NIH COVID-19 Screening Process for Unvaccinated Staff Physically Reporting to Workplace

NIH COVID-19 Screening Process for Unvaccinated Staff Physically Reporting to Workplace BACKGROUND To comply with the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, the NIH must at times test on-site staff for COVID-19 if their vaccination status has not been disclosed, or if staff has been approved for an accommodation exempting from Covid-19 vaccination requirements. Testing is only mandatory when the CDC reports community levels as - high or - medium. These community levels are published every Friday, and agencies are expected to start testing the following week. Testing applies to all categories of staff, including FTE's, contractors, trainees, volunteers, guest researchers and tenant units. PARAMETERS Applicable staff eligible for testing mandate: Minimum of 5,000, maximum of 15,000 staff. Type of test: antigen test. Testing Location: (1) Testing must be available for continental US locations, including evening hours and weekends. (2) No tests will occur on federal property. Ideal location would be at a person's home. Timing of testing: (1) Frequency: 1 time a week per person while the CDC community levels are rated as - medium or - high. (2) Ideally, test occurs within 12-24 hours of coming to 1st on-site shift of any week when testing is required. Testing process: Testing must be observed by a vendor-supplied qualified telehealth proctor if self-administered or administered by a health care professional. Test Documentation: The result must be documented as belonging to the patient. The test results will be electronically submitted to the NIH daily, abiding by privacy rules involving transmission of health information. Shipping: The vendor will be provided a list of eligible staff for them to directly ship testing kits to home addresses. The NIH will initiate request for re-shipments to the vendor. Testing Follow-up: Staff who test positive for Covid-19 must receive instructions to follow required notifications, including in their workplace. Authorized Testing: The test must be an FDA- authorized at-home OTC-COVID-19 diagnostic test. RESPONSES If you believe you can provide the items or services requested in this Request for Information (RFI), all responsible sources may submit a capability statement that describes your proctored test solution and/or approach, which shall be considered by the agency, to the Contracting Specialist, Rosalind R. Clark, at rosalind.clark@nih.gov, via e-mail only (no phone calls/voice mail messages regarding questions will not be accepted and will not receive a response). Please indicate in the subject of your email: NIHCOVID-19Testing(RFI). A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract acquisition based upon responses to the notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be announced to the public in Contracting Opportunities in accordance with FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).