PHPA 3661-REPOST-Transcript-PreApplication Conference - 2026_01_07 10_48 EST - Notes by Gemini.pdf

Jan 7, 2026

PHPA 3661 - REPOST -

PreApplication Conference - Transcript 00:00:00

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Good morning everyone. This meeting is being recorded. I ask um that everyone that is in attendance please mute your devices unless you're speaking. In addition, can everyone in attendance please type your name and organization. I would like to also add that we will have a hard stop at 11:55 a.m.

Welcome everyone. My name is Lee Lindsay from the Office of Prevention and Health Promotion Administration. I'm here today to help you understand the process for the request for applications RFA Maryland Professional and Volunteer Firefighter Innovative Cancer Screening Technology. At this time, I ask that all other MDH employees introduce yourselves followed by the pre-application conference attendees. Satie, I'll start with you.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Good morning everyone. Sadie Peters, the medical director in the center for cancer prevention and control at the Maryland Department of Health and the uh lead and grant monitor for this uh program.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank you, Satie.

Nikita Real -MDH-: Hi everyone, my name is Nikita Real. I'm the operations officer here in the procurement.

00:01:12

Nikita Real -MDH-: Welcome.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank you, Nikita. All right, I see that the attendees are uh placing their names and organizations in the chat. Thank you for that. Okay, we can get started. Starting with section one, general information on page three. The department intends to make a multi-award for this solicitation. All subsequent documentation regarding this solicitation will be posted on eMaryland marketplace advantage Emma's website. Please remember that in order to receive an award, you must be uh registered on Emma. Registration is free. Please review section 1.5 details on page four of the RFA. Carefully review section 1.6 questions regarding uh on excuse me, carefully review uh sections 1.6. Questions are on page four regarding how to submit your question subsequent to any pre uh applications conference. Questions to myself, the procurement officer, Lisa Lindsay, shall be submitted via email to the email address listed on the RFA key information sheet. Please identify in the subject line the solicitation number and the title of this RFA.

00:02:23

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Questions should also be submitted no later than 5 days prior to the application closing date, which is January 8th, 2026 at 2 p.m. for questions to be received. Answers to question will be um uploaded to Emma on a weekly basis. If the RFA is revised before the application's due date, the department shall provide an addendum. Please be sure to check Emma's website uh to check all addendums.

Carefully review section two, mandatory requirements, beginning on page six of the RFA.

It is very important to pay attention to this section as it is a pass or fail moving through the uh procurement process. The contract type used for this solicitation is a firm fixed price. There are several steps involved in this method. So your attention to the solicitation document is crucial to a successful submission of your proposal. The contractor scope of work is listed in section 3.2 beginning on page 9. This gives an outline of the responsibilities of the applicants and a clear and gives you a clear understanding of what the department expects for a successful applicant and the provisions of s of service.

00:03:34

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Please note um I will turn the scope of work over to Satie later on during this uh process. Excuse me. Proposal formats. Um your applications the applications excuse me applicants are required to submit their responses to the RFA in two parts. Section 4, applications format, starts on page 16 and clearly lists all submissions requirements. Again, I would like to stress that your RFA should be submitted in two forms. Volume one, the project narrative and volume two, the budget narrative. The evaluation committee evaluation criteria and selection procedures are outlined in section 5 starting on page 19. Your application will be evaluated by a committee organized for the purpose and will be based on the criteria set forth in the RFA. The project narrative evaluation criteria listing in descendant order of importance can be found in sections 5.2 on page 19 with the budget narrative evaluation criteria listed in section 5.3 also on page 19. The selection procedures is highlighted in section

5.4 starting on page 20. As noted, the grant will be awarded in accordance with the SGA agreement method outlined in the announcement.

00:04:51

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: RFA attachments are listed on page 21. Other than composing your project narrative and your budget narrative, the most important matter is that you have your application submitted by the due date and time listed. Therefore, your proposals are due no later than January 15th, 2026 at 2 PM local time and submitted electronically to the state of Maryland's Marketplace Advantage e- procurement system.

No applications will be received after that due date or time. Again, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this process, please contact me directly at the email address listed in the RFA key information sheet. Okay, Satie, I will now turn it over to you for the scope of work.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Thank you, Lelle. Um, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we go over this RFA which is repost um of one that was uh released um month or so ago. The project is administered within the prevention and health promotion administration's cancer center and the FIPA mission and vision statements are there.

