{Pittsburgh, PA] – The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy’s Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) announced that the Defense Health Agency (DHA) has selected a Pitt consortium to join a select group of organizations, and only one of two universities, to compete for as much as $10 billion in contracts from the Department of Defense to develop health care innovations over the next five years through the Omnibus IV program.
Janice Pringle, Ph.D., founder and executive director of PERU, acknowledges the critical role the Pitt consortium will play in supporting the Department of Defense and Veterans communities. “The DHA’s inclusion of the Pitt consortium will help continue the front-line research and program development PERU has conducted for the last fifteen years in lethal means harm reduction, destigmatizing behavioral health, and successful treatment protocols for substance use disorders. We are excited to continue serving military and Veterans families throughout Pennsylvania and the United States.”
The DHA, an integrated combat support agency that enables the Army, Navy, and Air Force medical services to provide a medically ready force, will be the central hub of medical research and development and the dollars that flow from it for the Department of Defense (DoD) beginning October 1, 2022. Omnibus IV is a contract mechanism that allows for each branch of the military to issue task orders (like a request for proposal from National Institutes of Health or National Science Foundation) through the DHA to four market segments:
- Research and Development
- Research and Development Support Services
- Regulatory Services
- Translational Science Support and Services
Pitt submitted a proposal for the Research and Development and Translational Science Support and Services segments.
Ron Poropatich, retired U.S. Army colonel and director of Pitt’s Center for Military Medicine Research, (CMMR) and William R. Wagner, director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) first recognized the potential for this opportunity in late 2020. The University had built a strong track record for developing medical innovations for the Department of Defense across a range of therapeutic categories.
Dr. Poropatich began the proposal process by assembling a core writing team that in addition to CMMR and MIRM, included the Office of Industry and Economic Partnerships (OIEP), Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and School of Pharmacy’s Program Evaluation Research Unit (PERU). The solicitation required five volumes for completion: Proposal Documentation, Technical Capabilities, Past Performance, Small Business Participation and Pricing.
The solicitation required that a quarter of each project involve an industry partner. The OIEP, a unit of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, helped assemble the participation of more than 50 small businesses and other industry partners, with the ability to add more with research and translation capabilities during the five years of the program. The partner companies include women-owned and disabled veteran-owned businesses and several Pitt startups.
In addition to Drs. Pringle, Poropatich and Wagner, the core Pitt team members that worked through a complex proposal process to completion, to an on-time submission and subsequent award include:
Jonathan Walkush – School of Pharmacy’s Program Evaluation and Research Unit
Brian Smith – Center for Military Medicine Research
Coleen O’Hara – Center for Military Medicine Research
Patrick Cantini – McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Katharine Wharton – McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Brian Vidic – Office of Industry and Economic Partnerships
Ann Gleeson – Center for Military Medicine Research
Eva Lai – Swanson School of Engineering
Heide Eash – Office of Sponsored Programs
Richard Hoff – Office of Sponsored Programs
Jamelle Price – McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine