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No addendum(s) have been issued at this time.

Question and Answers will be provided here when available. Question and Answer section was last updated on 07/24/2026.

Question/Answer Section:
Q1: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (IE LAP) certifies laboratories for microbiological analysis. However, this only includes methods for culturing of fecal indicator bacteria (e.g., E. coli, Enterococcus, Fecal Coliform, Total Coliform) and select pathogens (e.g., Cryptosporidium). No laboratories on the IDPH list are accredited for molecular biology testing of microbial source tracking markers (MST). Would NBWW be open to using a lab that we have used in the past for MST but that is not accredited by IDPH or IELAP?

A1:The NBWW has the intention to seek an Illinois EPA Section 604(b) grant which currently requires a monitoring related application to utilize Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (IE LAP) certified laboratories. That being said, a consultant would need to confirm with the Illinois EPA that a proposed laboratory (that does not have that accreditation) is acceptable for the 604(b) application for the NBWW to accept that proposal (with a laboratory not IDPH and IELAP accredited). This would have to be specified in the consultants proposal.

 

Q2: Please clarify if a project approach for three tasks needs to be provided and If so under which section?

A2: A general outline for the project approach should be detailed for each of the three scope of services items. There should be enough detail in the project approach description to indicate to the NBWW how and why this approach should be taken. Section: See Submission Requirements Item #5 in RFP.

 

Question and Answer section was last updated on 07/27/2026.

Q3: Host-specific microbial source tracking by qPCR/ddPCR (for example, the human HF183, canine, gull, geese, and ruminant markers referenced in the Scope of Services) is a specialized method that, to our understanding, is not covered by a standard field of accreditation under either program: IL ELAP accredits chemical analyses, while IDPH accredits microbiological analyses under standard methods. We also note that the 2025 pilot results in Appendix A were generated by the North Shore Water Reclamation District laboratory. Given this, will the NBWW accept a qualified microbial source tracking laboratory that documents an equivalent quality assurance/quality control system and published method validation for these assays, in lieu of a formal IL ELAP or IDPH accreditation specific to microbial source tracking?

A3: For clarification, Grand Valley State University was the NBWW contracted laboratory (University Research Lab) for the 2025 and 2026 microbial source tracking services, and the NSWRD staff collected the samples and sent them to that lab. That laboratory was not an IL ELAP or IDPH accredited laboratory for those two sampling years. The reason NBWW now seeks the IL ELAP and IDPH accreditation is to meet the Illinois EPA 604(b) grant application standards to be eligible for potential grant funding for these microbial source tracking services.  Given the explanation above, a consultant would need to confirm with the Illinois EPA that a proposed laboratory (that does not have that accreditation) is acceptable for the 604(b) application for the NBWW to accept that proposal (with a laboratory not IDPH and IELAP accredited). This would have to be specified in the consultant’s proposal.

Q4: May the microbial source tracking laboratory designated in a proposal be located outside the State of Illinois, provided it meets the quality and method-validation expectations described above?

A4: Yes