Clinical and Community HIV Outreach and Testing Services

The State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is soliciting proposals through Request for Proposals (RFP) #202603061 for Clinical and Community HIV Outreach and Testing Services across three distinct regions: Region 1 (York and Cumberland counties), Region 2 (Androscoggin, Oxford, Franklin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Kennebec, and Somerset counties), and Region 3 (Washington, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Aroostook counties). The Department anticipates making six total awards—one clinical services award and one community services award for each region. Services include comprehensive HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevention, testing, treatment, education, and referral services, with particular emphasis on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Non-Occupational Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (nPEP) navigation. Key deliverables include organizing two annual HIV, STI, and viral hepatitis awareness events with minimum 25 participants each, establishing referral networks with healthcare and social service providers, conducting HIV/STI/hepatitis C testing, distributing HIV self-test kits with pre-test education, ensuring linkage to care within 30 calendar days for newly diagnosed individuals, and providing quarterly performance tracking data and narrative reports. Bidders must demonstrate that all staff are properly licensed and credentialed, with non-clinical staff completing two-day Counseling, Testing, and Referral (CTR) training and clinical staff completing annual one-day CTR training certified by Maine CDC. Required qualifications include three years of audited or reviewed financial statements and project examples from the past five years. Mandatory performance measures assessed quarterly include ensuring 75 percent of tested individuals are from key priority populations, achieving 90 percent linkage to care for HIV-positive individuals within 30 days, referring 90 percent of HIV-negative individuals to PrEP, nPEP, or other prevention services, and testing 30 percent of HIV clients for HCV. Bidders must comply with extensive Maine IT policies, implement risk assessment and vulnerability scanning procedures, and maintain data security protocols aligned with federal regulations using REDCap and NEDSS databases. The cost proposal will be scored using a mathematical formula where the lowest bid receives 30 points with higher bids receiving proportionally fewer points, and an additional five points will be allocated for budget narrative evaluation. Critical deadlines include an informational meeting on April 21, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom; questions due by April 24, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.; Notice of Intent to Bid forms due May 6, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.; and proposals due May 22, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. via the Vendor Self Service (VSS) system. The initial contract period runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2028, with two optional renewal periods extending through September 30, 2031, contingent upon funding availability and satisfactory performance.

The RFP documents do not indicate specific set-aside designations or restrictions limiting bidder eligibility based on disadvantaged enterprise status or organizational type; however, bidders must comply with State of Maine standard contract provisions and maintain required insurance coverage as outlined in IT-Service Contract requirements, including cyber liability insurance for handling personally identifiable and protected health information. No incumbent vendors or current contractors are identified in the provided solicitation materials. Bidders must ensure integration with existing Maine IT infrastructure, including compliance with MaineIT standards for technology and data security, and must establish connections to state databases such as REDCap and NEDSS for test data submissions and performance tracking. The Department will conduct annual on-site visits and participate in quarterly monitoring calls, bi-annual presentations, and Maine HIV/AIDS Advisory Board meetings to assess performance and quality management activities. No clients shall be denied services due to inability to pay, and the Department will provide direct reimbursement to bidders for uninsured clients or when confidentiality barriers exist with insured clients. Specific award values or budget ranges are not disclosed in the RFP materials, with final contract values to be determined based on bidder cost proposals and the mathematical scoring formula applied to all submitted bids.