Strengthening Local Capacity to develop and Implement Open Source Blood Safety and Laboratory Information Systems in Resource limited Countries Supported by the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This CDC cooperative agreement opportunity (CDC-RFA-GH15-1533) was created under PEPFAR to strengthen laboratory and blood service quality systems in resource-limited countries by expanding access to affordable, reliable electronic information systems built on open source technologies. The core problem it targets is that many laboratories and national blood services in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions still depend on paper records or fragmented, limited electronic tools. Those approaches often cannot fully track critical information end-to-end through daily operations, which makes it harder to manage quality, investigate errors, and demonstrate the control and traceability required for formal accreditation. In practical terms, weak information systems can prevent blood services from tracing a unit of blood from donor collection through testing, processing, storage, distribution, and ultimately transfusion to a recipient, and can prevent clinical laboratories from tracing specimens from collection sites through testing and reporting back to the clinician responsible for patient care.

The opportunity sits inside PEPFAR's long-term quality strategy, where building and maintaining quality management systems across clinical care, laboratory services, and healthcare management is considered essential to sustaining HIV program gains. Laboratory accreditation is described as a foundational element of that strategy. It applies not only to labs performing HIV diagnostics, but also to blood service laboratories responsible for HIV and other infectious disease screening and the preparation of blood components for transfusion. Because accreditation requires consistent documentation, controlled processes, and demonstrable traceability, the funding emphasizes information systems that can rapidly capture, manage, and analyze operational data as part of routine workflows. The announcement underscores that cost has historically been a major barrier: procuring, installing, and maintaining commercial electronic systems can be out of reach for many public-sector labs and blood services, contributing to persistent reliance on suboptimal systems.

To close this gap, PEPFAR and CDC proposed supporting the development and implementation of lower-cost, quality-assured laboratory and blood safety information systems based on open source platforms. The intent is not only to deploy software, but also to build local capacity so that countries can implement, adapt, and support these systems over time without depending indefinitely on expensive vendors or external teams. Sustainability is central to the request, which is why CDC sought a funded partner with demonstrated experience in open source software development and real-world implementation, particularly in challenging, resource-limited settings where infrastructure, connectivity, and staffing constraints can complicate rollouts.

The award mechanism is a discretionary cooperative agreement, meaning CDC would expect substantial involvement in shaping or supporting the work during the project period rather than simply issuing a grant and stepping back. The activity category is health, tied to CFDA 93.067 (Global AIDS). The opportunity anticipated a single award (ExpectedAwards: 1), with an award ceiling listed at $1,000,000 and no stated minimum (AwardFloor: 0). No cost sharing or matching was required. Key dates provided in the notice include an original closing date of October 20, 2014, a current closing date of October 23, 2014, and an archive date of November 19, 2014, indicating the announcement is historical rather than currently open.

Eligibility was broad and included many types of organizations capable of building and implementing health information systems. Eligible applicants listed in the notice included government bodies (such as national ministries of health, state and local governments and their bona fide agents, and U.S. territories and affiliated jurisdictions), tribal governments and tribally designated organizations, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, research institutions performing non-research activities, colleges and universities, community-based and faith-based organizations, hospitals, and for-profit entities other than small businesses, including small, minority-, and women-owned businesses. The wide eligibility pool reflects the range of technical and implementation expertise needed for open source system development, deployment, training, support, and long-term maintenance across different country contexts.

Overall, the grant opportunity focused on helping PEPFAR-supported countries move from paper-based or incomplete systems toward robust, open source laboratory and blood safety information systems that improve traceability, data quality, and operational oversight. By doing so, it aimed to remove a key barrier to laboratory and blood service accreditation, strengthen quality management systems, and ultimately support safer transfusion services and more reliable diagnostic testing within HIV programs and broader public health services. For technical or access issues related to the full announcement, the notice directed applicants to the CDC Procurement and Grants Office Technical Information Management Section (phone: 770-488-2700).

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Previous opportunity: Implementation of Programs for the Prevention, Care and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Cte dIvoire under the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

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