[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]



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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