RODS Software Tool Enhancement to Incorporate Water Utility Data with Public Health Data for the Water Security/Contamination Warning System

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC), Threat and Consequence Assessment Division (TCAD) has a requirement to enhance the automated syndromic surveillance software called Realtime Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) through the development of a water module. The prototype model shall incorporate community health data with water sector parameters to detect and communicate a drinking water contamination. This project aims to incorporate water sector data with public health data. The specificity of integrating these disparate data streams will provide earlier detection of a drinking water contamination incident. Geographic information regarding water utility pressure zones shall be used to cluster the health data. Software shall be developed that fuses available bio-surveillance data with water quality event detection algorithms using a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN). The analysis performed in this project would calculate the probability of a water contamination event given changes in water quality measurements and/or health indicator data. Both visual and analytical tools specific to water sector data shall be developed. The tasks to be performed under the Performance Work Statement include: (1) Obtain Data Sharing Agreements; (2) Data Collection and Analysis; (3) Prototype Development for the RODS System Water Module; (4) Training and Beta Testing and ; (5) Develop, Apply and Summarize Evaluation Methods. This procurement will be accomplished under FAR Part 12, Commercial Acquisition Procedures. EPA anticipates the award of a Firm-Fixed-Price contract. The RFP PR-CI-08-10286 shall be solicited under full and open competition with the NAICS code designation for the acquisition being 541614. The solicitation is expected to be issued in March 2008 on EPA's website: http://www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd. This office does not intend to mail hard copies of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of the offerors to frequently check the EPA website for updates or changes. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the agency.