National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Contracts Operations Branch, 6701 Rockledge Dr (RKL2), Rm 6224 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD 20892-7902

R -- TECHNICAL AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR NIH LABORATORY ANIMAL RESEARCH SOL 263-93-C-0248 DUE 121597 POC Robert Best, Contracting Officer, (301) 435-0330 E-MAIL: Robert Best, rb45o@nih.gov. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to continue Contract No. 263-93-C-0248, with The Bionetics Corporation for the period August 9, 1998-September 29, 1998, to provide technical and logistical support to the Veterinary Resources Program (VRP), Office of Research Services (ORS), NIH, for NIH Laboratory Animal Research. The approximately one and a half month extension of the contract will provide two benefits. First, it will allow components of VRP to match their Service and Supply Fund r ates more closely to the fiscal year for which those rates apply to those using the contract. In addition, the extension will coordinate the expiration date of the current contract with the anticipated start date of the replacement contract that is being solicited on a competitive basis by Request for Proposal (RFP) No. NHLBI-RR-P-97-138, which will be issued on or about October 28, 1997. Availability of this RFP was advertised in the Commerce Business Daily on October 10, 1997. The following description is similar to the requirement that was set forth in the October 10 synopsis for a competitive new award: ORS is one of the major components of NIH responsible for providing research support for NIH intramural scientists. VRP is the largest of NIH's intramural animal programs and provides centralized lab support to most of the ICDs as well as to some other Public Health Service organizations. NIH animal programs involve the use of approximately 508,000 square feet of space located primarily in twenty-one buildings on the Bethesda campus and thirteen buildings at the Animal Center in Poolesville, MD. Remote facilities include six leased facilities in Rockville and Gaithersburg and two government owned facilities in Baltimore, MD. All NIH animal programs and facilities comply with applicable animal welfare laws, regulations, guidelines and standards, and are accredited by the American Association for the Assessment and Accreditation and of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). The cont ractor shall furnish the necessaryon-site management and personnel for the performance of laboratory animal support services. These services generally include, but may not be limited to the following: 1) veterinary medicine, 2) animal care and husbandry, 3) veterinary technical support, 4) research technical support, 5) data management, 6) cage and environment sanitation, 7) routine maintenance of animal care equipment, 8) animal transportation, and 9) logistical and clerical support. Support is to be pro vided to animal projects involving the full range of biomedical research and scientific disciplines and animal species which may include: mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, rabbits, dogs, cats, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, primates and other vertebrates and invertebrates. Contract support is to be provided on-site at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD; at the NIH Animal Center in Poolesville, MD; at the NHLBI 5 Research Court facility in Rockville, MD; at the NIA Gerontology Research Center in Baltimore, MD; and/or at other facilities within the commuting range of Bethesda. The contractor shall be required to provide continuous high quality animal care as set forth in the applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines. The following job categories are representative of the types of personnel needed to perform the requirements of the contract: 1) Clinical Veterinarian with Certification in Laboratory Animal Medicine who must possess a degree in veterinary medicine, a state veterinary license, and Board certification in laboratory animal medicine, 2) Clinical Veterinarian without Certification in Laboratory Animal Medicine who must possess a degree in veterinary medicine, and a state veterinary license, 3) Senior Scientific Research Specialist who must possess a degree at the Ph.D. level in the biological sciences, 4) Scientific Research Specialist must possess a degree at the Masters level in the biological sciences, 5) Animal Facility Supervisor /Project Manager who must possess a minimum of a BS. degree in animal science or other biological sciences, and be certified by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) as a Laboratory Animal Technologist (LATG), 6) Senior Animal Facility Specialist who must possess a minimum of a B.S. degree in animal science or other biological sciences, and be certified by the AALAS as a LATG, or by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), 7) Animal Facility Specialist who must be certified by the AALAS as a LATG, or by the AAHA, 8) Transgenic Technician who must possess a B.S. degree in the biological sciences and have experience in transgenic and knockout technologies, 9) Laboratory Animal Technologist who must possess AALAS certification at the LATG level or have equivalent education, training, and experience to include a 4 year degree in animal science of other biological science, 10) Veterinary Technologist must possess an Associate of Arts Degree in Veterinary Technology or equivalent from an AVMA accredited college level program, 11) Labo ratory Animal Technician (LAT) who must possess AALAS certification at the LAT level or have equivalent education, training, and experience, 12) Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician (ALAT) who must possess AALAS certification at the ALAT level or have equivalent education, training and experience, 13) Laboratory Animal Caretaker, 14) Cagewash Foreman who must be certified at the LAT level or higher, or have equivalent knowledge and experience, 15) Cagewash Attendants, 16) Animal Facility Operations Specia list who must be certified at the LAT level and have a minimum of 3 years experience in providing animal facility support, 17) Data Entry and Reports Specialist who must have an Associate's Degree in business or computer science or equivalent knowledge and experience, 18) Clerical Assistant, 19) Senior Animal Transport Vehicle Driver must be certified by the AALAS as a LAT with a minimum of 3 years experience in laboratory animal facility support or equivalent demonstrated knowledge and experience and must possess a commercial drivers license, 20) Animal Transport Vehicle Driver who must be certified by the AALAS as an Assistant ALAT with a minimum of 2 years experience in laboratory animal facility support. It is required that the contractor possess a minimum of 5 years of organizational experience in providing laboratory animal support services of a similar magnitude. Authority: 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), as set forth in FAR 6.302-1. Inherent duplication of cost to the Government and unacceptable delays in ext ending the project make competition unfeasible for this one and a half month extension. SEE NUMBERED Note 22. (0294)

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