Module Announcement; Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense (UPGRADE)

Amendment 7 (posted October 2, 2024): The purpose of this amendment is to update and clarify Section 5(e) in Volume 1: Technical & Management template. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made. However, for ease, all Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates are being provided with Amendment 7 and all previous Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates versions have been deleted to avoid confusion.

Amendment 6 (posted September 26, 2024): The purpose of this amendment is to extend the proposal due date from October 2, 2024, to October 15, 2024, at 12 PM ET. Additionally, due to a recent Solutions Portal update the system DOES support zip files. Section P.3, titled Proposal Submission Instructions, has been updated to remove file limitation language that no longer applies. Administrative changes to reference the latest Amendment to the Master Announcement Instruction (MAI), ARPA-H-MAI-24-01 has also been made. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made.

Amendment 2 to the Master Announcement Instruction (MAI), ARPA-H-MAI-24-01, is also attached and located on the UPGRADE team webpage.

Amendment 5 (posted September 19, 2024): The purpose of this amendment is to correct Volume 1: Basis of Estimate (BOE) Template in the Attachment 1, OT Bundle. Section titled Price Summary, (a) Pricing per TA, Technical Area (TA) 1 – 4 charts have been updated to remove “Years 4-6” to clarify that UPGRADE is a three-year, two-phase program and these charts should be completed accordingly.

Additionally, Section P.3, titled Proposal Submission Instructions, has been updated to provide a clarification that the Solutions Portal currently does not support zip files. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made. However, for ease, all Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates are being provided with Amendment 5.

Amendment 4 (posted September 5, 2024): The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that the letters of support from hospital partners for TA1 and/or equipment manufacturers for TA2, TA3, and TA4 should be included as an attachment to Volume 1: Technical & Management.

Additionally, Section 14 in Volume 1: Technical & Management template in the Attachment 1, OT Bundle is added to include the request for these letters of support. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made. However, for ease, all Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates are being provided with Amendment 4.

Amendment 3 (posted August 15, 2024): The purpose of Amendment 3 is to extend the proposal due date from September 18, 2024, to October 2, 2024, at 12 PM ET. Section E, paragraph #4 on page 11 has been removed to correct a formatting error.

Volume 1: Technical & Management Template in the OT Bundle (Attachment 1) is updated to clarify that Section 11, Software Component Technical Plan, is not part of the page count. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made. However, for ease, all Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates are being provided with Amendment 3.

Amendment 2 (posted July 22, 2024): The purpose of Amendment 2 is to extend the due date for Solution Summary submissions due to issues with the Solutions site portal. The new due date for Submission Summaries is Wednesday, July 24 at 10 pm ET. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes have been made to the UPGRADE module announcement nor its Appendix (Appendix A) and OT Bundle (Attachment 1).

Amendment 1 (posted July 12, 2024): The purpose of Amendment 1 is as follows:

1) Fix an error on page 18 and page 20 by removing « Error! Reference source not found » and add references to the correct Figures; and 2) provide a start date to utilize for pricing purposes in Appendix A, Solution Summary Template and the Attachment 1, Basis of Estimate template. All changes are highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates have been made.

However, for ease, all Attachment 1, OT Bundle templates are being provided with Amendment 1. ARPA-H seeks proposals to develop a revolutionary new cybersecurity platform to enable hospitals and health systems to protect themselves from cyberattacks.

The Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense (UPGRADE) program will empower hospital information Technology (IT) teams to protect health systems from cyberattacks and ensure continuity of patient care without requiring additional personnel or manual effort.

UPGRADE aims to fund the creation of vulnerability mitigation tools that act as a force multiplier for hospital IT/cybersecurity teams, dramatically advancing hospitals’ capacities to understand, source, plan, and deploy security upgrades for connected hospital equipment (e.g., equipment germane to hospital environments including but not limited to infusion pumps, patient monitoring equipment, and imaging equipment).

All questions should be directed ONLY to ARPA-H Solutions (https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question. Proposals should be submitted to https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/, and the due date is no later than 12:00 PM ET, October 15, 2024. Please see the attached Final solicitation for full program details along with Appendix A, Solution Summary Template and Attachment 1, OT Bundle (reference Amendment 7 for the most recent OT Bundle) which contains templates and proposal preparation instructions.