US-FED-00000399731 - BioWatch Program - Deadline December 4,2026

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FEMA, Office of Resilience, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Support Directorate, requires support to staff identified local field offices and execute the daily BioWatch Program field operations in accordance with the attached Statement of Work (SOW).GENERAL INFORMATION: This RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes to identify sources that can provide support for the BioWatch program field operations, special events and surge operations, and technology upgrades and integration. In accordance with FAR 15.101(c), RFIs may be used when the Government wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, and capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to these RFIs are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose, nor does it restrict the Government to an ultimate acquisition approach. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with their RFI response. Respondents will not receive additional information in response to their submittal to the RFI and will not be notified of the resulting market research.INTRODUCTION:DHS`s mission is to safeguard the American people, the homeland, and American values with honor and integrity. In support of this mission, the FEMA works to prevent CBRN attacks against the United States by providing timely, responsive support to operational partners.The CBRN Support Directorate advances this mission through the BioWatch program, the nation`s only civilian program that monitors for aerosol releases of select bioterrorism agents. Since its establishment in 2003, BioWatch has maintained a bioterrorism air monitoring system that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in large metropolitan areas, known as jurisdictions, and partnered with state and local public health communities to prepare for and respond to bioterrorist events.The BioWatch Program`s strategic objectives are to:Monitor for the highest–priority biological agents that could cause catastrophic outcomes.Protect the nation`s most at–risk locations.Maintain technical oversight of operations in close collaboration with state and local public health partners that execute the program.Conduct advanced development and use federal research and development (R&D) to procure and deploy improved detection capabilities at lower cost.Coordinate federal, state, and local public health preparedness activities to develop operational protocols for initiating response activities following the detection of an agent for which the system tests.Strengthen federal, state, and local stakeholder partnerships and improve operational efficiencies.To accomplish these objectives, each BioWatch jurisdiction maintains a static array of air samplers, the filters of which are collected daily by field operators. These filters are then delivered to a state or local operational laboratory where they are analyzed for select biological agents. Jurisdictions may also elect to surge operations by deploying additional units to monitor special events or increasing the collection cycle (e.g., twice a day collections). In addition, each jurisdiction has an advisory committee that coordinates with the BioWatch program on operations and biological event preparedness activities. At the federal level, the BioWatch program includes field, surge, laboratory, and biodefense preparedness operational components. Figure 1 depicts daily sample operations.Figure 1. BioWatch Sample Operational ProcessPURPOSE OF RFICurrently field operators and field–related tasks are not staffed by contract. The purpose of this RFI is to evaluate and determine the field staffing and support options for the BioWatch program to meet field operations requirements. The performer must enable the BioWatch program to maintain current field operations and continue to provide high quality, reliable, and timely delivery of field samples to the laboratories. In addition, due to its evolving operational needs, the performer must provide the necessary flexibility and adaptability to ensure BioWatch can address changes in sample collections for both planned events and unforeseen incidents, as well as assist with potential technology assessments, field evaluations, integration, and implementation.DESIRED CAPABILITIES FOR BIOWATCH FIELD STAFFING AND SUPPORT CAPABILITYCompetent, proficient, and reliable field staffing is essential to ensure the BioWatch program continues to meet established requirements. In addition, the evolving threats and vulnerabilities that are identified at the state and local level require operational flexibility and adaptability that must be able to be supported with field staff capable of performing field operations and chain of custody in accordance with mission needs. A successful candidate staffing performer wi