The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intends to award, on a sole source basis, a firmed fixed price purchase order to Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, located in Tarpon Spring, FL. The purchase order is for the purpose of position of housing medical records for hundreds of former workers concentrated in the Tarpon Springs, FL area. The availability and use of medical records would greatly improve examining physician’s interpretative ability for individual’s tests results. Therefore, the clinical quality and validity of the medical screening at this hospital would be improved compared to if conducted elsewhere. Agency for Toxic Sustances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) will also be supporting the existing doctor-patient relationship at this hospital’s occupational services clinic. Also, the cost of this service will be reduced for ATSDR because of the elimination of local shipping of records, reproduction of materials, and local transportation. By not having to transport medical records among area hospitals or clinics, this eliminates the potential of lost medical records. In addition, a quality of service dilemma is eliminated, namely refusal of the hospital to release medical records to other facilities because of legal concerns under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) . Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital’s occupational services clinicians/physicians will be able to provide input to ensure the appropriateness of proposed pulmonary tests. Hospitals in the Tampa area were considered for this medical evaluation; however, distance related factors and burden on participant and agency considerations indicate that these more distant facilities would significant adversely affect participation rate, data collection, and the quality of the data sets to be used by ATSDR for writing a final report. The authority for this sole source procurement is FAR part 6.302-1 in that Helen Ellis Memorial Hosital, is the only known source with the knowledge required that can meet all of the program requirements including local standard of care, equipment , cost and time constraints. This is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation is available. Firms that believe they can provide the required services are encouraged to identify themselves and give written notification to the Contracting Officer within 10 days from the publication date of this synopsis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Inquiries may be sent to Linda T. Robinson by email at
[email protected] or by fax at 770-488-2668.