PHPA 3730 - Statewide Prevention and Reduction Collaborative (SPARC)

The Maryland Department of Health, Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Outbreak Response Bureau, is requesting applications for a single awardee to deliver statewide infection prevention and control services under the Statewide Prevention and Reduction Collaborative (SPARC) program (PHPA 3730), with applications due January 15, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EST and written questions due January 8, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

Eligibility is restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, state or local government agencies, or public colleges and universities that hold current IRS tax-exempt status and are designated as academic medical centers with at least five years of documented collaboration on state health department initiatives and implementation of infection prevention interventions in non-academic community hospitals. This is a mandatory qualification filter.

The scope requires organizing twice-monthly webinars on infection control and antibiotic stewardship, conducting facility needs assessments to identify knowledge gaps, managing collaborative operations through weekly steering committee meetings, executing in-person site visits to participating hospitals, performing program evaluations using surveys and focus groups, and designing facility-specific interventions based on NHSN data and hospital capacity. The awardee must maintain access to subject matter experts spanning infectious disease physicians, infection preventionists, pharmacists, and laboratorians, and demonstrate familiarity with SPARC's prior work since 2020.

The contract period runs August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027. Funding is provided through the Epidemiologic Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement from the CDC. The RFA establishes no budget ceiling; applicants propose budgets deemed appropriate based on scope requirements. Evaluation gives equal weight to technical and financial factors. The awardee must comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and federal audit standards under OMB 2 CFR 200, and submit monthly expenditure reports within 30 days of invoice dates. Monthly invoices are due by the 15th of the month following service delivery, with the first invoice for August 2026 services due September 15, 2026. Applications must be submitted through eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA) or via email to RFA.PHPA@maryland.gov; vendor registration on eMMA is required at no cost.