U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268

A -- NEUROENDOCRINE EFFECTS IN CHILDREN FROM BREAST MILK PATHWAY EXPOSURE TO PCB MIXTURES -- HYPOTHESIS CREATION SOL ORD-33CT10 DUE 052198 POC Hans Schellhas E-MAIL: U.S. EPA -- Cincinnati Contracts Management Division, schellhas.hans@epamail.epa.gov. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to use simplified acquisition procedures to acquire on a competitive basis, a contractor's services to create a hypothesis for Neuroendocrine Effects in Children from Breast Milk Pathway Exposure to PCB Mixtures. The goal of this acquisition will be to evaluate the infant's risk from exposure to PCB mixtures through the breast milk pathway. This effort will involve: Developing a hypothesis based on an initial pilot study in order to assimilate two or more data bases and do preliminary breast milk pathway exposure and risk model calculations. Depending on results, the contractor shall develop a hypothesis of the risk of the infant from breast milk pathway exposure to lipophilic organic persistent chemical residues which shall include:1. Whether the infant's exposure to PCB mixtures via breast milk pathway can be estimated by combining the available multiple data bases as stated above in the background section. 2. How the proportions of congeners in breast milk differ from the proportions present in the maternal body. This will require analyses of the available pharmacokinetics information on PCBs, development of the pharmacokinetic model (addressing metabolism, excretion, retention, kinetics, and presence of other congeners) and evaluation of model results in light of the existing epidemiologic and monitoring data bases. In absence of such data base a research approach shall be described to address this issue, including development of the structure for the pharmacokinetics model, and identification of the steps to be followed for parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, and characterization of model behavior. 3. How to distinguish the presence of the residues of PCB congeners in the breast milk resulting from the mother's chronic long term exposure from residues resulting from intermittent episodic exposure to PCBs. This will require some quantitative estimation of the differences between chronic and episodic exposures in terms of the composition of congeners and quantity (magnitude and time profile) of each congener or relevant bioindicator present in breast milk. Interested sources who wish to provide a quotation must provide documentation of their qualifications to be evaluated for technical acceptability in reference to the technical evaluation criteria specified in the Request for Quotation package (RFQ). This procurement is set aside for small businesses. The applicable SIC code is 8731 with a size standard of 500 employees. All requests for the RFQ must be submitted in writing or E-mailed to Hans Schellhas at the E-mail address below within 15 days of the publication of this notice. The facsimile number is (513) 487-2107. No Telephone requests will be honored. (0126)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0001 19980511\A-0001.SOL)