The Association of Public Health Laboratories, Inc. (APHL or the Association), in collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Training Education and Development (OTED), the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is developing a Human and Animal Food Laboratory Professionals Curriculum Framework. APHL and its partners are creating courses based on the competencies developed on the curriculum framework. APHL is seeking a course programmer(s) for the development of online courses in Lectora Inspire 18.

Through this Request for Proposals (RFP), APHL seeks to identify a company or individual who can create a web-based course that meets the following requirements:

  • Built in Lectora Inspire 18
  • Meets 508 compliance standards
  • Includes interactivities as indicated in storyboard
  • Meets SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) compliance

Eligibility

Interested parties must submit a proposal to APHL that provides all of the information specified in the Proposal Submission section below. In order to be considered for funding, an applicant must ensure APHL has its complete proposal by no later than the Proposal Due Date specified in the Anticipated RFP Schedule section below. Applicants will find proposal submission information in the Response Submittal section below.

Anticipated RFP Schedule

Applications are due to the individual(s) specified in the Final Response section of this RFP by 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on August 3, 2020. APHL anticipates the following schedule for the entire competitive bidding process:

  • July 1, 2020 - APHL issues RFP
  • July 10, 2020  - Letter of Intent due to APHL by 5:00 pm EST 
  • July 17, 2020 - Last day to submit questions (exceptions may be granted at APHL's sole discretion)
  • August 3, 2020 - Complete RFP responses due to APHL by 5:00 pm EST
  • August 6, 2020 - APHL completes the evaluation process and contacts winning/selected applicant(s)
  • August 7, 2020 - APHL publicly announces the names of the selected applicant(s) on its procurement website, www.aphl.org\rfp
  • September 10, 2020 - Anticipated start date of LCF course programming project

Response Submittal 

Confirmation of Intent to Respond

APHL requests that prospective applicants submit a brief email statement indicating intent to submit a proposal by no later than 5:00 PM EST on July 10, 2020. The letter of intent should be emailed to Robyn.Randolph@aphl.org. While the letter of intent is not binding and does not enter into the review of the RFP, the information that it contains allows APHL's evaluation team to plan the contract development and review process. Potential applicants must include the name of the organization or individual that will submit the proposal in their email.

Final Response

APHL must receive a complete proposal by no later than 5:00 PM EST on August 3, 2020.  Applicants may send proposals by the following methods:

Via email to robyn.randolph@aphl.org;  or

Via certified, registered or express mail through the postal service or via trackable mail delivery services provided by DHL, FedEx, and UPS, addressed to:

c/o Robyn Randolph
The Association of Public Health Laboratories, Inc.
8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 700
Silver Spring, MD 20910

APHL will send an email acknowledging the receipt of your application. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours, please email the points of contact below to confirm receipt.

Regardless of the delivery method, APHL must receive all responses by 5:00 PM EST. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the proposal is received at APHL by this deadline.

APHL may terminate or modify the RFP process at any time during the response period.

Materials

The Course Programmer for Laboratory Curriculum Framework Courses PDF will provide detailed information in regards to this request, please read it in its entirety.

Questions

Please direct all questions regarding this RFP or its application requirements via email to Robyn Randolph at robyn.randolph@aphl.org, with a copy to Catherine Johnson at catherine.johnson@aphl.org. A table of Frequently Asked Questions is included as Appendix C.

A member of APHL's Food Safety staff will respond directly to the questions on an individual basis as questions are received. While APHL will endeavour to answer questions within one business day of receipt, additional time may be needed depending on the issue raised.

APHL should receive all questions by 5:00 pm EST on July 17, 2020. APHL is unlikely to answer any question received after this deadline, but it will have discretion to do so if APHL's Food Safety staff reasonably feel that the question raises a substantial issue that could affect multiple applicants, and may be answered without impacting the application submission and review process. Should APHL opt to answer any late questions, APHL will post the question and answer to APHL's procurement website and will not respond directly to the sender.


*Disclaimer: APHL is currently awaiting Funding Agency approval of Cooperative Agreement funds for these RFPs.  Once Funding Agency approval is granted, APHL will post this information to this site.