Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) RFI

The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA; P.L. 98-507) established the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to coordinate and improve the effectiveness of the nation’s organ procurement, distribution and transplantation systems and to increase the availability of, and access to, donor organs for patients with end-stage organ failure. The law specifies that the OPTN be operated under federal contract by a private, non-profit entity having expertise in organ procurement and transplantation. In the coming months, HRSA will be issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the next OPTN contract. This RFI seeks to: Solicit feedback on ways to strengthen and improve components of the OPTN contract, including but not limited to its governance, finance, IT, data collection, policy, and operational components; Solicit feedback on ways to incorporate the findings and recommendations of the February 2022 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report titled, "Realizing the Promise of Equity in the Organ Transplantation System"; Solicit feedback on incorporating lessons learned from HRSA’s 2019 market research, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Digital Service, on ways the OPTN IT system should utilize modern IT architecture, such as adopting a “cloud-native,” agile, and modular approach to IT development, security, and maintenance and prioritizing the use of publicly accessible application programming interfaces (APIs) to enhance data sharing and integration with the electronic health records (EHRs) and other tools used by OPTN members and patients in order to save critical time in the organ allocation process, minimize errors, and improve patient outcomes; and Gauge interest in the upcoming RFP opportunity and feasibility of the requirements via statements of intent from prospective offerors.