The play
NIRSense's tissue-perfusion optical sensing plus RallyPoint One's physics-first hemodynamic digital-twin modeling → personalized shock digital twins that distinguish shock phenotypes (hemorrhagic, cardiogenic, septic), dual-use across battlefield/austere care and civilian ICU-to-home monitoring.
Measure
NIRSense
Optical sensor hardware, a clinical result, an FDA pathway.
Model
RallyPoint One
Physics-informed simulation & hemodynamic digital twins.
Mission
OLB · USUHS
The nonprofit research org & the clinical / sponsor anchor.
Division of hunting (agreed on the call): RallyPoint One pursues the modeling/simulation dollars, NIRSense pursues the hardware/device dollars — and several vehicles below fund the combined system, where a joint proposal beats either of us alone.
Grouped by urgency — Act now (open, deadline-driven), Set up now (cheap positioning), Long game (sponsor-initiated), Watch (next cycle). Each carries a fit read, who's best placed to lead, the money, the deadline, and a live link. Figures are public and current to 11 Jul 2026; we verify each before committing effort.
Tier 1
Act now
open · deadline-driven
1
CDMRP Combat Readiness (CRRP) — Translational Research Award
Defense Health Agency · HT942526CRRPTRA
The cleanest fit for the combined sensor + digital-twin story. FY26 Combat Readiness explicitly funds battlefield diagnostics, triage, and decision-aid tools at TRL 4+ — exactly a sensor-fused, model-driven shock-phenotype decision aid. Here, our joint thesis is the ask.
Pre-app in ~5 weeks
TRL 4+
Any entity may prime
Who can primeFor-profit, nonprofit, or academic can all lead — RP1, NIRSense, or OLB. PI must be an independent (non-mentored) investigator; no cost share.
Next Focused fit assessment in the next two weeks; decide lead entity and confirm the TRL-4 evidence package (NIRSense clinical data + RP1 model maturity).
2
CDMRP PRMRP — Technology/Therapeutic Development Award · Hypoxia topic
Defense Health Agency · HT942526PRMRPTTDA
The FY26 PRMRP Hypoxia topic calls for continuous monitoring and detection of tissue-specific oxygen levels — very nearly a description of the NIRSense device. A product/regulatory-stage mechanism, so it rewards an existing prototype and preliminary data.
Pre-app in 12 days
Needs a prototype + prelim data
Who can primeAny org type can lead — NIRSense as the device owner. The award must yield an FDA IND/IDE filing or a product transition by the end of performance, so it fits a device company or a nonprofit with a product path.
Next Decide this week whether NIRSense's device package can clear the 23 Jul pre-app; if not, we concentrate on CRRP (17 Aug). The RP1 modeling angle can also fit the lower-bar PRMRP Impact Award.
3
ARPA-H — Mission Office "Innovative Solutions Opening"
Resilient Systems Office / Proactive Health · ARPA-H-SOL-24-103 / -24-106
ARPA-H's standing open door for unsolicited ideas: rolling, no funding ceiling, and it explicitly welcomes cross-sector for-profit + nonprofit + university teams. Proactive Health's mission — anticipate deterioration; bring ICU-grade monitoring into the home — is essentially the NIRSense mission statement. A short Solution Summary gets a written encouraged/discouraged read in ~30 business days, so we can test the thesis at low cost.
Rolling — no fixed close
Cross-sector teams welcome
Written read in ~30 days
Who can primeFor-profit & nonprofit can prime (RP1, NIRSense, or OLB); cross-sector teams welcomed. U.S. Government entities — including USUHS — can't be a formal prime or sub; keep USUHS as an informal clinical advisor and let OLB carry the mission role.
Next RP1 drafts a short Resilient Systems / Proactive Health Solution Summary, citing the Cleveland Clinic ~4-hour-earlier-detection result as the proof point.
4
NSF SBIR/STTR — the 2026 revamp
America's Seed Fund · NSF 26-510 (general) / 26-511 (instrumentation pilot)
NSF consolidated its SBIR program and made it topic-agnostic — the pitch defines the topic, so a shock digital-twin or sensor-fusion decision-support tool qualifies on its own merits. Still a short Project Pitch → invited full proposal. A $40M instrumentation pilot (26-511) fits framing a next-generation hemodynamic sensing instrument.
Topic-agnostic — pitch is the topic
Pitch now for the Nov window
Who can primeSmall-business prime only (NIRSense or RP1) — a nonprofit can't prime. Must be >50% U.S.-individual-owned, ≤500 employees, no VC-majority. Under STTR, USUHS or a university joins as the required research-institution partner (≥30% of the work).
