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PositiveID to Use PCR Technology as Part of Shared Defense Contract with Leidos

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Leidos and partner PositiveID have been awarded a contract from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop detection technologies for potential weapons of mass destruction.

Leidos is one of seven contractors eligible to compete for task orders under the DTRA contract, PositiveID said today. The multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract has a five-year base period of performance, and if all options are exercised, it is valued at $4 billion.

The contract was awarded under the Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Research and Technology Development ID/IQ contract.

PositiveID and Leidos, formerly called Scientific Applications International Corporation, entered into a teaming agreement in late 2012 to compete for the DTRA award. Leidos is the prime contractor and PositiveID is the subcontractor, a PositiveID spokesperson told GenomeWeb Daily News.

PositiveID's biothreat detection technologies, the PCR-based Firefly Dx handheld diagnostic system, and the Microfluidics-based Bioagent Networked Detector (M-BAND), will be paired with Leidos' system engineering and integration capabilities to perform the work covered by the contract.

Firefly Dx uses Thermo Fisher Scientific business Life Technologies' real-time TaqMan PCR chemistry to deliver results from sample in less than 20 minutes. M-BAND continuously and autonomously analyzes air samples to detect biological airborne threats in the form of bacteria, viruses, and toxins.

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