Geospatial AI for Tuberculosis Active Case Finding, Diagnostic Optimization, and Programmatic Intelligence

Active Case Finding (ACF) is a core strategy of the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, but untargeted screening yields high Numbers Needed to Screen (NNS) to find missing cases. For example, standard campaign rounds across urban TB Units have required screening nearly 20,000 individuals to confirm a single pulmonary TB case. Usually, such hot spots are mapped at standard geo-spatial layer units like wards, blocks, etc. However, in dense intra-urban settings housing tens of thousands of residents, ward-wide blanket screening is operationally infeasible. Innovative approaches are needed to better target vulnerable geographies or sub-geographies to improve TB ACF efficiency and accelerate TB case finding.

To address this challenge, AI-NETRA is an innovative geospatial AI platform designed by froncort to assist NTEP to overcome these challenges through field-level AI Active Case Finding (AI-ACF).

Pilot evidence from Pune demonstrated that AI-guided targeting TB screening increased the proportion of confirmed cases among identified presumptive from 1.2% to 4.3%, significantly reducing the cost per detected case. In frontline worker surveys 92% reported workload reduction. NTEP now seeks to validate 1 this approach at scale. This Request for Application solicits organizations with strong field-level TB implementation experience and an existing footprint to rapidly deploy AI-NETRA across 30 districts in 10 states, with Chandigarh prioritized for initial execution.

indicates a required field.

Section I: Contact Details

Organization name

Organization’s registered address

Applicant type:

Indian nongovernmental organization legally registered with FCRA.

International organization legally registered in India.

For-profit organization with mandatory registrations (PAN, TAN, GST number) and fulfilling all statutory criteria to receive foreign funds.

Foreign Contribution Regulation Act number

Goods and Services Tax number, if applicable.

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, if available (guidance for creating a UEI number to be provided).

Name and title of point of contact for applicant.

Mailing address of point of contact.

Telephone number of point of contact.

Email address of point of contact.

Confirm email

Name and title of authorized signatory for grant.

Section II: Organizational Eligibility

Note your organization’s ability to meet the following:

The chief executive of the organization is willing to sign an agreement and receive funds from JSI, the Washington-based partner.

Yes

Describe your organization’s recent (last 3 years) experience managing interventions aligned with the proposed scope of work or a similar scope of work.

(1,000-character limit)

Describe your recent (last 3 years) experience providing technology solutions to the Government of India, specifying any existing previous work with the respective national programme at the central or state or district level, especially the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) and describe your geographic presence, field reach, or tech capabilities that make you uniquely suited for this project.

(2,000-character limit)

Section III: Proposal Description

Statement of organization’s overall strategy including seamless coordination with the technology partner and technical methodology for implementing the activities outlined in the scope of work, considering the proposed goals, sample activities and results within the timeframe. Highlight your specific roles, key deliverables, measurable outcomes, and critical institutional learnings.

(3,000-character limit)

Describe your proposed approach for supporting a phased rollout across comparable sites to cover other districts and the operational pathway for graduating the platform into routine National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) practice. Explain how you plan to seamlessly embed cluster layers and microplans into district ACF microplanning and use the application to manage sample transportation to nearest sites.

(3,000-character limit)

Detail your architecture and protocols for ensuring strict compliance with personal data protection and managing data sovereignty. Outline how you will work with the technology partner and NTEP to ensure the platform architecture and internal workflows align with required quality and AI management and safety standards.

(3,000-character limit)

Detail your organization’s past performance in ingesting, geocoding, and handling large health datasets (e.g., Nikshay registers, spatial/GIS layers). Demonstrate your proven ability to liaise with government stakeholders - specifically CTD, State TB Cells and District TB Officers (DTOs) - to secure data-sharing agreements, institutional permissions, and operational buy-in.

(3,000-character limit)

Describe your immediate operational readiness to deploy within 15 days of award. Outline your proposed core team (e.g., Geospatial Data Scientists, AI/ML Engineers, Public Health Specialists, Field Coordinators) and their technical qualifications. Detail your field validation strategy with frontline workers and provide robust mitigation strategies for operational risks, such as variable Nikshay address geocodability or field adoption bottlenecks.

(2,000-character limit)

Download RFA

Geospatial AI for Tuberculosis Active Case Finding, Diagnostic Optimization, and Programmatic Intelligence (PDF, 769.99 KB)