June 29, 2012 RFP for STD/HIV Services

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jun 29, 2012 - The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from qualified proposers that provide the following activities related to the prevention of STD and HIV infections, the provision of services for HIV-infected persons as well as clinical services and treatment for persons infected with syphilis, chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, and to monitor the STD and HIV epidemics over time. A contract is necessary to conduct management, coordination, technical assistance and training, and data management and analysis activities that support the following components of the STD/HIV Program:

1. Community-Based Organization Monitoring, Technical Assistance, Data Management and Evaluation of Implemented Prevention Interventions and Services. This component provides monitoring, coordination, technical assistance and data management for activities of approximately 15 community-based organizations (CBOs) conducting publicly-funded STD/HIV prevention programs and approximately 15 organizations providing Ryan White Part B and Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA) services.

2. The Training and Communications Support component maintains the statewide STD/HIV Resource Library, produces program newsletters, and distributes educational materials and supplies to clinics, community-based organizations and other appropriate service providers for the STD/HIV Program. In addition, this component operates the Statewide STD/HIV Infoline and it is responsible for conducting training to assist community-based organizations, health units, and medical providers to conduct prevention interventions, including traditional and rapid HIV testing.

3. STD/HIV Partner Services. The contractor shall be responsible for managing the LDH Office of Public Health's STD/HIV Program's Partner Services database, providing technical assistance and training to Disease Intervention Specialists who conduct partner services, and coordinating follow-up on identified partners of confirmed HIV cases.

4. Core Surveillance (Case Ascertainment). This component of the program represents the active statewide system for reporting individual cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia, HIV, and AIDS, as required by Louisiana state law. In this system, contracted Surveillance staff solicits reports from medical providers and other mandated reporters for persons with syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia, or HIV/AIDS, and contacts providers whenever necessary to gather data as required by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols for STD and HIV/AIDS surveillance activities. The primary activities of this component include: Active solicitation and investigation of all potential cases of STDs and HIV/AIDS by field epidemiologists, covering all public health regions, including ascertainment of risk and assessment of progression to AIDS and death for confirmed cases Laboratory surveillance, including the maintenance of electronic reporting to facilitate active reporting from public, private, and national laboratories Data verification with other public health and provider databases to maximize complete reporting and ascertain rates of co-infections Program evaluation activities to ensure compliance with CDC's required standards for the timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of STD and HIV/AIDS reporting systems Dissemination of reports and provision of epidemiologic technical assistance to facilitate appropriate use of surveillance data in program planning and evaluation activities

5. Supplemental Surveillance and Emerging Protocols. The CDC frequently releases announcements for jurisdictions to apply for funds to support supplemental surveillance activities or studies. These awards may be short-term or ongoing. Emerging protocols include activities which are likely to involve, or become a part of, core surveillance activities. Current activities include: Perinatal Surveillance, an ongoing project that encompasses CDC protocols and local initiatives to monitor the epidemic among HIV-infected pregnant women and their infants The National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project which examines behaviors that place people at risk for HIV HIV Incidence projects which include ongoing and developing protocols to assess rates of new infections The Viral Resistance Surveillance project which includes protocols to assess the extent of viral resistance in persons with HIV infection The STD Surveillance Network project which investigates risk factors and treatment of persons diagnosed with gonorrhea.

6. HIV Care and Treatment Support: Through funding received from HRSA, the STD/HIV Program is responsible for supporting and enhancing mechanisms that increase access to medical care for persons living with HIV (PLWH) in Louisiana. Programmatic and administrative support is necessary to ensure that medical and social service systems are efficiently and effectively operating to improve linkage to needed care and treatment. The coordination of needs assessments and community planning activities, as well as collaboration with other service providers are crucial in the overall development, implementation, and improvement of these systems to assure that the service needs of low income persons living with HIV infection are addressed in a high quality, cost efficient and comprehensive manner.

7. The Program Operations Technical Assistance component provides financial, administrative, and operational support to all STD/HIV Program components to meet the program goals and the requirements of federal and state funding agencies.

The contractor selected through this RFP must conduct all program components that are described above. In addition, all activities of the contractor must be planned and conducted in close collaboration and coordination with the STD/HIV Program.