SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Development and Maintenance of a Long-Term Colony of Hybrid Rats
- Notice Date
- 10/15/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Mental Health, Contracts Management Branch, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rm 8154, MSC 9661, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-9661
- ZIP Code
- 20892-9661
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIDA(AG)-RFP-11-148
- Point of Contact
- Craig D. Sager, Phone: 301-443-1193
- E-Mail Address
-
csager@mail.nih.gov
(csager@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Development and Maintenance of a Long-Term Colony of Hybrid Rats RFP No. HHS-NIH-NIDA(AG)-RFP-11-148 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. The NAICS code for this requirement is 541712. BACKGROUND The objective is to develop, maintain and distribute a standing colony of aged, genetically defined Brown Norway (BN) and F344xBN F1 hybrid (F344BN F1) rats for use by investigators in studies of aging. This colony is to be developed and maintained within controlled and defined barrier environments where animals are monitored and characterized for disease status and markers of genetic purity. This colony is intended to replace the existing aged colony developed under NIA contract N01-AG-5-0006. Specifically, the Contractor shall develop, maintain and distribute a standing colony of aged BN and F344BN F1 rats for use by investigators in studies of aging. The expected duration of this colony, and therefore of this contract, is nine years. During years 1 through 2, animals shall be entered into the colony, but few animals shall be removed from the colony except for the purposes of monitoring health and genetic purity. However, if the need should arise, animals may be distributed from the colony at anytime at the direction of the Project Officer. During years 3 through 7, animals shall continue to be entered into the colony and animals shall be distributed to investigators. This should be a period of stable operation with young animals entering the colony at approximately the same rate as older animals leave the colony due to distribution and normal attrition. The final two year period, years 8 and 9, will serve as the colony close-out period. Animals shall be maintained and disbursed, but entry of animals shall cease at the beginning of year 8 or when entries begin in a renewal contract colony. Thus the population in this contract colony will decline over the two year period to a point of near zero or very few animals at the end of year 9. This animal colony shall be divided into two, approximately equal, separate segments. Each segment shall be maintained behind a totally independent barrier, specific pathogen- and parasite free, for the entire contract period. Both segments shall specifically be in helicobacter-negative barriers. The purpose of colony division is to insure the survival of at least one half of the colony in the event of pathologic breach of a barrier, genetic contamination, mechanical failure of environmental maintenance systems, or accidental disaster such as fire, or flood. Total independence of colony segments therefore means separation of buildings, power systems and back-up systems, environmental controls (heat, air conditioning, and air filtration) and breeding stock. Each barrier shall have an independent back-up generator and alarm system in case of loss of power. Each colony segment shall be maintained solely within its barrier facility without intermingling. Environmental requirements to protect the colony from contamination prevent the transfer of the colony to a new contractor. As it would take 2-3 years to restart the colony from the beginning, re-deriving new foundation stock and building up the breeding colony to sufficient size to provide the requisite entry levels into the restricted colony, an offeror must detail a similar colony available for NIA utilization. More specifically, the Contractor shall perform the following: I. Breeding Colony Development The Contractor shall acquire, when necessary, F344 and BN breeding stock as directed by the Project Officer. All animals obtained for this contract and produced under this contract, including all breeding rats and all rats entered into the aging colonies, shall be the property of the Government. The foundation animals for each colony segment shall be re-derived by cesarean section or embryo transfer, shall be entered from isolators into the barrier system without contamination by pathogens or parasites, and shall be maintained as such. The Contractor shall provide to the Project Officer documentation of the re-derivation and genetic history of the foundation stock for the aging colony. Discrete space within the re-derivation area shall be provided for re-derivation of the rats. No other animals shall be housed within an isolator housing the rats from this contract, other than this contract's animals and foster mothers. Foster mothers shall be of a strain that is easily distinguished from the F344 and BN rats by both color and genetic markers. Health monitoring shall be performed on the colony of rats to be used as foster mothers within sixty (60) days before the initiation of re-derivation and the results of that monitoring shall be provided to the Project Officer within ten (10) calendar days of receipt by the Contractor. This health monitoring shall specifically include helicobacter status. II Breeding Colony Maintenance Discrete space shall be provided for the breeding and aging colonies within each segment barrier. Breeding colony animals shall be removed from the barrier only for monitoring of genetic purity or colony health, or for other purposes as directed by the Project Officer. In both colony segments no other types of animals other than mice or rats and no other types of activity other than colony maintenance and breeding shall be permitted in the barrier rooms used to breed and maintain the rat colony as specified. Breeding and maintenance of commercial colonies of mice and rats is permissible within the barrier rooms housing the NIA