Notice of Intent to Sole Source Flea-Borne Typhus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to award a sole source firm fixed price purchase order/contract to Quest Diagnostics for Serum Clinical specimens from routine clinical testing. The contract involves selecting, de-identifying, and shipping specimens to CDC. The serum specimens provided through Quest Diagnostics comprise a unique sample of clinical specimens from patients having blood drawn for routine laboratory testing, and they contain geographic details for Georgia along with sex and age information. • The contract action is for supplies/services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source. • Quest Diagnostics was the only vendor that could provide precise locations of place of residency for the patients. • The program could not identify other sources with similar geographic information at the zip code level. • Serum specimens provided through Quest Diagnostics also contain information on sex and age, which may provide information beneficial for the proposed serological survey.