00:06:07

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Um wanted to talk a little bit about the project's background. um firefighters do have a higher risk for cancer compared to the general population and therefore the Maryland legislator uh legislature saw fit to provide funding um and they said that it would be annual for fire departments to procure and administer innovative cancer screening tests and that's why we're here today. There are requirements for applications that I wanted to go over. Li’Celle mentioned um paying attention to section two. That is the section that describes eligibility for this project. Local fire departments, including volunteer fire companies, volunteer fire departments, um are eligible to apply.

They do need to come with a 501c3 or 501c4 um designation and provide proof of that with the application. Um, counties or other local government entities, if they're authorized um by their fire departments to apply, can also apply. Um, and um, if a volunteer company is applying on its own, the law that governs this program does say that the county in which a volunteer or fire company or fire department is located shall assist uh, the volunteer companies and their jurisdictions in filing applications.

00:07:29

Sadie Peters -MDH-: So you can seek help from the county administrators. Also in this application eligibility section um are some other requirements. So volunteer fire associations applying on behalf of several volunteer fire departments or volunteer fire companies may apply. One application should come in from the volunteer fire association and the funding will go to that one entity that is applying i.e. the volunteer fire association. The application from that association must include a signed letter from the board or the board president of the association stating the total number of companies or departments uh on whose behalf the association is applying as well as the total number of firefighters in that set of companies or departments on whose behalf the association is applying. Uh the application should also include a signed letter from each of the participating fire departments or fire companies um who are submitting who are um going to be participant in the project on uh uh for which the volunteer association is applying and they should each fire company should state that yes they are applying um and allowing this association to apply on their behalf.

00:08:52

Sadie Peters -MDH-: How many members are there in each of their organizations and how many of those members are do they estimate to um to be screened? How many will be participating in the proposed cancer screening? These are requirements and so we wanted to make sure they were pointed out here and this is slightly different from the previous iteration of the RFA. Other application details are that um the project start date would be April 6th and um the project activities would run until the end of the state fiscal year which is June 30th, 2026. This year um there is no predetermined award amount. Um applicants are encouraged to apply for however much money they think they need in order to screen the applicants um the firefighters that they think should participate in the project. If we MDH receive applications for more funding than is allocated um by the state budget for this project then um applicants may end up getting a little less than they applied for um because we'd have to give out money according to a PRAA um criteria.

00:10:07

Sadie Peters -MDH-: So, we wanted to make sure that we could help applicants to understand the RFA process and to make it clear how this really should go. We know that the RFA document put together by a bunch of lawyers um is a little bit difficult to navigate. So, we put this these slides together which I hope will be helpful. The first step in all of the many many many things that are required um during this project is to assemble a health care team and that's described in section 3.2.3 and also reinforced in a separate attachment which is attachment H um called the implementation preparation checklist which really has a lot of details about what the health care team would be doing. But the first thing to do is to call the local health departments, local hospitals, um some federally qualified health centers or the county government administrative offices.

They are all aware of this project and all aware that they should be helping interested fire departments to identify and assemble health care providers who can serve as the health care team.

00:11:24

Sadie Peters -MDH-: The healthcare team's role is to help select um an appropriate screening test or tests, help develop pre and post screening counseling protocols and inform consent documents. The healthcare team should help to oversee the actual blood draws or sample processing or um if it's not a blood-based test to oversee the actual screening procedures. Um the healthcare team should help ensure that anybody who has a positive result gets um appropriate local medical consultation. Um and also the health care team should help coordinate referrals to local primary care um to local diagnostic services and treatment services if needed. Those are all roles that a health care team assembled needs to be assembled to do. um employees and consultants of a testing company may not serve as the the only or core members of the applicant's healthcare team. The second thing is using the healthare team assembled identify appropriate and appropriate screening test. Um the test has to have this long list of criteria. I'm not going to read them. they are in the RFA, but um the healthcare team is the best team to help uh identify an appropriate test.

00:12:42

Sadie Peters -MDH-: And there are many tests out there that could be used. Um our there's a web page associated with this program which I'll walk you through in the end and there's a list of some tests that could be considered. The third thing, the third step is to identify which of your firefighters are you going to screen. And we really think that highest risk firefighters would be the ones that you would want to screen since um most applicants aren't going to get all the money to screen all of their members. Um so there are lots of different ways to decide who is at highest risk. Um but that does need to be described in the application um uh with some guidance here and also in the RFA. The health care providers that you've assembled as your team should help with that risk analysis. The fourth thing to do is to write all this out by creating a work plan. The RFA actually includes um a very well detailed prefilled work plan which helps to organize your thoughts and all of the things that need to be done.

