Inactive

This is a Research and Development (R&D) Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regardi... This is a Research and Development (R&D) Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential R&D support requirement. Small Businesses are encouraged to respond. This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8 (a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. BACKGROUND The National Institute on Aging (NIA) supports through contracts several colonies of aged rats and mice for use in research on aging. Some investigators do not need live animals, but simply collect specific tissue from the animals for their experiments. To facilitate this need, the NIA has developed this contract is to provide a source of fresh-frozen tissue, suitable for multiple experimental protocols, from the NIA colonies of aged rats and mice. This will allow multiple investigators to make use of different tissues from the same animal and will lower the cost of tissue for those investigators. This is a re-competition of NIA contract HHSN271201600004C. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES The NIA is planning to procure services to provide a mechanism whereby investigators can purchase specific tissues from the animals in the NIA aged rodent colonies. The tissue will be unfixed and flash-frozen, rendering it suitable for most molecular biology protocols and many histological and cytochemical protocols. The Contractor shall be required to formalin- or ethanol-fix tissues and make tissue arrays to meet the specific needs of NIA funded investigators. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall receive mice and rats selected by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) from the NIA colonies and shipped at no cost to the Contractor, and shall upon receipt of the animals assign an identification number to each animal, record vital statistics, and collect, flash-freeze, package, label and store tissues, and ship tissues to investigators at the direction of the COR. The number of animals to be sent for tissue collection each year is dependent on need. A total of 150 animals per year shall be received by the Contractor, in groups of no more than 5 animals per week. Eighty percent (80%) of the collections shall be the basic collection schedule (8 tissues) and twenty percent (20%) shall be the comprehensive collection schedule (18 tissues). The COR shall determine the specific strain, age and gender of the animals to be sent, as well as the schedule for submission of animals for tissue collection. The Contractor shall transfer the existing aged rodent tissue bank holdings from the existing contract to the Contractor’s facilities. The transfer shall be accomplished in such away to prevent any thawing of frozen tissues. The current contract aged rodent tissue bank consists of approximately 33,000 frozen tissue samples in three freezers and 200 glass slides stored at room temperature. Upon receipt of the animals, the Contractor shall maintain them for three days under conditions where they will not be exposed to disease or other animals. Animals shall be maintained infiltered cages, no more than 3 rats or 5 mice per cage, with ad libitum food and water, a temperature range of 70-75oF and a 12/12-hour light/dark cycle. NIH31 laboratory diet (Rader et al., 1986, J. Nutrition 116:1777-88) shall be autoclaved, water shall be autoclaved, and cage bedding shall be autoclaved. Cages shall meet ILAR minimum floor space requirements per animals and population size as stated in NIH publication No. 85-23 entitled “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (text available at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/ ). The Contractor shall record on the Vital Statistics Information Sheet the date of accession, strain, gender, age, weight, barrier of origin, special notes such as caloric restricted, and general condition including visible lesions. The Contractor shall euthanize each animal individually by CO2 asphyxiation and immediately collect, freeze and store the following tissues (flash-frozen in LN2 and stored at –70 to –80oC): Basic Schedule - serum, blood, brain, eyes, heart, muscle, kidneys, lungs, liver; or Comprehensive schedule - Basic Schedule plus spleen, ovary or testes, pancreas, small intestine, prostate, skin, white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, thymus, adrenal gland, and any tumors found. The Contractor shall provide immersion fixation of tissues with ethanol or formalin for special cases designated by the COR in order to meet the needs of NIA-funded projects and to prepare tissue arrays. Tissues fixed for investigators’ special requests shall be stored at room temperature or at 4oC as instructed by the COR and shipped to the investigator in the fixative. Tissues fixed for tissue arrays shall be embedded in paraffin and arrays prepared at the direction of the COR. Master blocks of tissue arrays are prepared and sectioned onto glass slides (1” x 3”) and stored at room temperature. It is estimated that one (1) tissue array will be made per year. The Contractor shall use an appropriate mechanism for inventory control of frozen tissue, fixed tissue, embedded tissue, and tissue arrays. The Contractor shall maintain frozen tissues in two freezers, each of which is equipped with an independent alarm system and back-up generator. Approximately half of each sample cohort of tissue (same strain, age, gender) shall be maintained in each freezer. The Contractor shall ship tissues and tissue arrays to investigators at the direction of the COR. REPORTS/DELIVERABLES (1) Weekly inventory – an inventory indicating the number on hand of each frozen tissue type by strain, gender and age, the number of each tissue type entered that week, the total number of each tissue type entered to date, the number of each tissue type shipped to investigators, and the number of each tissue type currently available. (2) Copy of the Vital Statistics Information Sheet – one for each animal used for tissue collection. (3) Semi-annual progress reports – a report which details the number, gender, strains and ages of animals received for tissue banking, the number of orders filled, and the number of each frozen tissue type and tissue array delivered to investigators. The number of animals with tumors and the number of animals culled due to illness shall also be included. (4) Final Report - it shall include a summation of the work performed under the entire contract period of performance, including number of tissues collected and number of tissues and tissue arrays shipped to investigators. ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The anticipated period of performance is from 5/1/2021 through 4/30/2026. OTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541715 with a size standard of 1000 employees is being contemplated. CAPABILITY STATEMENT/INFORMATION SOUGHT: Respondents to this notice must provide, as part of their responses, a capability statement to include the following: (1) information regarding the respondents’ (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and, (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information; (2) respondents’ DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code; and, (4) any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the OPDIV’s acquisition requirement. INFORMATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Respondents should provide responses accordingly: (1) submit information both electronically and by mail. No telephone or facsimile responses will be accepted; (2) format capability statements using Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF including attachments, resumes, charts, etc. Use single space, 12 font minimum and 8 ½ x 11 size paper; (3) organize material in such a manner that clearly identifies and address capability requirements and provide an executive summary; (4) capability statement should not exceed ten (10) single sided pages including references; (5) respondents must send two original copies via mail and one electronic copy via email; (6) responses should be received no later than May 8, 2020 at 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time; (7) include respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses; and (8) send responses to this notice via email to eric.mckay@nih.gov. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. CONFIDENTIALITY No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technicalinformation in any resultant solicitation(s).