Next File a Project Pitch — NIRSense-led instrument framing (26-511) or RP1-led twin framing (26-510) — targeting November.
Tier 2
Set up now
cheap · high-leverage positioning
5
MTEC — Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium
DoD medical prototyping consortium · Other Transaction Authority
The fast-award, favorable-IP consortium for non-traditional performers. Its recurring Advanced Medical Monitor solicitation named hemorrhage-decompensation prediction as its highest priority, alongside noninvasive monitoring and AI/ML decision support — a near-perfect keyhole. It's between competitions and recurs; MTEC also periodically fields "Sensory Systems," "ICP Monitor," and "Computer Simulation" topics.
Join now — move fast on re-compete
Who can primeAny member firm or nonprofit can prime (RP1, NIRSense, or OLB) — but MTEC proposing membership (~$1k/yr small biz / nonprofit / academic) is required to lead an award.
Next Both firms (and OLB) enroll so any of us can prime; set alerts on the monitor + multi-topic lines.
6
USAMRDC Omnibus BAA — the always-open DHA door
Defense Health · HT9425-23-S-BAA1
The continuously-open broad agency announcement (through 30 Sep 2027) where Combat Casualty Care is an explicit program area. A pre-proposal can go anytime — our reserve vehicle for anything outside the annual CDMRP cycle.
Reserve / off-cycle vehicle
Who can primeAll organization types eligible — RP1, NIRSense, or OLB can each lead.
Next Hold as the fallback if CRRP/PRMRP timing slips.
Tier 3
Long game
sponsor-initiated
7
A USUHS-sponsored DHA SBIR topic
DoD SBIR via USUHS + USAMRDC medical SBIR office
The most durable play. DHA participates in the DoD SBIR program, and a USUHS sponsor — MAJ J.T. Green or Pat Walker — can author a topic framed around a documented capability gap (pre-hospital shock-phenotype discrimination to guide resuscitation). Because both firms already hold relevant data and IP, a topic written with a Direct-to-Phase-II option could let a proposer skip Phase I and go straight to a ~$1.3M prototype award.
Highest leverage · slowest
RP1 manages the process, clean of COI
Who can primeSmall-business prime only (NIRSense or RP1) — OLB can't prime an SBIR. For an STTR, USUHS serves as the research-institution partner (≥30% of the work).
Next Have MAJ Green / Pat Walker open the topic-intake conversation with the USAMRDC medical SBIR office — the topic is written around a capability gap, never a product or company.
Tier 4
Watch
pre-position for the next cycle
8
ARPA-H CIRCLE — join a funded team
Critical-illness "digital twins" · ARPA-H-SOL-26-139
CIRCLE funds patient-specific computational models — "digital twins" — of critically ill patients, sepsis named as a core driver. The prime window has closed, but its teaming registry lets us insert the sensor + twin as a component on an already-funded awardee's team — potentially the fastest route to ARPA-H money on the exact thesis.
Who can primePrime window is closed — the route now is joining a funded awardee as a sub. U.S. Government entities (USUHS) are barred as prime or sub; RP1, NIRSense, or OLB carry the sensor + twin component.
9
NSF X-Labs — the focused-research-organization vehicle
$1.5B / decade initiative
X-Labs funds independent, milestone-based teams on a well-defined multi-year problem (Phase 0 up to $1.5M; Phase 1 up to $50M/yr), and any domestic entity — including a nonprofit FRO like Operation Lifeblood — can submit. Current topics are quantum and instrumentation, not health, but a "digital twin of the failing circulation" is precisely what this vehicle is built to fund. We watch for a health topic and position OLB now.
Who can primeAny domestic entity may lead a Phase 0 proposal — including OLB as a nonprofit FRO, or either firm. Confirm the binding eligibility in the SAM.gov topic announcement before relying on it.
10
NSF FDT-BioTech & Smart Health — the exact-thesis grants
NSF + NIH + FDA · NSF 24-561 · NSF 25-542
FDT-BioTech funds the foundations of digital twins for in-silico evaluation of medical devices — the literal bullseye of our thesis, where the twin validates the sensor. Its last deadline has passed; we watch for the recompete and pre-position under an academic prime. Smart Health (SCH) funds multimodal sensing + personalized health models on a roughly semiannual cycle.
Who can primeFDT-BioTech: a university (IHE) must prime — RP1, NIRSense, and OLB can only join as a subaward under a civilian university (a federal school like USUHS is generally not an NSF-eligible prime). SCH: a university or a qualifying nonprofit (OLB) can prime; for-profits subaward.