Notice of Intent to Add Option Periods for Evaluation of Association Between Mine Worker Airborne Particulate Matter Exposure Intensity and Pulmonary Impairment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to add four (4) 12-month option periods to purchase order # 75D30122P15454 with John Hopkins University on a sole-source basis, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (SAP) and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). Interested parties may identify their interest and submit documentation of their capability to respond to the requirement. This project will collect respirable dust sample from workers and collect pulmonary function testing and chest roentgenograms to conduct an evaluation/analysis comparing exposure intensities to pulmonary status. The subsequent evaluation and statistical analysis will be of historic and on-going airborne particulate exposure monitoring data from a mining entity. This evaluation will contain detailed information on job function to establish worker-specific exposure intensities. For this same cohort, there is the potential to evaluate proprietary historic and ongoing pulmonary function tests and chest radiographs. The ultimate goal would be to determine an association between exposure intensity and pulmonary health. Option years are needed because silicosis is an occupational disease that has a long latency period. A one-year project collecting data, while important, may not develop an adequate database. This project will occur over a 5-year time period. The collection of data over this time period will develop a better-quality dataset on which to derive exposure/health outcome correlations. While exposure data is available through MSHA and pulmonary function data may be available through NIOSH, there is no way to use the two data sets for exposure analysis due to the inability to link the two data sets. This project will create a database collecting the two data sets that can be linked for evaluation/analysis of exposure intensities to pulmonary status, and the results from this 5-year time period would be more robust than from a shorter time period. This notice of intent is NOT a request for competitive quotations; however, all responses received within ten (10) days of the issuance of this notice will be considered by the government. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Any response should be emailed to the appropriate point of contact at [email protected] by 1:00 PM on 22 October 2020.