The United States Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA) is seeking technology that can improve upon available field tests for rapid identification of coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli in water.
Currently available technology requires water samples to be incubated for up to 24 hours; USAMMDA wishes to identify new technology that can greatly reduce analysis time and improve other operational characteristics. The new technology will be used by US Army Preventive Medicine personnel to analyze both treated and untreated water.
To represent substantial improvements over available technologies, we are seeking technology with the following characteristics that can detect the presence/absence of both coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli:
- Comparability of results to US EPA reference methods.
- Rapid sample analysis time to result
- A hand-held device is desirable; must not exceed 42 pounds
- Require minimal operator training for sample preparation and analysis
Further details are available under Solicitation Number: ALB-1-2014.