APHL has decided to
postpone announcing the winner of this RFP until further notice. Once an
awardee is selected, APHL will update this site with awardee information.
Please contact Lauren Johnson with
any questions or concerns.
The Association of Public Health Laboratories, Inc. (APHL, or the Association), in collaboration with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is developing a fellowship curriculum that may be submitted for consideration to the American Society of Microbiology’s CPEP (SubCommittee of Postdoctoral Educational Programs) Fellowship. The fellowship curriculum would allow CDC to serve as a host for a CPEP fellowship with the potential for rotations to neighboring clinical and public health laboratories to satisfy all CPEP requirements. This novel fellowship would prioritize education and experience in public health microbiology and prepare fellows to be leaders in public health laboratories (PHLs). Upon completion of this fellowship, fellows should have the extensive, detailed working knowledge of PHLs to successfully sit for the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) certification exam.
Eligibility
This is an open and competitive process. Interested parties must submit a proposal to APHL that provides all information specified in the Proposal Submission section below. To be considered, applicants must ensure APHL has the 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 December 20, 2021. APHL anticipates the following schedule for the entire competitive bidding process:
- November 22, 2021 - APHL issues RFP
- December 20, 2021 - Complete RFP responses due to APHL by 5:00 pm EST
- December 21 – January 10, 2022 - Proposal review
- January 11, 2022 - APHL publicly announces the names of the selected applicants on its procurement website,
www.aphl.org/rfp
- January 31, 2022 - Anticipated start date of project
Response Submittal
APHL must receive a complete proposal by no later than
5:00 PM EST on December 20, 2021. Applicants should submit proposals via email to
infectious.diseases@aphl.org (Attn: Lauren Johnson). It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the proposal is received at APHL by this deadline.
APHL will send an email acknowledging the receipt of your application. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours, please call 240-485-3859 and email infectious.diseases@aphl.org.
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.
Questions
Please direct all questions regarding this RFP or its application requirements via email to Lauren Johnson at
infectious.diseases@aphl.org.
A member of APHL’s Infectious Diseases staff will respond directly to the questions on an individual basis as questions are received. While APHL will endeavor to answer questions within one business day of receipt, additional time may be needed depending on the issue raised. APHL anticipates that it will also post each question, together with the answers, to APHL’s procurement website (www.aphl.org/rfp) within one business day of responding directly to the email sender.
Questions and Answers
Per the RFP summary: (p3) "Upon completion of this fellowship, fellows should have the extensive, detailed working knowledge of PHLs to successfully sit for the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) certification exam."
And then on page 6-3(c) it states: "With stakeholders, develop a curriculum for a CDC-hosted Fellowship program that is eligible for CPEP accreditation. To provide the opportunity for fellows to sit for the CPEP examination, the curriculum should cover any existing requirements set forth by ASM and emphasize public health and public health microbiology."
Can you comment on the extent to which the curriculum is expected to map to, or align with, the competencies, skills and knowledge inherent to these examinations?
Is it the expectation that any and all formal training programs identified in the curriculum plan/management framework (workshops, courses, webinars, videos, etc.) will be designed and developed between March 15 and June 30?
A: The curriculum should align with the competencies, skills, and knowledge needed to be eligible for CPEP accreditation and for fellows to successfully sit for CPEP examinations. It is a main goal of this fellowship to achieve CPEP accreditation and prepare fellows to sit for ABMM examination. It is not the expectation, however, to have additional training materials, such as workshops, webinars, and videos, designed and developed during this contract period. The curriculum should draw from current curricula at established CPEP programs and may describe necessary competencies, courses and laboratory rotation schedules. The curriculum should be adapted to CDC’s environment and capabilities in a way that would allow them to meet the criteria set forth by ASM for the CPEP Fellowships. Additionally, while a goal is for graduating fellows to be prepared to sit for ABMM board exams, the fellowship does not need to be designed to incorporate training specifically targeting ABMM certification.
Could APHL provide clarification on expectations for the “curriculum”. Is the expectation that there are training materials (courses, instructor manuals, participant manuals, etc.) to be created?
Else, is the “curriculum” more a set of competencies that will serve as a framework for Fellowship learning experiences?
A: The expectation is that the curriculum will include a curriculum framework. As such, this curriculum would be more than a set of competencies, but training materials would not be expected. The curriculum should draw from current curricula (such as courses and laboratory rotation schedules) at established CPEP programs, be adapted to CDC’s environment and capabilities in a way that would allow them to meet the criteria set forth by ASM for the CPEP Fellowships.