SPECIAL NOTICE
66 -- Euthanization of Animals Used in Research
- Notice Date
- 7/28/2009
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 339112
— Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Administration, 6011 Executive Blvd, 5th Floor, Rockville, Maryland, 20852-3804, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20852-3804
- Solicitation Number
- LG-2009-1079869
- Archive Date
- 8/15/2009
- Point of Contact
- M. Lloyd Garnes, Phone: 3014023341
- E-Mail Address
-
garnesl@od.nih.gov
(garnesl@od.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b) sole source with Euthanex Corporation 440 Allentown Drive Allentown, PA 18109 for the continuation of services to support the NIH in the following:The Division of Veterinary Resources (DVR) maintains and manages rodent facilities on both the Bethesda (10A, 14BN, 14C, 14 F/G and 28D) and Poolesville (127, 128) campus. The DVR provides this service for all of the Institutes for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in support of ongoing research projects using rodents. The DVR currently houses approximately 31,800 cages of rodents. Providing safe, humane euthanasia of rodents at the end of the research study is a necessary component of animal care that DVR provides as a service for NIH investigators. In October 2008, DVR euthanized approximately 2,769 cages of rodents. Like most research facilities, DVR uses carbon dioxide (CO2) for euthanasia of rodents. Advantages favoring CO2 use include its relative low cost, safety to human operators, and its ease of application to a large number of animals. While the accepted and common practice is to group animals for euthanasia, this procedure is stressful to the animals since they must be handled, and can lead to fighting and trauma prior to euthanasia when unfamiliar animals are grouped. As a result, the NIH Animal Research Advisory Committee recommends that animals “should be euthanized in their home cages whenever possible.” To ensure a rapid, humane euthanasia using CO2, the 2008 AVMA Panel on Euthanasia recommends a gas displacement rate of 20% per minute. To euthanize rodents in their home cages, DVR utilizes either a 140 L tank that can accommodate up to nine mouse cages or one rat cage, or a commercially available lid that fits onto individual rodent cages. The 140 L tank size is the maximum volume that can be utilized with standard, commercially available CO2 flow meters. The current system is manual, and relies on employees to be trained to set the flowmeter at the correct displacement rate relative to the size of the chamber being used. The current system also lacks a warning system to alert the user when the CO2 supply is lost. When this occurs animals may revive and have to undergo the procedure a second time. Due to the rapid volume of gas going through the supply line, condensation ice crystals form on the outside of the line during each ten minute operation cycle and must be allowed to thaw between uses. The freeze/ thaw cycle results in significant down time for the euthanasia units, a back up of animals waiting to be euthanized, and an inefficient utilization of personnel time. Given equipment limitations and the volume of rodents being euthanized we calculate it will take approximately 550 man hours to euthanize every rodent in its home cage. This figure equates to roughly one full time employee per facility. Again, this is a notice of intent to negotiate on a sole source basis with Euthanex Corp. for the continuation of services and is not a request for competitive proposals. The Government intends to issue a firm-fixed price purchase order for the services requested utilizing simplified acquisition procedures. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit capability statements by email to Garnesl@od.nih.gov, Contract Specialist by July 31, 2009 at 1PM EST. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/OoA/LG-2009-1079869/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bldgs. 10A, 14BN, 14C, 14F/G, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN01889935-W 20090730/090728235931-beea1eba3eb658f3f28f0f80df8e82a0 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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