Notice of Intent to Sole Source Technical Expertise and Coordination Support to the Integrated Consortium of Laboratory Networksview on SAM.gov

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), hereby announces its intent to issue a sole source, contract award to Association of Public Health Laboratories, Inc. (APHL), 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000, Bethesda, MD 20814. OPO contemplates a fixed price contract with a one-year base period plus four (4) one-year option periods. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT DHS' Office of Health Security (OHS), Health, Food, and Agriculture Resilience Directorate (HFARD) requires technical and coordination support to strengthen the Integrated Consortium of Laboratory Networks (ICLN), a partnership of federally supported analytical laboratory networks providing capabilities across chemical, biological, radiological, and other threats to humans, animals, food, and the environment. Under the contemplated contract, APHL will engage state, local, and territorial public health laboratories in ICLN exercises, technical working groups, response planning, and incident coordination, and facilitate information sharing and communication between ICLN leadership, federal partners, and public health laboratories. A contract action is contemplated on a sole source basis under the authority of Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) 6.103-1, Only One Responsible Source, and 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1). Based on market research and program needs, APHL has been identified as the only responsible source capable of meeting DHS's requirements for this effort because APHL is the only national organization that specifically represents governmental public health laboratories (state, local, and territorial) that perform testing of public health significance. These laboratories are central to national public health laboratory response and are key non-federal partners for ICLN member networks. Additionally, APHL maintains long-standing operational relationships with governmental public health laboratories nationwide, including established incident management structures, committees, advisory groups, and communication platforms specifically tailored to public health laboratory operations. Further, APHL currently serves as a coordinating center for laboratory response during public health emergencies, providing incident management, subject matter expertise, and communications support to public health laboratories and federal partners. Other national associations (e.g., those representing state or local health officials more broadly) do not have the same direct membership, governance structures, and technical focus on public health laboratory operations that are essential to this requirement. The core of this requirement is the ability to directly leverage APHL's unique membership, governance, and coordination mechanisms to engage public health laboratories in ICLN activities—capabilities that are not reasonably available from any other source. CAPABILITY STATEMENT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Interested parties who believe they possess the capabi…