RFP for Regional Cumulative Air Quality and Public Health Impact Assessment

LACKAWANNA COUNTY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
REGIONAL CUMULATIVE AIR QUALITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Introduction
Lackawanna County is seeking proposals from qualified independent environmental, air quality,
engineering, epidemiological, and/or public health consulting firms to conduct a comprehensive
Regional Cumulative Air Quality and Public Health Impact Assessment associated with existing,
proposed, planned, or reasonably foreseeable data centers, associated power-generation facilities,
and separately proposed power plants within Lackawanna County.
IMPORTANT:. All questions must be made in writing via email to Joseph A. Wechsler
wechslerj@lackawannacounty.org by 3 p.m. (EST), September 8, 2026; you will receive a
response in 24-48 hours. If at any time this RFP requires revision, an amendment will be posted to
the County's Website. It is the responsibility of the vendor to monitor the website for any
amendments.
The County is aware of several additional data center projects that are proposed, planned, or under
consideration within the region. Considering the scale and concentration of potential development,
Lackawanna County seeks an independent scientific assessment of the cumulative regional
impacts these facilities may have on air quality and public health.
The selected consultant shall provide a report which meets these minimum requirements:
1) Establish existing regional air quality and public-health baseline conditions.
2) Identify and evaluate existing, proposed, planned, or reasonably foreseeable data centers,
associated power-generation facilities, and separately proposed power plants within
Lackawanna County during the study period.
3) Develop a comprehensive inventory of potential air-emission sources associated with the
facilities.
4) Produce maps identifying:
a. Pollutant concentration increases
b. Affected municipalities/neighborhoods
c. Schools, parks, senior facilities and other sensitive reception areas where
appropriate.
d. Environmentally burdened populations

e. Cumulative buildout scenarios
5) Evaluate emissions from diesel- and natural-gas-fired emergency and backup generators,
including testing, maintenance, emergency use, and other operating scenarios.
6) Analyze reasonable variations in:
a. Generator technology
b. Emissions controls
c. Testing hours
d. Outages
e. Grid emergencies/other operating conditions
7) Evaluate relevant criteria for pollutants and air toxics, including nitrogen oxides (NOx),
particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2),
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hazardous air pollutants, and ozone precursors.
8) Conduct regional cumulative air-dispersion modeling using U.S. EPA-approved or
otherwise scientifically accepted methods.
9) Evaluate cumulative impacts across all sources rather than assessing each facility in
isolation.
10) Incorporate existing industrial, transportation, power generation, and other major emission
sources into regional background conditions.
11) Evaluate secondary or indirect air-quality impacts associated with additional electrical
generation or infrastructure serving the proposed data centers, where data allow.
12) Identify areas and populations most likely to experience increased pollutant concentrations.
13) Quantify, where scientifically supportable, anticipated health outcomes associated with
modeled pollution scenarios, including premature mortality, hospitalizations, emergency-
room visits, respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity, asthma-related outcomes, lost
work/school days, and monetized health damages using U.S. EPA tools or other peer-
reviewed and scientifically accepted methodologies.
14) Evaluate sensitive populations, including children, older adults, individuals with
preexisting conditions, and environmentally burdened communities.

15) Analyze reasonable development scenarios, including current conditions, partial build-out,
and full build-out.
16) Where appropriate, assess reasonable worst-case and typical operating conditions.
17) Identify key assumptions, uncertainties, and data limitations, and recommend additional
monitoring or analysis where needed.
18) Recommend mitigation measures, operational practices, and monitoring strategies to
reduce potential impacts.
19) Identify appropriate locations and methods for future ambient air-quality monitoring, if
warranted.
20) Where technically feasible, results shall identify the contribution of individual facilities to
modeled emissions, pollutant concentrations, population exposure and health impacts
21) The term of the agreement shall commence as soon as the award is finalized. The final
report from this agreement will be completed within 90 days of commencing this
agreement, however an earlier implementation date is desirable.
The final report shall provide Lackawanna County and the public with an objective; scientifically
defensible assessment of potential cumulative regional air-quality and public-health impacts
associated with anticipated data center development.
The County is seeking an independent analysis and does not require a predetermined outcome. The
purpose is to provide reliable scientific information to support informed decision-making by
County officials, municipalities, regulatory agencies, and the public.
Respondents should demonstrate experience in air-dispersion modeling, cumulative impact
assessment, environmental health, epidemiology and/or health-risk assessment, and applicable
U.S. EPA and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection standards and
methodologies.
A. Qualifications
Proposals shall include the firm's qualifications, project team, relevant experience, proposed
methodology, data needs, schedule, deliverables, stakeholder engagement approach, and a detailed
fee proposal.
B. Other Information
Any additional information that the bidder considers pertinent for consideration should be included
in this section.

