QA Responses.pdf

1. Section 3 (p.9) – Can clarification be provided for the requirement of the contractor being a vendor in the public health field? The public health field is a broad category but for this contract the vendor should have extensive public health partnerships across the U.S. as it relates to respiratory protection and RPPs.

2. Section 3 (p.9) – Does the contractor need to be located in the western U.S. and/or near densely populated areas or is this a requirement only for the pilot testing? The contractor does not need to be based in the Western US. However, the vendor may choose to subcontract task deliverables to other state, regional, or local public health/safety departments (e.g., VFDs). These subcontractors should then be geographically located in an area that more often requires the use of respirators by the public and that serves a diverse community where a breadth of individuals can be recruited. The vendor must possess the ability to onboard volunteer fire departments or other community settings, as deemed appropriate by NIOSH, ideally located with areas with different levels of social vulnerability.

3. Section 4 (p.10) – Can clarification be provided if training for both quantitative and qualitative fit testing is expected? As seen in Task 2-2a, this will be based on the vendor’s project plan. The vendor will develop a respirator fit test program that is quantitative and/or qualitative. Both are not expected but allowed.

4. Section 4 (p.10) – Can an approximate timeframe be provided to plan for OMB approval? This would fall under Task 2d, Completion and submission of IRB protocol as well as OMB support for NIOSH, including IT security approvals for data storage and transfer, which has a deliverable schedule of 22 months after the contract award. The vendor is required to submit their protocol to a non-NIOSH IRB, having it approved and submit necessary IRB documents/protocol, and work with NIOSH to secure OMB approval and IT approvals as needed. NIOSH cannot provide a reliable timeframe for OMB approval until the IT security plan is reviewed by the vendor as these are interdependent with each other but, if an estimate is needed, approvals take anywhere from 3-12 months.

5. Section 5 (p.15) – Can clarification be provided regarding the requirement for an established public health implementation toolkit? An established public health implementation toolkit would encompass the RPP, as clarified below, as well as other materials that help support the compliance and execution of the RPP (including but not limited to training materials that can be written, virtual, or video-based;

competency/evaluation assessments of respirator knowledge and maintenance; visually appealing materials that detail respirator use and maintenance; etc).

6. Section 5 (p.15) – Can clarification be provided regarding the requirement for an established RPP already deployed across the U.S.? The vendor should already have a Respiratory Protection Program that has been developed and applied/used by public health partners that the vendor has worked with.

7. Section L.11 (p.44) – Is it a requirement that train-the-trainer sessions and fit-test training can only be provided by industrial hygienists? Or are there other acceptable alternate personnel (e.g., emergency managers)? It is asked that any personnel providing the training have resumes included in their business proposal showcasing their abilities to perform these training sessions. As stated in Section L.10, Subsection 1, Item 4: A team of industrial hygienists who can provide both train-the-trainer sessions and fit-test training to end users, the vendor will have to address this in their technical approach. If a team of industrial hygienist is not directly available, a detailed approach would have to be included in the technical approach as to how this would be addressed.

8. Section E (p.58) – Are the Tier 2S background investigations expected to take place before or after contract award? The Tier 2S background investigations would take place after the contract is awarded to ensure all contractor personnel being provided access to PII is suitable.