Description
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) seeks contractors to provide a wide range of technical and support services required for the proper care, use and humane treatment of laboratory animals to any NIH IC animal program. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of the world's largest biomedical research organizations and is the focal point for US government health research. It is comprised of 30 different categorical Institutes and Centers (ICs) which conduct research in a variety of scientific disciplines including molecular biology, immunology and infectious disease, hematology and tissue transplantation, genetics, physiology, neurology, cancer, virology, bacteriology, pharmacology/toxicology, metabolism, biochemistry, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, parasitology, behavior, dermatology, and dentistry. Twenty-one institutes have laboratory animal programs providing research support for NIH intramural scientists. NIH laboratory animal programs involve the use of approximately 575,000 square feet of space located primarily in twenty-six buildings on the Bethesda campus and thirteen buildings at the Animal Center in Poolesville, MD. Remote facilities include four leased facilities in Rockville and Gaithersburg and two government owned facilities in Baltimore, MD. All NIH animal programs and facilities comply with applicable laboratory animal regulations, guidelines and standards, and are accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC). Contractors shall provide veterinary medicine, animal care and husbandry, veterinary technical support, research technical support, data management, cage and environment sanitation, routine maintenance of animal care equipment, animal transportation, logistical and clerical support. Support is to be provided to projects involving the full range of biomedical research and scientific disciplines. Continuous high quality animal care shall be required as set forth in the applicable animal welfare regulations, standards and guidelines. Animals must be maintained under carefully controlled conditions to minimize research variables and allow the accurate interpretation of laboratory results. Contract support may be required in existing or future government owned or leased animal facilities and research laboratories. Contract support may be required on-site at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD; at the NIH Animal Center in Poolesville, MD; and at satellite facilities in Rockville, and Baltimore. Additional locations may be added based on Government needs. The NAICS code for the intended procurement is code 54171 (SIC code 8731). The Government anticipates that there will be multiple contract awards for this requirement. Among the multiple awards, there will be a partial set-aside for small and small disadvantaged (8a) businesses. Contract awardees will compete for requirements of the various institutes and centers which will be awarded as individual task orders. It is anticipated that Request for Proposal(RFP)No. NHLBI-P-OR-02-123 will be issued on or about September 3, 2002. To obtain a copy of the RFP, all interested parties should submit a written request to the POC referenced herein. Potential offerors should obtain telephone confirmation for all requests transmitted via FAX. Collect calls will not be accepted.