Services for the operation of the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry (NORDR)

Overview The Australian Centre for Disease Control is seeking a contractor to operate the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry (NORDR), which captures and shares data about occupational respiratory disease in Australia. About The Australian CDC operates the NORDR under the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Act 2023 (the Act). The NORDR commenced on 22 May 2024. Under the Act, prescribed medical practitioners, defined under the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Rules 2024 as physicians registered in the specialties of respiratory and sleep medicine or occupational and environmental medicine, must notify all cases of occupational respiratory diseases diagnosed on or after 22 May 2024 to the NORDR within 30 days of diagnosis. Silicosis is the only nationally prescribed occupational respiratory disease, although Queensland physicians are required to notify additional diseases to the NORDR under Queensland state legislation. Prescribed medical practitioners must notify minimum notification information (patient information and disease and exposure details) and may notify additional notification information (demographic and lifestyle details, occupational history and further medical tests) with patient consent. The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Determination 2024 stipulates which fields must or may be notified. Data collected in the NORDR is shared with state and territory health and work, health and safety agencies, researchers and the general public. Between commencement on 22 May 2024 and 30 June 2026, a total of 239 notifications were made to the NORDR, with approximately 100 notifications received each year. Purpose The Australian CDC is obligated to maintain the NORDR under the Act. The services provided by the contractor will assist the Australian CDC to collect and share data in the NORDR. Objectives The NORDR aims to capture and share data on occupational respiratory diseases and exposures in Australia to: Detect new and emerging threats to the health of workers Understand the nature and extent of occupational respiratory diseases in Australia and their trends over time Identify the industries, occupations, job tasks and workplaces that are at risk Use targeted early intervention and prevention activities to reduce worker exposure and disease Enhance preventative policy development, programs and decision making Plan, deliver and promote health care and related services for occupational respiratory diseases Share information with healthcare providers when providing occupational respiratory diseases related health care Support research projects and identify opportunities for clinical trials or observations Additional purposes of the NORDR are detailed in section 13 of the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Act 2023. Scope The scope includes: Providing a NORDR help desk facility for physicians, researchers and state and territory agencies, including receiving, triaging, responding to and reporting on email and phone enquiries, developing training resources, reviewing service provision costings annually, collaborating with the Australian CDC, reporting on key trends, providing relevant agency officers with access to the NORDR, reporting ICT issues and maintaining an up-to-date issue log Developing and maintaining operational processes and documentation for the NORDR, including onboarding new NORDR Operator staff, verifying and coding physician registrations and medical test reports, identifying and removing duplicates and incorrect notifications, updating patient date of death, recording changes and issues, contacting patients regarding clinical trial participation, distributing patient questionnaires and entering data into the NORDR, processing consent withdrawals, maintaining help desk processes, periodically reviewing appropriateness of use and access, and entering paper-based notifications received by post, fax or other approved channels Building a patient questionnaire, determining the distribution method, collecting responses, and entering responses into the NORDR, including arranging translation into languages other than English where required Verifying every medical test report supplied to the NORDR for correct patient identification, readability and correct classification of test type, correcting attachment names where necessary, and contacting notifying physicians where a corrected medical test is required Coding key values from Lung Volume, Spirometry and Gas Transfer medical test reports and entering them into the NORDR Verifying notifying physicians' medical specialty on the AHPRA website to confirm they are a prescribed medical practitioner, and flagging records as invalid where this is not confirmed Reviewing diseases manually entered under the free text "Other Respiratory disease" field, determining valid diagnoses, and flagging and providing reasons for invalid disease notifications Receiving and processing all paper-based notifications submitted by post, fax or other approved channels, including entering notifications into the NORDR portal, maintaining patient and physician records, providing administrative support to notifying physicians including processing reimbursement claims, and securely storing, managing and destroying notification records and supporting documentation in accordance with Australian CDC requirements Developing and documenting a quality assurance process for NORDR data and producing quarterly reports identifying data quality issues and proposed resolutions, for approval by the Australian CDC Conducting one research project using NORDR data each calendar year and producing at least one report suitable for publication in a peer reviewed journal per annum, for approval by the Australian CDC Creating and maintaining user manuals/guides and NORDR news and system availability updates for the NORDR website and portal, reviewed quarterly Attending and presenting at meetings of the NORDR Advisory Groups when requested by the Australian CDC Supporting timely responses to media enquiries, advocacy group enquiries, senate estimates, questions on notice, ministerial questions, complaint handling, external audits/reviews and FOI requests, and escalating material issues to the Australian CDC in a timely manner Services may be subcontracted to another entity where appropriate and agreed to in writing by the Australian Centre for Disease Control. Contractor Requirements Contractor staff working on the NORDR must complete all training assigned by the Australian CDC, including the Essential Learning Program, prior to accessing the NORDR, and by any due date specified by the Australian CDC Contractor staff working on the NORDR must pass a police check and obtain a baseline security clearance prior to commencing work The Tenderer must not have had any judicial decisions against it (excluding decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements, and must not have satisfied any resulting order The Tenderer, its personnel, and any proposed Subcontractors must not, at the Closing Time, be listed as terrorists under section 15 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (Cth) The Tenderer (and any proposed Subcontractor) must not be named in the Consolidated List referred to in Regulation 40 of the Charter of United Nations (Dealing with Assets) Regulations 2008 (Cth) The Tender must be in English, and measurements must be expressed in Australian legal units of measurement Information Requested A completed, signed and scanned Tenderer Deed substantially in the form at Schedule 2 A substantially completed Pricing Schedule in Schedule 5, in accordance with the instructions provided in Schedule 5 A substantially completed Modern Slavery Schedule in Schedule 6, in accordance with the instructions provided in Schedule 6 Contract Terms and Conditions Timeframe for Delivery: January 2027 to June 2028 Schedule 7, the Draft Contract for Services, is currently undergoing final approval and will be published to the listing for viewing by tenderers as soon as possible Instructions to Tenderers Tenders must be lodged via AusTender at www.tenders.gov.au, in accordance with the instructions provided in the Request documentation. Enquiries Contact Officer: enquiriesNORDR@cdc.gov.au