00:13:51

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Um so the work plan must include um descriptions for how you're going to recruit participants and how you're going to actually get the cancer screening tests, how you're going to get informed consent first, how you going to develop the documents that you need. Um, how are you going to administer the screening tests in on what days and with what hours and how are you going to reach everybody on shifts?

Um, how you're going to secure um followup to make sure that firefighters who have positive screening results are able to speak with someone to understand those results and then understand what's the next steps are. and then how you're going to um get all of the results collated in some sort of a report from the testing company and send them and understand them yourselves and then send them back to us. So all of that needs to go into the work plan. I want to go back. The work plan as um is mentioned here on the slide again is already largely pre-filled and can be modified um in any ways that you want to but it's already included with the RFA um as attachment I the application.

00:15:03

Sadie Peters -MDH-: So those are the 1 2 3 four things that make sense to do in that order. The rest of the required pieces of the application are these. Um there needs to be some description of your fire department or fire associations background. Um who do you serve? Where are you located? What's the composition of the fire department um of the firefighters? Um and what's your organizational capacity for doing something like this? Have you had experience um with this kind of a project? maybe not cancer screening, but maybe diabetes testing or something else like that. Um, all of that should be described in the um in the application along with specific descriptions of the personnel who are going to be shepherding this project and what is their experience, what are their usual jobs and how does that help them to be able to carry out this project. The application should also include any um additional testing materials that would be needed.

00:16:06

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Do you need phlebotomy, tourniquets, collection vials, um coolers or refrigerators for transport and storage? Those should be listed. Um and how you're going to get them or from where you're going to get them or who's going to donate them. Um, again, the health care team and possibly the chosen testing company should be able to help identify what items are needed and how they would be obtained. Some of them might cost money. Um, and that needs to be described. The applications need to have an attestation. Um, there is a section 3.2.7 2.7 that um that you as a an organization that's applying are going to follow the required cancer screening records retention. There's a bunch of bullets that are in the RFA, but there needs to be an attestation or some sort of acknowledgement that um this has been read and that um the applicant intends to to comply with this. The application also needs to have some sort of acknowledgement or attestation that the reporting requirements are understood and will be followed.

00:17:17

Sadie Peters -MDH-: And again, there's a lot of bullets, but we want to make sure that each application comes in with some indication that whoever is writing this and their team of whoever is going to do the project understands all of this. So these attestations or acknowledgements are critical. Other critical elements of the application um are a bunch of sort of administrative pieces. You must attest to um having seen and be uh being willing to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's a part of um state law actually for pretty much every solicitation we put out. Um and there are also lots of pieces that you have to submit um at the beginning is helpful. um a transmitter letter that has your name and the solicitation number and title. Um the name of the person who's authorized to to submit this um and uh the federal identification number, address, all that kind of thing. Many um applicants are not going to have a an MBE number. MBE is minority business enterprise.

00:18:29

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Um, many are not going to have an SB number. That's a small business reserve number. Um, but if those are applicable to your organization, those should be included on this transmitter letter. Um, and again, um, evidence of a 501c3 or 501c4 status must be uh must accompany the application. Applicants must also submit a W9 which is critical for us to make sure that you actually can receive the money um when the applications are processed. Some other critical elements um I mentioned some attachments. Um there are many attachments. Um exhibit A is a budget form. You need to complete that in order for us to see what you're going to what you're planning to spend money on. And exhibit B is a budget narrative. Use words to describe what you're planning to spend the money on. Exhibit C is the standard grant agreement sample. This is this example of what the contract would look like after you've been um awarded a grant after we've said yes, you get some money.

00:19:34

Sadie Peters -MDH-: This is an example. It's very long and it's got a lot of different pieces, but this is exhibit C, which is simply a sample of what this agreement would look like. So, I put this slide together to help un uh uh applicants to see that we do need um uh there are all of these different things. Um the ones on the left continue with exhibit D, which is an RFA document checklist. It's a short checklist just to make sure that you as an applicant have um put together and are including all of the things that are necessary, the sort of big pieces. Attachment H I've mentioned is the implementation preparation checklist that does need to be completed. It's required. And then attachment I also required the work plan template which I've already talked about. On the right side of this slide are a list of things that you need to review but aren't at all things that you need to complete. So attachments A B C D E F that you need to be aware of them and they should be reviewed but they are not things to complete even if they have lines for signatures and dates those are not to be completed with this uh with your submission.

