Autoscan cart SOW.docx

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) within the United States National Poultry Research Center (USNPRC) has the need to purchase a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) bank filter autoscan cart for the testing of the numerous HEPA filters within the new high containment space at SEPRL.

HEPA filters are critical in high containment facilities, as they provide filtration of the air within the research environment to remove any particulates as they relate to biological research before this filtered air is exhausted. The high containment building at SEPRL is being constructed with Camfil autoscan ports in place in each HEPA bank. These HEPA banks serve as air filtration for the entire facility as part of the modernization project. There are over 100 HEPA banks in the new high containment facility that require testing and certification at least annually as a regulatory requirement of the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP). The autoscan ports are already installed on the building HEPA banks related the modernization project. The subsequent purchasing of the autoscan cart would allow for these HEPA filters in the banks to be scanned, tested and certified in place, without having to shut down the airflow to the room that the HEPA bank serves. This would allow for research operations to continue without being halted, which is critical for the operations of a complicated and complex high containment facility. This allows for less research “downtime” and gives the ability for multiple scanning of filters throughout the year to ensure safe building airflow function and filtration.

The specifications needed in this HEPA bank filter autoscan cart are the ability to be connected to Camfil SafeScan test sections on HEPA filter banks and the ability to mount directly to these units. The autoscan cart needs to facilitate and allow for individual filter testing and have quick coupling functions. The autoscan cart should have a fully automated control and a test equipment package included. This allows for the ability to conduct testing on HEPA filters, log the testing data and offer reporting of the testing automatically when integrated into the Camfil autoscan port system, as well as being a self-contained unit. This autoscan cart should also have the ability to print the testing report and data for documentation purposes related to the testing to provide to regulatory agencies when required. The autoscan carts also must contain a post-hot filter test decontamination function, which allows for the decontamination of the autoscan cart hosing prior to removal of the autoscan cart itself from the HEPA bank that has been hot-scanned.