[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 162 (Monday, August 22, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52328-52329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-21294]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[CFDA 93.019]


Single Source Cooperative Agreement Award for the Gorgas Memorial 
Institute of Health Studies

AGENCY: Office of Policy and Planning (OPP), Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Department of Health 
and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In FY2011, HHS/ASPR/OPP plans to provide a Single Source 
Cooperative Agreement Award to GMI to strengthen Panama's laboratory 
diagnostic capacity for emerging infectious disease threats including 
select bio-terrorism agents and novel influenza viruses. The amount of 
Single Source award is $200,000. The project period is: September 30, 
2011 to September 29, 2012.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    ASPR will exercise sole administrative oversight of this 
cooperative agreement. ASPR will also collaborate with HHS-Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate the provision of 
technical expertise needed for GMI to become a member of the LRN. GMI 
will then implement critical laboratory diagnostic capacities, 
including personnel training and infrastructure improvement to meet the 
standards to become an international affiliate of LRN.
    This collaboration seeks to expand the laboratory diagnostic 
capacity of Panama and the Central American Region as GMI is a national 
and regional reference laboratory for several infectious diseases. The 
work will be performed to support the implementation of the World 
Health Organization (WHO)'s International Health Regulations [IHR 
(2005)] in Panama and in the context of Article 44 of the IHR (2005), 
which directs State Parties to collaborate with each other to detect, 
assess, and respond to events, and to develop, strengthen, and maintain 
core capacities for disease surveillance and response to public health 
emergencies.

Single Source Justification

    GMI is a public health institution within the Ministry of Health of 
Panama which provides research, public health services and advice on 
public health policy development. It was created in 1928 and was 
primarily funded by the United State Government (USG) until 1991. GMI 
was named after General William Crawford Gorgas, the U.S. Army 
physician who managed control efforts of yellow fever, malaria and 
other diseases during the building of the Panama Canal. GMI contributes 
to improve the health of the population of Panama and Central America 
by acting as a national reference public health laboratory to diagnose 
diseases like yellow fever, malaria, measles, tuberculosis, arbovirus 
febrile illness, viral encephalitidies, influenza, dengue, hantavirus 
cardiopulmonary syndrome, and all endemic viral and bacterial diseases. 
Most recently GMI became a World Bank-Pan-American Health Organization 
reference laboratory for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for the 
Central American region. GMI has well-established laboratories of 
virology, parasitology, immunology, genomics, entomology and food and 
water chemistry. GMI also has departments of epidemiology and 
biostatistics, chronic disease studies, health policy, and health and 
human reproduction studies. This infrastructure positions GMI as a key 
institution in Panama's national research and public health systems.
    In 2006, GMI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with HHS to 
identify joint opportunities to improve preparedness for and response 
to infectious diseases, placing specific emphasis on influenza and 
other respiratory diseases. To further the goals of the MOU, GMI was 
awarded two cooperative agreements by HHS-ASPR to increase its virology 
diagnostic capacity and strengthen the surveillance of influenza virus 
in Panama and Central American, and to develop a Regional Health Care 
Training Center (RHCTC) for health care workers of the Central American 
and Caribbean region. These cooperative agreements helped to establish 
the first country-wide sentinel influenza surveillance network, and a 
BSL-3 laboratory virology suite that was built and inaugurated in 2010. 
In addition, complementary epidemiological and laboratory training 
efforts took place at the RHCTC benefitting more than 5,000 
professionals from Panama, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, 
Honduras and Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic. Based on the capacities 
developed under these projects, the GMI was designated as Panama's 
``National Influenza Center'' by the World Health Organization (WHO).
    By supporting GMI to become a qualified member of the LRN, the USG 
will increase its international network of laboratories that are fully 
equipped to detect, assess and report the outbreak of emerging 
infectious diseases including

[[Page 52329]]

novel influenza viruses and biological agents that pose a threat to 
global public health. Through this international collaboration ASPR 
will capitalize on GMI's influential position as an important regional 
partner on disease surveillance efforts and public health emergency 
preparedness. This new cooperative agreement will help to further 
strengthen laboratory diagnostic capacity in Panama and other countries 
in the region. GMI's strong collaborative relationships with 
neighboring governments, as well as its training capabilities, and 
laboratory infrastructure will be critical for the viability of this 
partnership. In addition, this collaboration will support overall HHS 
efforts to continue building capacity abroad with the ultimate intent 
of detecting, stopping, slowing or otherwise limiting the threat or 
actual spread of bio-terrorism agents or a pandemic to the United 
States, thereby enhancing the health security of the American 
population.

Additional Information: The agency program contact is Dr. Maria Julia 
Marinissen, who can be contacted at 202-205-4214 or 
[email protected].

    Statutory Authority: Sections 301, 307, 1701 and 2811 of the 
Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 241, 242l, 300u, 300hh-10.

    Dated: August 15, 2011.
 Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
[FR Doc. 2011-21294 Filed 8-19-11; 8:45 am]
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