00:20:55

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Attachment G is relevant again review. It is the Komar that is related to this program and attachment J is the evaluation criteria that we're using for the project. So again review but it's not something that you need to complete. Um we just mentioned the evaluation criteria and that is one of the attachments. Um I laid out for you a set of steps. do this first, do this second, do this third, do this fourth. But that's not exactly the order in which you're going to be evaluated. The evaluation really is that the weightiest thing in the evaluation is the identification of a valid cancer screening test. The work plan and the implementation uh check uh checklist um uh are the next weighty things. And then after that is the identification of the healthcare team and their um the roles that you've outlined for those folks. So this is an uh this is the list with the weights of the evaluation. And again you see that the reporting requirements and the cancer screening records retention they're on here.

00:22:10

Sadie Peters -MDH-: So if you don't do these no attestation is made then you won't get these points. So I wanted to mention that again. If the department received the applications for grants totaling more than the amount of funds appropriated from the state budget um during the fiscal year then again we do have to award the grants um on a pro rata basis and make sure that each um valid application that um made sense actually gets some money. So you may end up applying for X amount but receiving less amount because of the many applications that were received. I wanted to make you aware that um we do need some invoices submitted. Um this is a reimbursement project. So you spend money and submit invoices to us for uh reimbursement. The first invoice would be due May 29th. The second one, which is really the only other one, is due on July 15th. And then the final financial report, which really just says everything about all the expenditures, would be due in August.

00:23:18

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Other important notes um I said that there is a web page. Um it is here um a web page available to talk through some of what I've just walked through. Um it has grant information from um the previous year. It tells you who the last uh year's grantees were. Um there is a link to the law about this project, the Maryland law. Um there is information here um of last year's application and there are some resources which you might find helpful. Some of them are articles that um talk a little bit about cancer screening um in innovative uh manner and then some of them are we have resources here that also might help with grant writing. A different office in the Maryland Department of Health, the minority health and health disparities office has put together some slides that are available that might be helpful for grant writing tips. And then this last thing is a table of innovative cancer test options. There's a long table with lots of tests.

00:24:41

Sadie Peters -MDH-: It tells you the name of the company, the name of the test, some features of the tests, um, and the types of cancers that are detected by each test, um, whether or not the test is covered by insurance, the approximate cost, and some of the, uh, information on the end is whether or not these companies are located in Maryland since that is one of the criteria that, um, we are prioritizing. So, let's go back to the slides. I do want to emphasize that the entire RFA document should be read fairly thoroughly. I'm hoping that these slides help with understanding what's in the packet and how to approach it. Um, please, um, contact your local health care folks. uh health officers, health department, local hospitals, local uh county administrators for help um should you need it. And questions should be directed to the MDH procurement officer, Lelle, who is on the call today. Those are all the slides that I have.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank you, Satie. All right, we will now open um the questions portion of the conference.

00:26:08

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Before questions are taken, I ask that everyone state your name and your company um so we can have the accurate minutes for this uh meeting.

John Donna, you can go ahead.

John Donohue: Uh yeah, I just wanted to uh kind of recap what I've what I've listened to here and um make sure that I understand the differences between this uh publication versus the previous one. Um, and I have three items that appear to be somewhat different or , changed. And that has to do with the letters from the fire companies authorizing the county to act now requires that the number of firefighters on each company be included. So, um, that we're already working on that part. Um and then the um health care team it appears now I mean we've already been working with the hospital and our workman's comp folks um I didn't realize the uh that you all were looking for and maybe this is a change I'm not sure um the health department also as a required member of that team. So we will reach out to them and deal with that also.

00:27:23

John Donohue: And the last was the two attestations that uh um were included. It looked to me in the previous application that they would go those at test stations would be um completed after the award, but we can go ahead and get those taken care of ahead of time. Is there any other differences or changes from this go round versus the last?

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Those are a great summary. The attestations, however, were always required. Um, and again, that's why in the slides, we're trying to make it clearer that those are required. They were never not required.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank you, Satie.

John Donohue: Thank you. That's not a problem.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank you, John. Chris. Uh oh, Chris, can you hear me? Excuse

me. Okay, we'll go to QAC and then we'll come back to Chris Troy.

QAC FEC: Thank you. It's uh Don Starkey with Queen Ans County. Um I'm just piggybacking off what was just said. Is the health department being involved is our local health department being involved a requirement?

