Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has issued an Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO) for the Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA) program. Managed by the Proactive Health Office, this initiative aims to transition autism care from a generic management model to personalized, biologically and behaviorally informed interventions across the lifespan. SPECTRA focuses on four core Technical Areas (TAs): • TA1 (Multi-Factor Analysis and Trajectory Identification): Uses deep phenotyping to model how genetic, biological, environmental, and medical factors interact nonlinearly to define developmental trajectories. • TA2 (Population-Scale Modeling and Data Integration): Establishes a secure, federated national data infrastructure to integrate multi-domain datasets across institutions. • TA3 (Precision Intervention and Trajectory Testing): Conducts rigorous, adaptive platform trials to evaluate stratified treatments, targeting severe co-occurring conditions like epilepsy, sleep disorders, and gastrointestinal issues. • TA4 (Technologies for Communication, Quality of Life, and Embedded Assessment): Develops daily-use technologies (such as wearables, eye-tracking, and open speech models) that improve function while capturing real-world clinical measurements. The program emphasizes active co-design with the autistic community, prioritizing individuals with profound autism and high support needs. Non-solicited program resources will provide centralized data coordination, community engagement, independent evaluation, and transition planning. ARPA-H intends to award Other Transaction (OT) agreements to selected performers to deliver validated, sustainable tools that enhance autonomy and quality of life.

This document is a mandatory template (Attachment A1) for submitting a Technical Area 4 (TA4) Solution Summary under the ARPA-H Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA) solicitation (ARPA-H-SOL-26-163). TA4 focuses on Technologies for Communication, Quality of Life, and Embedded Assessment. Proposers must submit this brief, maximum 7-page document in English before submitting a full proposal. The template outlines a structured submission format consisting of seven main sections: 1. **Concept Summary:** A jargon-free overview of the proposed TA4 solution. 2. **Innovation and Impact:** The targeted problems, revolutionary aspects of the technology, and a quantitative comparison against state-of-the-art baselines. 3. **Proposed Work:** Technical approach, milestones, alternative methods considered, previous relevant experience, and alignment with specific TA4 goals (e.g., co-design with autistic individuals, accessibility, edge processing, privacy, and interoperability). 4. **Team Organization and Capabilities:** Key personnel, roles, experience, and level of effort. 5. **Basis of Estimate (BOE):** Detailed project costs, including labor, subcontracts, and materials (excluded from page limits). 6. **Preliminary Resource Share Strategy:** Plans for cost-sharing, commercialization, and sustainability (excluded from page limits). 7. **References Cited:** Bibliographic information for cited works (excluded from page limits). The document also includes a standard administrative cover page to capture prime and sub-awardee organizational details, point-of-contact information, and requested funding totals.