Summary
The Association of Public Health Laboratories, Inc. (APHL or the Association), in collaboration with the Ministries of Health (MOH), the Global Fund and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anticipates implementing various laboratory capacity and capability strengthening projects including workforce building activities at facilities globally. The total number of training courses that will be delivered will depend on funding allocated by funders to these projects and the needs and capacity of the country. APHL is looking to identify and select consultants to work alongside APHL subject matter experts to provide in-person and virtual trainings and technical assistance in the following areas:
Bioinformatics: Introduction to command line interface, theoretical and didactic training on bioinformatics, use of cloud infrastructure, Docker, Singularity, Nextflow Core, Nextflow Tower, genomic characterization (viral, bacterial, fungal, and metagenomic applications), Terra.bio, CLC Genomics Workbench, Geneious, EDGE Bioinformatics, and Galaxy;
Genomic Epidemiology: Theoretical training on statistical approaches to genomic epidemiology, applied genomic epidemiology, BEAST, and MicrobeTrace;
Laboratory Next-Generation Sequencing Training: wet bench training on Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, and Ion Torrent systems for viral, bacterial, fungal, and metagenomic applications.
Background
APHL is a non-profit organization that works to safeguard the public’s health by strengthening public health laboratories (PHLs) in the United States and globally. APHL is organized under the laws of the United States of America’s District of Columbia with its headquarters office at 8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 700, Silver Spring MD 20910. The Association’s members include state and local laboratories, state environmental and agricultural laboratories and other government laboratories that conduct testing of public health significance. APHL is recognized as tax exempt in the United States under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and its work on behalf of PHLs spans more than 60 years.
In collaboration with its members, APHL advances laboratory systems and practices and promotes policies that support healthy communities globally. The Association serves as a liaison between the PHLs and federal and international agencies and it ensures that the network of PHLs has current and consistent scientific information in order to be ready for outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
Anticipated RFP Schedule
Proposals are due to the individual(s) specified in the Final RFP Response section of this RFP by 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on March 3rd, 2023. APHL anticipates the following schedule for the entire competitive bidding process:
| Dates | Actions |
| 03 February 2023 | APHL issues RFP
|
| 03 March 2023 | All bids due to APHL by 5:00 PM EST
|
| 17 March 2023 | Notification of selection
|
Final
RFP Response
APHL must receive a complete proposal by no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 3rd of March 2023. Applicants may send proposals to NGS-GlobalHealth@aphl.org.
APHL will send an email acknowledging the receipt of your application. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within 48 business hours, please email the points of contact above to confirm receipt.
APHL may terminate or modify the RFP process at any time during the response period. All changes to the RFP will be posted to the APHL's procurement website, www.aphl.org/rfp.
Materials
The official RFP document will provide detailed information in regards to this request, please read it in its entirety.