00:28:44

Sadie Peters -MDH-: No, QAC FEC: Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make Sadie Peters -MDH-: no, it's not a requirement. It's just that it the health department, QAC FEC: sure Sadie Peters -MDH-: the hospital, the county administrators, those are all the local resources that you should be reaching out to in order to assemble to QAC FEC: that And our county Sadie Peters -MDH-: get help assembling a team. And they're all aware QAC FEC: our county is applying on behalf of our association which is nine volunteer fire companies and we are getting the letters as stated. But in the letter then do you need a copy from each fire company that they are each a 501c3 or no since the county is applying on our behalf?

Sadie Peters -MDH-: It's a good question. The county is applying. Therefore, the county would be the recipient of the money and the county is eligible to apply. So, Lelle, I'm thinking that there need not be an uh a 501c3 uh submission from each of the fire departments because the county is applying.

00:29:43

Sadie Peters -MDH-: It's county government, right, QAC FEC: Correct.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Lelle?

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Oh, yes. That's correct.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Nikita saying yes, that's correct.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Yes.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: So, Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Yes.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: you don't you do not need a 501c3 certification from each of those uh companies just because it's QAC FEC: And then my last question is we we weren't able to get the portal the EMA Sadie Peters -MDH-: the county government.

QAC FEC: the county is registered on the EMA portal but we weren't able to get that um working for the application so we submitted it via email. Is that still an option this time?

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: It's an option, but we really prefer for you to uh submit through Emma because if we're going to award any contracts, you have to be registered through

Emma. So, you still have some time. That um email address was set up as a secondary in the event that were like technical issues going on with Emma. Um so, we still strongly suggest that you submit through Emma.

00:30:33

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: And if you have issues setting up, QAC FEC: Okay.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: um, please feel free to reach out to me and I can work with you and Emma to get you set up, uh, appropriately so you can submit your proposals.

QAC FEC: Okay. Thank you.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: You're welcome. Um, Chris, Christopher Truitt: Hey, sorry about that.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: no, Christopher Truitt: My microphone messed up.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: it's okay. It's okay.

Christopher Truitt: Yeah, Chris Tolsbury Fire Department. Uh, two quick questions. Uh, is it spelled out in the RFA anywhere? I know when you go to submit, there are two areas on the portal to submit. One says vendor financial documents and one says technical documents. Does it spell out which attachments and worksheets go in which?

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Lelle, you can help me, but my understanding is that everything is the technical document Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: the Sadie Peters -MDH-: except the actual line item budget and the narrative Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: budget.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: that describes the budget that goes into the financial docu.

00:31:31

Christopher Truitt: Okay.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Everything else is part of the technical uh support uh submission.

Christopher Truitt: Okay.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: That's good.

Christopher Truitt: All right. Perfect. Uh the only other question, um I know yesterday I got two notices that it had updated. Should should we hold off until closer to the closing date to apply? Because I know last go round I every time it reopened I think I ended up submitting like six or seven times last Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: you can that and that's actually correct.

Christopher Truitt: year.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: So what happens is excuse me anytime we have any updates be it questions addendums um yesterday I uploaded the um the meeting information because I had some uh a firefighter they didn't see the information so I wanted to make sure that everybody received it correctly. So any updates that you're going to receive through Emma is certainly going to push your information out and we wouldn't know that, right? So if you don't reapply or resubmit, I should say, then we don't um receive it.

00:32:34

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: So yes, so anytime um you get that you want to resubmit, but if it's easier for your uh team to submit on the closing date, that's fine as well because you will you will have to resubmit every time we update. So, like for instance, Christopher Truitt: Okay.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: today if you submitted yesterday or last night after that last um update happened, we're going to submit these questions and these slides for you all as well, right? And you're going to get an update from Emma saying it's been updated.

And then if you have re if you have submitted, it's going to ask you to resubmit. So, whatever works best for you all.

Christopher Truitt: Okay. All right.

Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Yes, Christopher Truitt: All right. Thanks, Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: you're welcome. Did we have any more questions at all? Okay, I'm going to take that as a no. So, I want to thank you all for attending this meeting today. Please note that applications are due no later than January 15th, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and will not be accepting any applications after that date of time. Please check Emma's website for addendums. Acknowledgements of all addendums are to be submitted with your application. Make sure that your documents are completed and signed. Also, I would like to emphasize that in order to receive a contract award, you must be registered through Emma. Registration is free. So, please go into the Emma's website. And again, if you have any issues um with uh registering or submitting, please reach out to me and I will help you um with that process. Again, I thank you all for your time and good luck. Um, and have a great day.

Sadie Peters -MDH-: Thank you everyone.

Nikita Real -MDH-: Thank you Li'Chelle Lindsey -MDH-: Thank Nikita Real -MDH-: everyone. Great job, Michelle. Great job, Transcription ended after 00:34:29

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