The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Procurement Operations is seeking to advance development of a fabric technology to provide real-time initial decontamination after exposure to chemicals.

The fabric must be able to be incorporated into a duty uniform garment, work under extreme weather conditions (e.g., variability in temperature, humidity, and precipitation), and ideally also be fire resistant.

This fabric technology would provide real-time initial decontamination after an exposure to a minimum of two of the following selected chemicals at the vendor provided challenge level, to include liquid and vapor challenges:

Acetone
Ethyl acetate
50 percent w/w/ sodium hydroxide
1 percent w/w sulfuric acid
Toluene
Dimethylformamide
Nitrobenzene

The desired garment technology must also meet specified standards in terms of thermal stability, flame resistance, and heat and thermal shrinkage resistance after 1, 5, and 10 wash cycles.

The government expects to award a single cooperative research agreement worth $250,000 under this effort.

Further details are available via Funding Opportunity Number: DHS-ST-16-065-FR07. The closing date for applications is July 1, 2016