The Opioid Detection Challenge
This is a typical small illegal drug package that can be shipped from
overseas in a variety of ways. Clever the way they described contents
as Washing Powder.
AIRPORT VOICE, AUGUST 2019 11
$1.5 million awarded to winner
At the Kaamco Cargo
Committee meeting on June
25, Robert Redes of JFK CBP
announced the Opioid Detection
Challenge. This is a national
challenge created by
the government for rapid,
non-intrusive detection tools
that will help find illicit Opioids
in international mail.
As part of the comprehensive
government effort to address
the opioid crisis, the Department
of Homeland Security
(DHS) Science and Technology
Directorate (S&T) and
U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), along with
the United States Postal Inspection
Service (USPIS) and
the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) have
partnered to find new solutions.
The Challenge calls on innovators
in a wide range of
fields, from forensic science
to industrial quality assurance
to artificial intelligence,
to help disrupt the flow of opioids
into the United States by
participating in this Challenge.
The Challenge seeks
novel, automated, nonintrusive,
user-friendly and welldeveloped
plans for tools
and technologies that have
the potential to quickly and
accurately detect opioids in
parcels, without disrupting
the flow of mail. The Opioid
Detection Challenge, a multistage
open innovation competition,
will run from February
2019 through fall 2019
and award up to $1.55 million
in cash prizes. The government
may provide additional
incentives and opportunities.
JFK CBP currently has a
toolbox of processes they use
to detect drugs. Implementation
of the winning detection
process will bring advanced
methods to interdict Fentanyl
and related Opioids.
Contest solutions are required
to be non-intrusive,
accurate and intuitive, with
the potential to screen packages
quickly.
There are two stages to
the competition. STAGE
1: SEEKING SOLUTION
PLANS
The Challenge seeks
novel tools and technologies
that can detect opioids in parcels
in international mail.
Solutions were required to be
nonintrusive, accurate and
intuitive, with the potential
to screen packages quickly.
STAGE 2: PROTOTYPING
ACCELERATOR
Developing testable prototypes
Finalists will participate
in a 14-week prototyping accelerator,
where they will
develop their plans into testable
prototypes. During this
time, finalists will receive
additional support, including
access to mentors, guidance
from government experts,
educational webinars,
access to additional datasets
and/or information on current
processes.
Stage 2 will culminate in
a mandatory live test event,
where finalists will convene
at a government-selected facility
for on-site testing of
their prototypes.
The judging panel includes
experts in the fields of
forensic science, postal operations,
drug interdiction, industrial
engineering and artificial
intelligence.
The abuse of Opioids such
as Fentanyl has created an
unprecedented public health
crisis across the United
States. In 2017, approximately
50,000 Americans died from
opioid overdoses. International
mail — through both
USPS and express consignment
—
has been identified
as a route for illicit opioids
entering the United States,
commonly transported in
nearly pure, powdered form.
Consequently, large-scale
drug trafficking can occur
via very small packages sent
in the mail.