National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Contract Management Branch, Solar Bldg., Room 3C07, 6003 Executive Blvd. MSC 7610, Bethesda, MD 20892-7610

A -- NIH AIDS RESEARCH AND REFERENCE REAGENT PROGRAM SOL NO1-AI-85322 POC Nancy Hershey, Contracting Officer, (301) 496-0193 The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) intends to negotiate a modification to its contract with McKesson BioServices N01 -AI-85322, as a sole source under authority of 41 USC 253 c (1) and FAR 6.302-1. The contract currently provides critically needed standardized reagents for HIV/AIDS research to the scientific community. These reagents include cell lines, HIV and related viruses, DNA libraries, DNA clones, antibodies, proteins and synthetic peptides and other infectious agents. The negotiated modification will allow for the production and distribution of 15- 20 MHC/peptide tetrameric reagents per week. The ability of MHC/peptide tetramers to rapidly detect and measure antigen-specific T cells in infected and vaccinated humans and animal models represents a recent major technical breakthrough for basic and clinical research. These complex reagents are difficult to produce, need to be widely available and of high quality to facilitate progress in immunology and vaccine research. Centralized production of quality controlled MHC/peptide tetramer reagents, which cannot be readily produced in individual laboratories, is necessary for evaluation of vaccine immunogenicity in NIAID-sponsored clinical trials of experimental vaccines. McKesson BioServices is the only known source for meeting the requirements of this highly specialized work; therefore seeking full and open competition would only result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the requirements of the NIAID. See numbered Note 22. Posted 07/23/98 (W-SN227336). (0204)

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