Request for Information
Tentative Period of Performance: June 1, 2025 – May 31, 2030
Title: ICATT Pharmacy Services
SECTION 1 – BACKGROUND
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program contracted with pharmacies to provide community pharmacy and surge sites maintained through a public-private partnership with various national pharmacy chains, independent pharmacies, and laboratories. Since 2020, ICATT contractors have performed nearly 50,000,000 tests and administered nearly 900,000 vaccines. As the country transitioned out of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), the ICATT program integrated vaccination delivery, medical assessment, and therapeutics disbursement to create a single point of access for acute care services.
The ICATT program has been re-branded as Increasing Community Access to Testing, Treatment, and Prevention (ICATT) to reflect the inclusion of disease-agnostic medical countermeasures for under-resourced populations/communities and additional support for routine public health surveillance and research.
SECTION 2 – PURPOSE
This procurement will provide large scale nationwide testing, assessment services, therapeutics, vaccines, sample collection and forwarding, and surge services/emergency response across the nation. The option to participate in Outreach and Education projects, as well as provide 3rd party Data Acquisition, and Distribution of Medical Countermeasures is also included.
If effectively implemented, these strategies (thereafter referred to as countermeasures) will identify and track disease pathogens, minimize disease transmission, prevent outbreaks in institutional and community settings, support public health surveillance and research, and prevent the spread of disease in under-resourced populations/communities. Expansion of the ICATT program scope of services and the breadth of public health activities highlights the national importance of the public-private partnerships between the federal government and pharmacies.
The government seeks partnerships with capable private contractors to develop and maintain a national model to provide countermeasures at no-cost to uninsured patients and other vulnerable populations. The Contractor must have sufficient capacity to meet the needs in communities of interest nationwide. The performance requirement is to provide pharmacy countermeasures to targeted populations and areas defined by the Federal Government, at an agreed upon price per service.
SECTION 3 – SCOPE OF WORK
Potential contractors would be responsible for the end-to-end program and site management of all provided services. This could include, but is not limited to, executive management, control systems, quality assurance plans and processes, reporting procedures, data management and required government reporting, patient screening, registration, physical site management, materials storage and management, specimen testing and/or shipping, and results communication.
Contractors are required to participate in all tasks of Core Services and Surge Services/Emergency Response. The additional tasks are optional.
1. CORE SERVICES
Task A: Testing
The program objectives will be achieved through providing diagnostic testing to ensure equitable access to services for under-resourced communities and to support public health surveillance and research.
The government is interested in contractors capable of providing a selection of the following tests nationwide. While not all tests listed below are mandatory, the Contractor is encouraged to provide a broad mix of tests and sites to ensure resource and test manufacturing limitations do not impact contract performance.
Task B: Medical Assessment
The program objectives will be achieved through providing medical assessment to ensure equitable access to medical services for under-resourced communities. The assessment may be provided by in-house pharmacist or via telehealth options. The Contractor shall provide program management oversight for medical assessment services.
The Contractor is responsible for providing appropriate personnel to conduct comprehensive medical assessments under the following terms:
Task C: Therapeutics
The program objectives will be achieved through providing access to the appropriate therapeutics to ensure equitable access to medical countermeasures in under-resourced communities. The Contractor shall provide program management for therapeutics services.
Task D: Vaccines
The program objectives will be achieved through providing vaccination services to ensure equitable access to services for under-resourced communities. The Contractor shall provide program management oversight for vaccine services and site operations.
TASK E: Sample Collection and Forwarding
The program objectives will be achieved through the Contractor's obligations to collect, handle, and forward biological samples for diagnostic purposes as per Government directives.
Types of Collection could include but are not limited to collection by trained personnel, observed self-collection, and unobserved self-collection samples listed below.
*Examples are provided for reference only but do not limit the use of sample type.
The Contractor shall submit specific specimens for further characterization (e.g., genomic sequencing, culture) to state or federal laboratories, or affiliated laboratories, as identified by the Government.
CLIN 0002: SURGE SERVICES AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE
The program objectives will be achieved through the Contractor's provision of a comprehensive plan and capability to mobilize teams in response to a public health emergency requiring surge services or a federally declared emergency response.
Surge and Emergence Response responsibilities would require:
CLIN 0003: DATA ACQUISITION
The program objectives will be achieved by providing access to pharmacy collected data on testing, immunization, therapeutics, or other medical services provided in commercial pharmacies, laboratories, retail health clinics, or other locations.
CLIN 0004: OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
The program objectives will be achieved through the Contractor's provision of Outreach and Education distribution services upon request. The Contractor shall have in place national large-scale integrated communications platform for use with information dissemination.
CLIN 0005: MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES DISTRIBUTION
The program objectives will be achieved through the Contractor's distribution of medical countermeasures as a temporary solution until state and/or federal services and programs are operational. Medical countermeasure dispensing and administration is the ability to provide medical countermeasures to partners, targeted population(s), or communities to prevent, mitigate, or treat the adverse health effects of a public health incident, including mitigation of disease spread.
Questions
III. Instructions:
Responders to this RFI may include commercial or not-for-profit organizations, including teaming arrangements/partnerships or joint ventures.
Please provide the following information on page 1 of your response:
Any potential government contractor must be registered on the SAM located at http://www.sam.gov/index.asp
General Capabilities Statements will not be accepted.
Please submit a detailed responses (e.g., not standard marketing materials and general capability statements) that meet the RFI objectives. The informative nature of response is anticipated to address complex topics and possible strategies to achieving the objectives. The goal of the RFI responses is compile an enhanced understanding of strategic inputs. Product capability statements are not being sought. Do not send information that requires a non-disclosure agreement or sensitive business information. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.
Answer all questions that are relevant or most meaningful to your organization’s operations. Please denote questions that are not applicable or intentionally skipped.
The page limit is not to exceed 5 pages. Responses should be single-spaced in Times New Roman 12-point font. Specify whether these responses are for USG access only by writing “[For US Government Use Only]” at end of response.
Please submit your final responses to this RFI no later than (date) by 5:00 PM ET on December 15, 2024 with questions due by December 5, 2024. Submit responses electronically, with subject “RFI Response ICATT Pharmacy Services: [Company Name]” to xvx7@cdc.gov. Submit general questions relating to the RFI via email to xvx7@cdc.gov. All information received in response to the RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly.
IV. Disclaimer:
In accordance with FAR 15.201 (e), this RFI is for market research only and does not commit the Government to issue a solicitation, make an award, or pay any costs associated with responding to this RFI. The information submitted in all responses will be utilized to help the Government further define its requirements and develop acquisition strategies. All submitted information shall remain with the Government and will not be returned.