Opportunity
SAM #ARPA-H-SOL-26-163
ARPA-H SPECTRA Solicitation for Autism Trajectory Technologies and Assessment Systems
Buyer
ARPA-H
Posted
September 17, 2026
Respond By
October 18, 2026
Identifier
ARPA-H-SOL-26-163
NAICS
541715
ARPA-H, a division of the National Institutes of Health under the Department of Health and Human Services, is launching the SPECTRA initiative to advance autism assessment and intervention technologies. - Government Buyer: - Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), NIH, HHS - Program Focus: - Development of systems and technologies for phenotypic evaluation, clinical trajectories, response, and agency in autism - Solutions must integrate genetic, biological, behavioral, medical, and environmental factors - Technologies should enable reliable assessment outside clinical settings - Tools should support daily living, improve communication, function, and quality of life, and generate actionable data for personalized care - Requirements: - No specific OEMs, vendors, products, or part numbers are mentioned in the solicitation - All technical specifications and requirements are detailed in attached documents (not provided) - No explicit product or service line items listed in the notice
Description
SPECTRA will identify and act on autism trajectories, the evolving developmental paths individuals follow across the lifespan from the prenatal period through aging, spanning autism characteristics, co-occurring conditions, and functional outcomes together with the genetic, biological, behavioral, iatrogenic (medical influences), environmental factors and their nonlinear interactions. Rather than examining these factors in isolation, SPECTRA will examine how they combine and interact, including their nonlinear interactions, to produce autism and its co-occurring conditions over time.
SPECTRA will also develop technologies that serve two purposes at once: extending reliable assessment beyond the clinic while improving everyday communication, function, and quality of life. The same tools people use to live more fully will also generate the data that drive measurement and personalized care.