Dear doctor

"Delivering medical supplies and drugs requires an efficient and safe supply chain. Do you have an innovative solution that will improve last mile medicine delivery in Sierra Leone and beyond? The IRC welcomes novel ideas and concepts, adaptations of technology, or commercially available existing solutions. Your solution could win up to US$25,000!

Delivering medical supplies and drugs requires an efficient and safe supply chain – from packaging through to transport and delivery at the last mile. In Sierra Leone, ground teams report that medicines, drugs, and other important supplies often arrive damaged or do not arrive at all. This potentially limits the delivery and access to life-saving drugs by people living in under-served communities.

To make these last mile deliveries more reliable, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is searching for innovative and affordable packaging that will protect and track supplies at every stage. From packing at distribution centers to the clinics where they are used, being able to track healthcare supplies, keep them safe from shocks, and ensure their packaging is tamper proof will result in more successful deliveries.

The IRC is searching for packaging solutions that will have the following features:

• Trackability – whether real-time, during transport, or reporting at time of departure and at end point of delivery,
• Resistance - ensuring contents are protected from tampering, shock, rain, dust, temperatures outside of 15-30 degrees Celsius and weather,
• Reuse - allowing for reuse of the packaging for more than one distribution cycle,
• Affordability - priced at a relevant cost point of no more than US$14.80 per year per solution, inclusive of its tracking functionality.

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS & ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

IRC are open to new ideas, concepts, your existing solutions or your knowledge about already existing solutions that may be adapted to this humanitarian context if needed.

Improvements to the packaging in last mile medicine delivery in Sierra Leone will help to guarantee drug integrity and reliable healthcare supply delivery in this country and potentially in other global contexts. The key solution requirements in this Challenge are around trackability, resistance, reuse, and affordability.

Trackability A key requirement in this Challenge is that your proposed solution can be tracked, in some way, either in transport or upon packaging and upon receiving at the last mile. Trackability is both to monitor delivery and contents but also to reduce theft: meaning the device should resist tampering and not be affected by the weather/transport conditions. This could be achieved by building something into the packaging, affixing it securely to the outside, or placing something amongst the packaging contents – innovation in this area is encouraged.

Tracking that can be provided without significant cost is of primary interest to the IRC. The context where this tracking may be used is in areas with limited internet connectivity, so addressing this concern should be factored into your innovative design.

Resistance There is often a difference between supplies sent and supplies received, with a proportion of this difference caused by theft and tampering. Your packaging solution should provide inventive ways to reduce this factor. Deliveries are also made across all seasons, on varying roads, and often in open-top trucks, so your box must be resistant to damp and wet (rainy season and water), dust and shaking (road condition and weather), shock and crush (handling and packing), and the effects of the sun (temperature and weather).

Reuse The 3PL trucks that deliver to the last mile also return to regional distribution centers, so boxes that can be reused are of great value to the IRC. A higher unit cost might be acceptable, depending on how many reuses are possible (please indicate in your proposal).

Affordability Providing detailed cost limits for your innovative packaging solution will give the IRC a concrete metric to measure concepts against one another. Solutions must be feasible from a cost perspective (US$4 per box) to be used.

Cost constraints - cost per reusable packaging solution is maximum ≤ US$14.80 per year

For this Challenge, we are looking to replace one-time-use boxes (which currently costs US$14.80 per year per box) with reusable packaging solutions - including trackability and sturdiness. That will mean that if the reusable packaging lasts for 4 distribution cycles (1 year) of medical supply delivery, then the box needs to meet a capital cost of ≤ US$14.80 to be of interest in this Challenge.

For example, a box in the current distribution cycle costs US$3.70. 4 distribution cycles happen per year. This makes the annual cost for a single box US$14.80 for the IRC. Last year, they used around 37,460 boxes (9,360 boxes per distribution cycle). This means that the overall annual cost was US$138,600.

Should your packaging solution last for more than 4 distribution cycles, it will be of greater interest – however the same cost ratio must apply. For example, if your packaging solution lasts for 8 distribution cycles (2 years) then the cost per box could be ≤ US$29.60.

Your innovative packaging solution for last mile medicine delivery will improve the process to get drugs and supplies to those who need it most. Currently-used packaging can carry up to 25kg and standard measurement is 60cm x 40cm x 20cm (length x width x height).

Acceptance criteria

The IRC is primarily interested in solutions with the potential to meet the following requirements.

Any proposed solution must have:

1. Relevant cost point - US$14.80 per reusable box maximum, see cost constraints for further information.

2. Trackability

• Either in transport, or at packaging and at delivery. Innovation in this area is encouraged to ensure the capital cost of this feature is low.

3. Packaging integrity

• Tamper-proof and theft-resistant, as far as possible
• Sturdy for protection against shock and shatter in transport, loading, and unloading
• Weatherproof, waterproof, and resistant to moisture and dust

4. Reusable – for as many distribution cycles as possible

Nice to have requirements: