[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 172 (Thursday, September 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54651-54652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21551]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Sole Source Cooperative Agreement Award to the National 
Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)

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

ACTION: Notification of a Sole Source Cooperative Agreement Award to 
the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) 
for a grant titled: ``Technical Assistance to Obtain Local Health 
Department and Community Input for National Health Security-related 
Activities''.

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    Statutory Authority: Public Health Service Act, Section 1703(a), 42 
U.S.C. 300u-2(a).
    Estimated Amount of Award: $1,500,000 USD.
    Project Period: September 30, 2013 to September 29, 2016.
SUMMARY: ASPR requires collaboration with local health departments and 
officials to ensure that local governments, communities, private sector 
entities, non-governmental organizations, academia, and individuals can 
optimally coordinate their respective national health security roles 
and responsibilities to achieve community health resilience and 
strengthen health care, public health, and emergency management 
systems. This project aims to improve collaboration between ASPR and 
the local health departments (LHDs) to enhance national health 
security, foster community health resilience, and strengthen health 
care, public health, and emergency management systems.
    One of the overarching goals of both the National Health Security 
Strategy (2009) and the ASPR Strategic Plan 2011-2015 is to build 
community health resilience. ASPR seeks to partner with LHDs and health 
officials which play a critical role in building community health 
resilience by employing and evaluating localized public health 
strategies, such as preparing local communities to withstand and 
recover from public health emergencies and disasters, and engaging 
local health departments and health care organizations to build 
healthcare coalitions. The project will foster better approaches for 
building community health resilience.
    LHDs and health officials are intimately familiar with the 
communities and populations that they serve and are an essential 
partner in carrying out the mission of ASPR. ASPR seeks to engage LHDs 
and health officials as well as other appropriate local stakeholders in 
bi-directional communications to evaluate the effectiveness of, and 
ensure that, ASPR's strategies, policies, and programmatic activities 
are informed by and support the needs of local communities. The project 
will foster collaboration with local health officials to achieve, for 
example, national health security and strengthen local emergency 
preparedness, response, and recovery systems and capabilities, and 
build

[[Page 54652]]

well-functioning healthcare coalitions, among other activities.
    ASPR seeks to partner with LHDs and local communities which 
frequently prepare for, respond to, and recover from localized 
emergency incidents and to identify valuable lessons and promising 
practices to collect and share these practices with other LHDs and 
communities. This project will capture lessons learned and promising 
practices from local communities and share them more widely.
    Justification: The National Association of County and City Health 
Officials (NACCHO) is the national nonprofit organization representing 
all local and tribal health officials from across the country. Members 
are elected by their peers, and include ex officio members representing 
the National Association of Counties, of which NACCHO is an affiliate, 
and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. NACCHO advocates on the behalf of 
county and city health departments by providing Congressional 
testimony, submitting letters to the Administration, and endorsing 
proposed legislation.
    NACCHO has demonstrated experience establishing partnerships with 
both traditional and non-traditional organizations to impact both 
county and city public health departments and the broader public health 
system.
    NACCHO's existing network of health officials will provide ASPR 
with the unique ability to collaborate on federal programs and actions 
that could impact the preparation for, response to or recovery from 
emergencies and disasters impacting public health and health care.
    Additional Information: The agency program contact is Lisa 
Kaplowitz, who can be contacted by phone at (202) 202-2882 or via email 
at [email protected].

    Dated: August 28, 2013.
Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
[FR Doc. 2013-21551 Filed 9-4-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P