Inactive

BAA Research Contract #75D30120C08170 is one of many research study proposals that CDC received in response to the FY2020 BAA Covid-19 research topics. This study was selected for award because this c... BAA Research Contract #75D30120C08170 is one of many research study proposals that CDC received in response to the FY2020 BAA Covid-19 research topics. This study was selected for award because this contractor was the only contractor that proposed this specific study objective and three tasks that CDC determined met the Epi Task Force's needs for SARS-CoV-2 testing, control and mitigation strategies. The contractor is 12 months into this 24 month study and is making remarkable progress in completing the requirements of BAA Research Contract #75D30120C08170. The research costs have exceeded that originally estimated due to vaccination rates (as projected by CDC before the vaccination was a developed or implemented). If the not-to-exceed ceiling of this cost contract is not increased, the contractor will have to stop work when funds run out and the Epi Task Force will not receive the critical research it needs for SARS-CoV-2 testing, control and mitigation strategies in the time frame required. The contractor's research study includes all three major manufacturers of blood donor screening platforms as well as other manufacturers with high throughput platforms. The contractor has access to data from one of its existing contracts that is leveraged to provide the required serial cross-sectional serosurveys. The contractor also has key partnerships with large blood collection centers (including San Francisco Bay Area (VRI), Seattle (BloodWorks NorthWest), New York City (New York Blood Center), and Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles (American Red Cross). Prior to testing residual serum, the data collection from these centers are linked to dates of donation and routinely collected donor demographics such as age, gender, race-ethnicity and zip code of residence, thus providing key information to the study. The contractor has extensive experience in developing longitudinal cohorts by capitalizing on blood bank resources and access to SARS-CoV-2 recovered individuals to enroll a prospective cohort of CCP donors. The contractor is 12 months into the recruiting for collection and provision of therapeutic plasma transfusions to COVID-19 patients and for production of hyperimmune SARS-CoV-2 Ig for prophylactic and therapeutic trials. The contractor's staff and partners have experienced principal investigators and other personnel who have demonstrated their capability in meeting the Government’s need in the critical time frame required. Failing to increase this contract's cost ceiling to cover the actual costs projected for this contracted work will result in the loss of 12 months of critical SARS-CoV-2 data collection and testing which the EPI Task Force needs in its efforts to study, control and mitigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the American public. Due to the unique nature of the requirement, CDC has not identified any other Covid-19 study on which to achieve the desired study objectives.