NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, COB, BDR Contracts Section, 6701 Rockledge Drive MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD 20892-7902

A -- MAINTENANCE OF BIOLOGICAL SPECIMEN REPOSITORY SOL NHLBI HB-97-03 DUE 121696 POC Joann A. Ciufolo, Contracting Officer, BDR Contracts Section, COB, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH. R--MAINTENANCE OF BIOLOGICAL SPECIMEN REPOSITORY Solicitation Number: NHLBI HB-97-03 Due: 12/16/96 Point of Contact: Joann A. Ciufolo, Contracting Officer, (301) 435-0359. The Blood Diseases and Resources Program of the National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute (NHLBI) will issue RFP No. NHLBI-HB-97-03, on or about October 30, 1996, and proposals will be due approximately six weeks thereafter. The proposed procurement is under a 100 percent small business set-aside, the size standard for which is defined by Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC) 8731, with a size standard of under 500 employees. The purpose of the biological specimen repository is the maintenance, storage, and dissemination of blood specimens from virtually all NHLBI-sponsored epidemiological and clinical studies conducted over the last 21 years. These specimens are made available to investigators conducting research related to transfusion medicine and disorders of the blood or cardiovascular system. Approximately 1.9 million specimens (90 percent of which are from subjects in studies of HIV infection or AIDS) are currently stored in the NHLBI biological specimen repository, and this number is expected to increase regularly (approximately 4 percent per year) as original specimens are divided and distributed and as specimens from new NHLBI studies are added. Specific requirements of this project include: 1) Maintenance of a serum, plasma, and cell repository at temperatures between -50 and -70 degrees centigrade. Freezers shall be located in an air-conditioned facility with temperatures maintained between 20 and 25 degrees centigrade. Freezers shall be connected to a central alarm system, emergency standby freezers shall be available in case of mechanical failure, and an alternate system shall be available in the event of utility company power failure. Space for approximately 71 low-temperature freezers, including 10 walk-ins, and 5 liquid nitrogen freezers, along with room for future expansion of the repository is required. Freezers shall be furnished by the Government. 2) Storage, retrieval, aliquoting, and shipment of specimens of serum, plasma, cells, or other blood components or samples by staff trained in virologic techniques with biosafety stage 2 biological material. 3) Performance of serologic and virologic assays requiring laboratory biosafety level 2 facilities and personnel trained in handling pathogenic agents and dealing with potential hazards of the pathogens likely to be involved in the operations of the repository. 4) Maintenance and update of a computerized inventory control reflecting all activities of the biological serum repository. The intended procurement is a recompetition of contract N01-HB-17087 awarded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute on 02/28/91. The government intends to negotiate one contract for the period of six years. The RFP will be available on the NIH Gopher. Access via the NIH Website (http://www.nih.gov). At the NIH Home Page select ''Grants & Contracts'' then select ''NIH Gopher Directory'' (within the Contracts Page. Offerors that have access to the NIH Gopher Server can access the RFP by pointing your gopher client to Gopher://Gopher.nih.gov:70/11/res/rd-rfp. Select ''Grant and Research Information'' then select ''R&D Request for Proposals (RFP)''. (0284)

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