[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 142 (Thursday, July 24, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43050-43052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17457]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Notification of a Single Source Cooperative Agreement Award for 
the Pasteur Foundation

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response

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

ACTION: Notice

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SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant 
Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Office of Policy and 
Planning (OPP), intends to provide a Single Source Cooperative 
Agreement Award to the Pasteur Foundation for project activities 
carried out by the Pasteur Institute to support global health security 
enhancements and International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) 
implementation in select Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian 
countries. Specifically, ASPR, in close coordination with the HHS 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other U.S. 
Government (USG) stakeholders, will collaborate with the Pasteur 
Institute and select affiliate institutes within the Pasteur Institute 
International Network (IPIN) in

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Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Senegal, 
and Cambodia to sustain and strengthen preparedness, detection, and 
communication capacities for pandemic influenza and other emerging and 
re-emerging infectious diseases in support of IHR (2005). Recognizing 
that the health security of the American people is intrinsically linked 
to the world's health security, and that international cooperation is 
critical to enhance global health security, this program is aligned 
with Article 44 of the IHR (2005), which directs State Parties to 
collaborate to detect, assess, and respond to events while developing, 
strengthening, and maintaining core public health surveillance and 
response capacities. The proposed cooperative agreement is also aligned 
with the Global Health Security Agenda that calls for action to 
accelerate progress toward a world safe and secure from infectious 
disease threats, and to promote global health security as an 
international security priority by preventing and reducing the 
likelihood of infectious diseases outbreaks, detecting threats early, 
and rapidly and effective responding to disease outbreaks that require 
multi-sectorial, international coordination and communication.\1\
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    \1\ http://www.globalhealth.gov/global-health-topics/global-health-security/ghsagenda.html.

DATES: The period of performance is from September 30, 2014 to 
September 29, 2019.
    Award Amount: $3.8-$4.2 million

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Division of International Health 
Security in the Office of Policy and Planning is the program office for 
this award.
    Single Source Justification: The H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic, 
outbreaks of novel influenza viruses with pandemic potential (e.g., A/
H7N9 and A/H5N1), growing global concern about potential public health 
emergencies of international concern (PHEIC) due to Ebola, dengue, 
Chikungunya, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, and the very 
recent declaration of polio as a PHEIC,\2\ highlight continued and 
persistent global disease threats with the potential to affect the 
health security of the American people. The HHS collaboration with 
international partners such as the Pasteur Institute is a critical 
element in the strategy to prevent, respond to, and contain infectious 
diseases before they spread.
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    \2\ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2014/polio-20140505/en/.
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    To this end, HHS and the Pasteur Institute signed two Memorandums 
of Understanding with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012, 
agreeing to support IHR (2005) implementation and global health 
security by supporting international collaborations to prevent, prepare 
for, and respond to influenza and other emerging diseases. The Pasteur 
Institute possesses unique capabilities for global capacity-building. 
The IPIN, a network of laboratories in 32 countries, spans five regions 
around the globe, and is further connected with multiple international 
stakeholders, including the CDC, the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance 
and Response System, and WHO's Emerging and Dangerous Pathogens 
Laboratory Networks. More than 70 percent of the IPIN affiliates are 
located in disease outbreak hotspots prone to public health threats. 
The Pasteur Institute and its affiliates represent an advanced 
surveillance and laboratory network that is integrated with the public 
health infrastructure of respective Ministries of Health, which is 
vital to the host country's preparedness and response efforts.
    ASPR, the Pasteur Institute, and IPIN affiliates have collaborated 
on global health security efforts in recent years in partnership with 
countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Efforts enhanced 
implementation of IHR (2005) core capacities focusing on detection and 
management of actual or potential PHEICs caused by novel influenza 
viruses with pandemic potential, including rapidly alerting the WHO and 
other countries for a faster, more systematic, and comprehensive 
response.
    In the last seven years, ASPR has worked closely with the Pasteur 
Institute and IPIN through a series of cooperative agreements that 
included collaborations with CDC, the WHO, and partner countries to 
build capacity to prepare for and respond to pandemic influenza. These 
capacities were evident during the H1N1 2009 pandemic influenza, where 
IPIN affiliates in countries supported by previous cooperative 
agreements were among the first countries to rapidly establish 
surveillance systems and laboratory capacity for H1N1. The achievements 
of the previous programs include, among others, the establishment of 80 
sentinel surveillance sites for influenza-like illness and the 
establishment of hospital-based surveillance for severe acute 
respiratory illnesses in Senegal, Cameroon, Central African Republic, 
and the Ivory Coast. In many of these countries, these were the very 
first efforts to implement surveillance programs for influenza. As a 
result, these programs enabled the detection of influenza strains 
circulating in Sub-Saharan Africa, helped monitor an antiviral 
resistance strain, and supported the development of laboratory capacity 
to detect for the first time, more than 17 different respiratory 
viruses in the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Senegal. 
Overall, laboratory infrastructure for influenza surveillance was 
strengthened, resulting in three Institutes Pasteur affiliates 
designated as National Reference Centers for influenza; four 
laboratories designated as National Influenza Centers in Senegal, 
Cameroon, Central African Republic, and the Ivory Coast; and 
construction of Biosafety Level 3 laboratories in Cambodia and in the 
Central African Republic.
    IPIN and ASPR also supported enhancement of IHR National Focal 
Point coordination and communication capacities by providing equipment 
and training. Past collaboration efforts between ASPR and the Pasteur 
Institute also supported bilateral relationships between the United 
States and France, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, the Central 
African Republic, Senegal, Cambodia, Laos, and regional partnerships 
with WHO regional offices, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and 
Southeast Asia. Other specific achievements, supported at least in part 
by this collaboration, include the discovery of the genetic drift of A/
H5N1 in Cambodia. This resulted in regional and international 
collaboration and exchanges of results and samples among stakeholders 
including Cambodia's Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Forestry and 
Fishery, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, CDC, IPIN, 
the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the WHO. The capacities 
established by the ASPR-Pasteur Institute collaboration on pandemic 
influenza also enhanced preparedness and response to other emerging 
infectious diseases. For example, it allowed the Institute Pasteur of 
Dakar, Senegal, to maintain the WHO Collaborating Center for 
arborviruses which detected the Ebola virus and deployed researchers to 
support recent outbreaks in West Africa.
    The policy and technical reach of IPIN across multiple continents, 
their access to technologically advanced laboratory facilities, their 
ability to draw upon a core of highly accomplished scientists, and 
their large network of other governmental, private, and non-
governmental partnerships allows them to rapidly and expertly 
accomplish large-scale policy implementation and programmatic 
initiatives. These factors, combined with the historically strong 
relationship between the Pasteur Institute and HHS, and a proven track

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record of fiscal responsibility, fully justifies a sole source award. 
In conclusion, contributing to and supporting global health security 
and pandemic influenza preparedness remain an HHS priority. After 
careful and thorough consideration of other potential partners, ASPR 
concluded that the Pasteur Institute is the only partner with proven 
capabilities and capacities to meet HHS's mandate to strengthen 
influenza preparedness in countries prone to disease outbreaks where 
the United States has not a long-standing bilateral relationship. For 
the reasons stated above, the Pasteur Institute is uniquely qualified 
and the only appropriate partner to facilitate and support successful 
completion of the proposed project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please submit an inquiry via the ASPR-
OPP Division of International Health Security--IHR Program Contact Form 
located at http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/international/ihr/Pages/IHRInquiry.aspx.

    Dated: July 18, 2014.
Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
[FR Doc. 2014-17457 Filed 7-23-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P