Inactive

Modification to Contract 75D30122C14944 (Services to Support Surveillance of Acutely Ill Adults with Respiratory Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends t... Modification to Contract 75D30122C14944 (Services to Support Surveillance of Acutely Ill Adults with Respiratory Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to award a sole source cost reimbursable modification to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) (1161 21st Ave S STE D3300 MCN, Nashville, TN 37232). As part of full and open competition under FAR 15, VUMC was awarded (29 August 2022) a contract (75D30122C14944; “Services to Support Surveillance of Acutely Ill Adults with Respiratory Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2”) to provide a contractor-coordinated observational, multicenter, health surveillance network of no fewer than fifteen (15) and no more than thirty (30) nationally recognized healthcare facilities (hospitals, medical centers, universities) to conduct surveillance of COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among patients hospitalized with acute respiratory illness (ARI). The primary objective of this effort is evaluating and monitoring vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 and influenza-associated hospitalizations. As respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines become available, the network also evaluates and monitors VE against RSV-associated hospitalizations. Vaccine effectiveness estimates include effectiveness against emerging variants of concern and duration of protection. These efforts help CDC understand vaccine failures, severe ARI, severity scores, susceptibility to infection, and mechanisms of disease attenuation. Work also includes evaluating potential therapeutics on outcomes such as ICU admission, length of hospital stay, and death resulting from COVID-19, RSV and influenza. The period of performance is a one-year base period from 1 September 2022 through 31 August 2023 followed by two one-year option periods. As SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, vaccines are being updated to improve antigenic match with the intention of improving protection against severe disease. However, there remains limited information about the protection of these updated vaccines against emerging variants of concern, duration of protection, correlates of protection, disease attenuation, and vulnerable subgroups such as immunosuppressed persons who might be at higher risk of vaccine failure and virus evolution. CDC must better understand long-term outcomes of patients with COVID-19-, RSV-, and influenza-associated hospitalizations after their discharge. Therefore, CDC requires a modification to this contract to (1) assess long-term outcomes of patients with COVID-19, RSV, and influenza associated hospitalizations after their discharge, requiring the contractor to conduct standardized surveys at intervals post-discharge to assess changes in symptoms, functional status, and healthcare utilization among other domains, (2) add saliva to the types of biospecimens being collected, (3) increase the PBMC pre-discharge target from 200 to 400 participants and increase convalescent sera collection target from 50 to 200 participants, (4) revise the nasal swab collections to respiratory specimens with a target increase from 250 participants to 1,000 and remove the collection frequency conditions, and (5) add travel to support site-visits to multiple healthcare facility sites in order to facilitate more consistent and reliable data. There is no change to the periods of performance. The IVY Network is a unique platform and is the only CDC-network capable of performing this work and gleaning critical research that CDC needs for this research. The IVY Network has IRB-approved protocol, healthcare facilities subcontracted for the site-based inpatient data and biospecimens, and a data analytic team that can coordinate, synthesize and deliver the data sets, research and manuscripts required. The only alternative to revising the IVY Network is to stand up a second network performing the identical work that the IVY Network performs and building the revised research into that requirement. That is not a feasible approach because CDC does not have a bona fide need to conduct the same primary research; is a waste of taxpayer funding; and loses the research collected during the first 12 months from which the revised research will be built. No other contractor can meet this governmental need because VUMC is the only contractor that has access to the IVY Network protocols, current data, healthcare facility sites, biospecimens and other project artifacts developed under the first 12 months of this contract. Due to the unique nature of CDC's requirement, VUMC Is the only responsible source that can satisfy the agency requirements for this particular surveillance and research need. This contract action (modification) is for supplies or services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 and 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1). Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all quotations/responses received within fifteen (15) days of the issuance of this notice will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government to compete this proposed contract action (modification) based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Any quotation/response should be emailed to Mark Draluck at syq1@cdc.gov by 9:00 A.M. EST., 14 April 2023.