Restorative and health-Enhancing Sleep Time (REST)

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This solicitation (ARPA-H-SOL-26-159) from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Proactive Health Office (PHO) seeks proposals for the Restorative & health-Enhancing Sleep Time (REST) program. The program aims to transform how poor sleep is measured and treated by developing objective, home-based, closed-loop technologies that detect health-relevant sleep microstructures and respond in real-time. The goal is to establish a foundation for new sleep health technologies that are objective, personalized, and improve long-term health outcomes at scale, addressing the significant health and economic burden of poor sleep.

This solicitation focuses on two solicited Technical Areas (TAs):

• Technical Area 1 (TA1): Measure & Diagnose
  • Develop validated, consumer-grade in-home systems to capture sleep microstructures with clinical fidelity.
  • Classify mechanistic subtypes of insomnia.
  • Link individual sleep profiles to personalized health risks (cognitive, emotional, cardiovascular, metabolic, immune).
  • Develop in-home systems for objective screening, diagnosis, and health-risk assessment.
• Technical Area 2 (TA2): Control & Treat
  • Develop noninvasive, closed-loop systems that use real-time physiological measurements to personalize and deliver interventions.
  • Adapt interventions to the user's sleep state and physiology in real-time to improve sleep quality and treat insomnia.
  • Coordinate modulation of multiple sleep microstructures.

Shared non-solicited program resources will also support the program, including Foundational Sleep Health Modeling and Discovery, and a Research Integrator and Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) effort.

• Award Instrument: Other Transaction (OT)

• Period of Performance: 66 months (5.5 years), organized into three phases: Prove Core Technical Thesis (24 mos), Demonstrate Proof-of-Concept (18 mos), and Clinical Translation and Commercialization Preparation (24 mos).

• Solution Summary Submission Deadline: August 12, 2026, at 12pm ET.

• Proposers' Day: July 13, 2026.

• Evaluation will be based on scientific and technical merit, feasibility, innovation, and proposer capabilities.

• ARPA-H is interested in proposals from commercial performers, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations.

• Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and government entities are not permitted to respond as prime or sub-performers.

• Awards prioritize entities conducting work in the United States; non-domestic performers are encouraged to collaborate with domestic entities.

• Active SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) are required.

• Proposals may address one or both Technical Areas.

• Industry cost share is encouraged, increasing in later phases (10% in Phase 2, 50% in Phase 3 for TA1).

• The solicitation does not guarantee an award.

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This solicitation (ARPA-H-SOL-26-159) from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Proactive Health Office (PHO) seeks proposals for the Restorative & health-Enhancing Sleep Time (REST) program. The program aims to transform how poor sleep is measured and treated by developing objective, home-based, closed-loop technologies that detect health-relevant sleep microstructures and respond to them in real time. The goal is to establish a technical foundation for new sleep health technologies that are objective, personalized, and capable of improving long-term health outcomes at scale, addressing the significant public health and economic burden of poor sleep.

This solicitation focuses on two solicited Technical Areas (TAs):

• Technical Area 1 (TA1): Measure & Diagnose: Develop validated, in-home systems for objective measurement of sleep-relevant physiology, diagnosis of poor sleep (centered on insomnia), and classification of mechanistic sleep subtypes. This includes hardware/software development, clinic-to-home translation, mechanistic insomnia subtype classification, in-home diagnostic capabilities, human factors/usability testing, and integration with the broader REST ecosystem.
• Technical Area 2 (TA2): Control & Treat: Develop noninvasive, closed-loop systems that use real-time physiological measurements to personalize and deliver interventions during sleep to improve sleep quality and treat insomnia. This includes real-time neuromodulation, multi-microstructure targeting, mechanism-informed treatment targeting, developing a candidate intervention portfolio, personalization/adaptability, integration with diagnosis, safety/tolerability, human subjects research, and regulatory/commercialization readiness.

Shared non-solicited program resources will also be available, including Foundational Sleep Health Modeling and Discovery, a Research Integrator, and Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V).

• Award Instrument: Other Transaction (OT) agreements.

• Period of Performance: 66 months (5.5 years), organized into three phases: Prove Core Technical Thesis (24 mos), Demonstrate Proof-of-Concept (18 mos), and Clinical Translation and Commercialization Preparation (24 mos).

• Solution Summary Submission Deadline: August 12, 2026, at 12pm ET.

• Full Proposal: Invited proposers will submit written materials and an in-person pitch (45-60 minutes).

• Evaluation Criteria: Scientific and technical merit, feasibility, innovation, proposer capabilities, and relevant experience. Budget reasonableness will also be assessed for full proposals.

• ARPA-H is interested in proposals from commercial performers, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations.

• Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and government entities are not permitted to respond as prime or sub-performers.

• Awards will prioritize entities conducting work in the United States.

• Active SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) are required.

• Proposer's Day: July 13, 2026.

• Industry cost share is encouraged, particularly in later phases (10% in Phase 2, 50% in Phase 3 for TA1).

• Specific activities out of scope include general wellness tracking, solely pharmacologic treatment, or non-personalized interventions.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document, "Attachment A: Solutions Summary Model," provides a required template for Proposers to submit Solution Summaries in advance of a full proposal for the REST ISO opportunity. It outlines the structure, content, and formatting requirements for this preliminary submission.

• Font and Formatting: Submissions must use 12-point Avenir Next LT Pro font. Specific instructions are provided in blue font and should be deleted before submission.
• Page Limits: Solution Summaries are limited to 6 pages for a single Technical Area (TA) or 8 pages for both TA1 and TA2. The Cover Page, Basis of Estimate (BOE), Cost Share Strategy, and Citations are excluded from this page limit.
• Content Sections: The template guides the development of the following sections:
  • Innovative Solutions Opening
  • Concept Summary
  • Innovation and Impact
  • Proposed Work
  • Team Organization and Capabilities
  • Basis of Estimate (BOE), including direct labor, materials, equipment, travel, profit/fee, indirect costs, and cost sharing.
  • Preliminary Cost Share Strategy (for TA1 proposers only).
  • References Cited.
• Organizational Information: Requires details on the Prime Organization, including UEI, contact information, key personnel, and technical areas addressed. It also includes a section for Sub-Awardee and Consultant Team Members.
• Technical and Financial Details: Includes fields for Technical Area Addressed, Animal/Human Subjects, Total Funds Requested, Cost Sharing, and Place(s) of Performance.

This template is crucial for bidders as it dictates the format and content of the required Solution Summary. Adhering to these instructions is mandatory for a compliant submission. Bidders must carefully review the content requirements for each section to ensure their summary effectively addresses the evaluation criteria and clearly articulates their proposed solution, team capabilities, and cost estimates.