​​​​​The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), in cooperation with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE), is seeking to award one-time funding for up to 15 state or local public health laboratories (PHLs) for the purpose of validating or verifying a new method or expanding existing method(s) used for culture identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) to replace Hologic® AccuProbe® due to anticipated discontinuation of the product in late 2022. Priority will be given to public health laboratories with no secondary identification methods currently available within their laboratories (Option 1) but applications from laboratories seeking to expand identification methods to include a secondary method are also welcomed (Options 2 and 3). Funding will be awarded via a contract with APHL.

Eligibility

All state or local U.S. public health laboratories who perform testing in-house and are transitioning their Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) culture identification method from Hologic® AccuProbe® to another identification method (MALDI-TOF, real-time PCR, Cepheid GeneXpert) are eligible to apply. Potential scenarios include:

Option 1: Public health laboratories who currently perform Hologic® AccuProbe® as their primary identification method and do not currently have an available secondary culture identification method.

Option 2: Public health laboratories that are currently in the process of validating or verifying an identification method to replace AccuProbe® as a primary method.

Option 3: Public health laboratories that have already transitioned to a primary identification method other than AccuProbe® and would also like to expand the availability of alternative identification methods to include a secondary (back-up) method.​

Anticipated RFP Schedule

October 27, 2021 – RFP Issued

November 9, 2021 – Required Letter of Intent Due to APHL (see below)

December 10, 2021 – RFP Responses Due

December 23, 2021 – Proposal review completed

January 3-7, 2022 – If needed, follow-up interviews and updated proposals due

January 14, 2022 – APHL has decided to postpone announcing the winner of this RFP, no later than January 24, 2022.  Once an awardee is selected, APHL will update this site with awardee information. Please contact Anne Gaynor at APHL (anne.gaynor@aphl.org) with any questions or concerns​

February 1, 2022 – Estimated contract start date


Response Submittal

Confirmation of Intent to Respond

APHL requires that prospective applicants submit a brief email statement indicating an intent to submit a proposal. APHL must receive this email by no later than 5:00pm EST on November 9, 2021. To allow for appropriate review process planning, a letter of intent is required for consideration.​ Applicants should submit letters by email to Anne Gaynor at APHL (anne.gaynor@aphl.org) with a copy to Taylor Bethea (taylor.bethea@aphl.org​)​.​

Final Response 

APHL must receive complete responses by 5:00 pm EST on December 10, 2021. Applicants may send proposals via email to Anne.Gaynor@aphl.org.

APHL will send an email acknowledging the receipt of your application; if you do not receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours, please email the RFP point of contact above to confirm receipt.​

Materials

The Official RFP Document will provide detailed information, please read it on its entirety​. APHL will communicate any modification to this anticipated schedule on APHL’s procurement website (www.aphl.org/rfp) and via an email blast to the public health laboratories.​​​​​​​


​​​​