Washington, D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) released a request for information to identify potential vendors, manufacturers and distributors with technologies for non-invasive febrile temperature screening to meet the needs of first responders and protective services as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The technologies will be included in a market study conducted by S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) and interested industry partners have until 5:00 p.m. EDT on August 31 to submit their products for inclusion.
“Temperature screening technologies are one of several tools in our arsenal that can help reduce the spread of COVID-19,” stated NUSTL Senior Technologist Bhargav Patel. “While screening for mass fevers may not be a panacea for getting back to ‘normal’ given the reported asymptomatic case rates, it becomes even more important to explore and use every possible tool that we have at our disposal.”
The market survey will be conducted via NUSTL’s System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) program, and all technologies under consideration will adhere to National Institute of Health technical specifications identified in the recent Comparison of 3 Infrared Thermal Detection Systems and Self-Report for Mass Fever Screening study. The market survey will specifically look at standoff, contactless temperature screening thermograph technologies used for mass fever detection at points of entry and will also inform state, local and federal response agencies interested in procuring this type of technology. Once the survey is complete, findings will be posted to the SAVER Document Library on the S&T website.
“NUSTL is committed to providing our stakeholders with actionable scientific data and strong technology options as they continue to stand up and implement their response plans,” said NUSTL Director Alice Hong.
For more information on the RFI prior to the August 31 submission deadline, read S&T’s related blog post and visit the solicitation page.
For more information on the SAVER program, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/saver.
