In 2011, the U.S. Army product manager for the Decontamination Family of Systems (DFoS) began a market research project to identify potential prototype CIDAS technologies that could help soldiers locate chemical and biological warfare agents (CBWA), non-traditional agents (NTAs) and toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) on military equipment and vehicles.
After public input, the U.S. Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) Contracting Center issued a request for proposal (RFP) in early 2013.
In 2014, the Joint Project Manager of Protection of the Joint Program Executive Office of Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) announced that it would seek two specific CIDAS devices to be used in level four "Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear." One device would be under 12 pounds and other device would be under 24 pounds, and both devices would be required to detect agents in under 5 minutes.