colonies, but activities such as surgery or euthanasia are not permissible within the same rooms as the NIA colonies. Breeding colony maintenance shall conform to the following requirements. III. Maintenance of the Aging Colony A. Rats shall be weaned at approximately 4 weeks of age and each rat shall be permanently marked by tail tattoo to identify month and year of birth using codes specified by the Project Officer. Rats born in excess of the number required to meet defined levels of entry into the aging colony shall be euthanized unless otherwise directed by the Project Officer. B. Weaned rats shall be separated by sex at weaning and held in lots of 2-5 animals per cage. Caging must meet current ILAR and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/phspol.htm) standards. Cage cards will be color coded by year to identify age cohorts. Recombination or consolidation of cages is prohibited. IV. Environmental Requirements A. The Contractor shall provide discrete production space for each colony segment within the barrier or isolation area for that segment. This space shall be defined within each unit, and the animals held therein until the scheduled removal or expiration of the animals. Facilities set aside for these colonies shall be provided with all equipment, materials, and supplies necessary to maintain these animals effectively within the barrier enclosure in a stable condition and environment. V. Colony Evaluation, Characterization and Monitoring A. All spontaneous deaths in the colony shall be reported by barrier, gender, and age in the semiannual progress reports and on the weekly census report. Necropsies shall not be performed on rats that die within the colony unless there is an unusual pattern of animal deaths or upon the direction of the Project Officer. Postmortem findings in such cases shall be tabulated, summarized, and provided to the Project Officer within sixty (60) calendar days of the death. Primary and secondary lesions possibly attributable to cause of death are to be described. Differences between colony segments shall be identified and reported in the semiannual progress report. B. Routine monitoring for disease and post mortem examinations is to be performed by either an independent laboratory approved by the Project Officer or the Contractor if Contractor plans, personnel and facilities are approved by the Project Officer. Selection of animals for monitoring shall be evenly divided between colony segments and represent both genders. Thirty (30) rats shall be submitted for routine health monitoring each quarter unless otherwise specified by the Project Officer. Shipping and laboratory fees shall be chargeable to the contract. Rats to be submitted for routine monitoring shall be a minimum of 4 months old. Approximately half of the rats tested each quarter shall be 4-12 months old and the other half 12-20 months old. The schedule for health monitoring shall be developed by the Contractor and shall require the approval of the Project Officer. C. The Contractor shall provide for positive assurance of genetic quality control, by micro-satellite testing of a sample of the breeding colonies to detect genetic contamination. VI. Shipment of Animals to Investigators A. Animals from the aging rat colony shall be distributed to investigators or laboratories only as directed by the Project Officer or the designated representative of the Project Officer. A copy of the most recent Health Evaluation Summary prepared under V.B. above for the animals shall be sent with each order. VII. Cost of Animals to Investigators Rats produced under this contract shall be made available to investigators under conditions as stated herein or as otherwise specified by the Project Officer. The cost of each rat to the investigators, consisting of a basic acquisition cost plus a maintenance charge determined by age of the rat at shipment, shall be determined by the Project Officer. These costs shall be subject to annual adjustment. The consignee is also responsible for all shipping costs. Total cost (as charged to the consignee) of animals (acquisition, maintenance, crate, water source and shipping charge) which are not useable when received by the consignee due to negligence on the part of the Contractor or subcontractors, shall be borne by the Contractor and are not chargeable to the Government. 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, background with existing standing colonies of aged, genetically defined Brown norway (BN) and F344BN F1) rats for use by investigators in studies of aging, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work, including access to the identified Hybrid Rat colony; (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, (3) any other information that may be helpful. Respondents must send two original copies via mail and one electronic copy via email; (4) responses should be received no later than October 22, 2010 at 2:00 PM Local Time; (5) include respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses; and (6) send responses to this notice via email to csager@mail.nih.gov The original statements mailed using the U.S. Postal Service should be sent to ATTN: Craig Sager, National Institutes of Health, Office of Acquisitions - NIDA Neuroscience COAC, NIA R&D Contracts Management Section, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8154, MSC 9661, Bethesda, MD 20892-9661. If using a courier service such as the UPS, Federal Express, etc., change the City, State and Zip Code to Rockville, MD 20852. (Please be aware that the U.S. Postal Service's "Express Mail" DOES NOT deliver to the Rockville, Maryland address.) This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract. 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. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Contracting Office Address: Contracts Management Branch 6001 Executive Blvd, Rm 8154, MSC 9661 Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9661 Primary Point of Contact.: Craig Sager, Contracting Officer csager@mail.nih.gov Phone: (301) 443-1193 Fax: (301) 443-0501
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