The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office was established in December 2017 by consolidating primarily the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, a majority of the Office of Health Affairs, as well as other DHS elements.
For current information related to CWMD, please visit the following:
The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office’s (DNDO) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) Program seeks to support late-stage, pre-acquisition research and development projects to fill gaps in technologies for nuclear detection and the nation’s technical nuclear forensics missions. The demonstrations build on technology concepts previously demonstrated through DNDO’s Exploratory Research Program or an equivalent demonstration.
The goal of the program is to develop and characterize prototypes, known as Performance Test Units (PTU), capable of providing performance measurements in operational environments. These PTU measurements provide an understanding of the technology’s potential to transition into a government acquisition program or a commercial system for development.
Caption: The above detection technology is an ATD project prototype that seeks to identify nuclear material even while heavily shielded or masked.
Current Technologies in Exploration
- Compact personal radiation detectors and locators
- Systems with detection, identification, and localization capabilities at long range distances
- Technologies that can detect nuclear material even when heavily shielded or masked
- Systems that network an array of radiation detection systems
- Aerial detection and sensor systems for wide area searches
- Wearable detectors that are hands-free and allow for deployment of low profile detection techniques
Solicitations
Vendors are solicited annually through Broad Agency Announcements (BAA). Typically, the primary vendor for this participation would be the industries. However, collaborations with other industry (including small businesses), national laboratories or other federally-funded research development centers, and academia are highly encouraged.
Proposal Evaluation
Full proposals are subjected to a technical evaluation process where each proposal is evaluated by subject matter experts. Annual solicitations are typically issued in the spring timeframe, followed by awards in late summer.
The program anticipates starting a new project each year, with two to three vendors developing a system for characterization.
Additional information
- Federal Business Opportunities are available at www.fbo.gov.
- For general inquiries, please contact dndoatd@hq.dhs.gov.
- For supported and ongoing activities under the ATD program, please see the ATD Fact Sheet.