PROVIDENCE – A request for proposals has been issued for a new facility for the R.I. Department of Health state health laboratories, the McKee administration announced Monday.
The RFP, issued by R.I. Commerce Corp., seeks organizations qualified to develop and build the lab for the department, as well as additional lab space. Applicant teams must have experience developing similar laboratory buildings, the state said.
“The state was in need of a new laboratory building prior to the COVID-19 crisis and the pandemic has only emphasized the criticality of being prepared for increasingly complex threats to public health, including future pandemics that we know are inevitable,” said Rhode Island Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott. “A new health lab is needed to keep pace with emerging scientific technologies, deliver state-of-the-art public health services and testing, and to better protect all Rhode Islanders.”
The request said that parties could propose the project on a site they already control or a site within the I-195 Redevelopment District. The RFP notes that Lot 3 of Parcel 25 of the district has currently been set aside for the project. The R.I. Department of Health already has its eye on the site, having presented a proposal to the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission in October.
The parcel currently cannot be acquired for other purposes until it is either chosen for the site, or the process ends with the lab space being built elsewhere. It is listed for sale for potential developers for $1.
Commerce said that up to $80 million in funding could be available for the project.
Proposed projects must have 80,000 square feet allocated to the state’s lab space and 25,000 square feet allocated for additional lab space. Preference will be given to projects with even more additional space.
The RFP process is expected to consist of two rounds, with finalists selected to participate in the second round, which will include a competitive negotiation process, McKee’s office said.
Developers would need to have the site operational by 2025.
Proposals are due by Dec. 10 at 2 p.m.
“As we emerge from the current pandemic, it is so important that we make strategic investments in both the near-term recovery and the long-term economic and public health of the state,” Gov. Daniel J. McKee said in a statement Monday. “Rhode Island is among the leaders nationally in testing, vaccination rate, and a safe economic reopening. This effort would simultaneously advance our important public health goals and catalyze significant economic development opportunities.”
