description of the
Challenge.
Submitted proposals should not include any personal identifying
information the participants do not want to make public, or any
information the participant may consider as their intellectual property
that they do not want to share.
After the Challenge deadline, a review panel of technical advisers
will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to
the winning solution(s). All participants that submit a proposal will
be notified about the status of their submissions; however, no detailed
evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.
Additional Information
Ownership of intellectual property is determined by the following:
Each entrant retains title and full ownership in and to
their submission. Entrants expressly reserve all intellectual property
rights not expressly granted under the challenge agreement. By
participating in the challenge, each entrant hereby irrevocably grants
to sponsor and administrator a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty free,
worldwide license and right to reproduce, publically perform,
publically display, and use the submission to the extent necessary to
administer the challenge, and to publically perform and publically
display the submission, including, without limitation, for advertising
and promotional purposes relating to the challenge.
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About ASPR
ASPR leads HHS in preparing the nation to respond to and recover
from adverse health effects of emergencies, supporting communities'
ability to withstand adversity, strengthening health and response
systems, and enhancing national health security. To learn more about
ASPR and preparedness, response, and recovery from the health impacts
of disasters, visit the HHS public health and medical emergency Web
site, www.phe.gov.
Dated: September 13, 2013.
Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
[FR Doc. 2013-22854 Filed 9-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P