TBA (last known deadline was December 6, 2012)
The primary focus of the RFP is to challenge the need for 10-15 air changes per hour in animal housing rooms and develop rational HVAC standards that take into account the use of individually-ventilated caging for rodents and modern facility design that may affect the necessary air exchange rate for rooms housing rodents or other species.
Although The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals 8th Ed acknowledges that 10-15 ACH is "an acceptable guideline to maintain macroenvironmental air quality by constant volume systems," there is little guidance for either variable systems or rooms where IVCs are used. The Guide states only that IVCs "can effectively address animals' ventilation requirements without the need to increase macroenvironmental ventilation," and that "the macroenvironment should be ventilated sufficiently to address heat loads, particulates, odors, and waste gases released from primary enclosures."
The ideal proposal will seek to address this issue in a systematic and scientific fashion and serve as a reference for HVAC standards in animal housing rooms.