C. Proposals
The submitted proposals shall also include the following:
A statement of assurance will be provided that the prospective consultant is not currently in
violation of any regulatory rules and regulations that may have any impact on its operations.
A statement that the prospective bidder is not involved in any current litigation with the
County of Lackawanna or its component units.
Proposals will be confidential until the consultant is selected and a contract is executed. The
County will create a committee who will review proposals and recommend an
individual/firm to the Board of Commissioners.
D. Evaluation Process
Proposals will be reviewed for responsiveness to all RFP requirements, including timely
submission. If the Proposal is unclear, the County may request clarification from Responder.
However, clarifications may not be used to rehabilitate a non-responsive Responder.
Lackawanna County reserves the right to reject any or all offers.
E. Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee using criteria and priorities as defined by
the County. The Evaluation Committee will determine which Proposal or Proposals taken as a
whole, and in the County's sole judgment, are in the best interest of the organization. Proposals
should address the evaluation criteria listed below.
The County may request further clarification to assist the Evaluation Committee in gaining
additional understanding of Proposals. A response to a clarification request must be to clarify or
explain portions of the already submitted Proposal and may not contain new information not
included in the original Proposal.
Proposals will be scored by the committee based on the following criteria and points:
Criteria Maximum points
Quality and responsiveness of the proposal including fee proposal 25 points
Organization and financial stability 15 points
Qualifications and experience 30 points
Proposal approach, Work plan and Workload 30 points
Total 100 points
F. Questions and Addenda

Any questions regarding this RFP shall be directed to Joseph A. Wechsler, Director of Purchasing
by email at WechslerJ@lackawannacounty.org by September 8, 2026
If at any time this RFP requires revision, an amendment will be posted to the County's Website. It
is the responsibility of the vendor to monitor the website for any amendments.
G. Submission of Proposals
Proposals must be submitted to the Board of Commissioners, c/o Deputy Chief of Staff Traci Harte
via email at HarteT@lackawannacounty.org and a hard copy must also follow in a sealed envelope
or package and must be clearly marked on the outside with the vendor's name/address with the
name of the RFP clearly displayed. Please mail to: Traci Harte, Lackawanna County Government
Center, 123 Wyoming Ave, 6th Floor, Scranton PA 18503.
All proposals are due by September 11, 2026, at 3:00 P.M. Any proposal received after the above-
mentioned time and date will not be accepted.
H. Award Notification Process
The top ranked Proposals may, at the County's discretion, be required to make an in-person
presentation in support of their Proposal to the evaluation committee and answer any questions
the evaluation committee may have. If required, the interview will serve to assist the County in
selecting the successful Firm and will serve as a tool to refine scoring of the RFP to produce a
final ranking. Award notification will be made by email to the winning Responder and will be
made available on the County's website when approved by the commissioners.
I. Contract Requirements
The successful candidate will be required to enter into a Professional Services Contract with
the County, the successful candidate must also submit documents addressing liability
insurance, workers compensation, and mutually agreed to contract fees. County reserves the
right to reject any or all Proposals that do not satisfy requirements.
J. Communication With County Officials: All communications during this process should
be directed to the Office of the Lackawanna County Chief of Staff, or the Purchasing Department.
Any firm that makes any effort to communicate with any other official of Lackawanna County,
either directly or indirectly, during this process will be EXCLUDED from consideration.